b'BY: NILS ELMEGAARDDONT DO IT!I n recent years, there has been anhave faced one or more cases of illegal seed increase in illegal seed practices,practices involving their varieties, and including counterfeit seeds, fake seeds,therefore there has been a strong focus on fraudulent labelling, intellectual propertythe problem in Europe. In Euroseeds this infringements, regulatory offences, trade- was done through the development of the mark infringements and thefts of propri- aforementioned tool kit. Additionally, grass etary material. In some countries duringseed and potato companies have formed recent growing seasons, more than 50 perthe Breeders Trust, which is supporting cent of crop seed sold to farmers was ille- the participating companies in the imple-gal or counterfeit. This is going on despitementation and enforcement of their Plant strong efforts by national, regional andBreeders Rights protection and reduce the global seed associations to halt these prac- illegal trade in plant propagation material.tices, a.o. through information and raised awareness. Furthermore, Breeders TrustSEED FRAUD NETWORKand other dedicated organisations are nowI am happy to report that also the European running court cases against infringers. Commission has set up the voluntary EU Seed Fraud Network (SFN). This was done DIFFERENT ILLEGAL SEEDin response to some fraudulent cases in rela-PRACTICES tion to official labels and imports of seed There are in fact several different typeslots. And it has the aim of facilitating the of illegal seed practices. In Euroseeds wecooperation among the EU countries in deal with two types, namely regulatorymatters where the national authorities are offences, and intellectual offences. Theconfronted with possible intentional viola-first type comprises for example the sell- The main tool to stop illegal seed practices istions of the Directives on marketing seed ing of not-certified seed of fodder cropsinformation and awareness, such as throughand other plant reproductive material with and amenity grasses. This is a clear offencelarge floor stickers at major seed events. a cross-border impact.under the EU Seed Marketing Directives. And concerning the violation of IP rights,WORKING TOGETHERplant breeding and seed companies areFodder crops and amenity Grasses (SFG),I would like to underline that it is incredi-encouraged to apply for plant variety pro- we have developed a code of conduct,bly important that all the actors in the seed tection on their varieties. In that way, theywhich is now signed by the majority of thesector work together on this topic. Seed have a better ground for protecting the vari- professional operators in this business field.fraud may compromise the production of eties they put to the market in the case ofFurthermore, to help seed companies infood and feed e.g., if farmers do not get the infringement. There are many possible waystheir struggle against illegal seed practices,seeds, he/she believes is buying, the label of fraudso it is vital to know your busi- we have developed a good and very inform- may be falsified, or the contents of the seed ness partners in the whole business chain asative toolkit for companies in the forage andbag may be something else than intended. the system is largely based on trust betweenturf sector. This guides the companies onOn top of that, the reliability of the seed the operators and the customers. how to enforce their plant variety protec- sector is at stake when some actors in the tion and how to act in cases of regulatorychain perform illegal activities.TOOLS TO STOP ILLEGAL SEEDoffences.In short: from all sides and from dif-PRACTICES ferent angles, there are strong and consol-I am happy that the seed associations, suchGLOBAL GUIDELINE idated efforts to dissuade infringers from as Euroseeds and the International SeedIn the ISF Forage and Turf Advisory Group,engaging in illegal seed practices. So, my Federation (ISF) are undertaking severalwe are currently working on a Productionadvice to companies which are engaging in actions to reduce these illegal seed practices.guideline to assist the multiplication pro- illegal seed practices or are contemplating The main tool is information and aware- cess between seed companies and farm- to do so: dont do it! You are going to get ness, as some operators in the seed supplyers. We have especially focused on criticalcaught, sooner or later.chain are not in detail aware that they maypoints in the process. All this is to make be in violation of the law, e.g., infringingsure that the multiplication process takesEditors Note: Nils Elmegaard is Secretary plant variety rights. In addition, end usersplace in mutual understanding betweenGeneral at the Danish Seed Council. The are sometimes not aware of the labellingseed companies and seed farmers. toolkit for intellectual property enforcement requirements or if they can freely use Farmand Regulatory offences can be found here along Saved Seeds (FSS).EU EFFORTS with other material: https://euroseeds.eu/app/In Euroseeds, in the Section forIn the EU context many seed companiesuploads/2020/09/17.0024.1-SFG-Tool-Kit.pdf 20ISEED WORLD EUROPEIEUROPEAN-SEED.COM'