The Seeds (National Lists of Varieties) (Fees) (Amendment) Regulations 1995

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Seeds (National Lists of Varieties) (Fees) Regulations 1994 so as to—

(a) provide for the charging of fees for tests for distinctness, uniformity and stability in respect of any of the hereditary sources of a variety which is the subject of an application for entry in a National List that the Minister may require to be tested, including where an applicant is exempted from payment of such fees in respect of the variety itself by reason of payment of fees for tests carried out on his behalf for the purposes of a grant of plant breeders' rights (regulation 2(2) and 2(3));

(b) provide for the charging of fees for trials for value for cultivation and use in respect of seeds used for such trials sown on or after 1st April 1995 (regulation 2(4));

(c) prescribe revised fees payable in respect of trials for value for cultivation and use and provide for the charging of fees for such trials in respect of varieties of flax (regulation 2(5) and Schedule).

Trial fees for some crops have risen by approximately 100% and have been introduced for other crops as a result of an agreed phasing in of new charging arrangements from 1st April 1994, although trial fees for potatoes have not increased.

A Compliance Cost Assessment in relation to these Regulations has been placed in the libraries of both Houses of Parliament and copies can be obtained from the Plant Variety Rights Office and Seeds Division of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, White House Lane, Huntingdon Road, Cambridge CB3 0LF.