16. The package shall be labelled, not later than the time of sealing, on the outside with an official label which has not previously been used containing the following particulars—
(a)the words “EC rules and standards”;
(b)the words “Commercial seed (not certified as to variety)”;
(c)the name of the certifying authority and member State or their commonly used initials;
(d)the reference number of the seed lot;
(e)the month and year of sealing or the month and year of the last official sampling for the purposes of certification, expressed respectively as follows—
(i)by the word “Sealed” followed by the month and year of sealing, or
(ii)by the word “Sampled” followed by the month and year of last official sampling for the purposes of certification;
(f)the species, indicated at least under its botanical name, which may be given in abridged form and without the author’s name, in Roman characters;
(g)the country of production or region of production within a country;
(h)the declared net or gross weight; and
(i)where weight is indicated and granulated pesticides, pelleting substances or other solid additives are used, the nature of the additive and also the approximate ratio between the weight of pure seeds and the total weight.
17. Where at least germination has been retested, the words “retested” followed by the month and year of retesting and the service responsible for such retesting may be indicated on the official label referred to in paragraph 16 or on an official sticker attached to the official label.
18. The minimum size of the label referred to in paragraph 16 shall be 110 mm x 67 mm.
19. The label referred to in paragraph 16 shall be coloured brown.
20. The label referred to in paragraph 16—
(a)shall be—
(i)an adhesive label, or
(ii)a label secured to the package by a sealing device approved by the Secretary of State, the Scottish Ministers, the National Assembly for Wales or the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, and
(b)shall be fixed to the package by—
(i)an authorised officer or any person being supervised by such a person, or
(ii)a licensed seed sampler or any person being supervised by such a person Secretary of State in that behalf or by or under the supervision of a licensed seed sampler.
21. The package shall be labelled, not later than the time of sealing—
(a)subject to paragraph 22, on the outside;
(b)with a label, a printed notice or stamp containing the following information—
(i)“EC rules and standards”;
(ii)the name and address of the supplier responsible for fixing the label or his registration number;
(iii)the reference number of the seed lot;
(iv)the species;
(v)the words “commercial seed (not certified as to variety)”;
(vi)the declared weight or declared number of seeds except in the case of packages not exceeding 15 grams net weight.
22. If the packaging material is transparent the label, notice or stamp referred to in paragraph 21 may be placed inside the package provided it can be read through the packaging.
23. The label, notice or stamp referred to in paragraph 21 shall be coloured brown.