Thanks to Patrick for alerting us to the English translation of the Opinion of Advocate General Kott in the matter of Case C-59/11 Association Kokopelli v Graines Baumaux SAS. It would repay unpacking by a legal expert, but in the meantime the conclusion looks pretty much cut and dried. At least for now.
125. In the light of the foregoing, I propose that the Court should rule as follows:
1. The prohibition on the sale of seed of varieties that are not demonstrably distinct, stable and sufficiently uniform and, where appropriate, of satisfactory value for cultivation and use, established in Article 3(1) of the Vegetable Seed Directive, is invalid as it infringes the principle of proportionality, the freedom to conduct a business within the meaning of Article 16 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, the free movement of goods established in Article 34 TFEU and the principle of equal treatment within the meaning of Article 20 of the Charter.
To summarise: “The prohibition … is invalid.” Although there’s probably more to it than that …
Thanks for this information, Jeremy and Luigi.
I must say the title is a little bit too optimistic. This is just the opinion of a lawyer in the course of a particular case. I don’t think it will have much influence on EU seed law. Only two years ago and as a result of an overall assessment of EU law on seed commercialization, the EU Commission confirmed its intention to renew EU legal framework maintaining the same principles of variety registration and seed certification, which basically means that varieties will have to continue to be distinct, stable and uniform to be legally sold in European countries. Taking into account that the approval of the European Directive (2008/62) that provides for the derogation of certain requirements in the case of the so called “conservation varieties” took many years, it is difficult to believe that the pillars of European seed law will change soon, and simply because Advocate Kott disagree with them.
Since it was sued by some big seed companies, Kokopelli, and other similar organizations, are embarked in an admirable crusade to open up the EU seed market to non registered varieties, particularly traditional ones, coming from EU countries but also abroad. They are certainly making their voices heard, but I am afraid they will need more than that to actually influence EU bodies.
Thanks for your comments Isabel. I cannot agree that “some time soon” is overly optimistic, but perhaps that’s because of the slightly ironic use of “soon”.
The Advocate General’s preliminary opinion does give some hope, I believe, that the EU seed registration may be changed at some point. The big problem with conservation varieties, for example, is that they still do not permit the marketing of recently-bred varieties for which the market may not justify registration. Similarly, if older varieties adapt to changed conditions, are they still the same variety?
Hi
I am interested in geting more information about this directive.
Where can I found more information, like the preliminary study for the directive, the list of the MP who voted it…
The EU website is big and I am not use to it.