ACT : Commission Regulation 181/2006/EC implementing Regulation 1774/2002/EC as regards organic fertilisers and soil improvers other than manure and amending that Regulation.
CONTENTÂ : Regulation 1774/2002/EC prohibits the application to pasture land of organic fertilisers and soil improvers other than manure. This prohibition is in line with the current EU feed ban, and is intended to prevent possible contamination risks from pasture land where Category 2 material and Category 3 material could be present. Such risks may be due to direct grazing or use of grass as silage or hay by farmed animals. That Regulation provides that measures for implementing the prohibition, including control measures, are to be adopted after consultation of the appropriate scientific committee. Various scientific committees have issued a number of scientific opinions that are relevant to the application to land of organic fertilisers and soil improvers.
Those scientific opinions recommend that animal tissues that are likely to contain TSE agents should not be incorporated in organic fertilisers and soil improvers for use on land to which cattle may have access. Other materials may be used in the manufacture of organic fertilisers and soil improvers under certain health conditions involving heating and safe sourcing that further reduce any potential risks.
In the light of those scientific opinions, this Regulation lays down implementing rules, including control measures, for the application to land of organic fertilisers and soil improvers, as well as digestion residues and compost. Organic fertilisers and soil improvers shall be produced solely from Category 2 and Category 3 material, and must comply with the requirements regarding pathogen control and packaging and labelling set out in parts I and II of the Annex. They must be transported in accordance with the requirements of the Regulation. The special grazing restrictions set out will apply where organic fertilisers and soil improvers are applied to land.. Processed products derived from the processing of animal by-products in a processing plant in accordance with Regulation 1774/2002/EC must not be applied as such directly to land where farmed animals might have access. The person responsible for land to which organic fertilisers and soil improvers are applied and to which farmed animals have access shall keep records for at least two years of the quantities of organic fertilisers and soil improvers applied, the date on which and the places where the latter were applied to land, and the dates on which livestock is allowed to graze the land or on which the land is cropped for feedingstuffs.
Finally, the Regulation provides that organic fertilisers and soil improvers may be placed on the market and exported provided the conditions set out in this Regulation are complied with.
ENTRY INTO FORCE: 5 February 2006
DATE OF APPLICATION : from 1 April 2006.