The European Parliament adopted by 431 votes to 104, with 82 abstentions, a legislative resolution on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the production and marketing of plant reproductive material in the Union, amending Regulations (EU) 2016/2031, 2017/625 and 2018/848 of the European Parliament and of the Council, and repealing Council Directives 66/401/EEC, 66/402/EEC, 68/193/EEC, 2002/53/EC, 2002/54/EC, 2002/55/EC, 2002/56/EC, 2002/57/EC, 2008/72/EC and 2008/90/EC (Regulation on plant reproductive material - PRM).
The European Parliament's position adopted at first reading under the ordinary legislative procedure amends the proposal as follows:
With this proposal, the Commission intends to cover the different PRM such as seeds, cuttings, trees, roots and tubers in a single regulation, in order to establish a uniform standard for the different PRM in the Union.
Members stressed that this Regulation should lay down:
- rules for the production with a view to marketing in the Union of plant reproductive material (‘PRM’), and for the marketing in the Union of PRM, and in particular requirements for the production of PRM in the field and other sites, categories of material, identity and quality requirements, certification, labelling, packaging, imports, professional operators and the registration of varieties;
- rules concerning the conditions of cultivation of certain varieties that are tolerant to herbicides or could have undesirable agronomic effects, including cultivation for purposes beyond the production and marketing of PRM, for the production of food, feed and other product.
The requirements concerning production or imports of PRM should apply only with a view to its marketing within the Union.
The objectives of the Regulation should be to:
- ensure quality, safety and diversity of choice for PRM, and its availability for professional operators, farmers and final users;
- ensure fair conditions for the competition of the professional operators across the Union and the functioning of the internal market in PRM;
- contribute to the dynamic conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources and agro-biodiversity;
- contribute to sustainable agricultural production, adapted to current and future projected climatic and soil conditions;
- contribute to food security and food sovereignty.
This Regulation should cover neither PRM exported to third countries, nor PRM sold or transferred in any way for official testing, breeding, inspections, exhibitions or scientific purposes, including on-farm research. It should not cover PRM accessed, sold or transferred in any way in limited quantities as defined in Annex VIIa, whether free of charge or not, for the purpose of dynamic conservation as that type of PRM does not require particular harmonised identity or quality standards and does not compromise the identity and quality of other PRM marketed in the Union.
Rules for the in vitro production of clones and their marketing should also be established.
The power to adopt delegated acts should be conferred on the Commission in order to supplement this Regulation with specific rules on the organisation of temporary experiments to seek improved alternatives to the scope and certain provisions of this Regulation.