EU to Help Georgia Establish National Catalogue of Plant Varieties

On the 10-13 April, as part of the EU’s assistance to the establishment of a national catalogue of plant varieties, an expert from France will visit Georgia. 

Back in 2017, when Georgia adopted its “Law on Allowing the Use of Agricultural Crop Varieties Subject to Mandatory Certification and Seed Production,” it requested assistance from the European Commission’s Technical Assistance and Information Exchange Instrument (TAIEX).

Said expert mission is the first TAIEX activity within a number of events aimed at creating a national catalogue of plant varieties in Georgia.  The objective of this four-day mission is to examine and process the subordinate law acts on creating a national catalogue, in addition to identifying the relevant EU legislation for this purpose.

The Georgian participants will receive training in a range of registration methods in accordance with DUS and VCU (Distinctness, Uniformity and Stability; Value for Cultivation and Use) testing results. 

The event is organized by TAIEX with the cooperation of Georgia’s Ministry of Agriculture. 

TAIEX is a demand-driven tool that supports partner countries with the adaptation of national laws, regulations and quality standards to match those of EU Member States in the framework of Cooperation or Association Agreements signed with the EU. In the Eastern Neighbourhood, TAIEX works with Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine.

By Máté Földi 

Photo: European Commission