Presenting its much awaited policy priorities for 2015, the European Commission announced that it has withdrawn its proposal for a new European Union seed law.
The new EU regulation on plant reproductive material was designed to modernize and replace the current rules, consisting of more than a dozen directives, regulations and further related acts. The proposed seed law was part of the ‘Smarter Rules for Safer Foods’ package presented to Council and Parliament mid-2013.
“The Commission has basically cleared its desk of many proposals that it considered too controversial or unpopular,” says Garlich von Essen, secretary general of European Seed Association. “This is inline with the general, more political approach of the Commission. This is part of an overall political approach taken by this new Commission. We now continue to apply the established provisions of the current European and national rules, which assure that Europe’s breeders can bring new and improved varieties to the common market that match both regulatory requirements, as well as the expectations of Europe’s farmers and vegetable growers.”
