Internal Market Committee rapporteur, Mihai Ţurcanu (EPP,
RO), said: “I am pleased that today we finally reached
a very good agreement after long negotiations, technical
meetings and a huge amount of work that has been done with
four Presidencies of the Council in the past two years.
Today’s agreement represents a success for all parties
involved and the European Parliament”.
Cadmium limits
The agreed text introduces limits for heavy metals, such as
cadmium, in phosphate fertilisers to reduce health and
environmental risks. The limits for cadmium content in “CE
marked” phosphate fertilisers will be 60 mg/kg as from the
date of application of the regulation (i.e. three years
after its entry into force).
A review clause requires the European Commission to review
the limit values, with a view to assessing the feasibility
of reducing them, four years after the date of application
of the new rules (i.e. seven years after entry into force).
The co-legislators also agreed on a voluntary “low cadmium”
label. Where the fertilising product has a cadmium content
lower than 20 mg/kg, the statement “Low cadmium (Cd)
content” or similar, or a visual representation to that
effect, may be added.
Sufficient incentives should be provided to develop
decadmiation technologies and to manage cadmium-rich
hazardous waste by means of relevant financial resources,
the lawmakers added.
Boosting the use of organic and waste-based
fertilisers
Existing EU rules on fertilisers cover mainly conventional
fertilisers, typically extracted from mines or produced
chemically, with high energy-consumption and CO2
production. Diverging national rules make it difficult for
producers of organic fertilisers to sell and use them
across the EU single market. The new legislation,
provisionally agreed on Tuesday:
- promotes increased use of recycled materials for
producing fertilisers, thus helping to develop the circular
economy, while reducing dependence on imported nutrients,
- eases market access for innovative, organic
fertilisers, which would give farmers and consumers a wider
choice and promote green innovation,
- establishes EU-wide quality, safety and environmental
criteria for “EU” fertilisers (i.e. those which can be
traded in the whole EU single market).
Next steps
The provisional agreement still needs to be confirmed by
the EU member states’ ambassadors (Coreper) and by
Parliament’s Internal Market Committee. The draft
regulation will then be put to a vote by the full
Parliament in an upcoming plenary session and formally
approved by the EU Council of Ministers.
Background
Currently, only 5% of waste organic material is recycled
and used as fertilisers. According to estimates, if more
biowaste was recycled, it could replace up to 30% of
non-organic fertilisers.
The EU imports more than 6 million tonnes of phosphate rock
a year, but it could recover up to 2 million tonnes of
phosphorus from sewage sludge, biodegradable waste, meat
and bone meal or manure, according to the Commission.
Nearly half of the fertilisers on the EU market are not
covered by the existing legislation. The new one, which
will replace the current 2003 Fertilisers Regulation,
includes all types of fertilisers (mineral, organic, soil
improvers, growing matters, etc.).
“EU” fertilisers need to meet all the quality, safety and
labelling requirements under EU rules and can be traded
freely across the EU single market.
