2002/454/EC: Commission Decision of 12 June 2002 on a temporary experiment with regard to increasing the maximum weight of a lot of certain fodder plant seeds under Council Directive 66/401/EEC (Text with EEA relevance) (notified under document number C(2002) 2078)
Date: 2002-06-12
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: fodder plant, marketing standard, seed, weights and measures

14.6.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

L 155/57

II

(Acts whose publication is not obligatory)

COMMISSION

COMMISSION DECISION

of 12 June 2002

on a temporary experiment with regard to increasing the maximum weight of a lot of certain
fodder plant seeds under Council Directive 66/401/EEC

(notified under document number C(2002) 2078)

(Text with EEA relevance)

(2002/454/EC)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community,

Having regard to Council Directive 66/401/EEC of 14 June
1966 on the marketing of fodder plant seed (1), as last amended
by Directive 2001/64/EC (2), and in particular Article 13a
thereof,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

Directive 66/401/EEC provides for the maximum weight
of a lot in the context of seed testing.

in seed marketing practices,

in particular
Changes
methods of transporting seed including bulk shipment,
suggest that an increase in the maximum prescribed lot
weight for seed of grasses may be desirable.

international practice, namely the derogatory
Current
experiment on maximum lot size of gramineae seed, as
adopted by the Council of
the Organisation for
Economic Cooperation and Development on 28
September 2000, and the experiment on herbage seed
lot size, approved at the ordinary meeting of the Interna-
tional Seed Testing Association of 21 June 2001, permits
procedures whereby the maximum weight of a lot may
be increased for certain species, including grasses.

is therefore appropriate to organise a temporary
It
experiment under specified conditions on increasing the
maximum weight of a lot of grasses.

The measures provided for in this Decision are in accor-
dance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on
Seeds and Propagating Material for Agriculture, Horticul-
ture and Forestry,

(1) OJ 125, 11.7.1966, p. 2298/66.
(2) OJ L 234, 1.9.2001, p. 60.

Article 1

The purpose of this Decision is to organise a temporary experi-
ment at Community level, in accordance with the conditions
set out in the Annex, in order to assess whether the maximum
weight of a lot laid down in Annex III to Directive 66/401/EEC
may be increased in respect of seed of the category ‘certified
seed’ of
that
Directive.

the species of grasses listed in Article 2 of

Article 2

1.

Any Member State may participate in the experiment.

2. Member States that decide to participate in the experi-
ment shall inform the Commission accordingly.

to paragraph 2,

3. With effect of the date on which a Member State has
informed the Commission pursuant
this
Member State is released, for the purpose of the experiment,
from the obligation laid down in Article 7(2) of Directive 66/
401/EEC in respect of the maximum weight of a lot for grass
species listed in Annex III, column 2, for the species listed in
column 1 under the heading ‘GRAMINEAE’. However, it shall
apply a maximum weight of 25 tonnes instead, and comply, in
addition to the other conditions laid down in Directive 66/401/
EEC, with those laid down in the Annex to this Decision.

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Official Journal of the European Communities

14.6.2002

Article 3

Article 5

The experiment shall end on 1 June 2003. Member States may
decide to cease participation in the experiment at an earlier
date.

Article 4

Member States shall present progress reports on the results of
the experiment to the Commission and to the other Member
States by 30 November 2002 and by 31 March 2003.

This Decision is addressed to the Member States.

Done at Brussels, 12 June 2002.

For the Commission

David BYRNE

Member of the Commission

ANNEX

The conditions referred to in Article 1 are as follows:

(a) a heterogeneity test shall have been carried out on each lot and the lot shall have been found to satisfy the condition

of homogeneity;

(b) the official label prescribed under Directive 66/401/EEC shall bear the number of this Decision after the words ‘EC

rules and standards’;

(c) where a Member State participates in the experiment, samples supplied by that Member State for Community

comparative trials shall derive from seed lots officially certified under the terms of this experiment; and

(d) the certification authority shall monitor the experiment.