SEED LLP AND TRADE

1. SEED LLP AND TRADE Bernice Slutsky American Seed Trade Association

2. TOPICS • Seed movement during seed product life cycle • Quality assurance during seed product life cycle • LLP considerations

4. SEED MOVEMENT THROUGHOUT SEED PRODUCT LIFECYCLE • Seed can move across borders at almost every point in the life cycle • Research and development facilities can be in a different country than the production of breeders seed • Breeders seed is often produced in a different country than breeding facilities and the production of hybrids • A shipping container of breeders seed can consist hundreds of individual packages of small amounts of seed representing that many different varieties of breeders seed • Counter season production of commercial seed is the norm • Seed cleaning, conditioning and packaging before export to the country of cultivation • Re-export is common practice

5. GLOBAL SEED FLOWS CORN, SOYBEAN, COTTON AND CANOLA SEED Corn seed Soy Cotton Canola Sorghum

6. QUALITY MANAGEMENT

7. SEED QUALITY STANDARDS • Critical control points throughout the product life cycle • The importance of seed quality and product integrity has been recognized by the industry since its inception. • Tracking, recordkeeping, testing and other measures with appropriate management systems are essential parts of product development and the commercial life cycle for purposes of quality assurance and seed product integrity • Maintaining a seed variety’s trueness to type is critical for market acceptance. • Quality standards are based upon market expectations and the limits of biological systems. Therefore, thresholds or tolerances are a component of seed quality standards.

8. SEED QUALITY STANDARDS • OECD Seed Schemes • The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Seed Schemes are rules used by 58 participating countries to certify and label seed for varietal purity for international movement. • Facilitates movement of seed through varietal certification • Use of labels and certificates for seed produced and processed for international trade according to agreed principles • Seed Testing • International Seed Testing Association (ISTA)—orange certificate • Association of Official Seed Analysts (US and Canada)

9. PRODUCT STEWARDSHIP: EXCELLENCE THROUGH STEWARDSHIP ETS’s mission is to promote the responsible management of plant biotechnology, primarily by developing and encouraging implementation of product stewardship practices and by educating the public about those practices. • Principles and management practices • Guides to understanding and implementing stewardship programs and quality management systems • Global stewardship audit process

10. SEED LLP: CONSIDERATIONS • Predictability and transparency in the management of import transactions, such as testing and sampling protocols • Establishment of transparent and science-based management of import/export transactions with aligned approaches where possible • Understanding of existing seed quality standards and practices and the role they can play in LLP policies

11. SEED LLP: CONSIDERATIONS • Mechanism for sharing environmental safety assessment information among regulators • Use of existing data and cultivation safety assessments in approaches to seed LLP • Identify approaches specific to highly familiar traits