Considerations on COM(2024)387 -

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dossier COM(2024)387 - .
document COM(2024)387
date September  4, 2024
 
(1) Directive 1999/105/EC applies to the marketing of forest reproductive material (‘FRM’) within the Union. That Directive concerns reproductive material of tree species and artificial hybrids thereof which are important for forestry purposes in all or part of the Union.

(2) Council Decision 2008/971/EC0 determines the conditions under which FRM of the ‘source identified’, ‘selected’ and ‘qualified’ categories, produced in third countries listed in Annex I to that Decision, as regards the approval and registration of basic material and the subsequent production of FRM from that basic material, is to be imported into the Union. The third countries concerned implement the OECD Scheme for the certification of forest reproductive material moving in international trade0 (‘OECD Forest Seed and Plant Scheme’).

(3) The OECD Forest Seed and Plant Scheme was amended in 2013 to include FRM of the ‘tested’ category in addition to the ‘source-identified’, ‘selected’ and ‘qualified’ categories of the FRM, which have been in the Scheme since 2011.

(4) The national rules for the certification of FRM in Canada, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Norway, Serbia, Türkiye, and the United States (‘the specified third countries’) provide for an official field inspection to be carried out during the collection and processing of seed and the production of planting stock.

(5) According to those national rules, the systems for the approval and registration of basic material and the subsequent production of FRM from that basic material are to follow the OECD Forest Seed and Plant Scheme. In addition, those national rules require seed and planting stock of the ‘source identified’, ‘selected’, ‘qualified’ and ‘tested’ categories to be officially certified and the seed packages to be officially closed in accordance with the OECD Forest Seed and Plant Scheme.

(6) In the absence of a Decision at Union level in relation to the equivalence of forest reproductive material of the ‘tested’ category, Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2021/7730 temporarily, until 31 December 2024, authorised Member States to decide on the equivalence of FRM from the tested category produced in the third countries listed in Annex I to Decision 2008/971/EC, which include the specified third countries. That authorisation was necessary to avoid any risk of disruption of imports of that FRM into Member States.

(7) An examination of the national rules of the specified third countries, as regards the ‘tested’ category shows that the conditions for approval of basic material, are considered to be equivalent to those set out in Directive 1999/105/EC, provided that the conditions set out in Annex II to Decision 2008/971/EC are satisfied as regards seed and planting stocks.

(8) The names and addresses of some authorities responsible for the approval and control of the production, as listed in Annex I to Decision 2008/971/EC, have changed and therefore need to be updated.

(9) It is also possible to use genetic modification for the production of seed or planting stock of the ‘tested’ category. Therefore, and in order to ensure informed choices for the users of FRM, the OECD label and the supplier’s label or document should state whether that type of modification has been used in the production of the basic material for this category, as it occurs currently with the ‘qualified’ category.

(10) In view of the addition of the ‘tested’ category in Annex II to Decision 2008/971/EC, a new Annex should be added to that Decision with a table indicating the categories under which forest reproductive material from the different types of basic material is allowed to be imported into the Union to ensure clarity and correct application of that Decision. This is necessary to ensure legal clarity, consistency with Directive 1999/105/EC, as well as correct application of those rules and informed choices by the operators applying that Decision.

(11) Decision 2008/971/EC should therefore be amended accordingly.

(12) As Implementing Decision (EU) 2021/773 expires on 31 December 2024, this Decision should apply from 1 January 2025 in order to ensure legal clarity and continuity of the respective rules.