animal fertilisers

Draft Decree amending the Decree on the use of fertilisers to implement the sixth Nitrates Directive Action Programme and amending the Decree implementing the Fertilisers Act to provide a basis for exclusively electronic data submission

The Decree aims to implement into legislation some of the measures described in the sixth Nitrates Directive Action Programme 2018-2021. The sixth action programme, submitted to the European Commission in December of 2017, further details the requirements of the Nitrates Directive with the purpose of reducing water pollution caused or induced by nitrates from agricultural sources and to prevent further pollution of this nature.

The amendment to the Decree on the use of fertilisers [Besluit gebruik meststoffen, Bgm], which must take effect on 1 January 2021 according to the sixth action programme, provides for the following:
- moving the first fertiliser application date from 15 February to 1 April for cultivation of maize as the main crop in sand and loess soils, instead of the previously indicated measure prescribing row fertilisation for maize cultivation;
- clarification of Article 6 of the Bgm on the spreading of fertilisers over the parcel to better enable precision fertiliser application;
- expansion of options to grant exemptions in Article 7 of the Bgm by including the option to grant an exemption from the provisions of Article 8a and future Article 8b of the Bgm, for research purposes;
- the obligation to take measures to prevent run-off to surface water from crops grown in ‘ridges’ on clay or loess soils, in a new Article 8b.
In addition to the aforementioned amendments to the Bgm, this Decree also applies two amendments to the Decree implementing the Fertilisers Act [Uitvoeringsbesluit Meststoffenwet, Ubm]. It stipulates that data (Additional Farmer Details and Additional Intermediary Details) are only to be submitted electronically. In addition, it applies a technical legal correction to the Ubm (the provision on responsible dairy farming sector growth was included in the Fertilisers Act on 1 January 2018, and can therefore be deleted from the Ubm).