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AMC Group and Citrus Genesis require a full investigation on alleged unauthorized propagation of the Sigal Mandarin in Spain

    Following several media publications where La Unió de Llauradors i Ramaders claimed the existence in Spain of plant material of the Sigal mandarin variety, which allegedly had been imported illegally without undergoing the correspondent quarantine process, AMC Group and Citrus Genesis have issued a press release on the following terms:

     

    • Sigal is a mandarin variety which belongs to the Agricultural Research Organization of the State of Israel, and AMC Group & Citrus Genesis are the exclusive Master Licensees of this variety in Spain and other territories.
    • The Sigal plant material was legally imported by Citrus Genesis through the IVIA quarantine station and after being dully authorized by the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture.
    • The Sigal variety is currently undergoing the official technical examination in order to obtain Community Plant Variety Rights.
    • Therefore, there is indeed plant material of the Sigal variety in Spain which has been legally imported, cleaned up through the STG technique and certified as free of disease and pathogens by IVIA. Such material is the exclusive property of AMC Group and Citrus Genesis, it is only at the IVIA facilities and it has not been released nor licensed to any third parties to date. If there was any other plant material in Spain then such material would have been illegally introduced into the country and, by all means, without any authorization whatsoever from the variety owner or the AMC Group.
    • AMC Group and Citrus Genesis have immediately contacted La Unió de Llauradors i Ramaders in order to request their collaboration to identify the illegally imported plant material and carry out any necessary legal actions.
    • Equally AMC Group and Citrus Genesis have brought these claims to the attention of the local authority Conselleria de Agricultura, Medio Ambiente, Cambio Climático y Desarrollo Rural and its Plant Health Division in order to:

     

    1. Request a full investigation of this matter
    2. Request the collaboration from La Unió de Llauradors i Ramaders to identify the farms and plots where the alleged illegal plant material of the Sigal variety has been detected.
    3. Request that, if such presence of illegal plant material is found, the sanctions and penalties established by the Plant Health Laws in its articles 58.1 and 58.3 are applied in full force to the irresponsible infringers as well as proceeding to destroy such plant material as per the current legal framework.
    4. AMC Group and Citrus Genesis have no intention to regularize or legalize any illegal plantings of the Sigal variety, and will only license any growers that they freely decide in future.