EU allows Ukrainian oilseeds and beet seeds to enter its market

Today, April 3, 2025, the European Parliament supported the decision to grant EU equivalence to the certification system for oilseeds and beet seeds produced in Ukraine.

According to the Seed Association of Ukraine, the decision was supported by 411 MEPs, 191 were against, and 13 abstained.

“According to the adopted decision, sunflower, oilseed rape, soybean and beet seeds will have access to the EU markets,” the association said.

It is noted that by its decision, the European Parliament will amend Council Decision 2003/17/EC of December 16, 2002 on the equivalence of field inspections carried out in third countries on the production of seed crops and the equivalence of seed production in third countries.

“The legislative initiative [COM(2024)0052 – C9-0026/2024 – 2024/0027(COD)] was jointly adopted by Moldova and Ukraine. It concerns the equivalence of field inspections carried out in these countries, in particular, for fodder seeds in the Republic of Moldova, and the equivalence of beet seeds and oilseeds (three crops) produced in Ukraine,” the association added.

Since the fall of 2020, EU equivalence has already been applied to cereal, sorghum and corn seeds from Ukraine. According to the voted document, the information on Ukraine will be updated in Annex 1 of Council Decision 2003/17/EC. The list of third countries whose seeds are recognized as equivalent to EU requirements will be updated to include new crops covered by equivalence.

“The crops defined by Council Directive 66/402/EEC on the marketing of cereal seeds will also be supplemented by crops from Council Directive 2002/54/EC on the marketing of beet seeds and Council Directive 2002/57/EC on the marketing of oilseeds and spinning seeds (only for Brassica napus, Glycine max and Helianthus annuus),” the association explained.

At present, a number of formalities have yet to be agreed on the legislative initiative (the so-called Trilogue between representatives of the European Parliament, the EU Council and the European Commission). After that, the document will be published in the Official Journal of the European Union (the OJEU).

The amendments will come into force on the twentieth day after the official publication.

Tags: sunseed, rapeseed, Ukraine, EU, soybean, oilseeds