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);

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;

seed samplers shall be:

1. (i)

   independent natural persons;

2. (ii)

   persons employed by natural or legal persons whose activities do not involve seed production, seed growing, seed processing or seed trade;

   or

3. (iii)

   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;

the performance of the seed samplers shall be subject to appropriate supervision by the seed certification authority. When automatic sampling is in operation appropriate procedures must be adhered to and officially supervised;

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;

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.