Seed potatoes progressively accumulate diseases with each cycle of multiplication. Properly functioning seed potato production systems thus require healthy starting material that is multiplied with a minimal rate of degeneration.

Different national standards on the production of pre-basic seed potatoes have obstructed the marketing of those potatoes throughout the Union, and have impeded the functioning of the internal market. Therefore it is appropriate to establish minimum conditions under which pre-basic seed potatoes may be marketed throughout the Union. Those conditions should concern diseases, symptoms, defects and production requirements for pre-basic seed potatoes, and lots of those potatoes, to ensure the production and marketing of healthy and high quality pre-basic seed potatoes.

Those conditions should take into account the standard of United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), concerning the marketing and commercial quality control of seed potatoes, as well as the relevant standards of the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) and the European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization (EPPO), in view of technical and scientific developments. Those standards aim at helping facilitate international trade, encouraging high quality production, improving profitability and protecting consumer interests.

In view of the production practices of suppliers, and the demand of the users of pre-basic seed potatoes, it is appropriate that the minimum conditions for pre-basic seed potatoes also include the possibility for marketing them as Union grades. Two Union grades should apply for pre-basic seed potatoes (‘Union grade PBTC’ and ‘Union grade PB’), in line with the existing production practices concerning pre-basic seed potatoes of grade PBTC, and pre-basic seed potatoes of grade PB. Different conditions per grade should thus be adopted concerning diseases, symptoms, defects, production requirements and generations for those grades.

In order to be effective, those rules should also set out provisions concerning official testing and official field inspections.

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