Proposal for a DECISION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL amending Council Decision 2008/971/EC as regards the inclusion of forest reproductive material of the 'qualified' category within the scope of that Decision and the updating of the name of the authorities responsible for the approval and control of the production
Date: 2012-07-02
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Community certification, import (EU), marketing standard, originating product, plant propagation, seed, third country

EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

Brussels, 2.7.2012  
COM(2012) 355 final 

2012/0172 (COD) 

Proposal for a 

DECISION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL 

amending Council Decision 2008/971/EC as regards the inclusion of forest reproductive 
material of the 'qualified' category within the scope of that Decision and the updating of 
the name of the authorities responsible for the approval and control of the production 

(Text with EEA relevance) 

EN 

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EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 

1. 

CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL 

the  marketing  of 

reproductive 
Council  Directive  1999/105/EC  on 
material1  regulates  the  internal  marketing  of  reproductive  material  of  the  plant 
species as listed by that Directive. To facilitate trades and to promptly respond to the 
marketing request, that Directive foresees the possibility for the Council to establish 
rules  for  authorising  the  importation  of  reproductive  material  from  third  countries 
under an equivalence system. 

forest 

2. 

RESULTS OF CONSULTATIONS WITH THE INTERESTED PARTIES AND 
IMPACT ASSESSMENTS 

Member States and stakeholders proposed to the Commission to submit this updating 
to facilitate trades, in particular the importation of forest reproductive material and to 
promptly  respond  to  the  marketing  request  in  particular  for  fast  growing  tree 
plantations intended for energy/biomass production. 

3. 

LEGAL ELEMENTS OF THE PROPOSAL 

Council  Decision  2008/971/EC2  provided  the  list  of  countries  to  be  recognised  for 
the  application  of  the  equivalence  principle  for  importation  and  determined 
conditions  under  which  forest  reproductive  material  of  the  'source  identified'  and 
'selected'  categories  produced  in  those  countries  shall  be  imported  in  the  Union. 
Based on new information received from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation 
and Development (OECD) about the adoption of an updated 'OECD Scheme for the 
certification  of  Forest  Reproductive  Material  Moving  in  International  Trades'  also 
material  officially  certified  under  the  category  'qualified'  by  the  third  country 
authorities  listed  by  that  Decision  shall  be  considered  equivalent  to  seed  and  plant 
stock complying with Directive 1999/105/EC, provided that the conditions laid down 
in Annex II of that Decision are satisfied. It should be appropriate to add the category 
'qualified' to the 'source identified' and 'selected' categories.  

According to information provided by the above mentioned OECD Scheme (Annex – 
List  of  National  Designated  Authorities  in  member  Countries  of  the  Scheme),  the 
names of the authorities responsible for the approval and control of the production of 
Croatia (HR), Norway (NO), Serbia (SR), Turkey (TR) and USA (US), as listed in 
Annex I to Council Decision 2008/971/EC, have changed. In this view, Annex I of 
that Decision should be amended accordingly. 

In  Annex  II  an  additional  condition  specific  for  the  category  'qualified'  must  be 
added  to  permit  the  harmonized  implementation  of  Directive  2001/18/EC  on  the 
deliberate  release  into  the  environment  of  genetically  modified  organisms  and 

1 
2 

OJ L 11, 15.1.2000, p. 17 
OJ L 354, 23.12.2008, p. 83 

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repealing Council Directive 90/220/EEC3. This would be necessary to ensure that, as 
set  out  in  Article  3(2)  of  that  Decision,  the  respective  seed  and  planting  stock 
officially certified by those authorities is considered equivalent to seed and planting 
stock complying with Directive 1999/105/EC. 

3 

OJ L106, 17.4.2001, p 1  

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3 

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2012/0172 (COD) 

Proposal for a 

DECISION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL 

amending Council Decision 2008/971/EC as regards the inclusion of forest reproductive 
material of the 'qualified' category within the scope of that Decision and the updating of 
the name of the authorities responsible for the approval and control of the production 

(Text with EEA relevance) 

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, 

Having  regard  to  the  Treaty  on  the  Functioning  of  the  European  Union,  and  in  particular 
Article 43(2) thereof, 

Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission, 

After transmission of the draft legislative act to the national Parliaments, 

Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee,  

Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure, 

Whereas: 

(1) 

(2) 

(3) 

Council  Decision  2008/971/EC  of  16  December  2008  on  the  equivalence  of  forest 
reproductive  material  produced  in  third  countries1,  determines  the  conditions  under 
which  forest  reproductive  material  of  the  'source  identified'  and  'selected'  categories 
produced in third countries listed in Annex I to that Decision, shall be imported in the 
Union.  

The  national  rules  for  the  certification  of  forest  reproductive  material  in  Canada, 
Croatia,  Norway,  Serbia,  Switzerland,  Turkey  and  the  United  States  of  America 
provide  for  an  official  field  inspection  to  be  carried  out  during  the  collection  and 
processing of seed and the production of planting stock.  

According  to  those  rules,  the  systems  for  the  approval  and  registration  of  basic 
material  and  the  subsequent  production  of  reproductive  material  from  this  basic 
material should follow the OECD Scheme for the certification of forest reproductive 
material  moving  in  international  trade  (OECD  Forest  seed  and  plant  scheme).  In 
addition,  those  rules  require  seed  and  planting  stock  of  the  ‘source  identified’  and 
‘selected’  categories  and  of  the  category  'qualified'  to  be  officially  certified  and  the 

1 

OJ L 345, 23.12.2008, p. 83. 

EN 

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(4) 

(5) 

seed  packages  to  be  officially  closed  in  accordance  with  the  OECD  Forest  seed  and 
plant scheme.  

An  examination  of  those  rules  as  regards  the  category  'qualified'  has  shown  that  the 
conditions for approval of basic material satisfy the requirements laid down in Council 
Directive 1999/105/EC of 22 December 1999 on the marketing of forest reproductive 
material2. Furthermore, to the exception of conditions regarding seed quality, species 
purity  and  planting  stock  quality,  the  rules  of  these  third  countries  afford  the  same 
assurances as regards the conditions applicable to seed and planting stock of the new 
category 'qualified' as those set out in Directive 1999/105/EC. It follows that the rules 
for  certification  of  forestry  material  of  the  category  'qualified'  in  Canada,  Croatia, 
Norway,  Serbia,  Switzerland,  Turkey  and  the  United  States  of  America  should  be 
considered as equivalent to those set out in Directive 1999/105/EC, provided that the 
conditions set out in Annex II of Decision 2008/971/EC are satisfied as regards seed 
and planting stocks, are satisfied. 

As  regards  material  of  the  'qualified'  category,  those  conditions  should  include,  the 
provision  of  information  on  whether  the  products  have  been  or  not  genetically 
modified Such information should facilitate the application of the requirements set out 
in Directive 2001/18/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 March 
2001 on the deliberate release into the environment of genetically modified organisms 
and repealing Council Directive 90/220/EEC3, or where applicable, in Regulation (EC) 
No 1829/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 September 2003 
on  genetically  modified  food  and  feed4  and  Regulation  (EC)  No  1830/2003  of  the 
European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  22  September  2003  concerning  the 
traceability  and  labelling  of  genetically  modified  organisms  and  the  traceability  of 
food and feed products produced from genetically modified organisms and amending 
Directive 2001/18/EC5. 

(6) 

In addition, the names of some authorities responsible for the approval and control of 
the production, as listed in Annex I to Decision 2008/971/EC have changed.  

(7) 

Decision 2008/971/EC should therefore be amended accordingly, 

HAVE ADOPTED THIS DECISION: 

Article 1 

Decision 2008/971/EC is amended as follows: 

(1) 

In Article 1, the first paragraph is replaced by the following: 

"This Decision determines the conditions under which forest reproductive material of 
the 'source identified', 'selected' and 'qualified' categories produced in a third country 
listed in Annex I shall be imported into the Union." 

2 
3 
4 
5 

OJ L 11, 15.1.2000, p.17. 
OJ L 106, 17.4.2001, p. 1.  
OJ L 268, 18.10.2003, p. 1. 
OJ L 268, 18.10.2003, p. 24. 

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(2) 

In Article 3, paragraph 2 is replaced by the following: 

"2.  Seed  and  planting  stock  of  the  'source  identified',  'selected'  and  'qualified' 
categories of species listed in Annex I to Directive 1999/105/EC, produced in 
the third countries listed in Annex I to this Decision and officially certified by 
the third country authorities listed in that Annex, shall be considered equivalent 
to  seed  and  planting  stock  complying  with  Directive  1999/105/EC,  provided 
that the conditions laid down in Annex II to this Decision are satisfied." 

(3) 

Annexes I and II are amended in accordance with the Annex to this Decision. 

This  Decision  shall  enter  into  force  on  the  third  day  following  that  of  its  publication  in  the 
Official Journal of the European Union. 

Article 2 

It shall apply from 1 January 2013. 

Article 3 

This Decision is addressed to the Member States. 

Done at Brussels,  

For the European Parliament 
The President 

For the Council 
The President 

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ANNEX  

Annexes I and II to Decision 2008/971/EC are amended as follows: 

(1) 

Annex I is replaced by the following: 

"ANNEX I 

Countries and authorities 

Country (*) 

Authority responsible for the approval and control of 
production 

1 

CA 

CH 

HR 

2 

National Forest Genetic Resources Centre/ Centre national des 
ressources génétiques forestières 
Natural Resources Canada/Ressources naturelles Canada 
Canadian Forest Service-Atlantic/Service canadien des forêts -
Atlantique 
P.O. Box 4000,  
FREDERICTON, NB E3B 5P7 

Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) 
Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and 
Communications (DETEK) 
Forest Division 
Federal Plant Protection Service 
Zürcherstraße 111 
CH-8903 BIRMENSDORF 

Croatian Forest Research Institute – CFI 
Division of Genetics, Forest Tree Breeding and Seed Science 
Cvetno naselje 41 
10450 Jastrebarsko 

Ministry of Regional Development, Forestry and Water 
Management 
Department for Forest Protection and Forest Reproductive Material 
Trg kralja Petra Krešimira IV br. 1 
10 000 Zagreb 

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NO 

Norwegian Forest and Landscape Institute 
P.O. Box 115 
N-1431 AAS 

SR 

TR 

US 

Norwegian Forest Seed Center 
P.O. Box 118 
N-2301 HAMAR 

Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management 
Ministry of AFW - Directorate for Forest 
Omladinskih brigada 1 
Novi Beograd 

Ministry of Forestry 
Forest Tree Seeds and Tree Breeding 
Research Directorate 
Orman Bak awligi 
Arastima Planlama ve Koord. Dai. Bsk. 
Orman Genel Müdürlügü, 2N° lu Bina 
TR-06560 GAZI- ANKARA 

USA United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service 
Cooperative Forestry 
National Seed Laboratory 
5675 Riggins Mill Road 
Dry Branch, Georgia 31020 

OFFICIAL STATE CERTIFICATION AUTHORITIES 
(Authorized to issue OECD certificates through cooperative 
agreement with USDA Forest Service) 
Washington State Crop Improvement Association, Inc. 
1610 NE Eastgate Blvd, Suite 610 
Pullman, Washington 99163 

(*) 

CA – Canada, CH – Switzerland, HR – Croatia, NO – Norway, SR – Serbia, TR – 
Turkey, US – United States of America." 

(2) 

In Annex II, the following Part is added:  

"C.  Conditions relating to 'qualified' category of seed and planting stock produced 

in third countries 

As regards seed or planting stock of the 'qualified' category, the OECD Label 
and  the  supplier's  label  or  document  shall  state  whether  genetic  modification 
has been used in the production of the basic material." 

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