History of the International Seed Federation

ISF is a non-political, non-profit organization resulting from the merger of two highly regarded international organizations: FIS and ASSINSEL.

FIS

The first International Seed Congress, which led to the establishment of the International Seed Trade Federation (FIS; the French acronym for Fédération Internationale du Commerce des Semences), was held in London in 1924. It was followed by FIS congresses in Bologna in 1928, Paris in 1929 and Budapest in 1930.

These early congresses were successful in achieving the fundamental goal of establishing strong links within the seed industry.

The first draft of the rules for international trade of seed for sowing was presented in Bologna in 1928 and the rules entered into force on 1 July 1929.

Activities slowed down during the politically difficult period before and during World War II but with the Paris Congress in 1950, FIS became effective again. The Rules and Usages for the Trade in Seeds for Sowing Purposes were revised. FIS extended its activities to include vegetable seed. In 1955 the Cereal Section was formed, followed by the Forest Tree Seed Group in 1964 and the Sugar Beet Seed Section in 1968. Countries continued to join FIS and in 1970 the very important 8th edition of the FIS Rules and Usages was adopted. With this edition the Canadian and US associations declared their commitment to the Rules.

Activities reached a new height in 1994 with the adoption of the 12th edition of the Rules and Usages where the rules of the various Sections were merged to form one common text supplemented by brief crop-specific annexes.

From the beginning FIS stressed the importance of technological developments for the seed industry. In 1954 FIS emphasized the importance of Plant Breeders’ Rights and urged its members to press for government recognition of reciprocal protection of breeding products. In 1958 FIS Congress passed a resolution recognizing Breeders’ Rights and the right to charge license fees when protected varieties were sold. 

ASSINSEL

The International Association of Plant Breeders for the Protection of Plant Varieties (ASSINSEL deriving its acronym from French for Association Internationale des Sélectionneurs pour la Protection de Obentions Végétales) was established in 1938.

Its main objective was the adoption of an international convention for the protection of new varieties of plants. To this effect it passed a motion at its 1956 Congress in Semmering, Austria, calling for the organization of an international diplomatic conference to consider the protection of plant varieties. The first diplomatic conference of UPOV was held in 1957 and the first Act of the UPOV Convention was adopted in 1961.

Since then ASSINSEL was involved in successive revisions of the UPOV Convention and in the adoption of rules for its implementation. In 2002 ASSINSEL adopted a paper that highlights the core of the seed industry - ASSINSEL View on Intellectual Property. 

THE MERGER- ISF

The mid 1970s saw significant changes take place in the plant breeding and seed industry with mergers, consolidations and “integration” of the whole seed chain. Plant breeders and seed producers became a single entity. The rationale of having two separate organizations, FIS and ASSINSEL, representing the seed industry was questioned. A first unsuccessful attempt to merge FIS and ASSINSEL was made in 1986. After two years of intensive talks and negotiations, FIS and ASSINSEL merged on the occasion of the annual Congress in Chicago in 2002 to become ISF, the International Seed Federation.

ISF continues the work of its parent organizations and retains the high regard of organizations in the international arena.