The Seed Marketing (Heterogeneous Material) (Temporary Experiment) (England) Regulations 2023

PART 1 Introductory

Citation, commencement, extent and application

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Seed Marketing (Heterogeneous Material) (Temporary Experiment) (England) Regulations 2023 and come into force on 14th July 2023.

(2) These Regulations extend to England and Wales but apply in relation to the production of seed in England only.

(3) These Regulations cease to have effect at the end of the day on 13th July 2030.

Interpretation

2.  In these Regulations—

“the 2011 Regulations” means the Seed Marketing Regulations 2011(1);

“the applicant” means a person applying for a licence in accordance with regulation 5;

“the experiment” means the temporary experiment organised in accordance with these Regulations and complying with the purpose specified in regulation 21A of the 2011 Regulations(2);

“heterogeneous material” means a plant grouping within a single botanical taxon of the lowest known rank which presents common phenotypic characteristics and has been developed by crossing multiple varieties of a plant species, with the resulting plants being genetically diverse and having varied characteristics;

“lot” means one or more units of a single commodity, identifiable by its homogeneity of composition and origin, which form part of a consignment;

“low-input agriculture” means systems of crop production managed with reduced use of external inputs, such as fertilisers and fuel, resulting in a more sustainable agricultural system;

“marketing” has the meaning given by regulation 2 of the 2011 Regulations;

“participant” means a person granted a licence to participate in the experiment referred to in regulation 3;

“population” means heterogeneous material which, as a grouping, is—

(a)

identifiable on the bases set out in regulation 13(1), but insufficiently uniform to be a variety,

(b)

characterised by a high level of genetic and phenotypic diversity between individual reproductive units, so that the plant grouping is represented by the material as a whole and not by a small number of plants, and

(c)

not a mixture of varieties;

“variety” has the meaning given by section 1(3) of the Plant Varieties Act 1997(3).

(1)

S.I. 2011/463 (“the 2011 Regulations”); relevant amendments were made by S.I. 2011/2992, 2012/3035, 2016/613 and 2019/131 (as amended by S.I. 2020/1388).

(2)

Regulation 21A was inserted by S.I. 2012/3035 and substituted by S.I. 2019/131.

(3)

1997 c. 66.