Article 3

1

Member States shall provide that vegetable seed may no be certified, verified as standard seed and marketed unless the variety is officially accepted in one or more Member States.

2

Each Member State shall establish one or more catalogues of the varieties officially accepted for certification, verification as standard seed and marketing in its territory. The catalogues shall be subdivided according to varieties:

a

whose seed may be certified as either ‘basic seed’ or ‘certified seed’, or may be verified as ‘standard seed’, and

b

whose seed may not be verified except as standard seed.

Any person may consult the catalogues.

3

A common catalogue of varieties of vegetable species shall, in accordance with the provisions of Articles 16 and 17, be established on the basis of the national catalogues of the Member States.

4

Member States may provide that the acceptance of a variety for inclusion in the common catalogue or in the catalogue of another Member State is equivalent to acceptance for inclusion in their own catalogues. Member States making such provision shall be released from the obligations provided for in Article 7, Article 9(4) and Article 10(2) to (5).