Our member ARCHE NOAH invites seed savers, seed networks and organisations from across Europe to a full-day online Seed Policy Workshop on the new EU rules on seed marketing. The workshop is the opportunity to go through the outcome of the trilogue on the new EU Regulation on the production and marketing of Plant Reproductive Material (PRM) together, and to look in detail at the next steps for the seed movement, at EU and national level.
📅 Tuesday 6 October 2026, 9:00–16:30 CEST
💻 Online (Zoom) · English
🎯 Seed savers, seed networks, community seed banks, small seed producers and civil society organisations working on seed policy
👉 Register: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/Iuwnvn_MS0S92Dtwuiy99g
ℹ️ After registering you will receive an automatic confirmation e-mail with the access details. If it does not arrive, contact Paul Grabenberger, Senior Policy Officer at ARCHE NOAH: paul.grabenberger@arche-noah.at
Background
In June 2026 the European Parliament and the Council reached a provisional agreement on the new PRM Regulation. ARCHE NOAH has analysed the trilogue outcome topic by topic; we summarised the main points in our post of July. The latest legal text is available from the Council: ST 11548/2026 INIT. Note that the text is still undergoing legal-linguistic revision; following endorsement by both the Council and the European Parliament, the provisional agreement will be formally adopted and published.
Programme (preliminary)
- 9:00–9:15 – Welcome and introduction
- 9:15–9:25 – Process: where are we standing now?
- 9:25–9:55 – Input on scope, conservation and Farmers’ Rights – comparison to status quo and explanation of new rules
- 9:55–10:10 – Q&A
- 10:10–10:25 – Break
- 10:25–11:05 – Input on non-DUS marketing: amateur varieties, conservation varieties, locally adapted varieties, OHM – comparison to status quo and explanation of new rules
- 11:05–11:25 – Q&A
- 11:25–11:55 – Input on administrative burden, sustainability, governance and transparency – comparison to status quo and explanation of new rules
- 11:55–12:10 – Q&A
- 12:10–13:45 – Lunch break
- 13:45–14:30 – Small-group discussion: key questions, challenges, opportunities and responses to the new regulatory framework
- 14:30–15:00 – Reporting back to plenary
- 15:00–15:15 – Coffee break
- 15:15–15:35 – Input: what’s next at EU level (incl. Q&A and discussion)
- 15:35–15:55 – Input: what’s next at national level? (incl. Q&A and discussion)
- 15:55–16:25 – Discussion on future plans, next steps and further inputs
- 16:25–16:30 – Closing and next steps as a group
Source: invitation circulated by ARCHE NOAH on 8 September 2026 and updated programme of 15 September 2026.
