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Importation of seed: equivalence principle; extending period of application and updating names of third countries and authorities

2012/0165(COD)

PURPOSE: to amend Council Decision 2003/17/EC by extending its period of application and by updating the name of a third country and of the authorities responsible for the approval and control of the production.

LEGISLATIVE ACT: Decision No 1105/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Decision 2003/17/EC by extending its period of application and by updating the names of a third country and of the authorities responsible for the approval and control of the production.

CONTENT: Council Decision 2003/17/EC on the equivalence of field inspections carried out in third countries on seed-producing crops and on the equivalence of seed produced in third countries provides that, for a limited period, field inspections carried out in third countries on seed-producing crops of certain species are to be considered to be equivalent to field inspections carried out in accordance with Union legal acts, and that seed of certain species produced in third countries is to be considered to be equivalent to seed produced in accordance with Union legal acts. Decision 2003/17/EC will expire on 31 December 2012.

Following an agreement reached at first reading with the European Parliament, the Council adopted a series of amendments to Council Decision 2003/17/EC with a view to:

  • the extension by ten years (until 31 December 2022) the period during which equivalence is recognised under Council Decision 2003/17/EC;
  • the deletion of the reference to Yugoslavia in Decision 2003/17/EC;
  • the addition of Serbia, as a member of the OECD Schemes for the Varietal Certification of Seed Moving in International Trade and as a member of the International Seed Testing Association as regards the seed sampling and testing, to the list of third countries in Annex I;
  • updating the names of some authorities responsible for the approval and control of the production;
  • the deletion of provisions in Decision 2003/17/EC which refer to Council Decision 1999/468/EC laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission (old comitology) as, in the context of this Decision, their application would be incompatible with the system on delegated and implementing powers introduced by Articles 290 and 291 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

ENTRY INTO FORCE: 01/12/2012.

APPLICATION: from 01/01/2013.