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S.I. No 920 of 2005
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European Communities (Vegetable Seed)
(Amendment) Regulations 2005
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I, Mary Coughlan,
Minister for Agriculture and Food, in exercise of the powers conferred on me
by Section 3 of the European Communities Act, 1972 (No 27 of 1972) and for
the purpose of giving effect to Council Directive 2004/117/EC1 of
22 December 2004, hereby make the following regulations:
1. These Regulations may be
cited as the European Communities (Vegetable Seed) (Amendment) Regulations
2005.
2. Any reference made in the
definitions of the Council Directive and the Council Directives in the
European Communities (Vegetable Seed) Regulations ( S.I. No. 306 of 2001 )
to a directive repealed by Article 51 of Directive 2002/55/EC of the
European Parliament and of the Council of 13 June 2002 (“the Consolidated
Directive”) shall be construed as a reference to the Consolidated Directive
and should be read in accordance with the correlation table set out in Annex
VII to the Consolidated Directive.
3. The European Communities
(Vegetable Seed) Regulations 2001 ( S.I. No. 306 of 2001 ) are amended-
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(a) in Regulation 2(1)-
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(i) by
substituting for the definition of “authorised officer” the following-
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“authorised officer” means a person appointed under Regulation 28.
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(ii) by deleting the definitions of
“basic seed”, “certified seed”, “pre basic seed”, “standard seed”, and
“vegetable”
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(iii) by substituting for the definition of “
the directive” the following:
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“ ‘EC Directive’ means Council Directive 2002/55/EC2 of
13 June 2002 as amended by Council Directive 2004/117/EC of 22 December
2004.”
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(b) by substituting for Regulation 6
(A) 1 (b) the following:
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“(b) which has been harvested in another Member State,
shall, on request, be officially certified as certified seed if it has
undergone field inspection satisfying the conditions laid down in Annex I
for the relevant category and official examination, or examination under
official supervision, has shown that the conditions laid down in Annex II of
the same category are satisfied, and where in such cases vegetable seed has
been produced directly from officially certified seed of pre-basic seed, it
shall be officially certified as basic seed if the conditions laid down for
the species concerned are satisfied.”
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(c) by substituting for Regulation 6
(A) 3 (b) the following:
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“(b) which has been harvested in a third country shall, on
request, be officially certified as certified seed if the seed has undergone
field inspection satisfying the conditions laid down in an equivalence
decision made under Article 32(1)(a) of Council Directive No. 70/458/EEC of
29 September 1970(1), for the relevant category, and if official
examination, or examination under official supervision, has shown that the
conditions laid down in Annex II for the same category are satisfied.”
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(d) by substituting for Regulation 8
(2) (a) the following:
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“(2)(a) Subject to Regulation 15 of these Regulations and
to sub paragraph (b) of this paragraph, the Minister may, where the official
examination, or examination under official supervision, in respect of
germination pursuant to Annex II has not concluded, authorise the official
certification of basic seed or certified seed, and the marketing of those
categories of seed by way of trade as far as the first buyer.”
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(e) by substituting for Regulation 14
(1) the following:
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“14. (1) In the official
examination, or examination under official supervision, of vegetable seed
for certification or for post-control testing, samples shall be officially
drawn, or drawn under official supervision, both from sufficiently
homogeneous lots and in accordance with the International Rules for Seed
Testing published by the International Seed Testing Association and the
maximum weight of a lot of seed and the minimum weight of a sample shall be
as laid down in Annex III.”
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(f) by substituting for Regulation 19
(1) the following:
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“19. (1) Where a sample of seed is taken
pursuant to these Regulations by an authorised officer and is found on
official examination, or examination under official supervision, not to
comply with a requirement of these Regulations, the Minister may require
that the seed shall be destroyed or otherwise disposed of in such manner as
the Minister shall determine.
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(b) by inserting after Regulation 23
the following-
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“24 (1) The Minister may
set fees, payable to him or her, for inspection, application for a
certificate, sampling and carrying out of tests and different fees may be
set for different inspections, certificates or tests.
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(2) A fee payable under this Regulation
may be recovered by the Minister as a simple contract debt in a court of
competent jurisdiction.
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(3) The Minister shall not carry out
an inspection, consider an application for a certificate or carry out
sampling or a test unless the fee set under this Regulation has been paid.
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(4) A fee payable under this
Regulation shall not exceed an amount equal to the costs, estimated by the
Minister, incurred in respect of an inspection or processing of an
application for a certificate or test.
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(5) The Public Offices Fees Act 1879
does not apply in respect of fees payable under this Regulation.
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(6) A fee under this Regulation shall
be disposed of for the benefit of the Exchequer in such manner as the
Minister for Finance may direct.” and
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25. Vegetable seeds, which have been
produced in another Member State or a third country shall, on request, and
without prejudice to the European Communities (National Catalogue of
Agricultural Plant Varieties) Regulations 2002 be officially certified as
certified seed of the appropriate category if the conditions as set down in
Article 15(3) of the EC Directive have been met”,
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26 (1) Field inspections carried out
under official supervision shall be carried out by inspectors who fulfil the
requirements set out in Article 2 (4) A (a) of the EC Directive.
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(2) Seed sampling carried out under official supervision shall
comply with Article 25 of the EC Directive.
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(3) Seed testing carried out under official supervision shall be
carried out by seed-testing laboratories which comply with Article 2 (4) B
(a), (b), (c) of the EC Directive.
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27 Notwithstanding
Regulation 6, seed of heritage varieties which are:
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(a) associated
with specific natural and semi natural habitats,
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(b) are
threatened by genetic erosion, and
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(c) placed on the market in
small packages,
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may be marketed subject to any conditions that the Minister may deem
necessary.”
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28 (1)The Minister may
appoint in writing such and so many persons as he or she deems necessary to
be authorised officers for the purposes of these regulations.
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(2) (a)An authorised officer shall be furnished
with a warrant of his or her appointment.
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(b) When exercising a power conferred on
him or her under these Regulations an authorised officer shall, if requested
by any person affected, produce the warrant to that person for inspection””.
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GIVEN under my Official Seal,
21 December 2005
Mary Coughlan
Minister for Agriculture and Food
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EXPLANATORY
NOTE
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(This note is not part of the instrument
and does not purport to be a legal interpretation).
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These Regulations give effect to Council
Directive 2004/117/EC amending Commission Directive 2002/55/EC on the
marketing of vegetable seed; the collection of fees and the marketing of
heritage seed.
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1 O.J. No L14 18/1/2005
p18
2 O.J. No 193 20/07/2002
p33
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