Keywords: Legislation, Fertilizers, Free trade, Organic farming.

The background to fertilizer regulation in Europe is described. The first pan-European fertilizer regulation dates back to Directive 76/116/EEC of 18th December 1975, since when it has been amended several times and now a new more simple regulation has been proposed. In addition, each EU member country has national regulations which widely differ one from another. At present only mineral compounds are classified as EU fertilizers, while organic and organo-mineral are governed by national legislation. European regulation of organic farming deals with fertilizers which are classified only by national legislation whose identification is often difficult. The basic concept of free trade in the EU applies of course to fertilizers, but current differences in properties and labelling of national fertilizers are still in reality a strong barrier. A new product is classified as an EC fertilizer through a two step, protracted procedure. A new 'light' regulation is suggested, to include most of the types of fertilizers on the European market and strictly related to other regulations, such as those for organic farming.

P L Graziano, M Perelli and R Calzavara, Arvan srl, Italy.
D J Heather, FMA, Peterborough, UK.

20 Pages, 5 Tables, 9 References.