Article 3Inspections of crops and harvested seeds

1.

Participating Member States shall ensure that inspections of crops and harvested seed fulfil the requirements provided for in paragraphs 2 to 5.

2.

The crop to be inspected shall be grown from seed which has undergone official post-control, the results of which satisfy the requirements laid down in Annexes I to Directives 66/401/EEC, 66/402/EEC, 2002/54/EC, 2002/55/EC and 2002/57/EC.

3.

A proportion of at least 20 % of the crops shall be checked by the competent authority, as regards vegetable crops covered by Directive 2002/55/EC. For all other crops the proportion shall be at least 5 %. The following different proportions shall be used to allow to establish an appropriate level of check testing for the categories of basic seed and bred seed of generations prior to basic seed: 5, 10, 15 and 20 %.

4.

A proportion of samples from the seed lots harvested from the crops shall be drawn for official post-control and, where appropriate, for official laboratory seed testing in respect of varietal identity and purity. Member States shall identify seed lots for which field inspection has been carried out under official supervision.

5.

The Member States which participate in the experiment shall compare the official field inspections with those of the same field inspected under official supervision.