Chapter V, Article 20 · FRM Regulation

Contents

Article 20Official label and professional operator’s document#

1.An official label shall be issued and printed for each lot of FRM for marketing, with reference to the master certificate code and to the lot code, by:

(a)the competent authority; or

(b)the authorised professional operator or a person contracted by that professional operator under the official supervision of the competent authority.

That official label shall attest compliance with the requirements of Articles 5 and 19 and, as applicable, of Article 8.An official label does not need to be issued and printed in the case of a lot of FRM held and offered for the purpose of sale. However, in that case a reference to the master certificate code and to the lot code shall be provided.

10.An official label or professional operator’s document may be issued in an electronic form (‘electronic official label’ or ‘electronic professional operator’s document’). In such case, a printed reference, such as a QR code, shall accompany the FRM concerned.The Commission may adopt implementing acts setting out technical arrangements for the issuance of electronic official labels or electronic professional operator’s documents in order to ensure their compliance with this Article and an appropriate, credible and effective mode for their issuance. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 32(2).

11.The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 31 supplementing this Article by setting out rules on:

(a)the digital recording of the main actions for the production and marketing of FRM taken by the professional operators and the competent authorities which lead to the issuance of the official labels and the professional operator’s documents;

(b)the establishment of a centralised platform that connects the Member States and the Commission to facilitate the processing of, access to, and use of those records.

2.The official label shall ensure unique identification and traceability of the lot by accompanying that lot during marketing as referred to in paragraph 1.

3.When delivering lots of FRM to another user, the professional operator, in addition to the official label, shall issue and print a professional operator’s document for each delivered lot which may be combined with a delivery note or an invoice.

4.Official labels shall be:

(a)authentic and accurate;

(b)drawn up in one or more of the official languages of the institutions of the Union and, where relevant, in one of the official languages of the Member State of destination.

5.The official label shall contain all elements listed in Article 19(1), points (a) to (e), (g) and (l), as well as:

(a)the registration code of the supplying professional operator issuing the official label or to whom the official label has been issued by the competent authority; and

(b)in the case of FRM of the ‘tested’ category whose basic material is approved under Article 23, the words ‘provisionally approved’.

The official label may contain a non-official part that includes one or more elements of the professional operator’s document referred to in paragraph 7 of this Article.The official label may further include a digital element, such as a QR code, containing any of the elements referred to in this paragraph.

6.The official label shall be attached to the outside of the packages, bundles, nets, containers or individual plants. Where the official label is combined with a plant passport, Article 88 of Regulation (EU) 2016/2031 shall apply.

7.The professional operator’s document shall contain:

(a)all elements referred to in paragraph 5, first subparagraph;

(b)all elements referred to in Article 19(1) not mentioned in paragraph 5 of this Article;

(c)the name and the address of the professional operator;

(d)the quantity of FRM supplied;

(e)where applicable, the Member State or Member States of production of the FRM concerned;

(f)where applicable, the third country of origin of the FRM concerned;

(g)the name and address of the recipient of the FRM concerned;

(h)the date of issue of the professional operator’s document;

(i)the code of the professional operator’s document;

(j)an indication of whether the FRM has been vegetatively propagated; and

(k)the additional information in the case of seed lots set out in Article 5(3); however, in the case of small quantities of seed, as referred to in Article 5(3), the information referred to in points (b) and (d) of that paragraph shall not be required to be indicated in the professional operator’s document.

8.In addition to the elements listed in paragraph 7, the professional operator’s document may include:

(a)an indication of whether FRM is derived from autochthonous or non-autochthonous basic material, if so registered pursuant to Article 15(3), point (g);

(b)any additional information that the professional operator considers appropriate for the marketing of the FRM concerned.

9.The Commission may adopt implementing acts setting out the format, size, shape and colour of the official label and of the professional operator’s document for all or specific categories or other types of FRM.Those implementing acts shall specify the following elements:

(a)an indication of the content;

(b)the colour of the label for specific categories or other types of FRM;

(c)additional information in the case of seeds and small quantities of seeds;

(d)additional information in the case of specific genera or species.

When specifying the colour of the label pursuant to the second subparagraph, point (b), of this paragraph, the Commission shall take into account the OECD Forest Seed and Plant Scheme and other applicable international standards.Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 32(2).Member States may decide not to apply the implementing acts adopted pursuant to this paragraph with respect to the use of the colour for the official label and the professional operator’s document, as referred to in the second subparagraph, point (b), of this paragraph.

Defined terms · 47

Show every defined term

afforestation
means the establishment of forest through planting or deliberate seeding, including the planting or deliberate seeding of regionally adapted tree species, on land that was, until then, under a different land use and implies a transformation of land use from non-forest to forest;
autochthonous seed source or stand
means a seed source or stand which has been continuously and naturally regenerated or which has been artificially regenerated from FRM collected in the same seed source or stand or in other autochthonous seed sources or stands in close proximity to that seed source or stand;
basic material
means any of the following types of material as referred to in the table set out in Annex VI: seed source, stand, seed orchard, parents of a family, clone or clonal mixture;
category
means the classification of FRM as source-identified, selected, qualified or tested material;
clonal mixture
means a mixture of identified clones in defined proportions;
clone
means a single individual or group of individuals (ramets) derived originally from a single individual (ortet) by vegetative propagation, for example by cuttings, micropropagation, grafts, layers or divisions, or derived originally from cell lines;
competent authority
means:
delegated body
means a separate legal person to which the competent authority has delegated certain official control tasks or certain tasks related to other official activities;
deployment area
means the area designated by the competent authorities in which FRM belonging to the ‘qualified’ and ‘tested’ categories is adapted to the climatic and ecological conditions of that area;
documentary check
means the examination of master certificates and other documents;
FOREMATIS
means the Forest Reproductive Material Information System of the Commission;
foundation stock
means a plant, group of plants, FRM, DNA stock or genetic information of the clone, or clones in case of clonal mixture, that serves as reference material for the verification of the identity of the clone or clones concerned;
FRM
means seed units, parts of plants and planting stock that belong to tree species listed in Annex I and their hybrids and are intended to be used for afforestation, reforestation, diversification in a forest plot and other tree planting and direct seeding, for one or more of the following purposes:
genetically modified organism
means a genetically modified organism as defined in Article 2, point (2), of Directive 2001/18/EC, excluding organisms obtained through the techniques of genetic modification listed in Annex I B to that Directive;
in the right place
means that the FRM is genetically and phenotypically suited to the site where it is grown, including the relevant climate projections for it.
indigenous seed source or stand
means a seed source or stand located in a specific region of provenance that is part of the natural distribution range of the species concerned, raised from seed or vegetatively propagated, the origin of which is situated within the same region of provenance;
location of the basic material
means the geographical area or geographical position or positions of the basic material, as appropriate for each category of FRM;
lot
means any of the following: a seed lot, a seed unit lot, a plant lot or a parts of plants lot;
lot code
means the identification code of a lot;
marketing
means the following actions conducted by a professional operator in relation to FRM, whether free of charge or not:
natural regeneration
means the renewal of the forest by natural processes, including natural seeding, sprouting, suckering or layering;
official certification
means both the procedure leading to the issuance, and the issuance itself, of either a master certificate or of an official label, in accordance with this Regulation;
official controls
means activities to verify compliance with this Regulation performed by the competent authorities responsible for the organisation of those activities or by the bodies to which or the natural persons to whom certain of those activities have been delegated;
origin
means the following:
other official activities
means activities concerning the approval of basic material and the production and marketing of FRM other than official controls, performed by the competent authorities or by the bodies to which or the natural persons to whom certain of those activities have been delegated;
parents of a family
means trees used as parents to obtain progeny by controlled or open pollination of one identified parent used as a female with the pollen of one parent (full sibling) or a number of identified or unidentified parents (half-sibling);
parts of plants
means stem cuttings, with or without roots, leaf cuttings and root cuttings, explants or embryos used for micropropagation, buds, layers, roots, scions and any other parts of a plant used for the production of planting stock;
parts of plants lot
means a set of parts of plants collected and processed uniformly;
plant lot
means a set of plants that have been grown from a single seed lot or from vegetatively propagated planting stock which has been raised in a delineable area and processed uniformly;
planting stock
means any plant or part of a plant used in plant propagation and comprises plants raised from seed units, from parts of plants or from plants from natural regeneration;
production
means all stages in the generation of lots of FRM for marketing, including the harvesting, collection, storage, processing and distribution, and the dispatching during those stages, as well as the conversion of seed unit lots and parts of plants lots and the growing, multiplying, maintaining, storage and harvesting of plant lots;
professional operator
means any natural or legal person professionally in charge of the production or marketing, or both, of FRM;
provenance
means the name of the place in which any seed source or stand is growing;
qualified
means a category of FRM derived from basic material consisting of seed orchards, parents of a family, clones or clonal mixtures, the components of which have been selected at the individual level and which meets the requirements set out in Annex IV;
quality pests
means pests:
reforestation
means the re-establishment of forest through planting, deliberate seeding, vegetative propagation or natural regeneration on land classified as forest;
region of provenance
means the area or group of areas subject to sufficiently uniform ecological conditions in which stands or seed sources showing similar phenotypic or genetic characteristics are found, taking into account, where appropriate, altitudinal boundaries;
seed lot
means a set of seeds collected from approved basic material and processed uniformly;
seed orchard
means a plantation of selected trees where each individual tree is identified by a clone or family and that plantation is isolated or managed in order to avoid or reduce pollination from outside sources and managed to produce frequent, abundant and easily harvested crops of seed units;
seed source
means the trees within a defined area from which FRM is collected;
seed unit
means cones, infructescences, fruits and seeds intended for the production of planting stock or for direct seeding;
seed unit lot
means a set of seed units collected from approved basic material and processed uniformly;
selected
means a category of FRM derived from basic material consisting of a stand located within a single region of provenance, which has been selected at the population level and which meets the requirements set out in Annex III;
source-identified
means a category of FRM derived from basic material consisting of either a seed source or a stand located within a single region of provenance and which meets the requirements set out in Annex II;
stand
means a delineated population of trees which is sufficiently uniform in composition;
tested
means a category of FRM derived from basic material consisting of stands, seed orchards, parents of a family, clones or clonal mixtures, where the superiority of that FRM has been demonstrated by comparative testing or an estimate of the superiority of the FRM has been calculated on the basis of the genetic evaluation of the components of the basic material, and which meets the requirements set out in Annex V;
unit of approval
means the entire area of basic material or one or more individuals of basic material intended for the production of FRM that has been authorised by the competent authorities;