This amendment to the basic rules on fertiliser products is intended to adapt the Annexes to the future repeal of Regulation 2003/2003 by incorporating the EC fertilisers already present on the Community market into national legislation.

Order amending Annexes I, II, III and VI to Royal Decree 506/2013 of 28 June on fertiliser products.

The draft consists of an article and a final provision.

Single Article. Amendment of Annexes I, II, III and VI to Royal Decree 506/2013 of 28 June on fertiliser products. Annex I is amended to include the new types (old EC fertilisers), together with the amendments to tolerances (Annex III) and methods of analysis (Annex VI) and minor technical amendments to Annex II.
Single final provision provides that the order will enter into force on 16 January 2022.
Regulation (EU) 2019/1009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 June 2019 laying down provisions for the placing on the market of EU fertiliser products and amending Regulations (EC) No 1069/2009 and (EC) No 1107/2009 and repealing Regulation (EC) No 2003/2003 was published on 19 June 2019. This Regulation shall apply from 16 July 2022, the date from which, in accordance with Article 51 thereof, Regulation (EC) No 2003/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 October 2003 on fertilisers is repealed.
One of the main developments in Regulation (EU) 2019/1009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 June 2019 is that, in accordance with the principles of the new European Union regulatory framework, it proposes voluntary harmonisation, with economic operators being empowered to use the EU marking or placing their products on the market in accordance with national regulations. This approach is expected to slow down the harmonisation of the fertiliser market at EU level, with consequent damage. In addition, the new regulation implies the need to develop new standards to check the new requirements and different products it incorporates, which will help to slow down its full adoption.
Furthermore, since its entry into force, Regulation 2003/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 October 2003 has become a useful and highly valued tool, both for fertiliser producers and for farmers. In fact, Royal Decree 506/2013 of 28 June on fertiliser products maintains a structure very similar to the aforementioned regulation and, in a sense, complements it, since it incorporates those fertiliser products which, although they have been proven to be safe and effective, are not included in Annex I to that regulation.
In view of the above, there is fear among manufacturers and users that the repeal of Regulation 2003/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 October 2003 may cause some confusion on the national market, and even prevent the marketing of certain fertiliser products which have been proven to be effective under Spanish agricultural conditions and are therefore demanded by users.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food therefore considers it appropriate to provide for the possibility of maintaining, at least at national level, the possibility of continuing to market fertiliser products listed in Annex I to Regulation 2003/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 October 2003. To this end, and since, as has already been mentioned, Royal Decree 506/2013 of 28 June has a structure similar to that of the regulation, being partially complementary to it, this Order amends Annex I to that Royal Decree, creating a
paragraph 4 in Group 1 and paragraph 2 in Group 4, in order to include in them most of the different types of inorganic fertilisers in Annex I to Regulation 2003/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 October 2003. In doing so, those types, which were already included in Royal Decree 506/2013 of 28 June, have been removed from Regulation 2003/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 October 2003, thus avoiding duplication which could lead to confusion for manufacturers and users. In addition, although solid and simple inorganic fertilisers based on ammonium nitrate (in particular ammonium nitrate, calcium ammonium nitrate, ammonium nitrosulfate, magnesium nitrosulfate and ammonium nitrate with magnesium or nitromagnesium) are included in Annex I to the Royal Decree, their nitrogen content from ammonium nitrate is limited to less than 28%, therefore the performance of a detonability test is not required.
Regulation (EU) 2019/1009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 June 2019 sets out the obligation that a detonability test must be carried out for solid or simple inorganic fertilisers based on nitrogen-rich ammonium nitrate base macronutrients, supervised, through module A1, which is not provided for in this Royal Decree and which is considered essential for the placing on the market of these fertiliser products.
Moreover, it has been considered that, in order to better adapt to the characteristics of the Spanish market, it was appropriate that, in the case of Group 5, Limestone Amendments, instead of adopting Group G of Annex I to Regulation 2003/2003 European Parliament and of the Council of 13 October 2003, the existing national rates should be reinstated in Annex I to Royal Decree 506/2013 of 28 June, before being amended by Royal Decree 999/2017 of 24 November (in which the majority had been removed) in order to avoid redundancies with the regulatory framework of the European Union.
During the review of analytical methods, it was found that there is no valid analytical method for quantifying the urease inhibitor monocarbamide dihydrogen sulphate (MCDHS), including the method proposed in Annex VI.
This means that this compound does not meet the requirements of Article 4, in particular subparagraph 2(b), and the compound has therefore been removed from the list in Annex I.
The changes discussed above also require amendments to Annexes II, III and VI, in order to adapt labelling rules, tolerances and analytical methods; at the same time, the analytical methods and tolerances have been revised to better adapt these to technical advances made.
It is therefore necessary to update Annexes I, II, III and VI to the abovementioned Royal Decree.