The new Regulation establishes a common legal framework for fertilizing products in the form of a toolbox of measures, with different pathways depending on the product category and its content. This is to be understood as a “conformity assessment”, i.e. a process demonstrating whether specified requirements relating to a fertilizing product are fulfilled.

The FPR will exist in parallel to national legislation and mutual recognition as it is only creating an optional harmonization. It will therefore be up to a manufacturer to decide whether it applies for a CE mark to benefit from free circulation in the EU’s internal market. Manufacturers of fertilizers that do not bear the CE marking will still have the open doors to place the fertilizers on their national market.

To implement the FPR for all product categories concerned, about 230 standards need to be created or at least updated. And these standards are a key pillar to ensure a well-functioning EU market for fertilizing products, not least because they are providing a common method for compliance verification during the different conformity assessments. Still, ahead of summer 2022, substantial work within CEN (the European Center of Normalization) will have to be done for establishing the frame of harmonized standards in place for the FPR – and this hopefully before the FPR applies in June/July 2022.
The labelling information placed on the bag if the product is not bulk, will at least double in comparison to the current provisions under the 2003/2003 Regulation. It will have to include instructions for intended use, including application rates, timing and frequency, and target plants or mushrooms; recommended storage conditions; a list of all component materials above 5 % by product weight in descending order of magnitude by dry weight; and any relevant information on measures recommended to manage risks to human, animal or plant health, to safety or to the environment