This area includes two activities :

• The most important activity is the implementation of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, which entered into force on 29 June 2004. The European Community as an individual party to the Treaty and most of the Member States of the European Union have already ratified the International Treaty. It provides a legally binding global framework for access to agricultural plant genetic resources and the sharing of benefits from their use. An important element of the Treaty will be a standard Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) that will specify the conditions for the access to the genetic resources and determine the level, form and manner of payments to the Treaty's financial mechanism in the case of commercialisation of products arising from this material. The European Community and its Member States are involved in the negotiation of a draft standard MTA.
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• Council Directive 98/95/EC amends the seed marketing Directives and allows seed of traditional (old) varieties or species threatened by extinction to be excluded from the usual strict testing before marketing. Guidelines for specific conditions for this kind of material have been developed. "