Commission Decision of 18 December 2006 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(2006) 6572) (Text with EEA relevance)
Date: 2006-12-18
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: derogation from EU law, fodder plant, marketing standard, seed, weights and measures

6.2.2007

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 32/161

COMMISSION DECISION

of 18 December 2006

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(2006) 6572)

(Text with EEA relevance)

(2007/66/EC)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Commu-
nity,

Having regard to Council Directive 66/401/EEC of 14 June 1966
on the marketing of fodder plant seed (1) and in particular Article
13a thereof,

Whereas:

(1) Directive 66/401/EEC provides for the maximum weight of
a lot to avoid heterogeneity in seed lots in the context of
seed testing.

(2) Changes in seed production and marketing practices,

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

(3)

By Commission Decision 2002/454/EC (2) a temporary
experiment with regard to increasing the maximum weight
of a lot of certain fodder plant seeds under Directive 66/
401/EEC was organised which was to end on 1 June 2003.
However no seed companies participated because that
Decision required a heterogeneity test to be carried out on
every seed lot produced under the experiment involving
large additional costs.

(4) Current

international practice, namely the ISTA (Inter-
national Seed Testing Association)/ISF (International Seed
Federation) Technical Protocol, approved by the ISTA
Executive Committee on 10 February 2006, and adopted

by the Council of the OECD (Organisation for Economic
Cooperation and Development) on 24 May 2006 permit
procedures whereby the maximum weight of a lot may be
increased for grasses.

(5)

(6)

To test in practice the conditions under which production
plants are able to produce sufficiently homogeneous large
seed lots, a temporary experiment should be organised
increasing the maximum weight of a lot of grasses.

The measures provided for
in this Decision are in
accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee
on Seeds and propagating material
for Agriculture,
Horticulture and Forestry,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1

1. By way of derogation from Article 7(2) of Directive 66/401/
for Member States
to that Directive,
EEC and Annex III
participating in the temporary experiment and for seed of the
species listed in column 1 of Annex III to that Directive under
the heading ‘GRAMINEAE’ the maximum weight of a lot shall be
25 tonnes.

For Member States participating in the temporary experi-
2.
ment, the conditions set out in the Annex to this Decision shall
apply in addition to the conditions provided for in Directive 66/
401/EEC.

(1) OJ 125, 11.7.1966, p. 2298/66. Directive as last amended by

Directive 2004/117/EC (OJ L 14, 18.1.2005, p. 18).

(2) OJ L 155, 14.6.2002, p. 57.

3. Member States participating in the experiment shall inform
the Commission accordingly. They may terminate their partici-
pation at any time by informing the Commission accordingly.

L 32/162

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

6.2.2007

Article 2

Article 4

Member States shall for each year, by 31 March of the following
year, present to the Commission and the other Member States a
report on the results of the experiment.

This Decision is addressed to the Member States.

Done at Brussels, 18 December 2006.

Article 3

The temporary experiment shall start on 1 January 2007 and end
on 30 June 2012.

For the Commission

Markos KYPRIANOU

Member of the Commission

6.2.2007

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 32/163

ANNEX

Conditions referred to in Article 1:

a) When derogating from the maximum size of gramineae seed lots, the ISTA/ISF Experiment on Herbage Seed Lot

Size (1), as adopted by the Council of the OECD on 24 May 2006, shall be followed;

b)

seed producers shall be officially licensed by the Certification Authority;

c)

d)

e)

the official label prescribed under Directive 66/401/EEC shall bear the number of this Decision after the words ‘EC
rules and standards’;

samples supplied for Community comparative trials by a Member State participating in the temporary experiment
shall derive from seed lots officially certified under the terms of the experiment; and

the Certification Authority shall monitor the experiment, and carry out, where appropriate, checks of up to 5 % of the
heterogeneity tests.

(1)

http://www.seedtest.org/en/content —-1 — 1039.html)