Commission Implementing Decision of 18 March 2014 on the organisation of a temporary experiment providing for certain derogations for the marketing of populations of the plant species wheat, barley, oats and maize pursuant to Council Directive 66/402/EEC (notified under document C(2014) 1681) (Text with EEA relevance) (2014/150/EU)

Commission Implementing Decision

of 18 March 2014

on the organisation of a temporary experiment providing for certain derogations for the marketing of populations of the plant species wheat, barley, oats and maize pursuant to Council Directive 66/402/EEC

(notified under document C(2014) 1681)

(Text with EEA relevance)

(2014/150/EU)

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Council Directive 66/402/EEC of 14 June 1966 on the marketing of cereal seed(1), and in particular Article 13a thereof,

Whereas:

(1) Directive 66/402/EEC sets out specific requirements for the production and marketing of cereal seed. Those provisions prevent the marketing of seed not belonging to a variety.

(2) However, new research in the Union on plant reproductive material that does not fulfil the variety definition as regards uniformity, shows that there could be benefits of using this diverse material, in particular with regards to organic production or in low input agriculture for example to reduce the spread of diseases.

(3) To allow seed from those populations to be marketed, it would be necessary to amend points E, F and G of Article 2(1) of Directive 66/402/EEC by adding the possibility to market seed which does not fulfil the requirements concerning varietal aspects. In order to decide about such amendment to Directive 66/402/EEC, it is necessary to gather information on the marketing of seed from populations. In particular, it needs to be verified whether the identification of populations of particular species can be ensured, with guarantees similar to those resulting from the requirements concerning varietal aspects, on the basis of information on their breeding and production methods. Moreover, it should be assessed under this experiment whether the identity of the seed marketed as belonging to those populations and the information to the user can be ensured, with guarantees similar to those resulting from Article 3(1) and Article 10, based on traceability requirements and identification of the places of production.

(4) Given the characteristics of populations, the certification of seed from populations might imply a disproportionate burden for authorities and for operators. It is therefore appropriate to gather information on the possibility to provide for a system of controls of the production and marketing of seed of populations not requiring certification.

(5) In view of their significance for the market sector of cereals and available research results, the species subject to this experiment should be wheat, barley, oats and maize.

(6) In order to clarify the nature of populations in comparison to varieties, it is necessary to lay down a requirement on the number of varieties used in the crossings to breed a population.

(7) The responsible official bodies should monitor this experiment through official controls on the production and marketing of seed from populations and their quantities, the persons maintaining those populations and the performance of those populations in specific areas.

(8) Conditions should be established for the submission of applications and authorisation of a population pursuant to this Decision, submission of a reference sample, denomination of the population, and registration of persons producing and marketing those populations. It is important that those conditions are assessed to ensure identity and traceability during the production and marketing of such population, effective controls by the responsible official bodies and avoidance of the creation of a market parallel to the one established pursuant to Directive 66/402/EEC.

(9) Furthermore, it is appropriate to provide for specific requirements for the production and marketing in order to ensure that the seeds from populations fulfil the same requirements in all participating Member States. These requirements should be based on the conditions set out in this Decision. In order to ensure the health and quality of the seed those requirements should be similar to those set out for certified seed in Directive 66/402/EEC as to ensure the comparable level of quality.

(10) Given the experimental nature of the measure provided for by this Decision, a maximum quantity for the marketing of populations should be fixed, taking into account the need to test different types of populations using existing facilities. That quantity should be such as to allow for reliable and representative results of the experiment. However it should not exceed a certain limit, in order to prevent the development of a market of seeds parallel to the one established pursuant to Directive 66/402/EEC.

(11) In order to ensure transparency and informed choices for the users of those populations, and to prevent fraudulent practices, special labelling conditions should be adopted for the marketing of seed from those populations during that experiment. Due to the special nature of the populations, those conditions should derogate from the provisions of Annex V to Directive 66/402/EEC. It should be tested whether sufficient and appropriate information to the user of the material may be ensured by the requirements that the denomination of populations clearly indicates that they are populations and that the label indicates the region of production.

(12) In order to determine the economic, agronomic and environmental value of the improved alternatives to the above provisions of Directive 66/402/EEC, it is important to ensure a comprehensive assessment of several elements and results of that experiment. To that purpose Member States should record the appropriate information, namely the species and denominations used for populations under the experiment, type of populations, modalities and costs of authorisation of populations, results of testing, performance results, sizes of involved operators, type of users and their experience.

(13) To allow Member States to verify that the maximum quantity of seed from populations is not exceeded, operators intending to produce such populations should communicate to the Member States concerned the quantities they intend to produce.

(14) In order to allow operators to produce and market a sufficient quantity of seed, and to permit the competent authorities to inspect that material and collect sufficient and comparable information to be used for the preparation of the report, the experiment should take place over a period of at least three marketing seasons.

(15) The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on Seeds and Propagating Material for Agriculture, Horticulture and Forestry,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

(1)

OJ 125, 11.7.1966, p. 2309/66.