ISTA Activity Report 2016
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International Seed Testing Association Secretariat, Zürichstrasse 50, CH-8303 Bassersdorf, Switzerland Phone: +41 44 838 60 00 Fax: +41 44 838 60 01 Email: [email protected] - http://www.seedtest.org Document OGM17-03 Activity Report of the International Seed Testing Association (ISTA) Committees 2016 This yearly Activity Report was prepared by the Technical Committees, the Executive Committee, and the Secretariat of the Association. The document contains the reports of the Executive Committee, the Technical Committees and of the Secretary General and includes the financial statements of the International Seed Testing Association for 2016, the budget for 2016 and preliminary budget for 2017. This document is submitted to all ISTA Designated Authorities, ISTA Members and ISTA Observer Organisations for information two months prior to the ISTA Ordinary General Meeting 2017. The Activity Report was endorsed by the Executive Committee for submission to the ISTA Ordinary General Meeting 2017, to be held June 22, 2017 in Denver, CO, USA, for acceptance by the nominated ISTA Designated Members voting on behalf of their respective Governments. It was approved by the Designated Members at the Ordinary General Meeting on. OGM17-03 Activity Report of the ISTA Committees 2016 Final 2017-07-03 Approved by vote at OGM 22.06.2017 Page 1/111 Activity Report of the International Seed Testing Association (ISTA) Committees 2016 Contents A. Report of the Executive Committee (ECOM) 2016 5 1. Composition of the Executive Committee 5 2. Meetings of the Executive Committee 5 3. Activities of the Executive Committee Working Groups 6 3.1 Accreditation Working Group 6 3.2 The Articles and By-Laws of the Association Working Group 7 3.3 Designated Authorities Working Group 7 3.4 Events Working Group 7 3.5 International Relations Working Group 8 3.6 Management and Finances Working Group 8 3.7 Marketing Working Group 9 3.8 Publications Working Group 9 3.9 Technical Committee Working Group 9 B. Reports of the Secretary General, Proficiency Test Committee, Rules Committee, Editorial Board and Seed Science Advisory Group 10 1. ISTA Membership 10 1.1 Membership developments 10 1.1.1 Laboratory membership 10 1.1.2 Personal Membership 11 1.1.3 Associate Membership 11 1.1.4 Industry Membership 12 1.2 Honorary Members 12 2. Activity Report of the Rules Committee June 2016 to Feb 2017 12 2.1 Activities 13 2.3 Sales of the ISTA Rules 14 3. Accreditation Programme 17 Report of the Proficiency Test Committee 17 3.1 Proficiency tests 2016 17 3.2 Reporting of Proficiency test results 17 3.3 Rating of laboratory performance 18 3.4 Audit programme 21 3.5 Accreditation under the Performance- Based Approach 21 3.6 Accreditation administration 21 3.7 Document updates 21 3.8 Accreditation figures 22 3.9 New system auditor at ISTA Secretariat 27 3.10. Contracted auditors 27 OGM17-03 Activity Report of the ISTA Committees 2016 Final 2017-07-03 Approved by vote at OGM 22.06.2017 Page 2/111 Activity Report of the International Seed Testing Association (ISTA) Committees 2016 3.11 Sales of ISTA Certificates 27 4. ISTA Publications and Products 28 4.1 ISTA Handbooks and Proceedings 28 4.2 Calibration Samples 28 5. ISTA Training and Education Programmes 28 5.1 ISTA Workshop overview 28 6. Scientific Journal ‘Seed Science and Technology’: Report of the Editorial Board, 2016 29 6.1 Editorial figures for 2016 30 6.2 Additional activities: 30 6.3 Sales of ‘Seed Science and Technology’ 2012 - 2016 31 7. Report of the Seed Science Advisory Group 31 8. Report of the ISTA Secretariat 33 8.1 Secretariat staff 33 8.2 Secretariat work 33 8.3 Functions 34 8.3.1 Administration: 34 8.3.2 Human Resources: 34 8.3.3 Finance: 34 8.3.4 IT 34 8.3.5 Marketing: 34 8.3.6 Representation: 36 8.3.7 Event organization: 37 8.3.8 Publications: 37 8.3.9 TCOM Coordination 38 8.3.10 Accreditation: 38 9. Finances of the Association 40 C. Reports of the Technical Committees 46 1. ATC Advanced Technologies Committee 47 2. BSC Bulking and Sampling Committee 49 3.FSC Flower Seed Committee 53 4. FTS Forest Tree and Shrub Seed Committee 57 5. GER Germination Committee 60 6. GMO Committee 69 7. MOI Seed Moisture Committee 76 8. NOM Nomenclature Committee 79 9. PUR Purity Committee 81 Reporting of unidentified seeds on ISTA certificates, at the moment only possible to report to Genus level according the rules 83 OGM17-03 Activity Report of the ISTA Committees 2016 Final 2017-07-03 Approved by vote at OGM 22.06.2017 Page 3/111 Activity Report of the International Seed Testing Association (ISTA) Committees 2016 Addition of Striga to the methid for Orobanche 83 Revision of chapter 14: The X-ray test, possibe to use other machines to do this test 83 10. SHC Seed Health Committee 87 11.STA Statistics Committee 90 12. STO Storage Committee 93 13. TEZ Tetrazolium Committee 101 14. VAR Variety Committee 103 15. VIG Seed Vigour Committee 107 OGM17-03 Activity Report of the ISTA Committees 2016 Final 2017-07-03 Approved by vote at OGM 22.06.2017 Page 4/111 Activity Report of the International Seed Testing Association (ISTA) Committees 2016 A. Report of the Executive Committee (ECOM) 2016 1. Composition of the Executive Committee This report has been prepared by members of the Executive Committee (ECOM) with specific input from Chairs of the ECOM Working Groups (WGs). The Executive Committee 2016-2019 is composed of: Officers: Craig McGill (President) New Zealand Steve Jones (Vice-President) Canada Members-at-large: Joël Léchappé (Immediate Past President) France Ignacio Aranciaga Argentina Valerie Cockerell United Kingdom Berta Killermann Germany Keshavulu Kunusoth India Leena Pietilä Finland Masatoshi Sato Japan Mable Simwanza Zambia Rita Zecchinelli Italy Ex-Officio member: Attilio Lovato (ISTA Honorary President) Italy This report is the first from the 2016-2019 Executive Committee, elected at the Ordinary General Meeting in June 2016, Tallinn, Estonia. The work of the Executive Committee, including the implementation of the 2016- 2019 ISTA Strategy developed and voted on by the membership at the 31st ISTA Congress in Tallinn in June 2016, is achieved with input from a number of ECOM working groups. The role of the working groups is to propose solutions on specific topics and where appropriate develop policy for discussion and decision by the Executive Committee. The working groups established for the 2016-2019 triennium (working group Chair in brackets) are: Accreditation (Rita Zecchinelli), The Articles and By-Laws of the Association (Steve Jones), Designated Authority (Joël Léchappé), Events (Berta Killermann), International Relations (Joël Léchappé), Management and Finances (Steve Jones), Marketing (Berta Killermann), Publications (Valerie Cockerell / Steve Jones), Technical Committees (Valerie Cockerell). The ISTA President is a member of all working groups. Within the Accreditation working group are two sub-working groups. One sub-group, chaired by Leena Pietilä, is working on a new proposal for the ISTA sampling “certificate” to address the concerns raised by the membership at the ISTA Congress in Tallinn. The second, chaired by Rita Zecchinelli, is working on the question of the European Union recognition of the use of the word accreditation by ISTA. 2. Meetings of the Executive Committee In the period June 2016 to May 2017 the Executive Committee held two meetings, one in Tallinn immediately after their election at the ISTA Congress in June 2016 and second in February 2017 in Zurich. In February 2017 the Executive Committee also held a joint meeting with the Technical Committee Chairs in Zurich. During the post-Congress meeting in Tallinn the Executive Committee met with the Secretariat staff. The Secretariat staff gave an overview of their individual work within the Secretariat to the Executive Committee. This was helpful for all Executive Committee members but particularly those joining the Executive for the first time. The meeting reflects the important role that the Secretariat, under the leadership of the Secretary General, plays as the central administrative structure within the Association as well as in supporting the work of the Executive Committee in general and the Executive Committee working groups in particular. The February ECOM meeting was aimed at the regulatory work to prepare for the Annual Meeting in Denver, Colorado. This includes the approval of standard documents for distribution to the membership prior to the Ordinary Meeting and voting by the membership at the Ordinary Meeting. The main documents discussed and/or validated by the ECOM were: the report of the Executive Committee, the report of the Secretary General, the reports of the Technical Committees, the Rules proposals and the associated validation reports, OGM17-03 Activity Report of the ISTA Committees 2016 Final 2017-07-03 Approved by vote at OGM 22.06.2017 Page 5/111 Activity Report of the International Seed Testing Association (ISTA) Committees 2016 Articles change proposals, the financial accounts of the Association for 2016 and the provisional budget for 2017 and 2018, and proposals for the 2018 membership fees. The Technical Committee Chairs met 14-16 February with the 15-16 February being a joint meeting with the Executive Committee. This included a workshop on 15 February which had the aim of identifying ways in which the Technical Committees could work more effectively and what was needed to enable them to do so. As a result of this workshop the Executive Committee has established working groups, one, chaired by Valerie Cockerell, to look at the Method Validation Process and a second, chaired by Leena Pietilä to look at the functioning of the Technical Committees.