Consultation Information Note

Consultation Information Note

Consultation Information Note

Topic:Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down rules on the making available on the market of CE marked fertilising products and amending Regulations (EC) No 1069/2009 and (EC) No 1107/2009

Start date of consultation:26thSeptember 2016

Closing date of consultation: 28thOctober 2016

Consultation details:

On 17th of March 2016 the EU Commission adopted a proposal for a draft Regulation laying down rules on the making available on the market of CE marked fertilising products (the proposed Regulation).

Currently, the legislative framework regarding the conditions for making fertilisers available on the internal market, Regulation (EC) No 2003/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council almost exclusively covers fertilisers from mined or chemically produced inorganic materials. The draft proposal will replace this legislation. And will encompass a greater range of fertiliser products.

The proposal by the Commission is part of the Circular Economy Package which aims to help EU industry become more sustainable and competitive, foster sustainable economic growth and generate new jobs. The proposed Regulation seeks to harmonise EU rules for products derived from waste organic materials and by-products, and provides rules to recover nutrients into secondary raw materials.

Background

For fertiliser to be currently marketed as a CEFertiliser, it must be listed in Annex I of Regulation (EC) No 2003/2003. These fertilisers are conventional, inorganic fertilisers, typically extracted from mines or chemically produced in line with a linear economy model. The chemical processes for producing for example nitrogen-based fertilisers are both energy consuming and CO2-intensive. It is estimated that around 50 % of the fertilisers currently on the market, however, do not fall within the scope of Regulation (EC) No 2003/2003.

The proposed Regulation applies to the entire catalogue of fertilising products: organic, organo-mineral and inorganic fertilisers, liming materials, soil improvers, growing media, agronomic additives, plant bio stimulants and fertilising product blends. The proposal will not apply to raw waste products, to unprocessed animal by-products or to plant protection products.

Under the proposed Regulation “fertilising products” are described as a substance, mixture, micro-organism or any other material, applied or intended to be applied, either on its own or mixed with another material, on plants or their rhizophere for the purpose of providing plants with nutrients or improving their nutritional efficiency.

The proposed Regulation will create a level playing field for a diverse range of fertilising products. At the same time, new common requirements for quality, safety and labelling will guarantee a high level of safety and environmental protection of all CE marked fertilising products. All products will be labelled in a uniform way allowing European farmers to make informed choices, contributing to making food production more cost and resource effective.

Purpose of revision:

  • To update the current requirements for inorganic CE marked fertilisers, including proposed limits for contaminants including Cadmium.
  • To maintain optional harmonisation – a manufacturer who does not wish to CE-mark the product can choose to opt for compliance with national rules instead – optional harmonisation.
  • To introduce new harmonised requirements for all CE marked fertilising products regarding-

quality – such as minimum nutrient content, organic matter content, neutralizing values that are specific to each category of fertilising products;

Safety – such as maximum limits for heavy metals, including cadmium, for organic contaminants, for microbial contaminants and for impurities specific to each category of fertilising products.

Labelling – such as the actual nutrients content and their forms which will allow the farmers to modulate the use of the fertilisers depending on the plant needs.

  • To modernise the declaration of conformity and conformity assessment procedures that manufacturers of fertilising products have to comply with if they want to trade their products in the EU single market.
  • To delineate the borderline between fertilising products and plant protection products in order to avoid overlap between plant bio-stimulants and plant growth regulators.
  • To enable derived animal-by-products to move freely on the single market as fertilising products after the end point in the manufacturing chain would be laid down in the Animal By-Products Regulation.

Next step:

The draft Regulation is currently being examined at EU Council Working Party meetings and the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine invites stakeholders, members of the public and other interested parties to submit your comments in respect of the above issues or any aspect of the proposed Regulation.

Proposed Regulation, Commission impact assessment, Press releases and related documents

Responses should be submitted by 5pm on 28thOctober 2016 to:

Or via post to: Fertiliser Consultation, Crop Policy, Production & Safety Division, Department of Agriculture, Food & the Marine, Admin. Building, Youngs Cross, Celbridge, Co Kildare.

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