The MEPs on the European Parliament’s environment committee took the view that introducing rules that facilitate the marketing of organic and waste-based fertilisers in order to encourage wider use, as the European Commission proposed in March should happen through amending the rules in force (see EUROPE 11515), as this was a very good thing.
It is, they felt, a constructive move towards the circular economy which, nonetheless, could be improved, as witnessed by the opinion report which the committee adopted in Brussels on Tuesday 30 May. The internal market committee is the Parliamentary lead on this issue.
The committee suggest improving some definitions, such as for biostimulants and limits for microbial contaminants for certain categories of fertilisers.
“The regulation on fertilising products is the first concrete application of the circular economy package”, stated rapporteur Elisabetta Gardini (EPP, Italy). She welcomed the suggestion by the committee that new points be included in the regulation, such as biodegradable mulch films, with their biodegradability criteria, and the inclusion of “peat among the recognised matrices for the production of organic, organo-mineral fertilisers and soil improvers”.
The committee also backed stricter limit values for cadmium than those proposed by the European Commission. The MEPs were of the view that those member states which already impose tougher limits should be able to maintain them until the other member states achieve an equivalent level of ambition. They also called for a requirement that labelling on fertilisers bearing the CE mark indicate the cadmium content.
The Parliament’s internal market committee will put the text to a vote in July (11-12). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)