New EU seed regulations

[Marc]

EU to ban heirloom seeds and criminalize unregistered gardens

Please sign Azaaz petition

http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/We_don ... U/?cwsbSab

[Zech]

The Real Seed Catalogue have a lot of information about this:
http://www.realseeds.co.uk/seedlaw2.html

[me-o-matic]

Hi,

Wasn't aware of this, so earlier today I sent an email to my (Irish) MEP and they have already responded!

Here is what they say:
-snip-
In the past two weeks the four main political Groups in the European Parliament, unhappy with the Commission proposals and the subsequent report, have decided to send the proposal back to the Commission. This means that the European Commission must start from scratch and come forward with new proposals. This won’t happen until after the European elections and a new Commission is selected. I expect there will be a public consultation on this issue which will provide an opportunity for people to get involved before any new proposals are decided on again. I will continue to keep you updated on this issue but for now it seems the current Commission proposals will not progress in their current form which is good news.
-snip-

[doofaloofa]

http://agro.biodiver.se/2013/05/does-th ... -to-offer/

http://agro.biodiver.se/2012/04/an-open ... seed-laws/

[Marc]

Thanks for all that info guys. Not sure that I can really understand what's going on, but I think it's likely that it's being pushed for by the giant agri-chemical/biotech companies, who are trying to twist the legislation in their favour. Grrr, I hate the Monsantos of this world!!!! - and all the fools that let them thrive ....

[doofaloofa]

Call me paranoid, but what i see is activists starting a campaign against a set of regulations that affect the big seed companys the most

i ask myself who is providing the momentum?

i say the Monsantos et al are behind this wave of resistance to a reg that will affect thier profit margins

as a bonus they have a large data base of IP's to sell to governments who want to keep tabs of folk that sign pettitions against big buisness

or I'm paranoid

[diggernotdreamer]

http://www.realseeds.co.uk/seedlaw2.html

I think this is pretty comprehensive, I don't fully understand everything but there is a big push to regulate everything and all plant material and seeds are affected, which will affect smaller seed companies more, big agri business from what I can understand is driving this in an attempt to control what you can and can't legally buy and keep, I think, but it is pretty confusing. Real Seeds seem to know a lot about what is going on

[Zech]

Call me paranoid, but what i see is activists starting a campaign against a set of regulations that affect the big seed companys the most

No, it would affect small seed companies most, or at least, any that sell a few seeds each of many different varieties. Registration fees are per variety, so for those selling to farmers, the quantity of each variety sold would make it worthwhile paying the fee. For those selling to gardeners, they might not sell very many seeds per fee, so it wouldn't be worth it. The Real Seed Catalogue seem to be coordinating a lot of the resistance and yes, they probably would go out of business if the regulations went through.

Anyway, the good news is that the MEPs are now well aware of the problems with the regulations (over 1000 amendments proposed) and there's no way it's going to get through as is. The bad news (according to Real Seeds) is that the old regulations weren't very good either, so if they abandon the new ones and start enforcing the old ones strictly, that would be pretty bad, too. It's a case of wait-and-see at the moment.