The British Seed Certification On-line system is launched industry-wide today.

The new on-line system allows seed certification applicants in England to make their applications on-line or send information contained on their own IT systems directly to Defra. Until now, applications have only been accepted by post and all entries have had to be re-entered on receipt at Defra. The new system will provide:
* Faster delivery of service
* Built in checks to reduce errors
* Reduction in administrative costs
* Automatic fee calculation
* More payment options including debit and credit cards.

The launch today is the culmination of 2 years work and has been made possible through funding from Defra and the Treasury's Invest to Save programme. The system has also benefited from close co-operation from industrial partners in the seed industry who have provided ideas on the system design and given it rigorous testing.

Plant Health, Varieties and Seeds Minister, Ben Bradshaw, said

"I am delighted that we have been able to respond to the seed industry's requests to provide an electronic applications system. I hope that companies will now take the opportunity to use the system and help themselves and Defra to gain the benefits that this system can deliver."

BACKGROUND

1. EC Directives, which have existed since the late 1960s, control the certification and marketing of seed of the main agricultural and vegetable species. Only seed of plant varieties on the National List or EC Common Catalogue (amalgam of Member States National Lists) is
eligible for certification and marketing.

2. Certification requires the multiplication of seed through a prescribed generation sequence before it is sold to a farmer to produce a commercial crop. The crop to produce each generation must be shown on examination to meet prescribed minimum standards e.g. of varietal purity and freedom from disease. The seed must meet prescribed standards for analytical purity, germination and other seed content. Only then can it be officially certified and marketed.

3. The Seed Certification Online project was started in 2002 in response to seed industry requests. Partial funding was awarded from the Invest to Save (ISB) budget to help finance the development of the system.

4. The cost of the seed certification service is currently approximately £1.5 million and is recovered through fees charged to users. It is estimated that once fully operational costs for Defra could be reduced by up £80,000 a year with the introduction of this system. However, the extent of the benefit to the industry will ultimately depend on the volume of transactions passing through the system and the number of queries which are generated.

5. A selection of 15 Seed Certification Companies volunteered to assist in the development and testing of the new system. Testing has been going on with these users since October 2003.

6. The system can be accessed from the following link: http://seedcert.defra.gov.uk