Proposal for a Council Decision on the equivalence of the official examination of varieties carried out in Croatia
Date: 2006-04-04
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Community certification, Croatia, European standard, catalogue, crop production, marketing, seed, seedling

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 4.4.2006 
COM(2006) 151 final 

Proposal for a 

COUNCIL DECISION 

on the equivalence of the official examination of varieties carried out in Croatia 

(presented by the Commission) 

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EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 

Council  Directive  2002/53/EC  on  the  Common  Catalogue  of  varieties  of  agricultural  plant 
species  provides  for  the  Council  to  determine  whether  the  official  examination  of  varieties 
carried  out  in  third  countries  afford  the  same  guarantees  as  those  carried  out  by  Member 
States. 

Reference is made to the assessment of the requirements of distinctness, stability, uniformity 
and value  for cultivation and use of  the varieties to be accepted for inclusion in the official 
catalogue of varieties of agricultural plant species. 

Croatia  requested  recognition  by  the  Community  as  regards  the  official  examination  of 
varieties for distinctness, stability and uniformity. A first letter was addressed to Directorate 
General  Health  and  Consumer  Protection  on  8  December  2004.  Since  then  several  contacts 
took  place  at  the  level  of  Services.  Documentation  was  made  available  to  the  Commission 
Services.  This  documentation  was  restricted  to  three  cereal  species,  i.e.  wheat,  barley  and 
maize. It should be noted that Croatia has been a member of the International Union for the 
Protection  of  New  Varieties  of  Plants  (UPOV)  since  2001,  which  implies  an  international 
recognition  of  Croatia’s  capability  to  carry  out  official  examinations  of  varieties  for 
distinctness, stability and uniformity. 

Slovenia strongly supports a favourable outcome of the Croatian request. 

Following an examination of the file, the Commission services consider that Croatia offers the 
requested guarantees. 

The present proposal would establish the equivalence in question and permit the Commission 
to  update  the  technical  elements  of  the  Decision  as  laid  down  in  the  Annexes,  taking  into 
account  the  opinion  of  the  Standing  Committee  on  Seeds  and  Propagating  Material  for 
Agriculture, Horticulture and Forestry. 

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Proposal for a 

COUNCIL DECISION 

on the equivalence of the official examination of varieties carried out in Croatia 

(Text with EEA relevance) 

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, 

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, 

Having regard to Council Directive 2002/53/EC of 13 June 2002 on the common catalogue of 
varieties of agricultural plant species1, and in particular Article 22 (1) (a) thereof, 

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, 

Whereas: 

(1) 

(2) 

(3) 

Directive  2002/53/EC  allows  for  the  Council  to  determine  whether  the  official 
examinations of varieties carried out in a third country afford the same assurances as 
those carried out in the Member States. 

The rules on the official examination of varieties carried out in Croatia in respect of 
wheat,  barley  and  maize  provide  that  the  acceptance  of  varieties  as  regards  their 
distinctness,  stability  and  uniformity  is  based  on  the  results  of  official  examinations, 
particularly  growing  trials,  covering  a  sufficient  number  of  characteristics  for  the 
variety to be described. 

An examination of those rules and the manner in which they are applied in Croatia in 
respect  of  the  three  aforementioned  species  has  shown  that  they  afford  the  same 
assurances as those carried out by the Member States, provided that further conditions 
are satisfied. 

(4) 

This  Decision  does  not  prevent  Community  findings  on  equivalence  from  being 
revoked when the conditions on which they are based are not, or cease to be, satisfied. 

1 

OJ L 193, 20.7.2002 p. 1. Directive as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1829/2003 of the European 
Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 268, 18.10.2003, p. 1). 

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HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: 

Article 1 

The official examinations as regards distinctness, stability and uniformity of the varieties of 
the species listed in Annex I carried out in Croatia by the Authority specified in Annex I shall 
be considered to afford the same assurances as those carried out by the Member States, if they 
satisfy the conditions set out in Annex II. 

Amendments to the Annexes shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure referred to in 
Article 3(2). 

Article 2 

Article 3 

1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

The  Commission  shall  be  assisted  by  the  Standing  Committee  on  Seeds  and 
Propagating Material for Agriculture, Horticulture and Forestry, hereinafter referred 
to as ‘the Committee’. 

Where  reference  is  made  to  this  paragraph,  Articles  4  and  7  of  Decision 
1999/468/EC shall apply. 

The  period  laid  down  in  Article  4(3)  of  Decision  1999/468/EC  shall  be  set  at  one 
month. 

The Committee shall adopt its rules of procedure. 

Article 4 

This Decision is addressed to the Member States. 

Done at Brussels, 

For the Council 
The President 

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ANNEX I 

Authority  

Species 

Institute for Seed and 
Seedlings, Osijek 

Hordeum vulgare L. 
Triticum aestivum L. 
Zea Mays L. 

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Conditions 

ANNEX II 

1. 

2. 

3. 

The  acceptance  of  varieties  as  regards  the  assessment  of  distinctness,  stability  and 
uniformity shall be based on the results of official examinations. 

In order to establish distinctness, the growing trials shall include at least the available 
comparable varieties: 

– 

– 

listed in the Common Catalogue of varieties of agricultural plant species; and 

which,  without  being  listed  in  the  above  mentioned  catalogue,  have  been 
accepted  or  submitted  for  acceptance  in  a  Member  State  of  the  Community, 
either for certification and marketing, or for certification for other countries. 

The  characteristics  to  be  covered  as  a  minimum  by  the  examination  and  the 
minimum  conditions  for  examining  the  varieties  of  the  species  in  question  shall  be 
those set out in Commission Directive 2003/90/EC2. 

2 

OJ L 254, 8.10.2003, p. 7. 

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