Seed marketing : beets, fodder, cereals, potatoes, etc...

The Committee adopted unanimously the report by Mr GRAEFE zu BARINGDORF. The report largely supports the Commission's proposals aimed at adapting the Community directives on the seed market in the light of the completion of the single market, new growing methods and the changed political realities. In this context, the Committee approved the ending of various exemptions for individual member states, where they represent an obstacle to the marketing of seed, although it believed that exceptional rules for regional measures for conservation purposes should still be permitted. Significantly, the report also proposed a new directive on the marketing of seed varieties worthy of protection in order ot actively promote the conservation of plant genetic resources in the EU. This replaces the discretionary provisions proposed by the Commission.