Certified seed is seed that an official scheme has verified as being of a named variety, true to type, and meeting set standards of purity and germination — backed by field inspection, sampling and a paper trail back to the breeder. It is the opposite of anonymous self-saved seed.
For internationally traded crops the dominant framework is the OECD Seed Schemes, established in 1958 and now used by some sixty countries. The schemes assign each lot a recognised label and certificate so that, for example, a hemp variety certified in one member country is accepted as the same variety in another — cutting technical barriers to trade and guaranteeing traceability.
Certified seed matters intensely for hemp because the crop's legality often depends on its genetics: only by sowing certified seed of an approved, low-THC variety can a grower prove a field is hemp and not a controlled drug. That is why seed certification, the EU Common Catalogue and the cultivation licence tend to operate as a single interlocking system.
- OECD — Seeds (OECD Seed Schemes; varietal certification since 1958)
- USDA AMS — OECD Seed Schemes Users Guide
