Requirements for the approval of basic material intended for the production of FRM of the ‘qualified’ category
ANNEX IVSupplementary provisions
ANNEX IV Requirements for the approval of basic material intended for the production of FRM of the ‘qualified’ category I. Seed orchards A. General requirements (a) The competent authority shall approve the purposes of the seed orchard in relation to the purposes referred to in Article 3, point (1). Those purposes shall be indicated in the national register of the Member State concerned. The component clones or individual trees of families shall be selected for their outstanding characteristics depending on the selected purposes. (b) The competent authority shall approve and register the crossing design of component clones or families and field layout, the component clones or families and if appropriate the degree of relationship of component clones, their numbers and numbers of individuals (ramets) per clone in the case of clonal seed orchards, isolation or, if possible, limitation of pollen flow and location and any changes therein. (c) The component clones or families shall be planted or shall have been planted according to a plan which has been approved by the competent authority and established in such a way that each component can be identified. The optimal balance between the effective number of component clones or families and genetic gain shall be considered. (d) Thinning carried out in seed orchards shall be described together with the selection criteria used for such thinning and shall be registered by the competent authority. (e) The seed orchards shall be managed, and seed harvested, in such a way that the purposes of the orchards are achieved. In the case of a seed orchard intended for the production of artificial hybrids, the percentage of hybrids in the FRM shall be determined by molecular techniques. B. Specific requirements The competent authority shall assess the component clones or families with respect to certain traits or the production of certain products (i.e. selection criteria), taking into account, as appropriate, age and development, sustainability characteristics, volume production, wood quality, form or growth habit and other useful specific traits. Where such requirements apply, they shall be indicated in accordance with Article 15(3), point (m). II. Parents of a family A. General requirements (a) The competent authority shall approve the purposes of the parents of a family in relation to the purposes referred to in Article 3, point (1). Those purposes shall be indicated in the national register of the Member State concerned. The parents of a family shall be selected for their outstanding characteristics according to the selected purposes. (b) The competent authority shall approve and register the crossing design and pollination system, the components, the isolation or, if possible, the limitation of pollen flow and the location, as well as any significant changes of those characteristics. (c) The competent authority shall approve and register the identity, number and proportion of the parents in a mixture. (d) In the case of parents intended for the production of artificial hybrids, the percentage of hybrids in the FRM shall be determined by molecular techniques. B. Specific requirements The competent authority shall assess the parents of a family with respect to certain traits or the production of certain forest products and, where appropriate, adopt specific requirements for those traits or products (i.e. selection criteria), taking into account, as appropriate, age and development, sustainability characteristics, volume production, wood quality, form or growth habit and other useful specific traits. Where such requirements apply, they shall be indicated in accordance with Article 15(3), point (m). III. Clones A. General requirements 1. The competent authority shall approve and register clones that are either identifiable by distinctive characteristics, or traceable through propagation cycles or molecular techniques, as appropriate. 2. The value of individual clones shall be established by the observation and the qualitative assessment of the characteristics of those clones or shall have been demonstrated by sufficiently prolonged experimentation. 3. Ortets or cell lines used for the production of clones shall be selected for their outstanding characteristics taking into account the purposes for which the resulting FRM is intended to be used, as referred to in Article 3, point (1). 4. The competent authority shall restrict the approval to a maximum number of years or a maximum number of ramets produced. B. Specific requirements The competent authority shall assess the ortets or cell lines with respect to certain traits or the production of certain forest products and, where appropriate, adopt specific requirements for those traits or products (i.e. selection criteria), taking into account, as appropriate, age and development, sustainability characteristics, volume production, wood quality, form or growth habit and other useful specific traits. Where such requirements apply, they shall be indicated in accordance with Article 15(3), point (m). IV. Clonal mixtures A. General requirements 1. Clonal mixtures shall comply with the requirements set out in part III, section A, points (1), (2) and (3). 2. The competent authority shall approve and register the identity, number and proportion of the component clones of a mixture, and the selection method and foundation stock. Each mixture shall contain sufficient genetic diversity. 3. The competent authority shall restrict the approval to a maximum number of years or a maximum number of ramets produced. B. Specific requirements Clonal mixtures shall comply with the requirements set out in part III, section B.