legislation-profile

Fertilising Products Regulation

Regulation (EU) 2019/1009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 June 2019 laying down rules on the making available on the market of EU fertilising products and amending Regulations (EC) No 1069/2009 and (EC) No 1107/2009 and repealing Regulation (EC) No 2003/2003

Scope

The Regulation applies to EU fertilising products (i.e., fertilising products with CE mark). For the purposes of the Regulation, ‘fertilising product’ means a substance, mixture, micro-organism or any other material, applied or intended to be applied on plants or their rhizosphere or on mushrooms or their mycosphere, or intended to constitute the rhizosphere or mycosphere, either on its own or mixed with another material, for the purpose of providing the plants or mushrooms with nutrient or improving their nutrition efficiency (Article 2(1)) Please note that Regulation (EU) 2019/1009 has repealed Regulation (EC) No 2003/2003 relating to fertilisers. The Regulation began to apply from 16 July 2022. Nevertheless, Article 52 of the Regulation provides that Member States shall not impede the making available on the market of products which were placed on the market before 16 July 2022 as fertilisers designated ‘EC fertiliser’ in conformity with Regulation (EC) No 2003/2003.

Exemptions

Exemptions are defined in Art. 1(1) of the Regulation:(a) animal by-products or derived products which are subject to the requirements of Regulation (EC) No 1069/2009 when made available on the market;(b) plant protection products covered by the scope of Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009.

Regulatory activities

1. Regulatory compliance. EU fertilising products shall meet the requirements set out in Annex I (for the relevant product function category) and Annex II (for the relevant component material category or categories). For any aspects not covered by Annex I or II, EU fertilising products shall not present a risk to human, animal or plant health, to safety or to the environment.Compliance may be demonstrated through harmonized EN standards (Article 13), common specifications (Article 14), conformity assessment procedure (Annexes IV), EU Declaration of conformity (Annex V), and CE-marking (Article 18). 2. Labelling requirements. EU fertilising products shall be labelled in accordance with the requirements set out in Annex III.

Relevant product types

Product types (Product Function Categories - PFCs) are defined in Annex I. EU fertilising products are divided into different product function categories (and sub-categories), based on their functions and intended use. The main categories are: 1. Fertiliser 2. Liming material 3. Soil improver 4. Growing medium 5. Inhibitor 6. Plant biostimulant 7. Fertilising product blend

Reference documents

Yes Regulation (EC) No 2003/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 October 2003 relating to fertilisers Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 January 2002 laying down the general principles and requirements of food law, establishing the European Food Safety Authority and laying down procedures in matters of food safety Decision No 768/2008/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 July 2008 on a common framework for the marketing of products, and repealing Council Decision 93/465/EEC Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 November 2008 on waste and repealing certain Directives Regulation (EC) No 765/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 July 2008 setting out the requirements for accreditation and market surveillance relating to the marketing of products and repealing Regulation (EEC) No 339/93 Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 on European standardisation, amending Council Directives 89/686/EEC and 93/15/EEC and Directives 94/9/EC, 94/25/EC, 95/16/EC, 97/23/EC, 98/34/EC, 2004/22/EC, 2007/23/EC, 2009/23/EC and 2009/105/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and repealing Council Decision 87/95/EEC and Decision No 1673/2006/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council

Obligations based on CLP hazard class

No

Obligations based on properties of concerns

No

EU-level occupational exposure limits

No

EU-level emission limit values

No

Substance-centric data source(s) at the EU level

No

Industry submission system in place

No

Format for industry submission

Not applicable

Owner

DG GROW

Update process

DG GROW; CEN Article 13 (Use of harmonised standards): regarding European harmonised standards (EN standards), the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) is the responsible organisation. Article 14 (Common Specifications): the Commission may adopt implementing acts laying down common specifications for the requirements set out in Annex I, II or III or tests referred to in Article 13(2). Article 42 (Amendments of Annexes): the Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts in amending Annex I (with the exception of cadmium limit values, definitions, or other elements relating to the scope, product function categories) and Annexes II, III and IV, for the purposes of adapting them to technical progress.

Amendments

Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/1768 of 23 June 2021 Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/2086 of 5 July 2021 Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/2087 of 6 July 2021 Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/2088 of 7 July 2021 Corrigendum, OJ L 083, 10.3.2022 Corrigendum, OJ L 161, 16.6.2022 Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/1171 of 22 March 2022 amending Annexes II, III and IV to Regulation (EU) 2019/1009 of the European Parliament and of the Council for the purpose of adding recovered high purity materials as a component material category in EU fertilising products Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/1519 of 5 May 2022 amending Regulation (EU) 2019/1009 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the requirements applicable to EU fertilising products containing inhibiting compounds and the post processing of digestate Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/409 of 18 November 2022 amending Regulation (EU) 2019/1009 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the minimum content of calcium oxide in straight solid inorganic macronutrient fertilisers Corrigendum, OJ L, 16.10.2023