Seed Potatoes Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2001

Regulations 2(1) and 8(3)

SCHEDULE 1 Certification of seed potatoes

1.  Certification shall consist of an official examination of seed potatoes made by an authorised officer which shall include the classification of such potatoes in accordance with the provisions of Schedule 2 and the issue by the Department of a certificate of the result of that examination as specified in Schedule 3.

2.  The Department may refuse to issue a certificate if an authorised officer is not satisfied that:

(a) the seed potatoes (other than seed potatoes delivered or intended to be delivered in pursuance of a sale or proposed sale elsewhere than in the United Kingdom or a member State) are of a variety complying with the Seeds (National Lists of Varieties) Regulations 1982(1) and which has not been notified by the Department as being unacceptable for classification; or

(b) the seed potatoes are or were grown, harvested, stored, prepared for marketing, transported, handled and graded so as to minimize the risk of contamination by such harmful diseases or pests as notified by the Department from time to time; or

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

(d) there has been no roguing of a pre-basic seed potato crop before inspection; or

(e) any roguing of a basic seed potato growing crop has been carried out effectively and the growing crop has not been over rogued; or

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

3.  A certificate for pre-basic seed potatoes shall not be issued by an authorised officer unless the officer is satisfied that the seed potatoes satisfy the minimum conditions established by the Department for classes of pre-basic seed potatoes.

4.  A certificate shall not be issued by the Department unless an authorised officer is satisfied that:

(a) the land on which the seed potatoes are growing or were grown—

(i) is not land in respect of which a notice has been served under Article 22(4) of the Plant Health Order (Northern Ireland) 1993 declaring that land to be infected with wart disease, potato ring rot, or potato cyst nematode;

(ii) is not land in respect of which an Inspector has demarcated a zone under Article 23A(1) of the Plant Health Order (Northern Ireland) 1993 to prevent the spread of potato brown rot;

(iii) has by sampling and laboratory examination been found to be free from potato cyst nematode; and

(iv) is land which has not been used for growing potatoes in any of the previous 6 years for crops classified as Pre-basic 1, Pre-basic 2 or VTSC, or, in any of the previous 4 years for crops of any other class.

(b) the seed potatoes have been produced from—

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

(ii) a crop grown with the authority of or in circumstances acceptable to the Department; or

(iii) seed potatoes grown elsewhere than in Northern Ireland and in respect of which an examination acceptable to the Department has been carried out;

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

(d) 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 (Heterodera) species infesting potatoes)

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

• Brown Rot (Ralstonia solanacearum (Smith) Yabuuchi et al.)

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

• Potato Tuber Eelworm (Ditylenchus destructor (Thorne))

• Potato Spindle Tuber Viroid

• Colorado Beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say));

(e) the seed potatoes are taken from a crop which has been classified in accordance with the provisions of Schedule 2 and in which the presence of diseased potato plants and rogues, ground keepers and undesirable variations is ascertained not to exceed the respective tolerances set out in Schedule 2 in relation to the classes described therein.

5.  Seed potatoes shall not be classified—

(a) as Pre-basic TC seed potatoes, if the immediately succeeding crop produced therefrom is likely to contain—

(i) plants of another variety; or

(ii) virus affected plants;

(b) as Pre-basic 1 or Pre-basic 2 seed potatoes, if, in relation to the immediately succeeding crop produced therefrom, the number of growing plants which—

(i) deviate from variety and type, is likely to exceed 0.01% of the total number of plants in that crop; or

(ii) show symptoms of mild or severe virus diseases attributable to infection in the mother crop, is likely to exceed 0.01% of that total number; or

(c) as basic seed potatoes, if, in relation to the immediately succeeding crop produced therefrom, the number of growing plants which—

(i) deviate from variety, is likely to exceed 0.1% of the total number of plants in that crop;

(ii) deviate from variety and type, is likely to exceed 0.25% of that total number; or

(iii) show symptoms of mild or severe virus diseases attributable to infection in the mother crop, is likely to exceed 4.0% of that total number.

(1)

S.I. 1982/844; amended by S.I. 1985/1529, 1989/1314, 1990/1353, 1992/1615 and 1998/2726