FantasticSearch

1. Eligible actions and areas The Community programme concerns the conservation, characterisation, evaluation, collection, documentation, development and utilisation of genetic resources that currently occur within the territory of the Community. Eligible organisms are plants (seed-bearing plants), animals (vertebrates and certain invertebrates) and micro-organisms. The programme covers material that is actively growing and material that is dormant (seeds, embryos, semen and pollen). Ex situ, in situ and on farm collections are covered. All types of material are eligible including cultivars and domestic breeds, local breeds, breeders' material, genetic type collections, and wild species. Priority will be given to species which are, or which may reasonably be expected to become significant in agriculture, horticulture or forestry in the Community. Preference will be given to the use of genetic resources for:

(a) diversification of production in agriculture;

(b) improved product quality;

(c) sustainable management and use of natural and agricultural resources;

(d) improved quality of the environment and the countryside;

(e) identification of products for new uses and markets. When collections are recorded and new collecting is undertaken, steps will be taken within the programme to ensure that the traditional regional experience and knowledge of the users (farmers, horticulturists) on methods of cultivation, specific uses, processing, taste, etc., are also included. The latter information should not be recorded as narrative but, as far as possible, in a standardised manner allowing documentation and easy retrieval of the data in a relational database system. All actions carried out under the programme shall be in conformity with Community legislation on the marketing of seed and propagating material and on the common catalogue, as well as with phytosanitary and the animal health and zootechnical rules in force in the Community.

Appropriate steps, in accordance with the aims of the CAP and in conformity with Community international commitments, should be taken to promote the dissemination and exploitation of any results of work in the field of the conservation, characterisation, evaluation, collection, documentation, development and utilisation of genetic resources in agriculture which could contribute to the achievement of those aims and commitments. The main objective is to provide an efficient and practical support to the actual and future end users of genetic resources in the Community.

2. Excluded actions and areas The following actions are specifically not eligible for Community financial support under this programme: theoretical studies, studies to test hypotheses, studies to develop tools or techniques, work involving untested techniques or ‘model’ systems and all other research activities. Such actions are eligible for consideration under the Community research and technological development framework programmes. Adaptation of existing methods for the purpose of an activity within the Regulation might, however, be considered eligible for support under the Community programme.

Actions that are eligible for support under the framework programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities may not be supported. No support may be granted under this programme for commitments that are already under way in the Member States and/or eligible under Title II, Chapter VI, of Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999 as specified under Article 14 of Regulation (EC) No 445/2002. However, actions leading to synergy between Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999 and this programme should be encouraged. Actions involving lower animals, lower plants and micro-organisms, including fungi, are only eligible when these are reared or cultivated on land and when they are or could be of use in agriculture, including organisms which are suited for use as biological control agents in agriculture in its widest sense. Exception will be made in the specific case of defined gene-for-gene relationships between parasite or symbiont and host, and where both organisms are to be conserved. Collecting and acquisition of material is subject to the priorities stipulated above.

3. Types of actions

The implementation of the Community programme for the conservation, characterisation, evaluation, collection, documentation, development and utilisation of genetic resources in agriculture includes targeted actions, concerted actions and accompanying actions. The following actions shall be promoted: 3.1. Targeted actions Actions aiming at the ex situ, in situ and on-farm conservation, characterisation, evaluation, collection, documentation, development and utilisation of genetic resources in agriculture are intended to support or complement, at Community level, work implemented at regional or national level. They shall be transnational (taking, where appropriate, into account also biogeographic regional aspects). These actions may not involve aid to maintain nature protection areas.

The actions should add value (spreading knowledge, increasing use, improving methodologies, exchange between Member States) to the agri-environmental schemes for endangered species, provenance, cultivars or breeds already funded at national or regional level (e.g., characterisation of genetic diversity and distance between the respective breeds, utilisation of local products, coordination and search of commonalties between scheme managers). These actions must, as a general rule, be carried out by participants established within the Community and funded through the present facility, in partnership, when appropriate, with organisations from other regions of the world. Priority is to be given to actions providing for the participation of two or more unconnected participants established in different Member States. Participation by NGOs and other stakeholders in the field of in situ/on-farm conservation should be promoted. The dissemination and exchange of European genetic resources should be promoted with a view to increasing the use of under-utilised species but also the use of a broad diversity of genetic resources in sustainable agricultural production.

For plant genetic resources, a European decentralised, permanent and widely accessible web-based network of national inventories of the ex situ collections (gene banks), in situ facilities (resources) and databases on the basis of national inventories is currently available or being developed in the framework of the EPGRIS initiative. The development of national inventories of ex situ collections held in European countries, and a European search catalogue (EURISCO) should be established and further improved and inventories of in situ resources (genetic reserves or gene conservation units) should be developed. A European decentralised, permanent and widely accessible web-based inventory of forest genetic resources, including in situ resources (genetic reserves or gene conservation units) and ex situ collections should be established on the basis of national inventories and taking into consideration the activities of the Euforgen-networking programme.

For animal genetic resources maintained on farms, efforts should concentrate on a European network of national inventories of administrative aspects (origin and status of funding, state of breeds and their endangerment, location of herdbooks, etc.) which should be managed in conformity with DAD-IS, the information system for the Global Strategy for the Management of Farm Animal Genetic Resources (AnGR). For ex situ conservation of animal genetic resources (semen, embryos) a web-based network of national inventories and a European search catalogue for minimum passport data should be developed. The inventory is to consist principally of the establishment, regular updating and regular publication of the facilities (storage and conservation) for genetic resources in agriculture collected in the Community, and the listing of current work on the conservation, characterisation, evaluation, collection, documentation, development and utilisation of those genetic resources. Minimum passport data of individual accessions may be included.

For microbial genetic resources, a web-based network of national inventories of ex situ and in situ resources should be established, in the framework of the European Biological Resource Centre Network (EBRCN). Regular exchanges of information between competent organisations in the Member States, in particular on the origins and individual characteristics of available genetic resources, shall be promoted. This will help establish a network of national inventories which will provide a guide to collections of conserved genetic resources and associated activities in the Community. The aims of the network of national inventories are to support the Community and national activities and encourage the widest possible knowledge and use of preserved material. Expenditure on the capacity building of NGOs, the establishment and monitoring of the inventories, regular exchanges of information between competent organisations in the Member States and the preparation of regular publications and reports, is to be covered from the total appropriations earmarked for the implementation of the programme.

3.2. Concerted actions

Concerted actions are devoted to improve the coordination at Community level, mainly through the organisation of seminars and the preparation of reports, of individual (national, regional, local) actions for the conservation, characterisation, evaluation, collection, documentation, development and utilisation of genetic resources in agriculture that are already being carried out in the Member States. In particular, they should promote exchanges of information among the Member States and the Member States and the Commission on thematic issues and on specific local (on-farm), regional, or national actions and programmes (carried out or planned under the authority of Member States or by bodies not under their authority), including also actions which are or may be carried out under Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999, Council Regulations (EEC) No 2081/92 of 14 July 1992 on the protection of geographical indications and designations of origin for agricultural products and foodstuffs () and (EEC) No 2082/92 of 14 July 1992 on certificates of specific character for agricultural products and foodstuffs ()or Council Directive 98/95/EC of 14 December 1998 amending, in respect of the consolidation of the internal market, genetically modified plant varieties and plant genetic resources, Directives 66/400/EEC, 66/401/EEC, 66/402/EEC, 66/403/EEC, 69/208/EEC, 70/457/EEC and 70/458/EEC on the marketing of beet seed, fodder plant seed, cereal seed, seed potatoes, seed of oil and fibre plants and vegetable seed and on the common catalogue of varieties of agricultural plant species (), for the purposes of coordinating these initiatives with each other, with measures to be undertaken at Community level and with relevant international processes, developments and agreements. Concerted actions could also involve coordination activities on thematic issues (specific crop or animal genetic resources) through specialised technical groups. The concerted actions shall be transnational.