Page 97 - Breeding and regulatory opportunities, Renaud

Seed Regulation in the US, EU and Mexico

3.3.3 The Mexico case

Mexico irst sought to regulate the organic sector in 1997, with the publication

of an Oicial Standard NOM-037-FITO-1995. However, the regulations were

not enforced and the standard was oicially cancelled in 2010. In 2006, the

government enacted the Organic Products Law that required all organic

products to be certiied in accordance with an international organic standard

(SAGARPA, 2006). This laid the foundation for a series of draft regulations that

have been negotiated with Mexico’s main trading partners in organic products,

such as the US and the EU, published on 1 April 2010, and subsequently approved

by the Mexican Federal Commission of Regulatory Improvement (COFEMER,

2010). Following further approval of the drafts by the Sanitary, Food Safety and

Food Quality National Service (SENASICA), Mexico’s ‘Guidelines for the Organic

Operation of Agricultural and Animal Production Activities’ were released

in 2010. The guidelines required the use of organic seed in certiied organic

agriculture systems (Section 3, “SEED or PROPAGATION MATERIAL” Article 41-

43). Notably, there was no provision for exception for the use of conventional

untreated seed (SENASICA, 2010). The organic regulation was redrafted in 2012.

It withdrew the 100% organic seed use requirement. The revised draft permitted

the use of conventional treated seed if the chemical treatment was been

“washed-of” (Article 35, SAGARPA, 2012b). The inal Mexican Organic

Regulations retained Article 35 and was published on 29 October 2013

(SAGARPA, 2013).

The stakeholder interviews and participant experience suggest that the US

regulatory regime arguably has had greater impact on the organic sector in

Mexico than the eforts to develop efective domestic law, because the major

part of Mexico’s organic crop production is exported to the US market and must

therefore meet the requirements of the US organic regulation. Conventional

seed treatments, for instance, are not permitted under either US (or EU) organic

regulations. Mexican organic growers in fact face a unique challenge. In the

US, organic growers have access to diverse organic seed sources and the

opportunity to secure exceptions to the use of organic seed. In Mexico, there is

a limited domestic supply of organic seed and the major part of the seed used in

Mexico is supplied mainly by companies based in the US and the EU. The organic

sector in Mexico has become dependent on the importation of organic seed

from foreign companies and on seed regulation and certiication standards in

their main export markets.

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