Council Regulation (EC) No 870/2004 of 24 April 2004 establishing a Community programme on the conservation, characterisation, collection and utilisation of genetic resources in agriculture and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1467/94 (Text with EEA relevance)

Article 1

Objectives

With a view to achieving the aims of the CAP, and to implementing the commitments taken at international level, a Community programme is hereby established for the period 2004 to 2006 to complement and promote, at Community level, the work undertaken in the Member States for the conservation, characterisation, collection and utilisation of genetic resources in agriculture.

Article 2

Scope

No support may be granted under this Regulation:

(a) for commitments eligible under Title II, Chapter VI, of Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999, as specified pursuant to Article 14 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 445/2002 of 26 February 2002 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999 on support for rural development from the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) (¹⁷).

(b) for activities eligible under the framework programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities.

Article 3

Definitions

For the purpose of this Regulation, the following definitions shall apply:

(a) ‘plant genetic resources’ means those of agricultural crops, horticultural crops, medicinal plants and aromatics, fruit crops, forest trees and wild flora which are or could be of use in the field of agriculture;

(b) ‘animal genetic resources’ means those of farm animals (vertebrates and invertebrates) and wild fauna which are or could be of use in the field of agriculture;

(c) ‘genetic material’ means any material of plant, microbial or animal origin, including reproductive and vegetative propagating material, containing functional units of heredity;

(d) ‘genetic resources for agriculture’ means any genetic material of plant, microbial or animal origin of actual or potential value for agriculture;

(e) ‘in situ conservation’ means the conservation of genetic material in ecosystems and natural habitats and the maintenance and recovery of viable populations of species or feral breeds in their natural surroundings and, in the case of domesticated animal breeds or cultivated plant species, in the farmed environment where they have developed their distinctive properties;

(f) ‘in situ/on-farm conservation’ means ‘in situ conservation and development’ at the level of the farm;

(g) ‘ex situ conservation’ means the conservation of genetic material for agriculture outside their natural habitat;

(h) ‘ex situ collection’ means a collection of genetic material for agriculture maintained outside their natural habitat;

(i) ‘biogeographic region’ means a geographic region with typical characteristics regarding the composition and structure of the fauna and flora.

Article 4

Eligible actions

All actions carried out under the programme shall be in conformity with Community legislation on the phytostanitary, and animal health and zootechnical rules, on the marketing of seed and propagating material and on the common catalogue and shall take into account:

(a) other activities undertaken at Community level;

(b) relevant international processes, developments and agreements, in particular as regards: — the Convention on Biological Diversity, — the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, — the FAO's Global Plan of Action for the Conservation and Sustainable Utilisation of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture and other actions undertaken within the framework of FAO, — the European Plant Conservation Strategy and the relevant resolutions of the Ministerial Conferences on the Protection of Forests in Europe, — the Global Strategy for the Management of Farm Animal Genetic Resources, and — programmes implemented under international frameworks such as the European Cooperative Programme for Crop Genetic Resources Networks (ECP/GR), the European regional focal point (ERFP) of national coordinators for the management of farm animal genetic resources, European Forest Genetic Resources Programme (Euforgen) and the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).

Article 5

Targeted actions

The targeted actions shall include:

(a) actions promoting the ex situ and in situ conservation, characterisation, collection and utilisation of genetic resources in agriculture;

(b) the establishment of a European decentralised, permanent and widely accessible web-based inventory of genetic resources currently conserved in situ including in situ/on-farm genetic resources conservation activities;

(c) the establishment of a European decentralised, permanent and widely accessible web-based inventory of the ex situ collections (gene banks) and in situ facilities (resources) and databases currently available or being developed on the basis of national inventories;

(d) the promotion of regular exchanges of technical and scientific information, in particular on the origins and individual characteristics of available genetic resources, among competent organisations in the Member States.

The actions referred to in point (a) shall be transnational, taking into account, if appropriate, biogeographic regional aspects and promote or complement, at Community level, work implemented at regional or national level. They may not involve aid to maintain nature protection areas.

Article 6

Concerted actions

The concerted actions shall promote the exchange of information on thematic issues for the purpose of improving the coordination of actions and programmes for the conservation, characterisation, collection and utilisation of genetic resources in Community agriculture. They shall be transnational.

Article 7

Accompanying actions

The accompanying actions shall include information, dissemination and advisory actions involving the organisation of seminars, technical conferences, meetings with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other relevant stakeholders, training courses and the preparation of technical reports.

Article 8

Work programme

Article 9

Selection of actions

The following criteria shall be taken into account for the assessment of the proposals:

(a) relevance to the objectives of the Community programme, as defined in Article 1;

(b) technical quality of the proposed work;

(c) ability to carry out the action successfully and to ensure its efficient management, assessed in terms of resources and competences and including the organisational arrangements laid down by the participants;

(d) European added value and potential contribution to Community policies.

Article 10

Participation of third countries

The Community programme shall be open to the participation of:

(a) EFTA/EEA countries in accordance with the conditions established in the EEA Agreement;

(b) associated countries, in accordance with the conditions laid down in the respective bilateral agreements establishing the general principles for their participation in Community programmes.

Article 11

Grant agreement

Article 12

Technical assistance

Article 13

Community contribution

Article 14

Evaluation of the Community programme

At the end of the Community programme, the Commission shall appoint a group of independent experts to report on the implementation of this Regulation, to assess the results and to make appropriate recommendations. The group's report, together with the Commission's comments, shall be submitted to the European Parliament, the Council and the European Economic and Social Committee.

Article 15

Committee procedure

The period laid down in Article 4(3) of Decision 1999/468/EC shall be set at one month.

Article 16

Repeal

Regulation (EC) No 1467/94 shall be repealed, without prejudice to the contractual obligations of parties which have entered into contracts arising out of that Regulation.

Article 17

Entry into force

This Regulation shall enter into force on the seventh day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

ANNEX I

1. Eligible actions and areas

The Community programme concerns the conservation, characterisation, evaluation, collection, documentation, development and utilisation of genetic resources that currently occur within the territory of the Community. Eligible organisms are plants (seed-bearing plants), animals (vertebrates and certain invertebrates) and micro-organisms.

The programme covers material that is actively growing and material that is dormant (seeds, embryos, semen and pollen). Ex situ, in situ and on farm collections are covered. All types of material are eligible including cultivars and domestic breeds, local breeds, breeders' material, genetic type collections, and wild species.

Priority will be given to species which are, or which may reasonably be expected to become significant in agriculture, horticulture or forestry in the Community.

Preference will be given to the use of genetic resources for:

(a) diversification of production in agriculture;

(b) improved product quality;

(c) sustainable management and use of natural and agricultural resources;

(d) improved quality of the environment and the countryside;

(e) identification of products for new uses and markets.

When collections are recorded and new collecting is undertaken, steps will be taken within the programme to ensure that the traditional regional experience and knowledge of the users (farmers, horticulturists) on methods of cultivation, specific uses, processing, taste, etc., are also included. The latter information should not be recorded as narrative but, as far as possible, in a standardised manner allowing documentation and easy retrieval of the data in a relational database system.

All actions carried out under the programme shall be in conformity with Community legislation on the marketing of seed and propagating material and on the common catalogue, as well as with phytosanitary and the animal health and zootechnical rules in force in the Community.

Appropriate steps, in accordance with the aims of the CAP and in conformity with Community international commitments, should be taken to promote the dissemination and exploitation of any results of work in the field of the conservation, characterisation, evaluation, collection, documentation, development and utilisation of genetic resources in agriculture which could contribute to the achievement of those aims and commitments. The main objective is to provide an efficient and practical support to the actual and future end users of genetic resources in the Community.

2. Excluded actions and areas

The following actions are specifically not eligible for Community financial support under this programme: theoretical studies, studies to test hypotheses, studies to develop tools or techniques, work involving untested techniques or ‘model’ systems and all other research activities. Such actions are eligible for consideration under the Community research and technological development framework programmes. Adaptation of existing methods for the purpose of an activity within the Regulation might, however, be considered eligible for support under the Community programme.

Actions that are eligible for support under the framework programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities may not be supported.

No support may be granted under this programme for commitments that are already under way in the Member States and/or eligible under Title II, Chapter VI, of Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999 as specified under Article 14 of Regulation (EC) No 445/2002. However, actions leading to synergy between Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999 and this programme should be encouraged.

Actions involving lower animals, lower plants and micro-organisms, including fungi, are only eligible when these are reared or cultivated on land and when they are or could be of use in agriculture, including organisms which are suited for use as biological control agents in agriculture in its widest sense. Exception will be made in the specific case of defined gene-for-gene relationships between parasite or symbiont and host, and where both organisms are to be conserved. Collecting and acquisition of material is subject to the priorities stipulated above.

3. Types of actions

The implementation of the Community programme for the conservation, characterisation, evaluation, collection, documentation, development and utilisation of genetic resources in agriculture includes targeted actions, concerted actions and accompanying actions. The following actions shall be promoted:

3.1.   Targeted actions

Actions aiming at the ex situ, in situ and on-farm conservation, characterisation, evaluation, collection, documentation, development and utilisation of genetic resources in agriculture are intended to support or complement, at Community level, work implemented at regional or national level. They shall be transnational (taking, where appropriate, into account also biogeographic regional aspects). These actions may not involve aid to maintain nature protection areas.

The actions should add value (spreading knowledge, increasing use, improving methodologies, exchange between Member States) to the agri-environmental schemes for endangered species, provenance, cultivars or breeds already funded at national or regional level (e.g., characterisation of genetic diversity and distance between the respective breeds, utilisation of local products, coordination and search of commonalties between scheme managers).

These actions must, as a general rule, be carried out by participants established within the Community and funded through the present facility, in partnership, when appropriate, with organisations from other regions of the world. Priority is to be given to actions providing for the participation of two or more unconnected participants established in different Member States. Participation by NGOs and other stakeholders in the field of in situ/on-farm conservation should be promoted.

The dissemination and exchange of European genetic resources should be promoted with a view to increasing the use of under-utilised species but also the use of a broad diversity of genetic resources in sustainable agricultural production.

For plant genetic resources, a European decentralised, permanent and widely accessible web-based network of national inventories of the ex situ collections (gene banks), in situ facilities (resources) and databases on the basis of national inventories is currently available or being developed in the framework of the EPGRIS initiative. The development of national inventories of ex situ collections held in European countries, and a European search catalogue (EURISCO) should be established and further improved and inventories of in situ resources (genetic reserves or gene conservation units) should be developed.

A European decentralised, permanent and widely accessible web-based inventory of forest genetic resources, including in situ resources (genetic reserves or gene conservation units) and ex situ collections should be established on the basis of national inventories and taking into consideration the activities of the Euforgen-networking programme.

For animal genetic resources maintained on farms, efforts should concentrate on a European network of national inventories of administrative aspects (origin and status of funding, state of breeds and their endangerment, location of herdbooks, etc.) which should be managed in conformity with DAD-IS, the information system for the Global Strategy for the Management of Farm Animal Genetic Resources (AnGR).

For ex situ conservation of animal genetic resources (semen, embryos) a web-based network of national inventories and a European search catalogue for minimum passport data should be developed. The inventory is to consist principally of the establishment, regular updating and regular publication of the facilities (storage and conservation) for genetic resources in agriculture collected in the Community, and the listing of current work on the conservation, characterisation, evaluation, collection, documentation, development and utilisation of those genetic resources. Minimum passport data of individual accessions may be included.

For microbial genetic resources, a web-based network of national inventories of ex situ and in situ resources should be established, in the framework of the European Biological Resource Centre Network (EBRCN).

Regular exchanges of information between competent organisations in the Member States, in particular on the origins and individual characteristics of available genetic resources, shall be promoted. This will help establish a network of national inventories which will provide a guide to collections of conserved genetic resources and associated activities in the Community. The aims of the network of national inventories are to support the Community and national activities and encourage the widest possible knowledge and use of preserved material.

Expenditure on the capacity building of NGOs, the establishment and monitoring of the inventories, regular exchanges of information between competent organisations in the Member States and the preparation of regular publications and reports, is to be covered from the total appropriations earmarked for the implementation of the programme.

3.2.   Concerted actions