I haven't bought from overseas, Liz (yet) - contacting MAF sounds like the way to go.

Have you tried NZ suppliers of heirlooms such as "Koanga Gardens" up in Northland? Their seeds are sourced from both NZ and overseas.

Assuming you want to bring seed of species that are already officially classified as being present in New Zealand, then seed can be imported by two routes, either having the seed consignment accompanied with a phytosanitary certificate, or by quarantine inspection after it arrives in the country. You can read all about it at the following MAF website - look at the Import Health Standard for seed for sowing, 155.02.05.

http://www.maf.govt.nz/biosecurity/imports/plants/seeds-sowing.htm

Note that some vegetables, like Brassica napus, Phaseolus, and Pisum, are subject to certain additional requirements, which variously can be:

* a species specific Import Health Standard.
* a Permit to Import.
* additional declarations on the Phytosanitary Certificate.
* a requirement for Post Entry Quarantine.

Be warned that if your chosen vegetable belongs to a species not officially recorded as present in New Zealand by MAF / ERMA, then it is classifed as a New Organism and frankly its not worth even trying, because you have to get an approval from ERMA to import a New Organism, before also getting phytosanitary clearance with MAF. This is costly and often very hard to obtain for plants.

Well I rung MAF & told them I wanted to get some tomato seeds from overseas. They said that they would need to look at the seeds. So they needed to be declared on the packaging, be clearly labelled with the exact latin name & country of origin. He was very helpful & said he didn't think it should be a problem.

& yeah I had thought of Koanga but the majority of their stuff is for their bio region which does not work for us down here too well.