Title and commencement

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Oil and Fibre Plant Seeds (Amendment) Regulations 1987 and shall come into force on 27th July 1987.

Amendment

2.-(1) The Oil and Fibre Plant Seeds Regulations 1985(3) shall be amended in accordance with the provisions of this regulation.

(2) In regulation 3 (interpretation)-

(a)in paragraph (3) in the definition of "Commercial Seed" for the words "white mustard or soya bean" there shall be substituted the words "or white mustard", and

(b)in paragraph (4) for the words "regulation 5(1)(b)(ii) or (iii) below" there shall be substituted the words "regulation 5(1)(b), (c) or (d) below".

(3) In regulation 5 (marketing of seeds)-

(a)for paragraph (1) there shall be substituted the following paragraph-

"(1) Subject to the provisions of this regulation, no person shall market any seeds unless they are marketed in seed lots or in parts of seed lots and unless they are-

(a)Commercial Seed, or

(b)seeds of plant varieties which may, for the time being, be marketed in accordance with regulation 31 of the Seeds (National List of Varieties) Regulations 1982 and which are Breeder's Seed, Pre-basic Seed, Basic Seed, Certified Seed, Certified Seed of the First Generation, Certified Seed of the Second Generation or Certified Seed of the Third Generation, or

(c)seeds which have been produced and packaged in a Member State other than the United Kingdom, which have been labelled appropriately in accordance with the requirements of regulation 9(1), (2), (3), (4), (5), (6) and (8) and which-

(i)in the case of a small package of seeds, a small EEC A package of seeds or a small EEC B package of seeds, have been sealed in accordance with the requirements of regulation 8(3), or

(ii)in the case of all other seeds, have been officially sealed in a Member State other than the United Kingdom, or

(d)seeds which have been produced elsewhere than in a Member State and which are marketed in accordance with, and subject to, the conditions imposed by a general licence granted by the Ministers under the authority of this sub-paragraph, which licence shall have effect during the period specified in it, unless the Ministers earlier revoke it."; and

(b)in paragraph (3)(a) for the words "in Schedule 4," there shall be substituted the words "in Schedule 4 or Schedule 5,".

(4) In Schedule 5 (sampling of seed lots)-

(a)in Part I, in paragraph 9 after the words "an automatic sampling device" there shall be inserted the words "approved by the Minister"; and

(b)in Part II for the words "The maximum weight of a seed lot and minimum weight of a submitted sample shall be as indicated below:-" there shall be substituted the following words-

"The maximum weight of a seed lot shall be as indicated below (or a weight which does not exceed that indicated below by more than 5%) and the minimum weight of a submitted sample shall be as indicated below:-".

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations, which amend the Oil and Fibre Plant Seeds Regulations 1985, implement article 4 of Commission Directive 87/120/EEC (OJ No. L49, 18.2.87, p.42) in so far as it amends Annex III of Council Directive 66/208/EEC (OJ No. L169, 10.7.69, p.3) (OJ/SE 1969 (ii), p.315) (as amended) on the marketing of oil and fibre plant seeds by providing that the maximum weight of a seed lot, set out in that Annex, from which a sample is to be drawn for certification shall not be exceeded by more than 5% (regulation 2(4)(b)).

These Regulations also implement article 1 of Commission Directive 86/109/EEC (OJ No. L93, 8.4.86, p.21) in so far as it amends Council Directive 66/208/EEC by prohibiting the placing on the market in Member States seed ofGlycine max(L) Merr. (soya bean) of the Commercial seed category (regulation 2(2)(a)).

The other changes of substance made by these Regulations to the 1985 Regulations are-

(1) the provisions enabling Ministers, to grant equivalence by general licence for seeds produced elsewhere than in a Member State has been extended to seeds of the Commercial seed category (regulation 2(3)(a)); and

(2) the inclusion of a requirement that a sample of seeds taken from a seed stream during processing for the purposes of an official examination shall be taken by an automatic sampling device approved by the Minister (regulation 2(4)(a)).