When to retest
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The obvious trigger
The window has run out and the seed still needs to ship interstate. A fresh test gives a fresh month and year, and the label changes with it because the date is printed on it.
The less obvious one
Germination declines over time and with storage conditions, so a retest can put a lot below the 7 CFR 201.31 standard for its crop. The label then needs "Below Standard" and the percentages where it did not before.
Which means retesting can cost you a label
Not a reason to avoid it, but a reason to plan it. Discovering a lot has dropped below standard after the packets are printed is an expensive sequence that a test before printing avoids.
Mixtures are paced by the oldest component
For a mixture it is only necessary to state the month and year of test for the kind with the oldest test date among all its components. So one stale component sets the date for the whole blend.
Storage conditions decide how fast it moves
The statute frames the long window around maintaining viability under ordinary conditions of handling, which implies the opposite too: poor storage shortens real life whatever the label says. Cool and dry is the whole practice.
Keep the reports, not just the numbers
The laboratory report with its completion date is the evidence behind a printed figure. A percentage with no report behind it cannot be defended and cannot be rechecked.
Put the window in a calendar
Five months from the end of the test month, or twenty-four for sealed stock, per lot. Nothing about the seed changes to tell you the date has passed, which is exactly how this one gets missed.