The Vegetable Seeds Regulations 1993

Title, extent and commencement

1.  These Regulations may be cited as the Vegetable Seeds Regulations 1993 shall apply to Great Britain and shall come into operation on 1st September 1993.

Revocation

2.  The Vegetable Seeds Regulations 1985(1), the Vegetable Seeds (Amendment) Regulations 1987(2) and the Vegetable Seeds (Amendment) Regulations 1989(3) are hereby revoked.

Interpretation

3.—(1) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires—

“the Act” means the Plant Varieties and Seeds Act 1964;

“Common Catalogue” means the Common Catalogue of varieties of vegetables published in the Official Journal of the European Communities;

“maintainer” means a person who is indicated in a National List or in the Common Catalogue as responsible for maintaining a plant variety in accordance with the characteristics to which regard was had when the plant variety was entered in the National List or the Common Catalogue;

“maintenance” in regulation 9(10) means a method of maintaining Standard Seed of a plant variety entered in a National List of the Common Catalogue, such method being designated by a name applied by the person responsible for it;

“marketing” includes the offer for sale, exposure for sale, sale and possession with a view to sale of seeds and any transaction in the course of business—

(a)

under which the property in seeds is transferred from one person to another, or

(b)

under which the seeds are made over by one person to another in pursuance of a contract under which the seeds will be used for producing further seeds or for producing plants or parts of plants for human or animal consumption,

and “market” and “marketed” shall be construed accordingly;

“Member State”means a Member State of the Communities;

“the Minister” means, as respects England, the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and, as respects Scotland or Wales, the Secretary of State, and “the Ministers” means the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, the Secretary of State for Scotland and the Secretary of State for Wales acting jointly;

“National List” means the list of varieties of vegetables for the time being published in accordance with the Seeds (National Lists of Varieties) Regulations 1982(4);

“official certificate” means a certificate issued by the Minister in accordance with Schedule 2 subject to the payment of any fees payable under seeds regulations and containing in respect of the seed to which it relates the particulars specified inSchedule 3 and “officially certified” shall be construed accordingly;

“official examination” means—

(a)

an examination carried out by or on behalf of the Minister, subject to an application for such examination having been made to the Minister in such form and manner at such time as the Minister may, at his discretion, require and to the payment of any fees payable under the seeds regulations;

(b)

an examination carried out by or on behalf of the Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland, or

(c)

in relation to seeds produced elsewhere than in the United Kingdom, an examination approved by the Minister;

“official label” means a label issued or authorised by the Minister, subject to the payment of any fees payable under seeds regulations, and “official inner label” shall be construed accordingly;

“seed lot” means an identifiable consignment of seeds of a weight not exceeding that specified in Part II of Schedule 5, bearing a unique reference number, in which the seeds shall have been so mixed or blended that, as far as is practicable, the seed lot shows no evidence of heterogeneity;

“seeds regulations” means regulations made under section 16 of the Act and for the time being in force;

“small package” means a package of Certified Seed or Standard Seed containing a net weight of not more than 5 kilograms of seeds as regards runner beans, French bean, pea or broad bean, 500 grams of seeds as regards onion, asparagus, spinach beet or leaf beet or chard, red beet or beetroot, turnip, gourd, marrow, carrot, spinach or radish and 100 grams of seeds as regards other kinds of vegetables.

(2) A reference in these Regulations to a numbered regulation or Schedule shall be construed as a reference to the regulation or Schedule bearing that number in these Regulations.

(3) In these Regulations—

• “Uncertified Pre-basic Seed” means seeds of a generation earlier than that of Basic Seed—

  (a)

  which have been produced in the United Kingdom by or under the responsibility of the maintainer, and

  (b)

  which are intended for the production of Uncertified Pre-basic Seed, Pre-basic Seed or Basic Seed;

• “Pre-basic Seed” means seeds of a generation earlier than that of Basic seed—

  (a)

  which have been produced by or under the responsibility of the maintainer,

  (b)

  which are intended for the production of Pre-basic Seed, Basic Seed or, with the written authority of the maintainer and the Minister, Certified Seed, and

  (c)

  which satisfy the requirements for Basic Seed set out in Schedule 4 and in respect of which an official certificate has been issued in accordance with Schedule 2;

• “Basic Seed” means seeds—

  (a)

  which have been produced by or under the responsibility of the maintainer from Uncertified Pre-basic Seed or Pre-basic Seed,

  (b)

  which are intended for the production of Certified Seed, and

  (c)

  which satisfy the requirements for Basic Seed set out in Schedule 4 and in respect of which an official certificate has been issued in accordance with Schedule 2;

• “Certified Seed” means seeds—

  (a)

  which have been produced directly from Basic Seed or, with the written authority of the maintainer and the Minister, from Pre-basic Seed,

  (b)

  which are intended to be used mainly for the production of plants or parts of plants for human or animal consumption, and

  (c)

  which satisfy the requirements for Certified Seed set out in Schedule 4 and in respect of which an official certificate has been issued in accordance with Schedule 2;

• “Standard Seed” means seeds which are intended to be used mainly for the production of plants or parts of plants for human or animal consumption and which satisfy the requirements for Standard Seed set out in Part II of Schedule 4.

(4) For the purpose of these Regulations, seed marketed in accordance with regulation 5(1)(b) or (c) below shall be deemed to fall within the meaning of the appropriate category of seeds set out in paragraph (3) above.

Seeds to which the regulations apply

4.—(1) Subject to paragraphs (2) and (3) below, these Regulations apply to vegetable seeds of the kinds set out in Schedule 1 being seeds intended to be used only for the production of agricultural or horticultural crops.

(2) These Regulations shall not apply to—

(a) seeds which are marketed for delivery elsewhere than in a Member State,

(b) seeds used or to be used for research experiment,

(c) seeds used or to be used in the course of a process of selection, and

(d) seeds which are marketed with a view to processing, treatment or cleaning, where the identity of the seeds is stated by the person by whom they are marketed.

(3) Where a person (“the first person”) makes an arrangement under which some other person (“the second person”) uses seeds which are under the control of the first person for the purpose of—

(a) increasing the first person’s stock of seeds for the sowing, or

(b) carrying out tests or trials thereon,

and under that arrangement the whole of the material produced from the seeds (whether directly or indirectly) and any unused seeds become or remain the property of the first person, these Regulations shall not apply to the marketing of the seeds by the first person to the second person as part of that arrangement or to the marketing by the second person to the first person of seeds produced (whether directly or indirectly) from those seeds.

Marketing of seeds

5.—(1) Subject to the provisions of this regulation no person shall market any seeds unless they are seeds of plant varieties which may, for the time being, be marketed in accordance with regulation 31 of the Seeds (National Lists of Varieties) Regulations 1982, unless they are marketed in seed lots or in parts of seed lots and unless they are—

(a) Uncertified Pre-basic Seed, Pre-basic Seed, Basic Seed, Certified Seed or Standard Seed, or

(b) seeds which have been produced and packaged in a Member State other than the United Kingdom, which have been labelled appropriately in accordance with the requirements of regulation 9(1), (2), (5), (6), (7), (9), (10) and (12) and which—

(i) in the case of Standard Seed or a small package of seeds, have been sealed in accordance with regulation 8(3), or

(ii) in the case of all other seeds, have been officially sealed in a Member State other than the United Kingdom, or

(c) seeds which have been produced elsewhere than in a Member State and which are—

(i) Standard Seed which has been sealed in accordance with regulation 8(3) and labelled in accordance with regulation 9(6) and (7), or

(ii) Seeds marketed in accordance with, and subject to, the conditions imposed by a general licence granted by the Ministers under the authority of this paragraph, which licence shall have effect during the period specified in it unless the Ministers earlier revoke it.

(2) Except as provided in paragraph (3) below, no person shall market any seeds comprising a mixture of kinds of seeds or varieties of seeds of the same kind.

(3) Mixtures of different varieties of Standard Seed of lettuce or of different varieties of Standard Seed of radish may be marketed, subject to compliance with the additional requirement as to labelling in Part III of Schedule 6, in packages containing not more than 50 grams of seed and paragraph (1) above shall not prevent the marketing of kinds or varieties of vegetable seeds included in mixtures of seeds permitted by the Fodder Plant Seeds Regulations 1993(5), but each constituent of such mixtures, to which these Regulations apply, shall consist of seeds meeting the requirements of paragraph (1) above.

(4) The Minister may, by a general licence which may impose conditions and which shall have effect during the period specified in it unless the Minister earlier revokes it,—

(a) authorise any person to market as Pre-basic Seed, Basic Seed, Certified Seed or Standard Seed, seeds which fail in some respect to satisfy the requirements for such seeds set out in Schedule 4 or Schedule 5,

(b) modify the labelling requirements set out in Schedule 6,

(c) authorise any person to market seeds which, notwithstanding the requirements of the Seeds (National Lists of Varieties) Regulations 1982 are of a variety not entered in a National List or in the Common Catalogue,

(d) authorise any person to market seeds in respect of which an official certificate has not been issued in accordance with paragraph 1 of Schedule 3 but in all other respects, unless expressly otherwise stated in the licence, the provisions of these Regulations shall apply in relation to the marketing of the seeds.

(5) Any person may market to a person engaged in the business of trading in seeds, other than by way of retail sale, seeds which have been imported from a country other than a Member State notwithstanding that such marketing would otherwise be prohibited by virtue of paragraph (1)(c) above.

(6) Notwithstanding the requirement in Part II of Schedule 4 that Basic Seed shall attain the minimum standards of germination specified in the said Schedule any person may, subject to the requirements of regulation 9(4), market as Pre-basic Seed or Basic Seed, seeds which in other respects satisfy the requirements for Basic Seed set out in the said Schedule and in respect of which an official certificate has been issued in accordance withSchedule 2 but which attain a lower percentage of germination than that specified in Schedule 4 in relation to seeds of that kind.

(7) In a case where the official examination in respect of the germination of any seed lot has not been completed, but a preliminary test of germination has shown that the seeds attain the appropriate minimum standard of germination specified in Part II of Schedule 4 and the seeds in other respects satisfy the appropriate requirements of the said Schedule, the seed or any part of the seed lot may, subject to the requirements of paragraph (9) below and regulations 8 and 9, be marketed. In the event of any such marketing the seller of the seeds shall, upon or before delivery, provide the purchaser with a written statement that the seeds are marketed before the completion of the official germination test together with the result of the preliminary test of germination. In the event of the official germination test showing the failure of the seeds to comply with the minimum germination standard required by paragraph 2 of Part II of Schedule 4 for seeds of that kind, the seller shall provide the purchaser with the result of the completed test, in writing, as soon as practicable and in any event not later than seven days after being informed of it.

(8) The provisions of paragraph (7) above shall not apply to the marketing of any seed lot or part of any seed lot in respect of which a previous official examination has shown that the seed fails to meet the standards set out for such seed in Part II of Schedule 4.

(9) A person who sells any seeds in accordance with paragraph (7) above shall make and, during a period of twelve months following the delivery of the seeds, keep available for inspection by an officer of the Minister a record of the date of such delivery, of the reference number of the seed lot delivered, of the name and address of the purchaser, of the date on which the preliminary test of germination was carried out and of the result of that test and, if appropriate, of the date on which the purchaser was informed of the result of the completed official germination test.

(10) Paragraphs (6) and (7) of this regulation shall not apply to seeds which have been imported from a country other than a Member State unless they have been produced directly from Pre-Basic Seed, or Basic Seed produced in a Member State.

(11) Notwithstanding the requirements of regulation 32(1) and (2) of the Seeds (National Lists of Varieties) Regulations 1982, and paragraph (1) above, any person may market Standard Seed of asparagus, chicory, sprouting broccoli or calabrese which is not of a variety which is entered in a National List or the Common Catalogue or which is marketed otherwise than under a varietal name.

(12) Where seeds are sampled for the official examination referred to in paragraph 2(c) of Schedule 2 in an untreated state and are subsequently subjected to chemical treatment the seller shall, upon or before delivering the seeds to the purchaser, provide him with a statement in writing that the seeds have been subsequently subjected to chemical treatment and specifying the chemical nature of such treatment.

(13) Seeds which have been produced and packaged in a Member State other than the United Kingdom, notwithstanding that they have not been officially certified as Certified Seed in that Member State, may be imported but shall not be marketed in the United Kingdom until they have been officially certified in the United Kingdom.

(14) Seeds which have been produced from Basic Seed, Certified Seed or Generations prior to Basic Seed which have been officially certified in the United Kingdom and which have undergone field inspections and satisfied the conditions for the appropriate category laid down in Part I of Schedule 4 may be marketed to Member States other than the United Kingdom notwithstanding that they have not been officially certified as Certified Seed. Such seed shall be packed and labelled with official labels and be accompanied by an official document complying with the conditions laid down in Schedule 6 Part IC and in accordance with the provisions laid down in regulations 8 and 9.

Official certificates

6.—(1) An application for the issue of an official certificate in respect of a seed lot of Pre-basic Seed, Basic Seed or Certified Seed—

(a) shall be made in writing to the Minister in such form and manner, and shall be accompanied by such documents, as the Minister may require, and

(b) shall be made not later than the thirty-first day of December of the year following the year of harvest of the crop from which the seed is obtained or within such other time as the Minister may allow.

(2) Where an application for the issue of an official certificate is made to the Minister in accordance with paragraph (1) above the Minister shall deal with the application in accordance with the provisions of Schedule 2.

(3) An official certificate which has been issued by the Minister may be withdrawn by him in respect of either the whole of a seed lot or any part of a seed lot and any seeds from which an official certificate has been so withdrawn shall be deemed not to have been officially certified if—

(a) the results of an official examination of the seeds in respect of which theofficial certificate has been issued are declared null and void in accordance withparagraph (2) of regulation 7, or

(b) information has been received by him which, if known to him before the official certificate was issued, would have resulted in the application for its issue being refused on the grounds that the seeds did not meet the requirements of seed regulations.

(4) Where, in accordance with paragraph (3) above, seeds are deemed not to have been officially certified the seller of the seeds shall, as soon as practicable and in any case not later than 7 days after being informed of it, notify the purchaser, in writing, that the seeds have not been officially certified.

Sampling

7.—(1) A sample of seeds taken for the purposes of an official examination shall be taken, subject to the payment of any fees payable under seeds regulations, by a person authorised by the Minister in that behalf and in accordance with the requirements contained in Schedule 5.

(2) If a sample of seeds taken for the purposes of an official examination is found not to have been taken in accordance with the requirements of seeds regulations no, or no further, official examination shall be made of that sample, and any findings or results obtained in the course of any official examination of the sample of seeds already made shall be deemed null and void.

Sealing of packages

8.—(1) No person shall market in accordance with regulation 5(1)(a) or (2) a package (other than a package of Uncertified Pre-basic Seed, a package of Standard Seed or a small package of seeds) of Pre-basic Seed, Basic Seed or Certified Seed unless it has been, not later than at the time of sampling, sealed by or under the supervision of a person authorised by the Minister in that behalf in such a manner that when the package is opened the sealing device will be broken and cannot be re-used.

(2) If a package of seeds which has been sealed in accordance with paragraph (1) above or imported in accordance with regulations 5(1)(b)(ii) or (c)(ii) shall have been opened it may only be re-sealed or further re-sealed by or under the supervision of a person authorised by the Minister in that behalf.

(3) No person shall market a package of Uncertified Pre-basic Seed, a package of Standard Seed or a small package of seeds unless it has been sealed with a dealing device in such a manner that when the package is opened the sealing device will be broken and cannot be re-used.

Labelling of packages

9.—(1) Subject to paragraph (10) below, no person shall market any seeds in accordance with regulation 5(1)(a) or (2) except in a package which, not later than at time of sealing, is labelled, inscribed or otherwise dealt with in accordance with this regulation.

(2) Subject to the exception in paragraph (3) below, a package of Pre-basic Seed or of Basic Seed or a package, other than a small package, of Certified Seed, shall have affixed on the outside an official label, as appropriate to the seeds, which shall be of at least the minimum size and of the colour specified in Part I of Schedule 6, and shall contain particulars of the matters also specified in the said Part I, such label being either an adhesive label of a label secured to the package by a sealing device approved by the Minister, the label being affixed (in either case) by or under the supervision of a person authorised by the Minister in that behalf.

(3) The official label referred to in paragraph (2) above shall not be required when all of the particulars to be included therein are included in the official inner label placed in the package in accordance with paragraph (5) of this regulation and the package is sufficiently transparent to enable such particulars to be readily legible through it.

(4) If in accordance with regulation 5(6) a person shall market Pre-basic Seed or Basic Seed of a lower percentage of germination than that specified in Schedule 4 the fact shall be stated on the official label and a suppliers label affixed to the outside of the package shall contain a statement of the germination of the seeds together with the name and address of the seller and the reference number of the lot.

(5) A package of Pre-basic Seed or of Basic Seed or a package, other than a small package, of Certified Seed shall contain an official inner label which shall be of the same colour as, and in addition to, the official label affixed to the outside of the package in accordance with paragraph (2) above. The official inner label shall contain particulars of the reference number of the lot, and of the kind and the variety of the seeds; except that if such particulars are printed indelibly on the outside of the package or if the official label is an adhesive or a tear-resistant label the official inner label referred to in this paragraph shall not be required.

(6) A package of Uncertified Pre-basic Seed or a package, other than a small package, of Standard Seed shall have affixed on the outside a label, as appropriate to the seeds, which shall be of at least the minimum size and of the colour specified in Part II of Schedule 6 and which shall contain particulars of the matters also specified in the said Part II; except that if all such particulars are printed indelibly on the outside of the package the said label shall not be required and if some of such particulars are so printed they may be omitted from the said label.

(7) A small package of Certified Seed or a small package of Standard Seed shall have affixed on the outside a label, as appropriate to the seeds, which shall be of the colour specified in Part III of Schedule 6 and which shall contain particulars of the matters also specified in the said Part III; except that if all such particulars are printed indelibly on the outside of the package the said label shall not be required and if some of such particulars are so printed they may be omitted from the said label.

(8) If a package of Pre-basic Seed, Basic Seed or Certified Seed shall have been re-sealed in accordance with regulation 8(2) above this fact shall be stated on the official label together with the month and year of re-sealing and the name of the authority responsible for the re-sealing either on the official label referred to in paragraph (2) above or on the official inner label in the circumstances referred to in paragraph (3) above.

(9) If any seeds have been subjected to any chemical treatment this fact and the nature of the treatment or the proprietary name of the chemical used in the treatment shall be stated either—

(a) on a separate supplier’s label, or

(b) on the label referred to in paragraph (2), (6) or (7) above or, where such a label is not required, with the particulars otherwise given in accordance with those paragraphs,

and also, except where the label referred to in paragraph (2), (6) or (7) above is not required or where the information prescribed by this paragraph is given on an adhesive or tear-resistant label, either on the outside of the package or in a statement enclosed in the package.

(10) In respect of Standard Seed, the particulars and information given in accordance with this regulation may be accompanied by a reference by name to a particular maintenance except that such a reference may be made only in respect of a variety whose existence was either—

(a) on 1st July 1970 a matter of common knowledge in any Member State of the Communities as then constituted, or

(b) on 1st July 1973 a matter of common knowledge in any Member State which has acceded to the Communities since 1st July 1970, and the name of the maintenance shall in every such case appear after the name of the variety of the seeds from which it shall be separated by a dash and shall be given no greater prominence than the name of the variety.

(11) A person may sell any seeds otherwise than in a package which is labelled, inscribed or otherwise dealt with in accordance with this regulation where—

(a) the seeds are sold by way of retail sale in quantity not exceeding the appropriate maximum weight indicated in Schedule 7, and

(b) the seeds are taken, in the presence of the purchaser, from a container on which there is clearly and visibly marked or near which there is clearly and visibly displayed a statement containing particulars of the matters specified in Part IV of Schedule 6.

(12) The particulars and information given in accordance with this regulation shall be given in one of the official languages of the Communities.

(13) Subject to the provisions of the Act and of these Regulations, no person shall, in the course of the marketing or the preparation for marketing of any seeds by himself or by any other person, wilfully reproduce, remove, alter, deface, conceal or misuse in any way any label affixed to, contained in or marked on any package of seeds or to be so affixed, contained or marked.

Record of transactions

10.—(1) A person who in the course of marketing any Standard Seed affixes or causes to be affixed, in accordance with regulation 9(6), a label on the outside of a package of Standard Seed or prints or stamps or causes to be printed or stamped on the outside of such a package the particulars referred to in the said regulation 9(6) shall maintain and keep available for inspection by an officer of the Minister a record of the dates on which and of the packages on which such labels were affixed or particulars printed or stamped and shall, if so required by the Minister, furnish him with a copy of such record.

(2) A person referred to in paragraph (1) above shall keep and retain for a period of at least three years a record of the seed lots of Standard Seed marketed by him, and shall take and retain for a period of at least two years a sample of each such seed lot of at least the appropriate minimum weight specified in Part II of Schedule 5 and, if so required by the Minister, or by an officer of the Minister, shall produce such record or deliver any such sample to him.

Civil liabilities of sellers of seeds

11.—(1) The particulars given to a purchaser by the seller of seeds to which these Regulations apply, whether given in pursuance of these Regulations expressly or by implication arising from the description under which the seeds are sold, shall constitute a statutory warranty for the purpose of section 17 of the Act in so far as they relate to the category of the seeds, the percentage germination of the seeds, the percentage analytical purity of the seeds, the content of seeds of other plant species and the varietal identity and the varietal purity of the seeds or, in the case of a mixture of seeds permitted by regulation 5(2), of each of its constituents to which these Regulations apply.

(2) Section 17(2) of the Act shall apply to any particulars given to a purchaser by the seller of seeds, being particulars given or implied as in paragraph (1) above, in so far as they relate to the percentage germination, the percentage analytical purity, or the content of seeds of other plant species and there are hereby prescribed in respect of such matters the limits of variation set out in Schedule 8.

(3) Section 17(3) of the Act shall apply to any particulars given to a purchaser by the seller of seeds, being particulars given or implied as in paragraph (1) above, in so far as they relate to the percentage germination, the percentage analytical purity or the content of seeds of other plant species.

(4) A purchaser who intends to obtain a test of seeds for the purpose of section 17(3) of the Act shall, not more than 10 days after delivery to him of the seeds, give to the seller written notice of his intention and thereupon the seller may indicate a day (not being more than 21 days after delivery of the seeds to the purchaser) and a reasonable time on that day at which a sample of the seeds may be taken in the presence of himself or of his representative and the purchaser shall afford to the seller reasonable facilities for that purpose.

(5) On the day and at the time appointed by the seller in accordance with paragraph (4) above or, if the seller shall have failed to appoint such a day and time, on a day not more than 28 days after delivery of the seeds to the purchaser, the purchaser or his representative may, and if the seller or his representative is present shall, take a sample of the seeds. Such sample shall be taken and divided by the purchaser or his representative into two parts in accordance with the requirements contained in Part I of Schedule 5, each part being of at least the appropriate minimum weight specified in Part II of Schedule 5, of which one part shall be sent to the Chief Officer of an official seed testing station for the purpose of being tested and the other part delivered or tendered to the seller or his representative or, if he or his representative was not present when the sample was taken, sent to him by post.

In witness whereof the Official Seal of the Minister of Agriculture, Fishers and Food is hereunto affixed on 30th July 1993.

L.S.

Gillian Shephard

Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food

Hector Monro

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Scottish Office

2nd August 1993

John Redwood

Secretary of State for Wales

29th July 1993