Department of Quality and Official Control (SOCFrance)
The Department of Quality and Official Control is a dedicated technical service in charge of the public mission entrusted to the French Interprofessional Organisation for Seeds and Plants, in application of French regulation. The Department of Quality and Official Control inspects and certifies seeds and seedlings, namely crop and vegetable seeds, seed potatoes, vegetable planting materials, and strawberry plants.
Based on EU rules, the French Ministry of Agriculture adopts technical regulations(page in French) that deal with the production, control, and certification of seeds and planting materials.
Department of Quality and Official Control’s job is to verify compliance with these regulations. The department is run by a senior state official who is appointed by the Ministry for Agriculture.
The Head of Department of Quality and Official Control:
- is responsible for the proper implementing of the control and certification tasks;
- is the unique holder of decision-making power over all Department of Quality and Official Control activities and is the only one authorized to delegate decision-making power over Department of Quality and Official Control’s activities;
- relies on a team of national technical referents and a staff distributed among the 6 regional SEMAE delegations, according to the roles and responsibilities described in the decision-making chain of Department of quality and official control(page in French).
The control is carry out across all of France through the following activities:
- production sites evaluation and monitoring as part of registration and approval procedures (production site registration);
- field inspections and seed/plant lot controls to ensure regulatory compliance.
Department of Quality and Official Control is also entrusted with the ability to control the phytosanitary requirement for seeds and planting materials movements: Department of Quality and Official Control is responsible for issuing European plant passports (within the EU) and phytosanitary inspections needed to deliver phytosanitary certificates (export outside the EU).
On the authority of a governmental senior official temporary assigned to the French Interprofessional Organisation for Seeds and Plants, Department of Quality and Official Control is organized as a certification body and carries out its regulatory responsibilities in such a way that policymakers and operators can trust that the inspection process is transparent, independent, and impartial.
Compliance with these three commitments has been reinforced by the implementation of a quality system according to the principles of the international standard ISO 17065 (Conformity assessment – Requirements for bodies certifying products, processes and services), following a voluntary approach by SEMAE.
Header photo : © SEMAE / Philippe Roux