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Kampaň za suverenitu osiv vůči

Campaign for Seed-Sovereignty: Seeds must remain part of the Commons!

More Information:info [at] seed-sovereignty.org

Členové europarlamentu kritizují nový evropský zákon o osivech

Kritika kampaně za suverenitu osiv vůči návrhu nové regulace osiv byla potvrzena příspěvky členů evropského parlamentu, kteří ji přednesli na mítingu komise pro rozvoj zemědělství a venkova. Během mítingu konaného v pondělí 30.9.2013* si vzali slovo Martin HÄUSLING (Greens/EFA; Německo), Ulrike RODUST (S&D; Německo), Britta REIMERS (ALDE; Německo) and Karin KADENBACH (S&D; Rakousko) a kritizovali sílící soustřeďování (centralizaci) v osivovém byznysu a vysoký počet aktů v přenesené pravomoci. Požadovali deregulaci malých výrobců a transparenci metod pěstování odrůd. (…)
(…)
Tato změna v politice osiv by se zaměřila na podporu a stimulaci skutečné rozmanitosti v odrůdách semen. Důležité jsou odrůdy, které jsou uzpůsobené regionálním podmínkám půdy a klimatu, ty, jež jsou uzpůsobené domácímu a řemeslnému zpracování, stejně jako ty, jež jsou zdrojem rozmanitosti chutí a mají široký genetický základ. Skrz pokračování současných principů osivové legislativy, rozšíření rozsahu osivového zákona a uchování DUS odrůd jako standardu by došlo k urychlení eroze zemědělské biodiverzity a základ výživy pro následující věk by se dostal do ohrožení.
Podepište otevřený dopis „Rozmanitost osiv v ohrození



Seedy Sunday Brighton (UK)


Brighton Corn Exchange
February 3, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
WebTwitter

Recaim the Seeds Meeting (NL)
March 2-3

by A Seed NL et. al.
Den Bosch, Netherlands

Bonn (D)
9. März 2013, 11-17 Uhr

Saatgut ist Kulturgut: Festival des Vereins zur Erhaltung der Nutzpflanzenvielfalt

Thurauen (CH)
23./24. März 2013

Internationale Saatgut-Tauschbörse von Longo Mai und Pro Specie Rara

Peliti International Seed Festival (HE)
May 11 - 13

Paranesti, Greece

ESA is afraid of free competition with farmers' varieties”

JOINT STATEMENT ON THE PROPOSAL ON LEGISLATION ABOUT PLANT REPRODUCTIVE MATERIAL

signed byAegilops (GR), Agrolink (BG), Arche Noah (A), A Seed Europe, Bifurcated Carrots (NL), Bio Austria, Campaign for Seed Sovereignty, Danish Seed Savers, Dachverband Kulturpflanzen- und Nutztiervielfalt (D), Eco Ruralis (ROM), Forum Civique Européen (F-D-A-CH), Föreningen Sesam (S), GAIA (P), Garden Organic (UK), Global 2000 (A), ZMAG (HR), Irish Seed Savers, Latvijas Zemes draugi (Friends of the Earth Latvia), MPI (P), ÖBV – Via Campesina Austria, Peliti (GR), Praktisk Økologi (DK), Quercus (P), Varuhi semen (SL)

On the occasion of the conference the EU Commission held on 13th of June with the EU Parliament and EU Council to explain the package “smarter rules for safer food“ on seed marketing, plant pests, animal health and related official controls.

Whilst in the preamble, the proposal for the plant reproductive material law looks as if every effort is being made to preserve and promote agricultural biodiversity and on-farm conservation, the reality is that the opposite is happening. New rules and restrictions have been created which hamper the freedom of farmers and seed saving organisations. In addition, the “niche” (art. 36) is not going to work in a practical sense, because of the restrictions assigned to “niche” sector and the perspective of them being further tightened by means of “Delegated Acts” by the EU Commission at any stage.

Rozmanitost osiv v ohrožení -
Proti nařízení EU o osivech ve prospěch osivářského průmyslu

Vážení členové Komise,
Vážení členové Parlamentu,
Vážení členové Rady!

V současné době je v Bruselu navrženo nové nařízení o osivech. Pokud je přijme Ředitelství pro zdraví a ochranu spotřebitele, mnohé ze starých a vzácných odrůd ovoce, zeleniny a obilovin zmizí z trhu. Pokud bude těmto rozmanitým odrůdám a odrůdám vhodným pro ekologické zemědělství byrokraticky bráněno v šíření, dojde k dalšímu posílení korporativního zemědělství.
Text nového znění nařízení EU o osivech, který je v současné době k dispozici, umožňuje soustředit trh s osivy do rukou malého počtu osivářských průmyslových korporací. To není akceptovatelné. Nové nařízení EU o osivech musí umožňovat rozmanitost odrůd; odrůd pro hospodaření v malém a zaměřených pro ekologicky adaptované šlechtění. Rozmanité odrůdy musí být dostupné nejen v genových bankách, ale rovněž na otevřeném trhu bez jakýchkoli byrokratických restrikcí. Proto požadujeme: žádná povinná registrace!
Kromě toho, současná kritéria pro registraci musí být – kvůli jejich rozmanitosti - změkčena pro odrůdy vhodné pro ekologické zemědělství, aby naše zemědělství bylo schopno adaptovat se na klimatickou změnu, nové škůdce a choroby stejně tak i kvůli přátelštějšímu chování vůči životnímu prostředí.
Současný zákon EU o osivech, ani v současné době dostupný předložený návrh, nenaplňují legální výměnu. Ohrožují rozmanitost osiv a tak společné bohatství lidstva. Rovněž tak ohrožují udržitelné potravinové systémy jen proto, aby sloužily agrochemickému průmyslu.
Žádáme Vás Komise EU, Parlamente EU a Rado EU, abyste odmítly jakýkoli návrh, který nenaplňuje výše uvedená kritéria.
Konec s likvidací rozmanitosti zemědělských a zahradnických osiv v Evropě!

Více informací na:
- Campaign for Seed-Sovereignty www.saatgutkampagne.org / www.seed-sovereignty.org/CZ/index.html
- German umbrella organisation for crop and livestock diversity („Dachverband Kulturpflanzen- und Nutztiervielfalt e.V.“):www.kulturpflanzen-nutztiervielfalt.org/node/29
- Patrick Wiebe’s Blog: http://www.bifurcatedcarrots.eu/

Argumentace:

Současné nařízení EU o osivech vychází z doby, kdy ochrana životního prostředí a druhové rozmanitosti byly podceňovány. Existovaly četné šlechtitelské podniky, které přicházely na trh s velmi rozmanitými odrůdami. Většina z nich mohla být po sklizni opět vysévána – a to je způsob, který doprovází zemědělství po tisíce let.
Rok 1980 přinesl dva nové termíny pro něco, co až dosud bylo běžnou praxí: za prvé „práva zemědělců“ a za druhé „volně opylovatelné odrůdy“ (semínka produkující stejnou odrůdu, aniž se křížila s podobnými odrůdami). To je ten důvod, proč se obchod s osivy dramaticky změnil. Dnes největší společnosti ovládají tři čtvrtiny trhu s osivy, a více než polovina globálního trhu pochází z chemického průmyslu.
Na většinu odrůd se vztahují právní a technická omezení, která znemožňují záchranu přeséváním osiv samotnými pěstiteli. Byl zaveden úřední postup pro obchodování s odrůdami a kritéria pro něj jsou přizpůsobena průmyslovým odrůdám. Jako obhajoba tohoto byly využity pojmy produktivita a růst světové populace. Nestabilitu tohoto přístupu dokládá vyčerpávající zpráva Mezinárodního panelu pro hodnocení zemědělských technologií a vědy pro rozvoj (IAASTD).
Rozmanitost plodin z velké části zmizela z trhu. Týká se to rozmanitosti neregistrovaných odrůd – obchodují s nimi tisíce neohrožených občanů Evropy bez požadované registrace. Dnes se musíme spoléhat na rozsáhlé odborné znalosti těchto lidí a měli bychom do této činnosti zapojit co nejvíce dalších lidí, nejen jako formu hobby, ale jako nezbytnost k obživě.
Druhým důležitým aspektem je, že nebyly dochovány téměř žádné odrůdy – konkrétně pro ekologické zemědělství – kvůli jejich rozmanitosti. Avšak ekologické zemědělství potřebuje silné, odolné rostliny nezávislé na chemikáliích. A to je možné pouze v rámci širokého spektra přírodních rezerv. Není přijatelné tyto odrůdy registrovat podle současných kritérií pro registraci odrůd.


Sign up the petition!

Hello everyone who cares about our seeds and our freedom to use, exchange and sell them!
Take action in the legislative process of EU-Seed regulation!

There is urgent action needed to avoid damage by the upcoming new EU regulation of seed marketing. The new regulation will de facto ban old and rare varieties and farmers varieties and threaten the exchange and selling of seeds of diversity.
DG SANCO (the General Direction of the EU for Sanitary and Consumer affairs) has been working on a proposal for a new regulation since years. On Monday, the 6th of May they will present their proposal to the conference of commissioners. They could not get a consensus of the two other affected DGs, DG AGRI (agricultural affairs) and DG ENVI (environmental affairs). Both opposed the last draft of the proposal, and DG SANCO is not looking for a consensus.
The new regulation has mainly been drafted by Isabelle Clement-Nissou, an employee of GNIS, the French lobby of the Seed Industry. Madame Clement-Nissou was sent as a national expert to Brussels by the French government and is supposed to „support“ DG SANCO. The drafts for the proposal became worse from the first to the second draft; and it is expected that the final proposal is going into the same direction.
Since there is no consensus between the three DGs, the commissioners have to vote on the proposal. If a majority of commissioners votes against the proposal, it should be stopped. If they vote in favour, it will be given to the EU Parliament and to the Council.
The seed industry is pushing the legislation, because they’ve spent a lot of money to influence the seed legislation. Furthermore, they don't want it to be postponed after the election of a new parliament in May 2014. They take the risk that the commissioners vote against it – and we think: the commissioners should do so! There is only a little chance to get a majority of commissioners to vote against the current proposal, but we still should try.
Each country of the EU has one commissioner in Brussels, so we need 14 votes against the proposal. The commissioners of DG AGRI and DG ENVI should vote against, so we need 12 more.
Please write to the commissioner of your country and convince him/her to vote „NO“ on the proposal of DG SANCO on 6th of May.
The Austrian seed saving organisation “Arche Noah” prepared a draft letter that you could use as
template, if needed. Or write a better one!
You can find the members of the current commission
here.

Try to make a link from his/her department to the seed issue, and try to make clear to him/her that the proposal for a new EU seed legislation will affect the cultural and biodiversity heritage of your country and the freedom of farmers to use the seeds and the varieties they want to.
NO PROHIBITION OF SEEDS OF DIVERSITY!
Please write to your commissioner in Brussels immediatelz. He/she has to make a statement on the proposal from 24th of April on, the sooner, the better. On the 6th of May, we must obtain at least 14 objections, otherwise this proposal will become the official proposal
In order to coordinate the action, please tell us if you are going to approach your commissioner!

The Latest in the Battle to Reform EU Seed Laws (2013-02-24)

ALERT: Bad new EU-seed law ahead!
The DG SANCO (Directorate General for Health and Consumers) of the EU-Commission is working on a revision of the EU Seed Laws, currently a series of directives interpreted under national law, to be replaced by a single regulation that will come into force directly in all the 27 EU member states without local interpretation. This would suit the needs of seed multinationals which want uniform laws in all their markets, but would harm the diverse structures of agriculture and the diverse use and production of seeds. If you want to act on behalf of seed-sovereignty, for farmers and seed-savers, you have to become active in the coming months!
Diversity under attack!
The current draft of the proposed regula­tion, from Nov. 2012, contains some draconian measures for farm-based production seeds, and diversity of plant varieties. Farmers as seed producers would be subject to the same obligations of registration and regula­tion as multina­tional seed company operators. Varieties of diver­sity and old varieties would be endanger­ed, and the free exchange of seeds and other propaga­tion material could effectively be forbidden. If varieties have to be registered and to pass extensive testing, this would put up unreasonably high barriers for farmers, consumers and the diversity in agriculture and horticulture.
The European Seed Association, lobby organisation of the seed multinationals, has two main aims. First to control the niche markets and make them unattractive, and second to register all producers of farm saved seed in order to collect royalties from them. They are also trying to combine the testing and evaluation for plant variety protection (PVP) and the licensing for marketing, and to privatize the entire process. This would hit the small companies and farmers, who would face increasing and unreasonable testing and evaluation costs, for each single variety of seed they wish to use.
What‘s next?
The current draft regulation was written by DG SANCO. Before it becomes an official proposal of the EU-Commission, DG AGRI (Directorate General of Agriculture and Rural Development) and the DG ENVI (Directorate General for the Environment) have to agree to it‘s contents. At the moment there are several points of disagreement.
This opens a window we should use to struggle for more diversity, for open pollinated varieties (versus ”hybrid” varieties), and for more diverse seeds in the hands of farmers, gardeners and seed savers.

Our demands for a new EU seed law:

No regulation of seed exchange by seed savers and farmers!

No mandatory registration or certification for open pollinated varieties!

No discrimination against organic varieties by standards for registra­tion, certification and plant health!

Transparency on breeding meth­ods and intellectual property rights (patents and/or plant variety protection) of registered varieties!

New definition of varieties: not only homogeneous and stable varieties, but also open pollinated, selected from populations!

No privatization of registration and certification!

From seed to seed” -
An educational film on the production of seeds

The film is intended for all those interested in seed production - beginners, amateur gardeners, farmers, vocational colleges, children, those who wish to contribute to the conservation of plant diversity, those for whom it is urgent to grow their own seeds in order to adapt to different climate conditions or for food security
read more...

Resilient Seed
On the seed industry, EU seed laws and the engagement for seed-sovereignty

Resilient Seed“ - the film

Resilient Seed“ - the booklet
chap. 1.: Get informed and take action!
chap. 2.: The power of seed and agrochemical companies
chap. 3.: Seed marketing law
chap. 4.; Seed law in 2012 at a crossroads
chap. 5.: Plant variety protection (PVP) and UPOV
chap. 6.: Patents on plants
chap. 7.: How to organise a seed swap

Commission of the EU released drafts for new seed law

In the first weeks of November the Commission of the EU has released drafts for new regulations of the seed sector:
- „
Draft on plant reproductive materials”
- „
Draft paper on plant health”
- „
Draft paper on a proposal on official controls”

Call to Action for Seed Sovereignty on 16 October 2012:
We need seed sovereignty
to be able to achieve food sovereignty!

Our demands are:

  • open access to fertile and diverse seeds free of any form of legal protection or patenting;

  • the right for farmers and gardeners to obtain seeds from their harvest, to re-sow, distribute and sell them;

  • a new model of agriculture based on local, small-scale food webs rather than monocultures requiring high inputs;

  • new agricultural and trade policies promoting production for local needs and not global “free” trade, dominated by transnational corporations;

  • policies that favour the needs of farmers and consumers, health and the environment instead of profits for big business.

Complete call for action

The European Court of Justice's decision reconfirms the interdiction of seed trade:
Diversity of Cultivated Varieties still endangered

The European Court of Justice stated the validity of current EU legislation on seed commerce by its judgement on 12th of July. Thereby it rejected the fundamental critics uttered beforehand by Advocate General Kokott. Accordingly, the existing trade embargo for seeds from non-registered varieties remains untouched. This is a defeat for the agricultural biodiversity and the ones who dedicate themselves to self-determined agriculture and gardening.

Andreas Riekeberg from the campaign for seed-sovereignty says: „It is an annoying judgement far from the reality. The court solely has reconfirmed the current EU legislation without taking into account the detailed critic by Advocate General Kokott, which pointed out the ongoing destruction of biodiversity on the fields and in the gardens driven by the respective directives. This is a slap in the face of those concerned with agricultural diversity. The judgement keeps going on promoting the seed industry and their uniform varieties which only grow with the help of chemical inputs, be it pesticides or fertilizers.“

Jürgen Holzapfel lives on the farm Ulenkrug in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. He is a cultivator of old cereal varieties and saves his own seeds. He says: „I would have to tell the authorities about all the varieties of seeds which I save, even if I use them just for myself. To commercialize them, I would need to register them as conservation varieties, pay the fees and bear in mind not to exceed a certain quantity. I would even have to arrange with other farmers not to exceed the maximum threshold for a specific variety in a specific region. The court claims in the official press release to ensure the protection of plant genetic resources by this provision. This is just not true.“

The objectives of the campaign for seed-sovereignty are described by Anne Schweigler: „We will continue to struggle for the common right of all farmers and gardeners to decide for themselves which variety to cultivate. We will keep on organizing seed swaps and enhancing regional and international networks. The production of food and our alimentation have to be self-determined and must not be controlled by the agro-industry.“

The campaign for seed-sovereignty criticizes the policy of conserving the biodiversity stretched into a dwarfish frame by the EU directive. This in turn shall impede the emergence of a market of regional farm-saved seeds, e. g. for vegetables, cereals and seed oil as an alternative to the industrial market. Today, the European Court of Justice follows the legislative in its attempt to; „ … preventing the emergence of a parallel market for such seed, which was likely to constitute an impediment to the internal market for seed of vegetable varieties “. As written in the court's press release. It could have interfered with the business of the market-dominating corporations.

The campaign for seed-sovereignty is in line with the majority of seed saving initiatives in Europe, saying that the conservation directive is an impediment to the sustainment of biodiversity, which is luckily hardly applicable in reality. However, seed savers can be subject to prosecution when their work is disturbing the corporations.

The legal dispute between the seed saving initiative Kokopelli and the corporation Graines Beaumaux challenged the validity of current EU law and was brought to the European Court of Justice. The opinion of Advocate General Kokott on January 1st 2012 gave rise to hope that the restrictive EU directives could be dismissed.

Principally, only registered seeds may be traded within the EU. What was once meant to guarantee their quality, has evolved into a strong limitation of the diversity of seeds. Many old varieties have disappeared from the gardens and the shelves in the stores, either because they do not meet the catalogues constraints or their registration cannot be afforded by small farmers or initiatives.

Within the last 30 years a tremendous concentration on the seed market has been observed. A few transnational corporations comprise 65% to 80% of the share, depending on the crop and the region of the world. This was crucial to the accelerated destruction of biodiversity. Not until recent years (2008 - 2010), has the EU adopted three directives on conservation varieties. However, the activity of seed saving farmers and gardeners is limited due to the admission procedure and the restrictions of produced quantity.

Opinion of the Advocate General (19.01.2012):
http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&docid=118143&pageIndex=0&doclang=EN&mode=req&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=66802

Press release of the European Court of Justice (12.07.2012): http://curia.europa.eu/jcms/jcms/P_89305/

Decision C-59/11 of the EJC: http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&docid=125002&pageIndex=0&doclang=EN&mode=lst&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=43979

(Translation of the press release of the Campaign for Seed Sovereignty from 12.07.2012)

other statements:

Kampagne für Saatgut-Souveränität (auf Deutsch, 12/072012)

Kokopelli (en Française, 12/07/2012)

Reseau de Semences Paysannes (en Française, 17/07/2012)

Red de Semillas (en Castellano, 23/07/2012)


Impressum