EU Seed Law
Colourful diversity, not standardized uniformity!
The rules for cultivated plant diversity are being renegotiated – the EU seed marketing legislation
The problems due to the current EU seed marketing legislation - lack of coherence, complex, rigid and expensive procedures and a drastic loss of plant genetic resources during the past decades (according to the FAO, worldwide minus 75% since 1990) – motivate the EU to update the existing legislation on the production and marketing of plant reproductive material.
In 2014, the attempt to further strengthen industrial seed standards on the cost of agrobiodiversity and hinder the seeds exchange between farmers and gardeners was defeated thanks to a Europe-wide campaign. Now we face a new proposal by the EU Commission.
ARCHE NOAH is doing its utmost to enforce the rights of farmers to own their own seeds and exchange them with others and to bring rare and traditional varieties back to our fields, gardens, and tables. Diversity has to be enabled to become mainstream, industrial standards should be optional! No more legal restrictions on small quantities, small packages, niches, and overwhelming bureaucracy. Together with seed conservation actors from all over Europe we work to free agrobiodiversity from its bureaucratic constraints.
This work is supported by Software AG Stiftung as part of the project ‘Gemeinsam Vielfalt befreien' (Together we free diversity)
38 organisations from 20 countries call for a diversity-friendly seed law
31.05.2023: ARCHE NOAH has sent an open letter to the European Commission on the upcoming seed marketing reform in the European Union today. The reform is crucial for the seed market, the preservation of cultivated plant diversity and thus also for what will end up on our plates in the coming decades. The European Commission plans to present the proposal for the revision of seed legislation together with a proposal for the regulation of plants produced with new GM technology (e.g. CRISPR/Cas). We demand provisions that enable the preservation of cultivated plant diversity and respect the right to seeds. The restrictive rules that hinder the exchange and sale of seeds and even prohibit them in some EU countries must end!
You can find the open letter here:
Open Letter EN
The seed-marketing-reform must take seriously the climate and biodiversity crisis
8th February 2023: On 7th of June 2023 the EU Commission will publish the draft law for a new EU seed legislation. In the subsequent hearings the rules for the production, exchange and marketing of seeds will be redefined for the decades to come.
In early February 2023 we presented a study in Brussels commissioned by Martin Häusling and Sarah Wiener, Members of European Parliament and representatives of the Group of the Greens/ European Free Alliance. In this study the outdated and restrictive legal system in respect to the marketing of seeds is laid open as well as it is pointed out which changes would be necessary to promote the conservation and use of crop diversity instead of hampering or even inhibiting it. In the ensuing panel discussion, the respective representatives of the EU Commission, from the sector of organic agriculture and of European seed-initiatives expressed their appreciation for the study. The Commission will finalise the draft law in the weeks to come.
Find the study attached in the download section above, or just follow this Link: Study on EU Reform of Seeds Marketing Rules
Seed Law Conference in the European Parliament
22 June 2022: In order to ensure that, despite massive pressure from the industry, crop diversity does not fall by the wayside in the upcoming seed marketing reform, but is allowed to return to our gardens, fields and plates, we held a seed law conference in the EU Parliament. Together with seed savers organisations from many countries, organic farming associations and farmers' organisations, we presented our vision of a seeds marketing legislation that promotes diversity to over 100 interested participants. We also brought ARCHE NOAH seeds with us to the EU Parliamentarians and the EU Commission. Because diversity is there for everyone!
Workshop on EU seed marketing reform
24. January 2022: At the end of January, we organised a 2-day online workshop on EU seed marketing reform. 57 participants from 19 European countries came together - from Portugal to Estonia, from conservationists to farmers and breeders to seed producers. The workshop focused on capacity building, exchange of experiences from different organisations and countries and discussing demands for a diversity friendly legislation. Furthermore, many positive examples how the new rules on organic heterogeneous material will be used in different countries to strengthen agrobiodiversity were presented and discussed.
How to make organic plant breeding mainstream
9th November 2021: Organic plant breeders celebrated their 20th anniversary in Brussels to discuss with stakeholders and policymakers the necessary changes to boost organic plant breeding to support the European Green Deal Strategy and climate change adaptation. The Arche Noah team joint the conference to furthermore discuss the upcoming seed marketing legislation.
To read the full FiBL report click here.
ARCHE NOAH Comment on EU Commission‘s proposal for a new seed marketing law
13. July 2021: in a first round, the EU Commission gathered feedback from stakeholders concerning the presented options for reforming seed law. ARCHE NOAH participated mentioning that space for diversity is critically needed.
Click here to read Arche Noah's statement.
Workshop on the Inception Impact Assessment
Last week the EU Commission published a report for the Inception Impact Assessment of the future EU seed law. The report presents various reform options, discusses possible effects, and asks for feedback.
ARCHE NOAH has therefore organized a Europe-wide workshop with seed initiatives, farming organizations and seed savers on June 21st. The workshop gave us the opportunitiy to discuss the Inception Impact Assessment, exchange ideas and prepare for the consultation process.
Click here for the Inception Impact Assessment.
Click here for the workshop-presentation.
European Parliament resolution – importance of crop diversity recognized
On June 9th the European Parliament emphasizes the importance of bringing nature back onto agricultural land in its new report on the EU biodiversity strategy. The diversity of agricultural ecosystems should be promoted and the local genetic resources should be preserved! In the EU biodiversity strategy, the EU Commission had already considered revising the marketing regulations for traditional crop varieties in order to contribute to their conservation and sustainable use. The registration of seeds should also be made easier for organic agriculture, as well as for traditional and locally adapted varieties. We welcome the fact that the central role of maintaining the diversity of cultivated plants in dealing with the climate and environmental crisis is finally recognized. Words must now be followed by action: We are committed to putting an end to the ongoing bureaucratic restriction of diversity with a diversity-promoting seed law!
Click here for the report of the European Parliament
Commission publishes study on seed marketing legislation!
On April 29th the European Commission published a study on options to reform the seed marketing legislation. The current rules promote industrial, global crops at the expense of locally adapted and produced seeds, and neglect the right of farmers and gardeners to use, exchange and sell their seeds.
We welcome that, in its study, the Commission recognises that the current legislation hinders the conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources. However, we are alarmed that the Commission does not rule out the possibility of regulating the exchange of seeds as “marketing”. The right to free exchange of seeds, which is anchored in both international and Austrian law, must remain.
Click here for the study!
Upcoming reform of the EU seed law
In November 2019 the Council of Minister requested the European Commission to carry out a study on options to update the existing legislation on the production and marketing of seeds and other plant reproductive material. The Commission is expected to publish the study in April 2021.
In advance of the study’s publication, 36 organisations from across Europe submitted a joint letter to the European Commission calling for laws that promote, rather rather than discriminate against, the diversity of cultivated plants, and respects the right to seeds anchored in international law.
Click here for the paper
Withdrawal of the EU seed regulation
In February 2015 the European Commission formally withdrew thedraft seed marketing regulation, one year after the European Parliament rejected it. Following this decision, a coalition of NGOs, farmers' associations, and seed savers called on the European Commission to grasp a historic opportunity to conduct an ambitious reform of the EU PRM marketing law, ensuring that it is effectively “fit for purpose” and responds to all connected cross-cutting issues. Read the Call.
Industrial crops by law?
On May 6, 2013 the draft for a new EU seed regulation was launched despite huge public protest. If the new EU seed regulation had been adopted, it would have meant huge administrative hurdles and strong biological limitations. It would have threatened local varieties, ignored the costumers' freedom of choice and forced the interests of the agribusiness. The seed regulation was tailored to serve corporate interests and restricted non industrial plants to tiny and bureaucratic niches. The message was clear: Diversity and farmers’ seeds must be an exception; industrial crops must be the rule.
Gardeners, farmers and growers exchange their seeds because of their interest in old, rare or particular varieties of vegetables and crops. Some seed swaps and seed exchange would have become illegal with the now rejected seed regulation. It was planned that growers who want to pass on their own seeds or other propagating material would have to register as “operators”. Also, the plants would have to undergo "registration". These tests had been designed for industrial varieties; most old and rare varieties are not able to fulfil the registration criteria for biological reasons.
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