Oil and Fibre Plant Seed (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (S.S.I. No. 317 of 2004).

These Regulations, which extend to Scotland only, consolidate, with amendments, the provisions of the Oil and Fibre Plant Seeds Regulations 1993 (S.I. 1993/2007) as relevantly amended. The 1993 Regulations implemented the provisions of Council Directive 69/208/EEC on the marketing of seed of oil and fibre plants. That Directive, as amended, was replaced by Council Directive 2002/57/EC on the marketing of seed of oil and fibre plants as amended by Council Directive 2002/68/EC, Commission Directive 2003/45/EC and Council Directive 2003/61/EC. These Regulations implement the provisions of that Directive, subject to exemptions for caraway, cotton, hemp and opium poppy contained in Commission Decision 74/360/EEC and the exemption for safflower contained in Commission Decision 89/101/EEC and the withdrawal of the exemption for hemp contained in Commission Decision 2003/234/EC. The Regulations apply to the certification and marketing of seed of oil and fibre plants of the species specified in Schedule 1 to these Regulations (reg. 4 and Schedule 1). The Regulations introduce the power to require an additional sample of seed for the purposes of European tests and trials. The rest of the Regulations apply to all hemp seed, varietal associations of seed and seed of hybrid varieties. The Regulations include provisions which prohibit the marketing of seed of oil and fibre plants in Scotland unless it is Commercial Seed, seed of a listed variety which has been officially certified or Breeder's Seed. The prohibition does not apply in the case of certain seed. The Regulations include provisions about the standards to be met by oil and fibre plant seed before it will be officially certified by the Scottish Ministers. There are provisions allowing marketing of seed which does not attain the relevant germination standards (reg. 11) and for marketing of seed before it is shown to meet the relevant germination standards. The Regulations make provisions for breeder's confirmations for seed which is not yet accepted on to a UK National List or the Common Catalogue but which otherwise meets the requirements for Pre basic Seed or Basic Seed (regs. 3 and 19, and Schedules 2 and 4) and for upgrading a breeder's confirmation to an official certificate. The Regulations lay down requirements relating to seed sampling (reg. 15 and Schedule 5) and the packaging and sealing of packages of seed (regs. 16, 18 and 20) and the labelling of packages of such seed (regs. 17, 18 and 21 and Schedule 6).