Explanatory note

These Regulations amend the Seed Marketing (Wales) Regulations 2012 (S.I. 2012/245) (“the principal Regulations”).

Regulation 3 adds Council Decision 2003/17/EC on the equivalence of field inspections carried out in third countries on seed-producing crops and on the equivalence of seed produced in third countries (OJ No L 8, 14.1.2003, p. 10) to the list of EU instruments in respect of which references in the principal Regulations are to be construed as references to those instruments as amended from time to time.

Regulation 4 allows the Welsh Ministers to license exemptions for temporary experiments organised under any of the five European Directives on the marketing of, respectively, beet seed, cereal seed, fodder plant seed, seed of oil and fibre plants and vegetable seed. Other provisions of these Directives are already implemented (in relation to Wales) by the principal Regulations.

The Welsh Ministers' Code of Practice on the carrying out of Regulatory Impact Assessments was considered in relation to these Regulations. As a result it was not considered necessary to carry out a regulatory impact assessment as to the likely costs and benefits of complying with these Regulations.