Today, the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed (Seeds and Propagation section) approved a so-called "temporary experiment" with derogatory rules on the marketing of True Potato Seed. Potatoes are currently exclusively propagated by tubers, however, innovative technologies now allow propagation by seeds and this has a number of significant benefits.

The breeding progress in potatoes is hampered by the complex genetics of the species and the slow multiplication of potato tubers. One seed potato tuber can only produce an average of 20 tubers in the next generation. Innovative technologies now hold the promise to overcome both of these problems. These technologies rely on the crossing of uniform, inbred lines, allowing quicker introduction of one, or even several beneficial new traits, and the use of True Potato Seed for faster propagation; one potato plant can easily produce 1000 seeds.

The total value of seed potatoes produced in the EU is estimated at 1 billion Euros per year. The export of seed potatoes from the EU to other parts of the world plays a very important role for European seed potato companies and the new technologies will potentially have a large impact on trade; a small bag of 30 grams of True Potato Seed corresponds to 2500 kilograms of seed tubers, which are also prone to losing quality during long transport.

Current legislation in the EU does not regulate the marketing of this innovative propagating material. The temporary experiment, which will last seven years, will help in establishing the requirements for this material so that both producers and users can maximally benefit from this innovative technology.