The Tobacco Seed Integrity Task Force was initiated in 2002 to address the needs of CORESTA members for information on the policies, procedures, and terminology used in assuring a consistent and verifiable supply of tobacco seed. Integrity of tobacco seed was assumed to cover issues related to variety approval and registration processes, seed certification, and intellectual property. The objectives of the Task Force were:

1. To provide clear and concise definitions of selected terms and expressions commonly used and miss-used throughout the seed industry.
2. To detail and summarize information on tobacco variety approval processes and seed certification programs by:
   • Describing programs in selected countries to include Brazil, Canada, China, France, Greece, India, Italy, Spain, U.S.A., and Zimbabwe.
   • Summarizing the common elements of these programs.
   • Identifying internet sites that could be linked through the CORESTA website.
3. To provide information on existing systems for the intellectual property protection of plant varieties.
4. To describe seed testing standards that are used to produce data for the labeling of tobacco seed packages. We acknowledge that this report provides information that was gathered from public sources 

This report covers the work of the Task Force in achieving its objectives.