§ Mr. BakerTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food for what reasons the requirements of the Seeds (National Lists of Varieties) Regulations 1982 were not complied with in the matter which was the subject of Regina v Secretary of State for the Environment and MAFF ex parte Watson. [52495]
§ Mr. Rooker[holding answer 27 July 1998]: Regulation 11(3) of the Seeds (National Lists of Varieties) Regulations 1982 (as amended) provides, for certain species, that no application shall be entertained for entry of a variety in a National List unless it is accompanied by the results of replicated trials undertaken in the UK.
The requirement to submit the results of replicated trials was introduced to reduce the volume of National List applications for the common species to a manageable level. Its purpose was to encourage breeders to screen varieties before entering them into the statutory system and to deter them from entering varieties which had little chance of addition to the National List, at a time when the trialling system was overloaded and also heavily subsidised by the tax payer. Some limited use was made of the results of these trials, but only to persuade applicants to withdraw applications with little chance of success. The results of breeders' replicated trials were never used in reaching decisions on whether a variety should be added to the National List.
227WA fundamental review of the National List trials system was undertaken in 1992, in consultation with plant breeders. Following this, a streamlined system of trials for Value for Cultivation and Use (VCU) was introduced, which reduced the burdens on the trials system. The staged reintroduction of fees for official VCU trials in 1994 and 1995 reinforced these measures.
The requirement to submit the results of replicated trials had no value once the pressure on the system was relieved. It was felt that a requirement to provide information which served no purpose and which was not used placed an unnecessary and unjustifiable burden on applicants. In accordance with the Court of Appeal judgment, I am seeking urgent legal advice on how the position can be resolved speedily and across the board for all plant varieties affected by the judgment.