The European Commission presents its proposal on fertilisers at EBA’s workshop
At EBA’s Circular Economy workshop on the 6th of April, two officials of DG Grow presented the main features relevant for organic fertilisers within the recently published proposal to revise the Fertilisers Regulation.
The Commission highlighted the following aspects of its proposal:
- The main aim of the revision is levelling the playing field between primary and secondary raw materials. Concretely this means that in the future it will be possible to produce and sell CE marked organic fertilising material (compost and digestate) across the EU;
- The annexes will define new product categories (e.g. liquid soil improver) as well as labelling requirements and a list of input material which can be used to produce these products.
- Under the optional harmonisation provision, member states may keep in parallel their own national product legislation for domestically produced fertilising material.
- An EU member state cannot refuse the entry of a fertiliser which complies with the CE mark requirements laid out in the Fertilisers Regulation;
The Commission also took this opportunity to ask participants of the EBA workshop for their feedback on this proposal, which is open to all interested stakeholders. The feedback page can be accessed here.
About the revision of the Fertilisers Regulation: The European Commission highlighted in its Circular Economy Package that it is imperative to be more resource efficient. An important action within this package is the Commission’s proposal to revise the Fertilisers Regulation to ease the access of organic and waste-based fertilisers to the European single market. It will open new market opportunities for innovative industries and companies whilst reducing waste, energy consumption and environmental impacts.
You can find the Commission’s press release here and the published proposal together with its annex in several languages here.
EBA is actively working on this file, contacting both Members of the European Parliament and country representatives from the Council to explain the importance of nutrient recycling as well as to provide technical advice on digestate.
