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In many EU countries (e.g. in Germany) the regulation on the harmonization of seeds was viewed critically and ultimately rejected throughout the EU.
Actually shelved and declared a failure, the EU seed regulation has been off the table since 2014. However, the question remains open as to whether the EU is planning new legal changes towards uniform and stricter variety regulations. Since there was already a lack of transparency with the first European seed regulation, an EU seed regulation 2.0 may already be in the works.
What was the EU Seed Regulation?
In addition to the substantive goals, the new seed regulation should ensure that only the EU regulation is legally valid in every country of the EU. National laws would have become invalid and would have had to give way to EU requirements. In essence, the new regulation would have meant stricter registration of varieties, which would have resulted in more bureaucracy and more expensive variety approvals.
Especially old varieties that are no longer economically important would have been threatened. The mandatory registration of these varieties would simply be too expensive, which is why there was a risk that many varieties would simply disappear and only a few modern varieties would be cultivated. In addition to the impoverishment of the diversity of varieties, there were also fears that large breeding companies such as Monsanto or Bayer could further expand their monopoly position. Because small breeders would hardly have been able to finance the new hurdles in the approval of varieties. Although there should also be exceptions for small breeders and hobby gardeners, these were sometimes formulated more than vaguely.
European seed regulation has failed for the time being
After the proposal for a new EU seed regulation was published in May 2013, criticism rained down. In addition to many environmental associations, politicians and other non-governmental organizations, many farmers also took a stand against the new EU-wide regulation. The campaign against the EU seed regulation carriedfinally fruits. In March 2014, the European Parliament clearly rejected the EU Commission's proposal by a vote of 650 to 15. So the ordinance is off the table for the time being and the old legal situation remains in place.
In Germany, for example, the placing on the market of new varieties is regulated by the German Seed Ordinance and the Seed Traffic Act. Are these laws perhaps also superfluous and should the variety approvals be controlled at all? We think it is absolutely right to test new varieties. Because in addition to resistance, yield and better adaptation to climatic extremes, new varieties must also be safe. In a private garden, it can quickly happen that a cultivated pumpkin and an ornamental pumpkin cross paths unnoticed. The newly created strain may then produce the potentially deadly cucurbitacin again. With a commercially grown strain, you can be assured that this toxin will not be produced.
It remains to be seen whether the old laws will remain in place or whether the EU Commission will make a new move in the near future. In any case, we will continue to follow the topic closely and keep you informed.