The Seed Marketing Regulations 2011
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | SI 2011/463 |
| Year | 2011 |
2011 No. 463
Seeds, England
The Seed Marketing Regulations 2011
Made 25th February 2011
Laid before Parliament 7th March 2011
Coming into force 1st April 2011
The Secretary of State makes these Regulations in exercise of the powers in sections 16(1), (1A), (2), (3), (4), (5), (5A) and 36 of the Plant Varieties and Seeds Act 19641, after consultation in accordance with section 16(1) of that Act with representatives of such interests as appear to be concerned, and in exercise of the powers in paragraph 1A of Schedule 2 to the European Communities Act 19722.
These Regulations make provision for a purpose mentioned in section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972 and it appears to the Secretary of State that it is expedient for the references in these Regulations to the Directives specified in regulation 3(2) to be construed as references to those Directives as amended from time to time.
PART 1
Introduction
Title, application and commencement
1. These Regulations may be cited as the Seed Marketing Regulations 2011; they apply in England and come into force on 1st April 2011.
Meaning of “marketing”
2.—(1) In these Regulations “marketing” means the sale, holding with a view to sale, offer for sale or any disposal, supply or transfer aimed in each case at commercial exploitation of seed to third parties, whether or not for consideration.
(2) But marketing does not include trade that is not aimed at commercial exploitation, such as—
(a)
(a) the supply of seed to official testing and inspection bodies; or
(b)
(b) the supply of seed to a person who provides processing services but who does not acquire title to the seed.
Interpretation of other terms
3.—(1) For the purposes of these Regulations—
(a)
(a) the “United Kingdom National List” is the list of plant varieties published by the Secretary of State in accordance with the provisions of the Seeds (National Lists of Varieties) Regulations 20013;
(b)
(b) the “Common Catalogue” is the catalogue provided for in Council Directive 2002/53/ECon the common catalogue of varieties of agricultural plant species4and in Council Directive 2002/55/ECon the marketing of vegetable seed5.
(2) In these Regulations all references to—
(a)
(a) Council Directive 2002/54/ECon the marketing of beet seed6,
(b)
(b) Council Directive 66/402/EECon the marketing of cereal seed7,
(c)
(c) Council Directive 66/401/EECon the marketing of fodder plant seed8,
(d)
(d) Council Directive 2002/57/ECon the marketing of seed of oil and fibre plants9,
(e)
(e) Council Directive 2002/55/ECon the marketing of vegetable seed,
(f)
(f) Commission Directive 2008/62/ECproviding for certain derogations for acceptance of agricultural landraces and varieties which are naturally adapted to the local and regional conditions and threatened by genetic erosion and for marketing of seed and seed potatoes of those landraces and varieties10, and
(g)
(g) Commission Directive 2009/145/ECproviding for certain derogations, for acceptance of vegetable landraces and varieties which have been traditionally grown in particular localities and regions and are threatened by genetic erosion and of vegetable varieties with no intrinsic value for commercial crop production but developed for growing under particular conditions and for marketing of seed of those landraces and varieties11,
are references to those Directives as amended from time to time.
PART 2
Categories of seed
Seed to which these Regulations apply
4.—(1) These Regulations apply in relation to seed of the plants in the first column of the table in Schedule 1 intended to be used for agricultural or horticultural production, but do not apply in relation to seed intended to be used for ornamental plants.
(2) They do not apply in relation to seed intended for export outside the European Union (other than regulation 26 which relates to certification for export).
Categories of seed
5. Seed is divided into the following categories, commonly known by the abbreviations given—
(a) breeder’s seed (“BR”);
(b) pre-basic seed (“PB”);
(c) basic seed (“BS”);
(d) certified seed (“CS”);
(e) certified seed, first generation (“C1”);
(f) certified seed, second generation (“C2”);
(g) certified seed, third generation (“C3”);
(h) commercial seed (“CM”);
(i) standard seed (vegetables only) (“ST”);
(j) seed of a higher voluntary standard (“HVS”).
Breeder’s seed
6. Breeder’s seed is seed produced by or under the responsibility of the breeder and intended for the production of pre-basic seed or basic seed.
Maintainers for pre-basic and basic seed
7. Pre-basic seed and basic seed may only be produced with the written authorisation of the person listed as the maintainer of that seed in the United Kingdom National List or the Common Catalogue.
PART 3
Marketing seed
Marketing seed
8. Seed to which these Regulations apply may only be marketed as seed if it is—
(a) certified under regulation 10 and 11 as being one of the categories in regulation 5;
(b) packaged and sealed in accordance with regulation 16;
(c) labelled in accordance with regulation 17;
(d) marketed by a person licensed to do so in accordance with regulation 20.
Exceptions
9.—(1) The requirement for certification does not apply in relation to breeder’s seed.
(2) Schedule 4 makes provision for the marketing of seed not fully complying with regulation 8.
Overriding requirements: the building blocks necessary for certification
10. To be certified under these Regulations as one of the categories in regulation 5 seed must—
(a) be a variety entered in the United Kingdom National List or the Common Catalogue;
(b) be grown from a seed eligible to produce that category in accordance with Schedule 2;
(c) come from a crop inspected under these Regulations and certified as complying with the requirements of Schedule 2;
(d) be tested in accordance with these Regulations.
Detailed requirements for certification
11.—(1) In order to be certified a sample of the seed from which the crop is going to be produced must be entered with the Secretary of State in sufficient time for the Secretary of State to grow a control plot.
(2) The Secretary of State may accept the entry of a sample of the seed after this time, but in this case the crop grown to produce the seed must be inspected by an official crop inspector in accordance with regulation 12.
(3) The crop used to produce the seed must be inspected by a crop inspector in accordance with the provisions relating to that crop in Schedule 2, and the crop inspector must certify that—
(a)
(a) the crop meets the standard for that crop specified in Schedule 2, or
(b)
(b) the crop meets a lower standard but still meets one of the standards in Schedule 2,
and lodge a report to that effect with the Secretary of State.
(4) The crop inspector may indicate that remedial action or further inspection is necessary before the crop is certified as meeting the required standard.
(5) Once the crop has been harvested and processed, a sample of the seed must be taken by a licensed seed sampler (using current international sampling methods in so far as they exist) in accordance with the provisions relating to that crop in Schedule 2 (for the avoidance of doubt the seed lot sizes and sample weights are specified in each of the Directives in that Schedule dealing with the seed).
(6) The seed must be tested in a seed testing station (either licensed or operated by the Secretary of State), which must test the seed (using current international sampling and testing methods in so far as they exist) to ensure that the certification standards in Schedule 2 are complied with and issue a seed test report stating the results and lodge the report with the Secretary of State.
Crop inspections
12. A crop inspection for certification must be carried out by a licensed crop inspector; except for the inspection of—
(a) a crop intended for the production of pre-basic or basic seed, or
(b) a crop producing seed when the entry of the seed under regulation 11 was too late to allow the Secretary of State to grow a control plot,
when the inspection must be carried out by an official crop inspector appointed by the Secretary of State for the purposes of such inspection.
Standard of seed at the time of marketing
13. At the time of marketing the seed must as a minimum comply with the standards in Schedule 2 relating to that type of seed.
Re-grading a crop or seed
14. For the avoidance of doubt, if a crop or seed has been certified as belonging to one category, but complies with the requirements of another category for that seed, it may be re-graded as any category for which it satisfies the requirements.
Control plots and tests
15.—(1) The Secretary of State must carry out any necessary tests on the entered seed, and in particular must grow the seed in a control plot.
(2) If the tests or the control plot meets the requirements for varietal identity and varietal purity no further action is taken.
(3) Otherwise the Secretary of State must obtain more information from crops grown from that seed and, if the Secretary of State decides that the crop is not satisfactory, notify the applicant that the crop may not be certified, or must be downgraded to a lower category.
Packaging and sealing
16.—(1) All seed, other than loose sales (for which see Part 5 of Schedule 3) must be supplied in a sealed package by a person licensed to do so under regulation 20.
(2) The packaged seed must be...
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