The Seed Potatoes Regulations 1991

Regulations 2(1) and 7

SCHEDULE 1 CLASSIFICATION OF SEED POTATOES

PART I

1.  On receipt of an application for classification of any seed potatoes, an authorised officer shall allocate to the person making such application a number to be known as “producer’s identification number”.

2.  In order to determine the class into which seed potatoes should be placed the seed potatoes shall be examined by an authorised officer and such examination shall be known as an official examination. Subject to paragraph 3 of this Schedule the authorised officer shall issue a certificate stating the results of the examination.

3.  A certificate may be refused in respect of any seed potatoes where an authorised officer is not satisfied in respect of any of the following matters:–

(a) the seed potatoes are of a variety for the time being listed in the National List published in accordance with the Seeds (National Lists of Varieties) Regulations 1982(1) or in the Common Catalogue of varieties of seed potatoes published in the Official Journal of the European Communities and which has not been notified in writing by the Minister as being considered unacceptable for classification;

(b) the seed potatoes are or were grown and stored so as to minimise the risk of contamination by such harmful diseases or pests as notified in writing by the Minister from time to time;

(c) the land on which the seed potatoes are growing or were grown has not been declared to be land on which Wart Disease (Synchytrium endobioticum (Schilb.) Perc.) is present under article 15(4) of the Plant Health (Great Britain) Order 1987(2) and has not been deemed in terms of article 15(5) of that order to be part of a safety zone for the purpose of that order;

(d) blanking in any of the growing crop of the seed potatoes is not or was not excessive;

(e) roguing of the growing crop of the seed potatoes has been carried out and the growing crop has not been over-rogued;

(f) all reasonable husbandry practices for the prevention of the occurence, development or spread of pests and diseases have been effectively carried out.

PART II

4.  No basic seed potatoes certificate shall be issued by an authorised officer unless he is satisfied that–

(a) (i) the land on which the seed potatoes are growing or were grown is land in respect of which a certificate issued under article 32(1) of the Plant Health (Great Britain) Order 1987 was in force at the time of the planting of the crop; and if potato cyst nematode has been found on that land at any time during the period of twelve years immediately preceding the planting of the crop that–

(aa) six years have elapsed since the last positive finding; and

(bb) except under a licence issued under article 42 of the said Order, the land has not been used for growing potatoes at any time during a period of eleven years immediately preceding the planting of the crop; and

(ii) the land on which the seed potatoes are growing or were grown is land which has not been used for growing potatoes at any time during the period, in the case of a crop classified VTSC, of seven years, and in the case of all other crops, of five years, immediately preceding the planting of the crop;

(b) in the case of seed potatoes grown within the protected region only basic seed potatoes permitted to be planted within the protected region in accordance with article 22(3) of the Plant Health (Great Britain) Order 1987, are or were grown in the same agricultural unit in the same year in which the seed potatoes were grown;

(c) the seed potatoes have been produced from–

(i) basic or pre-basic seed potatoes; or

(ii) a crop grown with the authority of or in circumstances notified in writing as being acceptable to the Minister; or

(iii) seed potatoes grown elsewhere than in Great Britain and in respect of which an examination notified in writing as being acceptable to the Minister has been carried out;

(d) the seed potatoes in any one crop are of a single variety;

(e) the seed potatoes are taken from a crop which is free from the following diseases or pests:–

• Wart Disease (Synchytrium endobioticum (Schilb.) Perc.)

• Potato Cyst Nematode, (Globodera species infesting potatoes)

• Ring Rot (Clavibacter michiganensis (Smith) Davis et al. ssp. sepedonicus (Spieck. & Kotth.) Davis et al.)

• Brown Rot (Pseudomonas solanacearum (E. F. Smith) Jensen)

• Potato Tuber Moth (Phthorimaea operculella (Zell.))

• Potato Spindle Tuber Viroid

• Colorado Beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say))

• Potato Tuber Eelworm (Ditylenchus destructor (Thorne))

(f) the seed potatoes are taken from a crop which has been classified in accordance with the provisions of Schedule 3 and in which the presence of diseased potato plants and deviations from variety and type (rogues, undesirable variations, wildings and bolters) and ground-keepers is ascertained not to exceed the tolerances specified (in relation to the classes described) in Schedule 3.

5.  Seed potatoes shall not be classified as basic seed potatoes unless the immediately succeeding crop produced therefrom is likely to contain–

(a) not more than 0.25% by number of growing plants which deviate from variety and type of which not more than 0.1% shall deviate from variety; and

(b) not more than 4% by number of growing plants which show symptoms of either severe or mild virus diseases attributable to infection in the mother crop.

PART III

6.—(1) No certified seed potatoes certificate shall be issued by an authorised officer in the case of seed potatoes growing or grown in the protected region.

(2) No certified seed potatoes certificate shall be issued by an authorised officer in the case of seed potatoes growing or grown otherwise than in the protected region unless he is satisfied that in relation to the seed potatoes examined by him–

(a) (i) the land on which the seed potatoes are growing or were grown is land in respect of which a certificate issued under article 32(1) of the Plant Health (Great Britain) Order 1987 was in force at the time of the planting of the crop;

(ii) the land on which the seed potatoes are growing or were grown is land which has not at any time during the period of 4 years immediately preceeding the planting of that crop been used for growing potatoes;

(b) the seed potatoes have been produced from–

(i) basic seed potatoes; or

(ii) a crop grown with the authority of or in circumstances notified in writing as being acceptable to the Minister; or

(iii) seed potatoes grown elsewhere than in Great Britain and in respect of which an examination notified in writing as being acceptable to the Minister has been carried out;

(c) the seed potatoes in any one crop are of a single variety;

(d) the seed potatoes are taken from a crop of seed potatoes free from the following diseases or pests:–

• Wart Disease (Synchytrium endobioticum (Schilb.) Perc.)

• Potato Cyst Nematode (Globodera species infesting potatoes)

• Ring Rot (Clavibacter michiganensis (Smith) Davis et al. ssp. sepedonicus (Spieck. & Kotth.) Davis et al.)

• Brown Rot (Pseudomonas solanacearum (E. F. Smith) Jensen)

• Potato Tuber Moth (Phthorimaea operculella (Zell.))

• Potato Spindle Tuber Viroid

• Colorado Beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say))

• Potato Tuber Eelworm (Ditylenchus destructor Thorne)

and is ascertained not to be affected by any of the diseases specified in column 1 below in excess of the tolerances respectively set out opposite each of these diseases in columns 2 and 3 below:–

Column 1	Column 2	Column 3
Diseases	Individual or Group Tolerances	Collective Group Tolerances
leafroll and severe mosaic (including tobacco veinal necrosis virus infection)	2.0%	5.0%
mild mosaic	5.0%	5.0%
blackleg	2.0%

(e) the seed potatoes are taken from a crop which on a sample is ascertained to contain not more than 0.5% of deviations from variety and type (rogues, undesirable variations, wildings and bolters) or groundkeepers, of which not more than 0.2% shall deviate from variety.

7.  Seed potatoes shall not be classified as certified seed potatoes unless the immediately succeeding crop produced therefrom is likely to contain–

(a) not more than 0.5% by number of growing plants which deviate from variety and type of which not more than 0.2% shall deviate from variety; and

(b) not more than 10% by number of growing plants which show symptoms of severe virus diseases attributable to infection in the mother crop.

8.  All certified seed potatoes shall be classified in a class known as the CC class.

PART IV

9.  For the purposes of this Schedule and Schedule 3 any reference to tolerance in relation to potatoes comprised in a sample shall be construed as a reference to the proportion of the number of plants of potatoes so affected to the total number of plants in the sample expressed as a percentage.

10.  For the purposes of Schedules 1, 2 and 3 “agricultural unit” shall have the meaning assigned to that expression, in relation to England and Wales in section 109(2) of the Agriculture Act 1947(3) and in relation to Scotland in section 86(2) of the Agriculture (Scotland) Act 1948(4).

(1)

S.I. 1982/844, amended by S.I. 1985/1529, 1989/1314 and 1990/1353.

(2)

S.I. 1987/1758, to which there are amendments not relevant to these Regulations.

(3)

1947 c. 48.

(4)

1948 c. 45.