Annexes to COM(1999)188 - Marketing of forest reproductive material

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dossier COM(1999)188 - Marketing of forest reproductive material.
document COM(1999)188 EN
date December 22, 1999
ANNEX I


LIST OF TREE SPECIES AND ARTIFICIAL HYBRIDS

Abies alba Mill.

Abies cephalonica Loud.

Abies grandis Lindl.

Abies pinsapo Boiss.

Acer platanoides L.

Acer pseudoplatanus L.

Alnus glutinosa Gaertn.

Alnus incana Moench.

Betula pendula Roth.

Betula pubescens Ehrh.

Carpinus betulus L.

Castanea sativa Mill.

Cedrus atlantica Carr.

Cedrus libani A. Richard

Fagus sylvatica L.

Fraxinus angustifolia Vahl.

Fraxinus excelsior L.

Larix decidua Mill.

Larix x eurolepis Henry

Larix kaempferi Carr.

Larix sibirica Ledeb.

Picea abies Karst.

Picea sitchensis Carr.

Pinus brutia Ten.

Pinus canariensis C. Smith

Pinus cembra L.

Pinus contorta Loud.

Pinus halepensis Mill.

Pinus leucodermis Antoine

Pinus nigra Arnold

Pinus pinaster Ait.

Pinus pinea L.

Pinus radiata D. Don

Pinus sylvestris L.

Populus spp. and artificial hybrids between those species

Prunus avium L.

Pseudotsuga menziesii Franco

Quercus cerris L.

Quercus ilex L.

Quercus petraea Liebl.

Quercus pubescens Willd.

Quercus robur L.

Quercus rubra L.

Quercus suber L.

Robinia pseudoacacia L.

Tilia cordata Mill.

Tilia platyphyllos Scop.


ANNEX II


MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS FOR THE APPROVAL OF BASIC MATERIAL INTENDED FOR THE PRODUCTION OF REPRODUCTIVE MATERIAL TO BE CERTIFIED AS "SOURCE-IDENTIFIED"

1. The basic material shall be as seed source or stand located within a single Region of Provenance. It shall be at the discretion of the Member State in each individual case as to whether a formal inspection is required except that, a formal inspection must be made where the material is destined for a specific forestry purpose.

2. The seed source or stand shall meet criteria set by the Member States.

3. - The Region of Provenance and the location and the altitude or altitudinal range of the place(s) where the reproductive mateiral is collected must be stated.

- It must be stated whether the basic material is:

(a) autochthonous or non-autochthonous or the origin is unknown or

(b) indigenous or non-indigenous or the origin is unknown.

In the case of non-autochthonous or non-indigenous basic material the origin must be stated if known.


ANNEXE III


MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS FOR THE APPROVAL OF BASIC MATERIAL INTENDED FOR THE PRODUCTION OF REPRODUCTIVE MATERIAL TO BE CERTIFIED AS "SELECTED"

General: The stand will be judged with respect to the specific stated purpose for which the reproductive material will be intended and due weight shall be given to requirements 1-10, depending on the specific purpose. The criteria for selection shall be determined by the Member State and the purpose shall be indicated in the National Register.

1. Origin: It must be determined either by historical evidence or other appropriate means whether the stand is autochthonous/indigenous, non-autochthonous/non-indigenous or the origin is unknown and for non-authochthonous/non-indigenous basic material the origin must be stated if known.

2. Isolation: Stands must be situated at a sufficient distance from poor stands of the same species or from stands of a related species or variety which can form hybrids with the species in question. Particular attention shall be paid to this requirement when the stands surrounding autochthonous/indigenous stands are non-autochthonous/non-indigenous or of unknown origin.

3. Effective Size of the Population: Stands must consist of one or more groups of trees well distributed and sufficiently numerous to ensure adequate inter-pollination. To avoid the unfavourable effects of inbreeding, selected stands shall consist of a sufficient number and density of individuals on a given area.

4. Age and Development: Stands must consist of trees of such an age or stage of development that the criteria given for the selection can be clearly judged.

5. Uniformity: Stands must show a normal degree of individual variation in morphological characters. When necessary, inferior trees should be removed.

6. Adaptedness: Adaptation to the ecological conditions prevailing in the Region of Provenance must be evident.

7. Health and Resistance: Trees in stands must in general be free from attacks by damaging organisms and show resistance to the adverse climatic and site conditions, except for damage by pollution, in the place where they are growing.

8. Volume production: For the approval of selected stands volume production of wood must normally be superior to the accepted mean under similar ecological and management conditions.

9. Wood Quality: The quality of the wood shall be taken into account and, in some cases, it may be an essential criterion.

10. Form or Growth Habit: Trees in stands must show particularly good morphological features, especially straigthness and circularity of stem, favourable branching habit, small size of branches and good natural pruning. In addition, the porportion of forked trees and those showing spiral grain should be low.


ANNEX IV


MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS FOR THE APPROVAL OF BASIC MATERIAL INTENDED FOR THE PRODUCTION OF REPRODUCTIVE MATERIAL TO BE CERTIFIED AS "QUALIFIED"

1. Seed Orchards

(a) The type, objective, crossing design and field layout, components, isolation and location and any changes of these must be approved and registered with the official body;

(b) The component clones or families shall be selected for their outstanding characters and special consideration shall be given to the requirements 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 of Annex III;

(c) The component clones or families shall be planted or shall have been planted according to a plan which has been approved by the official body and established in such a way that each component can be identified;

(d) Thinning carried out in seed orchards shall be described together with the selection criteria used for such thinnings and registered with the official body;

(e) The seed orchards shall be managed and seed harvested in such a way that the objectives of the orchards are attained. In the case of a seed orchard intended for the production of an artificial hybrid, the percentage of hybrids in the reproductive material must be determined by a verification test.

2. Parents of Family(ies)

(a) The parents shall be selected for their outstanding characters and special consideration will be given to the requirements 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 of Annex III, or selected for their combining ability;

(b) The objective, crossing design and pollination system, components, isolation and location and any significant changes of these must be approved and registered with the official body;

(c) The identity, number and proportion of the parents in a mixture must be approved and registered with the official body;

(d) In the case of parents intended for the production of an artificial hybrid, the percentage of hybrids in the reproductive material must be determined by a verification test.

3. Clones

(a) Clones shall be identifiable by distinctive characters which have been approved and registered with the official body;

(b) The value of individual clones shall be established by experience or have been demonstrated by sufficiently prolonged experimentation;

(c) Ortets used for the production of clones shall be selected for their outstanding characters and special consideration should be given to the requirements 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 of Annex III;

(d) Approval shall be restricted by the Member State to a maximum number of years or a maximum number of ramets produced.

4. Clonal Mixtures

(a) Clonal mixture shall meet the requirements in points 3(a), 3(b) and 3(c);

(b) the identity, number and proportion of the component clones of a mixture, and the selection method and foundation stock must be approved and registered with the official body. Each mixture must contain sufficient genetic diversity;

(c) Approval shall be restricted by the Member State to a maximum number of years or a maximum number of ramets produced.


ANNEX V


MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS FOR THE APPROVAL OF BASIC MATERIAL INTENDED FOR THE PRODUCTION OF REPRODUCTIVE MATERIAL TO BE CERTIFIED AS "TESTED"

1. REQUIREMENTS FOR ALL TESTS

(a) General

The basic material must satisfy the appropriate requirements in Annex III or IV.

Tests set up for the approval of basic material are to be prepared, laid out, conducted and their results interpreted in accordance with internationally recognised procedures. For comparative tests, the reproductive material under test must be compared with one or preferably several approved or pre-chosen standards.

(b) Characters to be examined

(i) Tests must be designed to assess specified characters and these must be indicated for each test;

(ii) Weight shall be given to adaptation, growth, biotic and abiotic factors of importance. In addition, other characters, considered important in view of the intended specific purpose, shall be evaluated in relation to the ecological conditions of the reigon in which the test is carried out.

(c) Documentation

Records must describe the test sites, including location, climate, soil, past use, establishment, management and any damage due to abiotic/biotic factors, and be available to the official body. Age of the material and results at the time of the evaluation must be recorded with the official body.

(d) Setting up the tests

(i) Each sample fo reproductive material shall be raised, planted and managed in an identical way as far as the types of plant material permit;

(ii) Each experiment must be established in a valid statistical design with a sufficient number of trees in order that the individual characteristics of each component under examination can be evaluated.

(e) Analysis and validity of results

(i) The data from experiments must be analysed using internationally recognised statistical methods and the results presented for each character examined;

(ii) The methodology used for the test and the detailed results obtained shall be made freely available;

(iii) A statement of the suggested region of probable adaptation within the country in which the test was carried out and characteristics which might limit its usefulness must also be given;

(iv) If during tests it is proved that the reproductive material does not possess at least the characteristics:

- of the basic material or

- of similar resistance of the basic material to harmful organisms of economic importance,

then such reproductive material shall be eliminated.

2. REQUIREMENTS FOR GENETIC EVALUATION OF COMPONENTS OF BASIC MATERIAL

(a) The components of the following basic material may be genetically evaluated: seed orchards, parents of family(ies), clones and clonal mixtures;

(b) Documentation

The following additional documentation is required for approval of the basic material:

(i) The identity, origin and pedigree of the evaluated components;

(ii) The crossing design used to produce the reproductive material used in the evaluation tests.

(c) Test procedures

The following requirements must be met:

(i) The genetic value of each component must be estimated in two or more evaluation test-sites, at least one of which must be in an enviornment relevant to the suggested use of the reproductive material;

(ii) The estimated superiority of the reproductive material to be marketed shall be calculated on the basis of these genetic values and the specific crossing design;

(iii) Evaluation tests and genetic calculations must be approved by the official body.

(d) Interpretation

(i) The estimated superiority of the reproductive material shall be calculated against a reference population for a character or set of characters;

(ii) It shall be stated whether the estimated genetic value of the reproductive material is inferior to the reference population for any important character.

3. REQUIREMENTS FOR COMPARATIVE TESTING OF REPRODUCTIVE MATERIAL

(a) Sampling of the reproductive material

(i) The sample of the reproductive material for comparative testing must be truly representative of the reproductive material derived from the basic material to be approved;

(ii) Sexually produced reproductive material for comparative testing shall be:

- harvested in years of good flowering and good fruit/seed production; artificial pollination may be utilised,

- harvested by methods that ensure that the samples obtained are representative.

(b) Standards

(i) The performance of standards used for comparative purposes in the tests should if possible have been known over a sufficiently long period in the region in which the test is to be carried out. The standards represent, in principle, material that has been shown useful for forestry at the time that the test starts, and in ecological conditions for which it is proposed to certify the material. They should come as far as possible from stands selected according to the criteria in Annex III or from basic material officially approved for production of tested material;

(ii) For comparative testing of artificial hybrids, both parent species must, if possible, be included among the standards;

(iii) Whenever possible several standards are to be used. When necessary and justified, standards may be replaced by the most suitable of the material under test or the mean of the components of the test;

(iv) The same standards will be used in all tests over as wide a range of site conditions as possible.

(c) Interpretation

(i) A statistically significant superiority as compared with the standards must be demonstrated for at least one important character;

(ii) It will be clearly reported if there are any characters of economic or environmental importance which show significantly inferior results to the standards and their effects must be compensates for by favourable characters.

4. CONDITIONAL APPROVAL

Preliminary assessment of young trials may be the basis for conditional approval. Claims of superiority based on an early assessment must be re-examined at a maximum interval of ten years.

5. EARLY TESTS

Nursery, greenhouse and laboratory tests may be accepted by the official body for conditional approval or for final approval if it can be shown that there is a close correlation between the measured trait and the characters which would normally be assessed in foreststage tests. Other characters to be tested must meet the requirements set out in paragraph 3.


ANNEX VI


CATEGORIES UNDER WHICH REPRODUCTIVE MATERIAL FROM THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF BASIC MATERIAL MAY BE MARKETED

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ANNEX VII


PART A

Requirements to be met by fruit and seed lots of the species listed in Annex I

1. Fruit and seed lots of the species listed in Annex I may not be marketed unless the fruit or seed lot reaches a minimum species purity level of 99 %.

2. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 1, in the case of closely related species in Annex I, excluding artificial hybrids, the species purity of the fruit or seed lot if it does not reach 99 % shall be stated.

PART B

Requirements to be met by parts of plants of the species and artificial hybrids listed in Annex I

Parts of plants of the species and artificial hybrids listed in Annex I, shall be of fair marketable quality. Fair marketable quality shall be determined by reference to general characteristics, health and appropriate size. In the case of Populus spp. it may be stated that the additional requirements set out in Part C are met.

PART C

Requirements for external quality standards for Populus spp. propagated by stem cuttings or sets

1. Stem cuttings

(a) Stem cuttings shall not be considered to be of fair marketable quality if any of the following defects exist:

(i) their wood is more than two years old;

(ii) they have less than two well formed buds;

(iii) they are affected by necroses or show damage by harmful organisms;

(iv) they show signs of desiccation, overheating, mould or decay.

(b) Minimum dimensions for stem cuttings

- minimum length: 20 cm,

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2. Sets

(a) Sets shall not be considered to be of fair marketable quality if any of the following defects exist:

- their wood is more than three years old,

- they have less than five well formed buds,

- they are affected by necroses or show damage by harmful organisms,

- they show signs of desiccation, overheating, mould or decay,

- they have injuries other than pruning cuts,

- they have multiple stems,

- they have excessive stem curvature.

(b) Size classes for sets

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PART D

Requirements to be met by planting stock of the species and artificial hybrids listed in Annex I

The planting stock shall be of fair marketable quality. Fair marketable quality shall be determined by reference to general characteristics, health, vitality and physiological quality.

PART E

Requirements to be met by planting stock to be marketed to the end-user in regions having a Mediterranean climate

Planting stock shall not be marketed unless 95 % of each lot is of fair marketable quality.

1. Planting stock shall not be considered to be of fair marketable quality if any of the following deficits exist:

(a) injuries other than pruning cuts or injuries due to damage when lifting;

(b) lack of buds with the potential to form a leading shoot;

(c) multiple stems;

(d) deformed root system;

(e) signs of desiccation, overheating, mould, decay or other harmful organisms;

(f) the plants are not well balanced.

2. Size of the plants

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3. Size of the container, where used

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ANNEX VIII


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ANNEX IX


CORRELATION TABLE

A.

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B.

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