Article 7
1
Member States shall require that, for the checking of varieties, the examination of seed for certification and the examination of commercial seed, samples are drawn officially or under official supervision in accordance with appropriate methods. However seed sampling with a view to controls pursuant to Article 19 shall be carried out officially.
1a
When the seed sampling under official supervision provided for in paragraph 1 is carried out, the following requirements shall be complied with:
a
seed sampling shall be carried out by seed samplers who have been authorised for that purpose by the seed certification authority of the Member State concerned under the conditions set out in (b), (c), and (d);
b
seed samplers shall have the necessary technical qualifications obtained in training courses organised under conditions applicable to official seed samplers and confirmed by official examinations.
They shall carry out seed sampling in accordance with current international methods;
c
seed samplers shall be:
1. independent natural persons;
2. persons employed by natural or legal persons whose activities do not involve seed production, seed growing, seed processing or seed trade;
or
3. persons employed by natural or legal persons whose activities involve seed production, seed growing, seed processing or seed trade.
In the case referred to in (iii), a seed sampler may carry out seed sampling only on seed lots produced on behalf of his employer, unless it has been otherwise agreed between his employer, the applicant for certification and the seed certification authority;
d
the performance of the seed samplers shall be subject to proper supervision by the seed certification authority. When automatic sampling is in operation appropriate procedures must be adhered to and officially supervised;
e
for the purposes of the supervision referred to in (d) a proportion of the seed lots entered for official certification shall be check-sampled by official seed samplers. That proportion shall in principle be as evenly spread as possible over natural and legal persons entering seed for certification, and the species entered, but may also be oriented to eliminate specific doubts. That proportion shall be at least 5 %. This check sampling does not apply to automatic sampling.
The Member States shall compare the seed samples drawn officially with those of the same seed lot drawn under official supervision;
f
the Member States shall lay down the rules on penalties applicable to infringements of the national provisions governing examination under official supervision, adopted pursuant to this Directive. The penalties provided for must be effective, proportionate and dissuasive. Penalties may include the withdrawal of the authorisation provided for in (a), from officially authorised seed samplers who are found guilty of deliberately or negligently contravening the rules governing official examinations. The Member States shall ensure that any certification of the seed sampled is annulled in the event of such contravention unless it can be shown that such seed still meets all relevant requirements.
1b
Further measures applicable to the carrying out of seed sampling under official supervision may be adopted in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 21(2).
2
For the examination of seed for certification and the examination of commercial seed, samples shall be drawn from homogeneous lots; the maximum weight of a lot and the minimum weight of a sample are given in Annex III.
Substituted by Council Directive 2004/117/EC of 22 December 2004 amending Directives 66/401/EEC, 66/402/EEC, 2002/54/EC, 2002/55/EC and 2002/57/EC as regards examinations carried out under official supervision and equivalence of seed produced in third countries.
Inserted by Council Directive 2004/117/EC of 22 December 2004 amending Directives 66/401/EEC, 66/402/EEC, 2002/54/EC, 2002/55/EC and 2002/57/EC as regards examinations carried out under official supervision and equivalence of seed produced in third countries.