Commission Directive 1999/54/EC of 26 May 1999 amending Council Directive 66/402/EEC on the marketing of cereal seed
Date: 1999-05-26
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: application of EU law, cereals, marketing, plant health control, seed

L 142/30

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

5. 6. 1999

COMMISSION DIRECTIVE 1999/54/EC

of 26 May 1999

amending Council Directive 66/402/EEC on the marketing of cereal seed

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community,

Article 1

Having regard to Council Directive 66/402/EEC of 14
June 1966 on the marketing of cereal seed (1), as last
amended by Directive 1999/8/EC (2), and in particular
Articles 2(1b) and 21b thereof,

(1) Whereas

and empowers

the abovementioned Directive makes
provisions for including hybrids of self-pollinating
the
scope
triticale within its
Commission to adopt the necessary amendments to
the definitions in Article 2(1) of that Directive;
whereas, owing to the increased importance in the
Community of the hybrids of self-pollinating triti-
cale, they should be included within the scope of
the Directive and consequently amendments to the
definitions of ‘basic seed' and ‘certified seed' should
be adopted;

(2) Whereas the abovementioned Directive does not
establish the conditions to be satisfied by the crop
and the seed of hybrids of Avena sativa, Hordeum
vulgare, Oryza
sativa, Triticum aestivum,
Triticum durum, Triticum spelta and self-polli-
nating Triticosecale; whereas such conditions may
be established and Annexes I and II to Directive
66/402/EEC amended accordingly; whereas, owing
to the increased importance in the Community of
the abovementioned hybrids, the conditions to be
satisfied by the crop and by the seed, in particular
where seed is produced by use of a chemical
hybridisation agent, should be established;

(3) Whereas the measures provided in this Directive
are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing
Committee on Seeds and Propagating Material for
Agriculture, Horticulture and Forestry,

(1) OJ 125, 11.7.1966, p.2309/66.
(2) OJ L 50, 26.2.1999, p. 26.

Directive 66/402/EEC is hereby amended as follows:

1. in Article 2(1)Ca, the introductory sentence is replaced

by the following:

‘Basic seed (hybrids of oats, barley, rice, rye, wheat,
durum wheat, spelt wheat and self-pollinating triti-
cale)';

2. in Article 2(1)E the introductory sentence is replaced

by the following:

‘Certified seed (canary grass, other than hybrids, rye,
sorghum, sudan grass, maize and hybrids of oats,
barley, rice, wheat, durum wheat, spelt wheat and self
pollinating triticale): seed';

3. in point 3 of Annex I the first and the second

sentences are replaced by the following:

‘The crop shall have sufficient varietal identity and
varietal purity or, in the case of a crop of an inbred
line, sufficient identity and purity as regards its charac-
teristics. For the production of seed of hybrid varieties,
the abovementioned provisions shall also apply to the
characteristics of the components, including male ster-
ility or fertility restoration';

4. the following point 3b is inserted in Annex I:

‘3b. Crops to produce certified seed of hybrids of oats,
barley, rice, wheat, durum wheat, spelt wheat and
sel-pollinating triticale

(a) The crop shall conform to the following stan-
dards as regards distances from neighbouring
sources of pollen which may result in undesir-
able foreign pollination:

 the minimum distance of

the female
component shall be 25 m from any other
variety of the same species except from a
crop of the male component,

 this distance can be disregarded if there is
sufficient protection from any undesirable
foreign pollination.

5. 6. 1999

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

L 142/31

(b) The crop shall have sufficient identity and
purity as regards the characteristics of
the
components.

Where seed is produced by use of a chemical
hybridisation agent, the crop shall conform to
the following standards or other conditions:

(i) the minimum varietal purity of each

component shall be:
 oats, barley, rice, wheat, durum wheat

and spelt wheat: 99,7 %,

 self-pollinating triticale: 99,0 %;
(ii) the minimum hybridity must be 95 %.
The percentage hybridity shall be assessed
in accordance with current international
methods, in so far as such methods exist.
In cases where the hybridity is determined
during seed testing prior to certification,
the determination of the hybridity during
field inspection need not be done.';

5. in point 1 of Annex II,

the first and the second

sentences are replaced by the following:

‘The seed shall have sufficient varietal
identity and
varietal purity or, in the case of seed of an inbred line,
sufficient identity and purity as regards its characteris-
tics. For the seed of hybrid varieties, the abovemen-
tioned provisions shall also apply to the characteristics
of the components.';

6. in the heading of Section 1.Aa of Annex II, ‘other than

hybrids' is inserted after ‘Triticosecale';

7. the following section is added to Section 1.Aa of

Annex II:

‘Ab. Hybrids of oats, barley, rice, wheat, durum wheat,

spelt wheat and self-pollinating triticale.

The minimum varietal purity of the seed of the
category “certified seed” shall be 90 %. It shall be
examined in official post control
tests on an
approriate proportion of samples.'

Article 2

1. Member States shall bring into force the laws, regu-
lations and administrative provisions necessary to comply
with the provisions of this Directive not later than 1 July
2000. They shall
forthwith inform the Commission
thereof.

2. When Member States adopt these measures, they
shall contain a reference to this Directive or shall be
accompanied by such reference on the occasion of their
official publication. The procedure for such reference
shall be adopted by Member States.

3. Member States shall communicate to the Commis-
sion the text of the main provisions of domestic law they
adopt in the field covered by this Directive.

Article 3

This Directive shall enter into force on the 20th day
following its publication in the Official Journal of the
European Communities.

Done at Brussels, 26 May 1999.

For the Commission

Franz FISCHLER

Member of the Commission