
Article A1 

(1. ) 
For the purposes of this Decision, the following definitions apply:
(a) the “appropriate authority” means:
(i) in relation to England, the Secretary of State;
(ii) in relation to Wales, the Welsh Ministers;
(iii) in relation to Scotland, the Scottish Ministers;
(b) the “Seeds Marketing Regulations” means:
(i) in relation to England, the Seed Marketing Regulations 2011;
(ii) in relation to Wales, the Seed Marketing (Wales) Regulations 2012;
(iii) in relation to Scotland—(aa) the Oil and Fibre Plant Seed (Scotland) Regulations 2004,(bb) the Cereal Seed (Scotland) Regulations 2005,(cc) the Fodder Plant Seed (Scotland) Regulations 2005, and(dd) the Beet Seed (Scotland) (No 2) Regulations 2010.
Article 1 

1. A temporary experiment (‘the experiment’) shall be organised  in Great Britain  assessing, as regards the official checking of crops for the production of basic seed, bred seed of generations prior to basic seed and of certified seed within the framework of field inspection under official supervision pursuant to the provisions of the Seeds Marketing Regulations:
(a) whether a risk-based approach carried out in accordance with Article 3 of this Decision may constitute an improved alternative to the checking of:
((i)) a fixed minimum rate of 5 % of seed crops for certified seed;
((ii)) a fixed rate of 100 % of seed crops for basic seed and bred seed of generations prior to basic seed; and
(b) whether the risk assessement criteria as laid down in Article 3(1) of this Decision are appropriate.
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Article 2 
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Appropriate authorities which decide to participate in the experiment (‘the participating appropriate authorities’) shall inform ... the other appropriate authorities indicating the species, categories and regions covered by their participation and any restrictions.
Participating appropriate authorities may end their participation at any time by informing the  other appropriate authorities  accordingly.
Article 3 

1. The  appropriate authorities  shall carry out the risk assessment of the seed suppliers and adapt the extent of their official checks accordingly to a proportion between 1 % and 100 % of seed crops as regards field inspection under official supervision.For the risk assessment of the seed suppliers, the following criteria shall be taken into account:
(a) species and production methods;
(b) area of production and number of fields;
(c) the activities under the control of the seed supplier;
(d) the location of the activities or operations;
(e) any information indicating likelihood that users of seed could be misled, in particular as to the identity, health and quality, properties, composition, quantity, country or area of origin, method of production of the seeds;
(f) the seed suppliers’ past record as regards the outcome of official checking and post-controls performed on their crops and compliance with the requirement set out in paragraph 2;
(g) the reliability and results of inspections that have been performed by the seed suppliers, in particular by a licensed field inspector or by a third party at the request of the seed suppliers, including, where appropriate, private quality assurance schemes, for the purpose of ascertaining compliance with the requirement set out in paragraph 2;
(h) any information that might indicate non-compliance with the requirement set out in paragraph 2.
2. The crop to be officially checked shall be grown from seed which has undergone official post-control in accordance with  the Seeds Marketing Regulations.
3. A proportion of samples from the seed lots harvested from the crops shall be drawn for official post-control and, where appropriate, for official laboratory seed testing in respect of varietal identity and purity. appropriate authorities shall identify, seed lots for which official checks havebeen carried out in accordance with the risk-based approach set out in paragraph 1.
4. Participating appropriate authorities shall compare, for the same crop of the same field, the fixed minimum rate of 5 % of seed crops subject to official checking with the risk-based official checking of crops and harvested seeds where no fixed minimum rate is set.
Article 4 
By way of derogation from  the Seed Marketing Regulations, participating  appropriate authorities  are released, for the purposes of the experiment, from the obligations in respect of official field inspection of basic seed, bred seed of generations prior to basic seed and of official checking of certified seed ...

Article 5 

1. Participating  appropriate authorities  shall for each year, by 31 March of the following year, present ... to the other appropriate authorities a report on the results of the experiment carried out in accordance with Article 3.
2. At the end of the experiment and in any case at the end of their participation, participating appropriate authorities shall by 31 March of the following year, present ... the other appropriate authorities a final report on the results of the experiment.That report may include other information the participating appropriate authorities consider relevant in view of the purpose of the experiment.
Article 6 
The experiment shall start on 1 August 2020 and end on 31 July 2027.
Article 7 
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Done at Brussels, 24 July 2020.
For the Commission
Stella KYRIAKIDES
Member of the Commission