The development of the OECD scheme for the varietal certification of herbage and oil seed moving in international trade

At the end of the war in Europe in 1945 there was urgent need to improve food supplies by rebuilding the farming base. For milk and meat production improvement of grassland was important and for this purpose it was considered that the quality of herbage seed moving in international trade should be improved. The Organisation for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC) had been established by the countries of Western Europe with the assistance of the USA to rebuild the economies of member states. In 1954 this Organisation set up a project to examine the possibility of establishing quality standards for seen in international trade. It was considered that this would facilitate trade and encourage the production of quality seed in areas with climatic conditions most suited to seed production. The result was the OEEC Scheme for the Varietal Certification of Herbage Seeding Moving in International Trade which was agreed by the Council of OEEC on 30 May 1958. The Scheme set out procedures which should be followed to ensure the quality of the seed, the main points of which were: it included only those varieties which were officially recognized following tests. The names of these varieties had to be published by each participating country; the new term 'Basic Seed' was adopted for seed entering the Scheme from the breeder; all of the certified seed produced had to be related directly through one or more generations to authentic Basic Seed; pre-control tests were prescribed for all seen used for further multiplication and post-control for certified seed; satisfactory conditions for the production and processing of certified seed had to be ensured and verified by appropriate inspections. The OEEC was converted into the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which included non-European countries, and the Scheme was adopted by the new Organisation on 30 January 1962. In 1973 the title of the Scheme was changed to permit the inclusion of certain oil seed species and the rules were amended as necessary. This paper reviews the development of the Scheme over the past 40 years. Although the main technical basis has been preserved there have been additions and refinements required by the changing circumstances of seed production and trade. The Scheme is administered by OECD guided by an Annual Meeting of Designated Authorities and assisted in technical matters by a Co-ordinating Centre (currently the National Institute of Agricultural Botany, Cambridge, UK).