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STATEMENT OF DAVID F. SVIK, PRESIDENT, ASSOCIATION OF 

 AMERICAN SEED CONTROL OFFICIALS, NEBRASKA DEPART- 

 MENT OF AGRICULTURE, LINCOLN, NE 



Mr. Svik. Thank you. 



Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, I am David 

 Svik with the Nebraska Department of Agriculture. As president of 

 the Association of American Seed Control Officials, or AASCO, I 

 want to thank you for the opportunity to testify on behalf of our 

 association. 



AASCO is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization of seed regula- 

 tory officials with members from all 50 State departments of agri- 

 culture, the Federal Seed Branch, and Agriculture Canada. Our as- 

 sociation was organized in 1949 and continues to promote and es- 

 tablish the basic labeling requirements for State seed laws through 

 our model seed law called RUSSL, which serves as a guideline for 

 member states. 



The primary purpose of seed law enforcement is consumer pro- 

 tection. AASCO works closely with other organizations, such as the 

 Association of Official Seed Certifying Agencies, the Association of 

 Official Seed Analysts, and the American Seed Trade Association 

 to promote and foster uniformity of policies and labeling proce- 

 dures for orderly marketing of seed throughout North America. 



All State departments of agriculture regulate the labeling of seed 

 offered for sale through their individual State seed laws. It is for 

 this reason that I am here today to testify on the proposed amend- 

 ments to the Plant Variety Protection Act, S. 1406, on behalf of 

 AASCO. 



AASCO supports S. 1406, which would amend the Plant Variety 

 Protection Act to make it consistent with the International Con- 

 vention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants of March 19, 

 1991. 



In 1992, AASCO also passed a resolution of support of the 1991 

 UPOV agreement and submitted it to the National Association of 

 State Departments of Agriculture, requesting that NASDA adopt 

 our resolution on the 1991 UPOV agreement as a formal action 

 policy. NASDA did adopt this resolution at their September 21, 

 1992 annual meeting. 



The association which I represent is vitally concerned that seed 

 labeling be uniform and acceptable to all States. This is especially 

 important since seed is routinely produced in one State and mar- 

 keted in several States. 



Our understanding of S. 1406 in its present form is that the 

 amendments currently under consideration would be applicable to 

 only those varieties receiving protection after the implementation 

 of the bill into law. All prior-protected varieties would continue to 

 be protected by provisions currently in effect. 



AASCO strongly believes that in the interest of an orderly Inter- 

 state Marketing Program, both prior-protected varieties and those 

 varieties yet to receive protection must be governed by the same 

 requirements or else there will be significant disparity in the en- 

 forcement of the act. It would be virtually impossible to develop 

 and apply a fair, equitable, and practical enforcement program 

 based solely on the date a variety receives protection. 



