The Cereal Seeds Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2009

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations consolidate the Cereal Seeds Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1994 (S.R.1994 No.254), as amended by the Cereal Seeds (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1995 (S.R.1995 No.47), the Seeds (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1997 (S.R. 1997 No. 240), the Cereal Seeds (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000 (S.R.2000 No.53), the Cereal Seeds (Amendment No.2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000 (S.R.2000 No. 128), the Cereal Seeds (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2001 (S.R.2001 No.330), the Seeds (Fees) (No.2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2002 (S.R.2002 No.407), the Seeds (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003 (S.R. 2003 No. 42), the Seeds (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2004 (S.R. 2004 No. 460) and the Seeds (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2008 (S.R. 2008 No.114).

They include minor amendments that give effect (in relation to the marketing of cereal seed) to Commission Directive 2008/62/EC providing for certain derogations for acceptance of agricultural landraces and varieties which are naturally adapted to the local and regional conditions and threatened by genetic erosion and for marketing of seed and seed potatoes of those landraces and varieties (OJ No L 162, 21.6.08, p 13).

Regulation 21 provides for the marketing of seed of a conservation variety (“conservation variety” is defined in regulation 2(1), and regulations 24 to 27 make consequential amendments to provisions dealing with sampling, packaging and labelling.

They also give effect to Commission Directive 2009/74/EC amending Directives 66/401/EEC, 66/402/EEC, 2002/55/EC and 2002/57/ECas regards the botanical names of plants, the scientific names of other organisms and certain annexes to Directives 66/401/EEC and 2002/57/EC in the light of developments or scientific and technical knowledge.

These Regulations also provide for the collection by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of fees for certain services connected with the certification of cereal seed for marketing, and revoke the Seeds (Fees) (No2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2002 insofar as they relate to matters arising under the Cereal Seeds Regulations 1994.

No impact assessment has been prepared for this Rule, as no conservation varieties of cereal seed have been identified in Northern Ireland, and the consolidation of the Cereal Seeds Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1994, as amended, effects no significant change to the regulation of the cereal seed market in Northern Ireland.