No L 286/24 Official Journal of the European Communities 4. 10. .89 COMMISSION DECISION of 22 September 1989 on the organization of a temporary experiment on the marketing of seeds and propagating material (89/540/EEC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, Having regard to Council Directive 66/400/EEC of ‘14 - June 1966 on the marketing of beet seed (*), as last amended by Directive 88/380/EEC (%), and in particular Article 13a thereof, Having regard to Council Directive 66/401/EEC of 14 June 1966 on the marketing of fodder plant seed (}), as last amended by Directive 89/100/EEC(¥), and in particular Article 13a thereof, Having regard to Council Directive 66/402/EEC of 14 June 1966 on the marketing of cereal seed(’), as last amended by Directive 89/2/EEC (), and in particular Atrticle 13a thereof, Having regard to Council Directive 69/208/EEC of 30 June 1969 on the marketing of seed of oil and fibre plants (), as last amended by Directive 88/380/EEC, and in particular Article 12a thereof, Whereas, under the provisions of the aforementioned Directives, seed can be officially certified only where the satisfaction of the conditions to be satisfied by the seed-producing crop has been established in official field inspections ; Whereas it has been claimed that field inspections that are not official within the meaning of the said Directives could ensure substantial simplification of the procedures for official seed certification, without a significant " decrease in the quality of the seed; Whereas - this claim cannot yet be - confirmed, at Community level, on the basis of the information available ; Whereas it is therefore-useful to organize a temporary experiment under specified conditions, with the aim of - assessing whether -the above .claim can be sustained at Community level and in particular whether there will not be a significant decrease in the quality of the seed () OJ No 125, 11. 7. 1966, p. 2290/66. () OJ No L 187, 16. 7. 1988, p. 31. () OJ No 125, 11. 7. 1966, p. 2298/66. () OJ No L 38, 10. 2. 1989, p. 36. (9 OJ No 125, 11. 7. 1966, p. 2309/66. 9 O] No L S, 7. 1. 1989, p. 1. () OJ No L 169, 10. 7. 1969, p. 3. compared with that achieved under the system of official . field inspections ; Whereas the conditions of that experiment should be specified in such a manner as to enable the maximum amount of information to be collected at Community level, with a view to -drawing .proper conclusions for possible future adaptations of the Community provisions ; Whereas, for the purpose of the experiment, Member. States should.be released from certain obligations laid. down in_the Directives concerned ; ‘Whereas the measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on Seeds and - Propagating Material for Agriculture, Horticulture and Forestry, HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION : Article 1 1. A temporary experiment is hereby organized, under the conditions specified in Article 2, at Community level, with the aim of assessing whether unofficial field inspections could ensure simplification of the procedures for official seed certification required under Directives 66/400/EEC, 66/401/EEC, 66/402/EEC and 69/208/EEC, without a significant decrease in the quality of the seed. 2. Individual. Member States may inform the- Commission by 30 June 1991, that they have decided not to participate in the experiment. All Member States which have not informed the. Commission accordingly, shall be considered to be participating in the experiment, either at national or at regional level, and at least for one of the species listed in the Directives referred to in paragraph 1. 3. Member States which shall be considered to be participating in the experiment are hereby released from- the obligation -laid down in- Annex I part A (3) to Directive 66/400/EEC, Annex I (6) to Directive 66/401/EEC, Annex I (5) to Directive 66/402/EEC and Annex I (5) to Directive 69/208/EEC, that the field inspections to be carried out must be official, subject to the following conditions : » (a) the release is restricted to the species in respect of which they participate in the experiment; (b) the release is restricted to seed of the category ‘certified seed’ of all kinds; (c) the release is subject to the satisfaction of the conditions specified in Article 2.