Better Regulations: Seed regulation to be reviewed

The current body of European seed legislation is made up of 12 basic Directives

• Council Directive 66/401/EEC of 14 June 1966 on the marketing of fodder plant seed
• Council Directive 66/402/EEC of 14 June 1966 on the marketing of cereal seed
• Council Directive 2002/53/EC of 13 June 2002 on the common catalogue of varieties of agricultural plant species
• Council Directive 2002/54/EC of 13 June 2002 on the marketing of beet seed
• Council Directive 2002/55/EC of 13 June 2002 on the marketing of vegetable seed
• Council Directive 2002/56/EC of 13 June 2002 on the marketing of seed potatoes

• Council Directive 2002/57/EC of 13 June 2002 on the marketing of seed of oil and fibre plants
• Council Directive 68/193/EC of 9 April 1968 on the marketing of material for the vegetative propagation of the vine
• Council Directive 1998/56/EC of 20 July 1998 on the marketing of propagating material of ornamental plants
• Council Directive 92/33/EEC of 28 April 1992 on the marketing of vegetable propagating and planting material, other than seed
• Council Directive 92/34/EEC of 28 April 1992 on the marketing of fruit plant propagating material and fruit plants intended for fruit production
• Council Directive 1999/105/EC of 22 December 1999 on the marketing of forest reproductive material Many of these date back to the sixties and seventies. As the balance of priorities has changed over the years, with elements such as food safety, traceability, new technologies and environmental aspects becoming more prominent, plus the expansion of the EU to now span 27 Member States, newer legal instruments may be more appropriate to regulate the marketing of S&PM to the benefit of both users and suppliers.

The Commission has therefore decided to review the legislation (the acquis) on the marketing of seeds and plant propagating material, as part of its better regulation initiative.

The first step of this review process consists of an evaluation of the current acquis. This should provide documented answers on the strengths and weaknesses of the current system for achieving the set objectives, or highlight the need to set new objectives in order to respond to new and anticipated challenges.

An equally important aim is to explore the possibilities for simplification and a reduction of administrative burdens on both public authorities and private sector stakeholders.

The evaluation will be carried out by external consultants (the FCEC consortium), assisted by a Steering Group composed of a balanced mix of experts from a number of Member States and from the Commission's services.

The task of the Steering Group is to assist in drafting the terms of reference and the questionnaire, and to ensure the quality of the final report.

On the basis of the recommendations to be contained in the final report, the Commission will then draft an action plan, laying out a programme for putting into practice any suggested reforms.

The FCEC launched a survey on 18 February 2008 to collect the views of stakeholders regarding the current Community acquis on the marketing of seeds and propagating material and to gather suggestions for the future. The deadline for returning the survey questionnaire is 11 April 2008.

The survey questionnaire is available in Word format and online.

Instructions have been drawn up to help you to fill in the online questionnaire. But before doing so, we strongly advise you to print the document in Word format, study the various questions, select those that are relevant to your organisation and prepare your answers. Please do not fill in the questionnaire directly online. If you prefer to fill in the Word version of the questionnaire instead of the online version of it, please feel free to do so and then return it by e-mail to lvn@bvdmc.com.

In order to ensure transparency of the process and to keep everyone informed of developments, validated information will be added to this site as the evaluation exercise progresses.
Click on the following links to find more information of the steps taken so far.
evaluation in a nutshell
agreed Terms of Reference for the evaluation
accepted offer from the FCEC
Introduction letter