Animal fertilisers, including the digital accountability of the transport thereof

Decree of the Minister for Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality amending the Fertilisers Act Implementing Order in connection with the establishment of rules on the digital accountability of the transport of animal fertilisers

The proposed amendment to the Fertilisers Act Implementing Order elaborates on the obligation to make use of the system provided by the Minister for the transport of animal fertilisers from now on. An amendment to the Fertilisers Act Implementing Decree (notified under No 2020/0505/NL) creates this obligation. This system is called rVDM. The use of this system allows transport flows to be mapped digitally and in real time. Information must be provided to rVDM at each step during transport. Transport must be notified in advance (advance notification).

This is a better and more efficient way of monitoring compliance with the rules on the transport of animal fertilisers. The introduction of rVDM is intended to replace the current system, in which information on the transport is provided on paper and after transport has taken place. By introducing rVDM, improved compliance is achieved and the likelihood of fraud is reduced.

Increased compliance was named as an objective in the Sixth Action Programme, which was drawn up under the Nitrates Directive. One of the measures for increasing compliance with legislation and regulations is the use of automation, such as the proposed rVDM system. The introduction of such a system was included as one of the conditions of the derogation decision granted to the Netherlands on 17 July 2020 (OJ L 234, 2020) under the Nitrates Directive. This amendment to the Fertilisers Act Implementing Order provides for the further elaboration of rVDM. The proposed Articles 53 to 56, 58 to 69m, 128b and Annex E contain technical regulations.