Brussels, 17/09/2001 (Agence Europe) - On Monday, the European Commission adopted a proposal aiming to regroup the 18 directives dealing with fertilisers into a single document in the form of a Regulation.
The objective of EU fertiliser legislation is to ensure the free circulation of fertilisers within the European Union and outline the standards they have to meet, including their composition, labelling and packaging. The Commission justifies deciding to create a new regulation on the grounds that regulations are the best way to guarantee a harmonised approach to the application of fertiliser legislation. Since this will be a reformulation of the legislation, the proposal will not demand any major changes from the chemical companies that manufacture chemical fertilisers or import fertiliser from outside the EU. Technical specifications will not be incorporated in the body of the regulation, but will be included in the annexes. Classifying the different groups of fertiliser currently covered by EU legislation in the new regulation's annexes is a relative simple way of using the legislation and adding new groups of fertiliser without having to rehash the entire regulation.
Austria, Finland and Sweden have already set limits on the amount of cadmium in fertiliser so the Commission is proposing to extend the derogation they have been granted in this connection until 31 December 2004. The additional time should enable the Community institutions to adopt common rules on cadmium content in order to both protect the environment and ensure that the internal market works effectively. In order to be in a position to propose the most suitable solution, the Commission will soon be consulting other parties via the internet. It is expected to take a decision during the first six months of 2002.