Marketing of Organic Heterogeneous Material (OHM): consultation

Proposed conditions

Recognising the divergence from established marketing requirements a number of conditions are likely to be proposed, with which OHM must comply.

These are:

• material should be produced in accordance with any regulations set out to govern marketing. This will include demonstrating the use of an acceptable breeding method

• a description of the material must be provided, which is likely to include characterisation of the materials phenotype and heterogeneity. Also required will be a description of the characteristics that make it relevant from an agronomic perspective  i.e. yield, disease resistance, stress tolerance

• material will not be assessed for varietal purity, however it will be required to meet quality requirements including analytical purity, germination rates and phytosanitary quality, as prescribed in the relevant seed marketing regulations

• labelling of material will be required, with requirements set out in any legislation

Legislative options

In considering how legislation for marketing of OHM might be developed, Scottish Government has considered a number of options.

This consultation is seeking views on the three options outlined below:

1. Maintain the status quo
   There are no longer any legal obligations for Scottish Government to implement EU Commission Delegated Regulations. Maintaining the status quo would mean making no amendments to domestic legislation. This option would mean that producers of OHM have no legal means by which to market their material.
2. Implement a permanent change
   This option recognises that a temporary experiment has already taken place, with outcomes that addressed issues around identification and traceability. This option would accept that relevant actions have been included in Commission Delegated Regulation 2021/1189 to identify and trace populations. These actions would be transposed into domestic legislation. 
3. Implement a temporary experiment
   Under this option legislation would be created to set out the terms and conditions of a temporary experiment, likely to run for seven years. The temporary experiment would allow for a general licence to be issued to participants taking part in the temporary experiment. Participants would be required to collect and communicate relevant data to the certifying authority (Scottish Government). This option would be appropriate if there were questions deemed not yet to have been addressed by the previous experiment or Commission Delegated Regulation 2021/1189.

Application options

In addition to considering how legislation might be introduced, Scottish Government is also seeking views on the scope to which any legislation should apply. EU Commission Delegated Regulation 2021/1189 is applicable across all EU seed and plant propagating material marketing directives, covering the following types of plant material:

•   Cereal seed
•   Fodder plant seed
•   Oil and fibre plant seed
•   Beet seed
•   Vegetable seed
•   Fruit plant propagating material
•   Ornamental plant propagating material
•   Seed potatoes

Options around the scope of plant types include:

1. Apply the change across all plant types
2. Apply changes to selected plant types, applying a pragmatic approach that considers likelihood of use
   i.e. material where the propagation method does not easily allow for heterogeneity, or where there is unlikely to be a market demand for heterogeneity.

Diagram showing differences between marketing seed mixtures and organic heterogeneous material