Proposal integrated Plant Reproductive Material Regulation improves after Parliament’s inputs

The EU is revising legislation on plant reproductive material, such as seeds, cuttings, trees, roots, tubers, and clones. Currently, rules for the production and marketing of plant reproductive material (PRM) are spread across several directives since the 1960s. 

This revision aims to integrate everything in one regulation, harmonising implementation across all EU Member States.  

Some of the rules that will be adjusted concern: 

• Market access for organic and conservation varieties, 
• PRM intended for end users such as amateur gardeners, 
• PRM intended solely for, and retained by, certain gene banks, organisations, and networks; and 
• PRM exchanged between farmers.  

Shortcomings for the organic sector

The Commission’s proposal does however have some shortcoming relevant to organic breeding and conservation activities. Amongst other, the Commission proposes to expand the testing system for new varieties (value for sustainable conservation and use, VSCU) to crop types that were previously not subject to these tests, creating a considerable additional burden for crop breeding.  

The proposal also contains amendments to the organic regulation that are not in line with the wishes of the organic sector. These changes would, amongst others, affect the production of organic heterogeneous material (OHM). 

Discussions in Parliament’s committees improved the proposal

The European Parliament’s committees on Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI) and Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) have been discussing the proposal over the last months. As IFOAM Organics Europe, we have been advocating for amendments ensuring the organic breeding and farming sector can flourish. 

The AGRI and ENVI committees, with votes on their respective positions in March, have contributed to considerably improve the original regulation proposal, addressing important issues such as the VSCU testing and supporting the preservation of agrobiodiversity. They also had an ear for the concerns of the organic sector on the amendments of the organic regulation. 

What comes next and more information?

The next steps are the European Parliament’s vote in Plenary in April, and further work on the regulation proposal by European Member States in the Council. We will closely follow the further development of the regulation. 

For detailed information on organic seeds: 

• Read the paper Sustainability in organic breeding, 
• Read LiveSeeding’s Policy Brief ‘EU reform on seed marketing regulation and its implications for the organic seed sector’ 
• Watch LIVESEED’s video about organic plant breeding, 
• Check out the LiveSeeding project, 
• Visit our website pages on seeds and new GMOs, or 
• Contact [email protected] for questions about the PRM regulation,  [email protected] for questions about (new) GMOs and seeds and [email protected] about the LiveSeeding project (do note that we prioritise our members’ requests). 

IFOAM Organics Europe members can find more information on the member extranet and background materials in the arguments database on the member extranet (main messages, arguments/FAQs, visuals & videos). Contact [email protected] for access rights (issues). 

For information about what you can gain from being a member, read our membership page and contact [email protected].