THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, and in particular, Articles 43 and 100 thereof;

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission;

Having regard to the Opinion of the European Parliament ( 1 );

Having regard to the Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee;

Whereas, for the reasons given hereafter, amendments should be made to certain provisions of the Directives listed below, which were last amended by the Directive of 6 December 1972 ( 2 ): the Council Directives of 14 June 1966 on, respectively, the marketing of beet seed ( 3 ), the marketing of fodder plant seed ( 4 ), the marketing of cereal seed ( 5 ), the marketing of seed potatoes ( 6 ); the Council Directive of 30 June 1969 ( 7 ) on the marketing of seed of oil and fibre plants; the Council Directives of 29 September 1970 on the marketing of vegetable seed ( 8 ) and on the common catalogue of varieties of agricultural plant species ( 9 );

Whereas in the case of fodder plant seed and cereal seed provision should be made for the possibility of special marking concerning the presence of Avena fatua;

Whereas the maximum content of hard seed should be increased in the case of the species Trifolium repens; whereas, moreover, the species Phleum Bertolinii should be brought within the field of application of the Directive concerned;

Whereas it is appropriate that to a certain extent the minimum conditions for cereal species should be reinforced; whereas on the other hand less strict requirements for the official inspection of autogamous species should, be authorized for a transitional period;

Whereas experience of supplying flax seed makes it necessary to admit for four further years the category ‘Certified seed, third generation’;

Whereas mixtures of standard seed of several varieties should be authorized for a transitional period in the case of certain vegetable species in small packages; whereas it is also necessary to modify the minimum weights of samples and to introduce a transitional clause concerning the germination of vegetable seed;

Whereas an addition should be made to the Directive on the common catalogue of varieties of agricultural plant species as regards those varieties which, it has been established, cannot be grown in any part of the territory of a Member State;

Whereas certain of the abovementioned Directives provide that from 1 July 1973 the equivalent of seed and plants harvested in other countries, particularly in third countries, can no longer be established nationally by Member States; whereas, however, since it has not been possible to carry out the Community examination in all cases, the abovementioned period should be extended in order to avoid disturbing current commercial relations;

Whereas provision should be made for the simplification of the procedure for the amendment of Annexes where implementing measures of a technical nature are concerned, by the application of the procedure of the Standing Committee on Seeds and Propagating Material for Agriculture, Horticulture and Forestry in the event of amendments being necessitated by the development of scientific or technical knowledge;

Whereas, finally, a number of drafting corrections should be made to several of the abovementioned Directives,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:

1. In the Dutch text of Article 2, (1), point A (a) the words ‘gebruikst raaigras’ shall be replaced by the words ‘gekruist raaigras’.

2. In Article 2 (1) point A (a), the words:

shall be added after the words:

3. In Article 11, the following text shall be added: ‘or that seed lots complying with the special conditions concerning the presence of Avena fatua laid down according to the procedure provided for in Article 21, must be accompanied by an official certificate attesting compliance with these conditions.’

4. The following shall be substituted for Article 16 (2):

‘Member States may themselves take decisions under paragraph 1 concerning a third country, in so far as the Council has not yet taken a decision with regard to that country within the framework of this Directive. This right shall expire on 1 July 1975.’

5. The following shall be substituted for Article 21a:

‘Amendments to be made to the content of the Annexes in the light of the development of scientific or technical knowledge shall be adopted according to the procedure laid down in Article 21.’

6. In Annex II, Part I, point (3), paragraph A, the figure ‘20’ which appears in column 5 for the species Trifolium repens L. shall be replaced by the figure ‘40’.

1. In Article 2 (2) the following subparagraph shall be added:

2. In Article 11 the following text shall be added: ‘or that seed lots complying with the special conditions concerning the presence of Avena fatua laid down according to the procedure provided for in Article 21, shall be accompanied by an official certificate attesting compliance with these conditions.’

3. The following shall be substituted for Article 16 (2):

‘Member States may themselves take decisions under paragraph 1 concerning a third country, in so far as the Council has not yet taken a decision with regard to that country within the framework of this Directive. This right shall expire on 1 July 1975.’

4. The following shall be substituted for the text of Article 21a:

‘Amendments to be made to the content of the Annexes in the light of the development of scienific or technical knowledge shall be adopted according to the procedure laid down in Article 21.’

5. In Annex II, point (3), paragraph A (a) (aa), the figure ‘98’ which appears in column 5 for basic seed of oats, barley, wheat and spelt, shall be replaced by the figure ‘99’.

6. In Annex II, point (3), the following subparagraph shall be added:

(a) by 1 July 1973 with Article 1, point (1), Article 2, point (4), Article 3, point (3), Article 4, point (1), and Article 5, point (3);

(b) by 1 January 1974 at the latest with Article 1, point (2), Article 2, points (3) and (5), Article 3, points (2) and (4), Article 4 point (2), Article 5, point (4) and Article, 6 point (4);

(c) by 1 July 1974 at the latest, with the other provisions of this Directive.