L 140/14 Official Journal of the European Communities 12.5.98 COMMISSION COMMISSION DECISION of 27 April 1998 on the organisation of a temporary experiment on seed sampling and seed testing pursuant to Council Directives 66/400/EEC, 66/401/EEC, 66/402/EEC and 69/208/EEC (98/320/EC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to Council Directive 66/400/EEC of 14 June 1966 on the marketing of beet seed ('), as last amended by Directive 96/72/EC (%), and in particular Article 13a thereof, Having regard to Council Directive 66/401/EEC of 14 June 1966 on the marketing of fodder plant seed (%), as last amended by Directive 96/72/EC, and in particular Article 13a thereof, Having regard to Council Directive 66/402/EEC of 14 June 1966 on the marketing of cereal seed (*), as last amended by Directive 96/72/EC, and in particular Article 13a thereof, Having regard to Council Directive 69/208/EEC of 30 June 1969 on the marketing of seed of oil and fibre plants (%), as last amended by Directive 96/72/EC, and in particular Article 12a thereof, Whereas, pursuant to Directives 66/400/EEC, 66/ 401/EEC, 66/402/EEC and 69/208/EEC, seed can be offi- cially certified only where the conditions to be satisfied by the seed have been established in official seed testing on samples of seed drawn officially for the purpose of seed testing; Whereas it has been claimed that seed sampling and seed testing under official supervision may constitute improved alternatives to the procedures for official seed certi- fication, without a significant decline in the quality of the seed; 1 () OJ 125, 11. 7. 1966, p. 2290/66. () OJ L 304, 27. 11. 1996, p. 10. () OJ 125, 11. 7. 1966, p. 2298/66. (% OJ 125, 11. 7. 1966, p. 2309/66. () OJ L 169, 10. 7. 1969, p. 3. Whereas that claim cannot yet be confirmed at Community level on the basis of the information avail- able; Whereas it is therefore appropriate to organise a tempo- rary experiment under specified conditions with the aim of assessing whether that claim can be sustained at Community level and in particular whether there will be any significant decline in the quality of the seed compared with that achieved under the system of official seed sampling and seed testing; Whereas the conditions applying to that experiment should be specified in such a manner as to enable the maximum amount of information to be collected at Community level with a view to drawing appropriate conclusions for possible future adaptations of the Community provisions; Whereas, for the purpose of that experiment, Member States should be released from certain obligations laid down in the Directives concerned; Whereas the measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on Seeds and Propagating Material for Agriculture, Horti- culture and Forestry, HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: Article 1 1. A temporary experiment is hereby organised at Community level with the aim of assessing whether seed sampling for the purpose of seed testing and seed testing under official supervision may constitute improved alter- natives to the procedures for official seed certification required within the meaning of Directives 66/400/EEC, 66/401/EEC, 66/402/EEC and 69/208/EEC, without a significant decline in the quality of the seed.