1

HARMONISATION OF THE SEED REGULATORY FRAMEWORK AT

THE REGIONAL LEVEL- European Union

Päivi Mannerkorpi

European CommissionDG Health and Consumers

Unit E.1 Biotechnology and Plant Health

http://ec.europa.eu/food/plant/propagation/index_en.htm

EU in nutshell

European Union (EU) (since 1993): now political and economical union of 27 Member States. Three pillars:

1. European Communities (EC) (since 1957, Treaty of Rome): legal person, policies and legislation of internal market.

2. Common foreign and security policy (CFSP)

3. Police and Judical Co-operation in Criminal matters(PJCC)

Main EU institutions:

- Council of the European Union: 27 governments of MS

- European Parliament

- Commission of the European Communities (CEC): Mainexecutive body, proposes legislation and ensures that EU policies are properly implemented.

EU in nutshell(2)

A single internal market for around 500

million citizens

EC legislation on marketing of seeds and propagating materials (1)

Body of legislation :

12 Directives on seeds and propagating materials (agriculture, vegetables, vine,forestry, ornamentals, fruit), based on international standards since the 1966’s

Basic principles:

Free marketing of seed and propagating material within the EU with the aim to ensure the quality of seed to farmer.

Member States have the right to implement additional or stricter measures on the domestic production.

Key elements:

Listing of varieties

Seed certification

EC legislation on marketing of seeds and propagating materials (2)

Listing of varieties:- Distinctness, Uniformity and Stability (DUS)- Satisfactory value for cultivation and use (VCU) for agricultural crops- Rules on Denomination- On basis of information from Member States: Common catalogues for varieties of agricultural plant species and for varieties of vegetable species.

Seed certification: Unified system of certification to give the user of seed guarantees in respect of varietal identity and purity, germination capacity and specific purity as well as guaranteeing the seed bought from a plant health point of view.

- Field inspection- Seed sampling- Seed testing- Labelling/sealing- Post control

EC legislation on marketing of seeds and propagating materials (3)

Other related legislation:

An EU plant variety protection system since 1994. The EU rules based on UPOV standards (1991 Act).

At present 16.000 varieties of plants are protected.

In addition: EU rules on Community Plant Health Regime, Plant protection products, GMO's and organic agriculture

EC seed legislation on equivalence (1)

Basic principle:

Seed produced in third countries is considered equivalent

to seed produced in accordance with Community legislation, e.g. seed may be marketed within the EU if the seed affords the same assurances as seed officially certified within the Community.

EC seed legislation on equivalence (2)

Process of seeking equivalence:

Request, evaluation, mission and decision by Council Decision 2003/17/EC: Country, authority and plant species listed in Annex I.

Coverage of Directive 2003/17/EC:

Agricultural crops

Cereal seed, Council Directive 66/402/EEC

Fodder plant seed, Council Directive 66/401/EEC

Beet seed, Council Directive 2002/54 EC

Seed of oil and fibre plants, Council Directive 2002/57/EC

EC seed legislation on equivalence (3)

Field inspections are equivalent if

Carried out according to national rules for the Application of the OECD Schemes for the Varietal Certification of Seed moving in International Trade as follows:

Cereal seed, Council Directive 66/402/EEC

Fodder plant seed, Council Directive 66/401/EEC

Beet seed, Council Directive 2002/54 EC

Seed of oil and fibre plants, Council Directive 2002/57/EC

EC seed legislation on equivalence (4)Seed is equivalent if

- Produced in a listed third country (Annex of 2003/17/EC)- Officially certified by the listed authorities (generations prior to basic seed are excluded)- The seed also satisfies the conditions of Community rules other than those relating to varietal identity and purity, additional conditions in respect of package, marking and sampling according to ISTA, weight of samples taking into account the following Directives:

Cereal seed,Council Directive 66/402/EECFodder plant seed, Council Directive 66/401/EECBeet seed, Council Directive 2002/54 ECSeed of oil and fibre plants, Council Directive 2002/57/EC

- The seed lots shall be accompanied by the certificates required under the relevant OECD Schemes.

Maintenance abroad of basic seed (not exclusively maintained in the EC) in third country: Equivalence of checks on practices for the maintenance of varieties carried out in third countries (Council Decision 2005/834/EC).

Equivalence of seed produced in third countries

Plant

species

Ar-

gen-

tina

Aus-

tralia

Ca-

nada

Chile Croatia Israel Moroc-

co

New

Zea-

land

USA South

Africa

Turkey Uru-

guay

Serb

ia

Beet

seed

* * * * * *

Fodder

plant

seed

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Cereals (excl. maize

and

sorghum

spp.)

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Sor-

ghum

spp.

* * * * * * * * * x * * *

Maize * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Oil and

fibre

plants

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Potato

seed

Equivalence of checks on practices for the maintenance in third countries

Plant

species

Ar-

gen-

tina

Aus-

tralia

Ca-

nada

Swit-

zerland

Chile Croa-

tia

Isra-

el

Ja-

pan

Repub-

lic of

Korea

Moroc-

co

New

Zea-

land

Tai-

wan

USA South

Africa

Uru-

guay

Serbia

Mon-

teneg-

ro

Fodder

plant

seed

X X X X X X X x X X X X

Oil and

fibre

plants

X X X X X X X X X X X

Beet

seed

X X X X X X X X

Cereals x x x X X X X x X X

Vegeta

ble

seed

x x x x x x x x

EU seed production (1)

EU covers over 20% of world market on seed.

EU one of the world’s biggest exporters of seed.

The value of commercial seed in EU is around 7 bn euro.

The production value of plant propagating material is around 5 bn euro.

Over 30 000 employees in private seed sector (ESA 2009).

600 major research centres.

EU seed production (2)

EU seed market per crop in 2007 (mil.€, ESA)

Cereals, peas and beans 2 800

Maize 1 400

Potatoes 1 000

Vegetables 800

Oil and fibre plants 390

Roots 375

Fodder and grass 375

In total 7 140

Number of varieties in the Agricultural Common Catalogue

12550

16150

17300

18700

0

4000

8000

12000

16000

20000

1999 - 15 MS 2005 - 25 MS 2007 - 27 MS 2008 - 27 MS

EU seed production (3)

EU internal market statistics on certified seed (1)

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

1800

FR DE IT ES UK PL CZ HU NL DK GR SE RO BE

EU seed market values (million euro)

(MS with at least 2 % of the EU market of certified seeds used on the territory)

(ISF, 2008)

EU internal market statistics on certified seed (2), soft wheat 1 586 541 tn

Soft wheat certified seeds in tons 2006

BU

8%

FR

22%

IT

8%

RO

15%

UK

11%

Other M S

36%

BU

FR

IT

RO

UK

Other M S

Source: European Seed Certification Agencies Association

ESCAA

EU internal market statistics on certified seed (3), durum wheat 423 680 tn

Durum wheat certified seeds in tons 2006

(Source: European Seed Certification Agencies Association)

ESCAA

ES

25%

FR

13%IT

61%

HU

0%

CY

0%

Other M S

1%

CY

ES

FR

IT

HU

Other M S

EU internal market statistics on certified seed (4), maize 303 158 tn

Maize certified seeds in tons 2006

FR

53%

IT

8%

HU

28%

PL

1%

RO

8%

Other M S

2%

FR

IT

HU

PL

RO

Other M S

Source: European Seed Certification Agencies Association

ESCAA

Future of EU legislation on seeds?Review of the maketing legislation on seed and propagating material:

- External evaluation 2007-2008

- Evaluation results November 2008

- European Conference on Ensuring Seed Availability in the 21st Century, March 2009

- Action plan 2009

- Impact assessment on possible changes 2009-2010

- Commission legal proposal 2011

http://ec.europa.eu/food/plant/propagation/evaluation/index_en.htm

Thank you for your attention

http://ec.europa.eu/food/plant/propagation/index_en.htm