Plants > Variety Registration > Review  

Regulatory Proposal
Revision of the List of Crops Subject to Variety Registration Under the Seeds Regulations

Amended - December 20, 1999

The 1998-1999 Variety Registration Review recommended that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency consider the implementation of a system of registration exempt from merit requirement (listing) for some crop kinds and review the list of species for which variety registration with merit should apply.  The implementation of these recommendations should allow new market opportunities to be captured more quickly and reduce development testing costs to breeders and the seed industry.  Variety registration is viewed by most stakeholders as beneficial for some species, particularly those for which commodity quality is an important issue.

Suggestions for additions or deletions to the proposed lists are welcome, as are any comments on the overall proposals.  Consultations and agreement on modifications to the revised variety registration system should be completed by March 31, 2000.   Proposed changes will then require amendments to Seeds Regulations with possible implementation by Spring 2001.

Please provide any comments to the Variety Registration Office by March 17, 2000.

December 20, 1999

This document is published by the Plant Health and Production Division. Please send your comments or requests for further information to:

Variety Registration Office
Plant Health and Production Division
Canadian Food Inspection Agency
59 Camelot Drive
Nepean, Ontario  K1A 0Y9
613-225-2342
Facsimile: 613-228-6629

REGULATORY PROPOSAL

With the publication of this regulatory proposal, the Variety Registration Office is requesting comments on three critical areas:

1. The division of variety registration into two categories-registration with merit and listing (exempt from merit requirement.)
2. The division of specific crop kinds into these categories
3. The requirement for non-merit data for some species proposed for listing (potato, hemp, alfalfa) in order to address possible health/safety/disease considerations.

Other recommendations resulting from the Variety Registration Review including proposed changes to data requirements, voting procedures and structure of registration recommending committees will be considered as separate initiatives.  Issues regarding the regulatory application of real or potential harm to domestic or international markets will also be considered separately.

CURRENT MANDATE

Since 1992, the mandate of the variety registration system has been:

• to ensure that agronomically inferior or unadapted varieties are excluded from the Canadian marketplace
• to ensure that new varieties meet current requirements for resistance to economically important diseases
• to ensure high quality products for processors and consumers

This mandate was reconsidered as part of the recent variety registration review.

VARIETY REGISTRATION REVIEW

The results of the 1998-1999 variety registration review have suggested that:

• the list of species for which the current variety registration system should apply should be further reduced
• variety registration continues to retain its utility for some crops, particularly those where quality is fundamental to the industry for market and trade opportunities.
• for many species, the exclusion of inferior or unadapted varieties from the Canadian marketplace should not be controlled by legislation.  Rather, the users/consumers will decide which varieties are best suited to their needs.
• for some crops, the implementation of  a variety registration system, referred to as listing, that is NOT based on a determination of merit may be appropriate.  This system may also be useful for regulating plants with novel traits (PNTs) including seed recalls.

1. LISTING OF VARIETIES

As recommended by the Variety Registration Review, for many crop kinds, the exclusion of inferior varieties from the market should no longer be controlled by legislation.  At the same time, there is a need for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) to be accountable for the varietal integrity of seed sold domestically and internationally.  The CFIA is the agency responsible for overseeing compliance with the Seeds Act and Regulations, as well as being recognized internationally as the Canadian designated authority.  For these reasons, the CFIA must have a certain degree of control over issues pertaining to the packaging and labelling of seed.  As a result, it is suggested that all agricultural crop varieties being certified in Canada be subject to some form of registration, either with or without merit.

A system of registration exempt from merit requirement ("listing") would allow varieties of these species to rapidly enter the Canadian marketplace with dramatically reduced costs.   The reduced requirements would still:

• establish the uniqueness of the variety
• establish the eligibility for seed certification and provide a description of variety for seed and crop inspection purposes
• provide a mechanism for recall and disposal of seed of varieties with suspended/cancelled registration
• facilitate market access (domestic and/or foreign) by their inclusion on an official national list
• provide the ability to accurately label seed for sale as it pertains to the variety name
• provide identification of varieties for enforcement purposes.

This "listing" system could be divided into two sub-categories:

• those crops for which seed certification and varietal identification are the sole considerations
• those crops for which there are seed certification and varietal identification issues and additional health/safety or disease concerns

A key element of the listing system (exempt from merit requirement) is that recommending committees would not be involved with varieties of crops eligible for listing.  Applicants would deal directly with the Variety Registration Office.

Since the commercialization of PNTs first occurred in 1995, experience has demonstrated that regulatory mechanisms need to be in place so appropriate actions can be taken by CFIA, if necessary, to restrict imports, exports and domestic sales, and to regulate the recall and disposal of products with problems.  These needs were recognized by the majority of respondents to the FAAR review who strongly indicated the need for some form of control over the sale and importation of PNTs.  As a result, it is proposed that all PNTs not subject to registration with merit would be required to be listed.

While for many crops, the requirement for "listing" would be mandatory, it could be voluntary for other species should inclusion on an official national list be perceived as an advantage in the international marketplace, or if certification of Canadian bred varieties or use of Canada Certified grade names is required.

Listing would provide some protection against one variety being marketed in Canada under different names as well as some assurances against different varieties being marketed under the same name.  The proposed system is consistent with the European system of national lists (varieties eligible for certification) and lists of varieties with "value for cultivation" (merit.)

Varieties that are listed, like those registered with merit, would not be subject to subsequent acceptance into seed certification under the CSGA Form 300 " Eligibility for Certification" process.

When developing the lists of species subject to registration with merit and those subject to listing, the views of the stakeholders along with the following criteria were considered:

• the need for some form of regulatory control over varieties of the crop
• the importance of resistance to economically important diseases in the crop
• the need for processors/consumers to have product of specific quality
• scope of production such that failure of a number of varieties to perform could impact food security. 

PROPOSED CROPS SUBJECT TO LISTING

A. Crops without Health/Safety or Disease Issues

• beans (coloured field)
• birdsfoot trefoil
• bromegrass (smooth and meadow)
• buckwheat
• canarygrass (reed and annual)
• clover (alsike, red, sweet and white)
• fababeans (small seeded)
• fescues (forage type)
• lentils
• lupins (field)
• orchardgrass
• ryegrass (forage type)
• safflower
• spelt
• sunflowers (oilseed)
• timothy
• wheatgrass (forage type)
• wildrye (forage type)
• any agricultural PNT varieties not subject to registration with merit e.g. PNT hybrid field corn varieties.
• any variety of agricultural crop being produced in Canada through the pedigreed seed system including any variety of a crop kind for which registration with merit is a requirement for sale or importation in Canada but where the variety is only being multiplied for export purposes (e.g. canola seed for export) or in anticipation of registration with merit.

B. Crops with Health/Safety or Disease Issues

• alfalfa (forage type)
• industrial hemp
• potatoes

C. Voluntary Listing

• crops not subject to variety name restrictions e.g. Kentucky bluegrass
• other crop kinds presently exempt from variety registration.   Examples include:
   
  • bromegrass (sweet)
  • corn
  • flax (fibre)
  • forage type barley, oat, rye and triticale
  • fababeans (large seeded)
  • peas (non-commodity types such as pigeonpea and maple pea)
  • sunflower (non-oilseed)
  • binder, cigar and dark tobacco
  • specialty type soybean

REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS FOR LISTING

The following requirements would apply to all species to be listed:

• acceptable variety name
• information on synonyms used for the variety in other countries
• permission to grant a synonym in Canada
• pedigree, origin and breeding history
• morphological description of variety
• organization responsible for breeder seed maintenance (for crops other than potatoes)
• name of the Canadian representative/distributor
• legal reference sample (of any pedigreed status) or photographic slides (for potatoes)
• appropriate fees
• notarized affidavits pertaining to the legal reference sample and molecular analysis protocols for PNTs
• food/feed/environmental safety assessments as required for PNTs
• inbred line descriptions for those hybrids being entered onto the OECD list

Much of this information may have been previously submitted to seed certification officials (Canadian Seed Growers' Association) or to the Canadian Plant Breeders' Rights Office.  Where a determination of eligibility for seed certification or a grant of Plant Breeders' Rights has already been made, the Variety Registration Office listing requirements may be partially fulfilled by the applicant providing information such as the CSGA Form 300 or Plant Breeders Rights forms.  It is anticipated that listing fees would be further reduced if this type of information is provided as part of the listing application.

For varieties being listed prior to registration with merit (e.g. seed multiplication being initiated,) a reduced evaluation fee for this latter registration is anticipated.

As for currently registered varieties, varieties to be listed would have to be developed or maintained by CSGA recognized plant breeders for all crops other than potatoes, or would need to be recognized as varieties by certification authorities in the country of origin.  Pedigreed seed of any status for legal reference samples would be required only for crops subject to variety name restrictions under Schedule II of the Seeds Regulations.

In addition, for crops with health/safety/disease concerns, information would be required as follows:

• alfalfa (forage type) - data showing resistance to bacterial wilt
• industrial hemp -  meet Health Canada THC content standards
• potato - data on foliar and tuber symptoms of  bacterial ring rot for information purposes and meet TGA content standards

It has also been proposed that DNA fingerprints of potato varieties be required for all new potato varieties to be listed in order to assist in varietal identification and verification during seed potato certification.

2. REGISTRATION OF VARIETIES WITH MERIT

The Variety Registration Review indicated that registration with merit is important for some crops, particularly those where quality is fundamental to the industry.  The existing system of variety registration based on merit:

• provides health and safety protection
• establishes the merit of a variety
• prevents the spread of economically important diseases
• imposes quality requirements for some species
• facilitates market access
• establishes the uniqueness of a variety
• establishes the eligibility for seed certification and provides a description of variety for seed and crop inspection purposes
• excludes unadapted varieties
• provides the ability to accurately label seed for sale
• provides identification of varieties for enforcement purposes
• is a source of performance information on varieties
• provides consumer protection

PROPOSED CROPS SUBJECT TO REGISTRATION WITH MERIT

• barley (grain type)
• beans (navy type field)
• canola/rapeseed
• flax (oilseed)
• mustard
• oats (grain type)
• peas (commodity type field)
• rye (grain type)  
• soybeans (oilseed)
• tobacco (flue cured)
• triticale (grain type)
• wheat (spring, winter and durum)

REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS FOR REGISTRATION WITH MERIT

• acceptable variety name
• information on synonyms and permission from the owner to grant synonym
• pedigree, origin and breeding
• description of variety including morphological, disease and quality information
• recommendation for registration from a recognized committee
• experimental data used by the committee to support the variety for registration
• additional experimental data to substantiate claims
• organization responsible for breeder seed maintenance
• name and address of the Canadian representative/distributor and permission to act in this capacity
• legal reference sample (breeder seed)
• notarized affidavits and molecular analysis protocols for PNTs
• food/feed/environmental safety assessments as required for PNTs
• quality control system for varieties under contract registration
• hybridity test protocols for hybrid canola
• description of inbred lines for hybrid crops to be listed on the OECD List of Cultivars as well as for composite varieties where the inbred lines comprise significant portions of the variety
• appropriate fees

This document is published by the Plant Health and Production Division. Please send your comments or requests for further information to:

Variety Registration Office
Plant Health and Production Division
Canadian Food Inspection Agency
59 Camelot Drive
Nepean, Ontario  K1A 0Y9
613-225-2342
Facsimile: 613-228-6629