DEAS 910: 2023  
ICS 65.080  
 
© EAC 2023                                                                                                                           Second  Edition 2023  
 DRAFT EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  
Fertilizers — Urea  — Specification  
EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY  DEAS 910: 2023  
ii © EAC  2023  – All rights reserved  
 Copyright notice  
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Reproduction for sales purposes may be subject to royalty payments or a licensing agreement.  
Violators may be prosecuted . DEAS 910: 2023  
© EAC 2023  – All rights reserved  iii 
 Foreword  
Development of the East African Standards has been ne cessitated by the need for harmonizing requirements 
governing quality of products and services in the East African Community. It is envisaged that through 
harmonized standardization, trade barriers that are encountered when goods and services are exchanged  
within the Community will be removed.  
The Community has established an East African Standards Committee  (EASC)  mandated to develop and 
issue East African Standards  (EAS) . The Committee is composed of representatives of the National 
Standards Bodies in Pa rtner States, together with the representatives from the public and private sector 
organizations  in the community .  
East African Standards are developed through  Technical Committees that are representative of key 
stakeholders including government, academia , consumer groups, private sector and other interested parties. 
Draft East African Standards are circulated to stakeholders through the National Standards Bodies in the 
Partner States. The comments received are discussed and incorporated before finalizatio n of standards, in 
accordance with the Principles and procedures for develop ment of East African Standards . 
East African Standards are subject to review, to keep pace with technological advances. Users of the East 
African Standards are therefore expected t o ensure that they always have the latest versions of the standards 
they are implementing .  
The committee responsible  for this document is Technical Committee EASC /TC 020, Agriculture and 
agrochemicals . 
 
 DRAFT EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  DEAS 910: 2023  
 
© EAC 2023 – All rights reserved  1 
 Fertilizers — Urea  — Specification  
1 Scope  
This Draft East African Standard specifies  the requirements, sampling and test metho ds for urea fertilizer. This 
standard does not cover specifications for coated urea.  
2 Normative references  
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content constitutes 
requirements of this document.  For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, 
the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.  
AOAC 960.04, Biuret in f ertilizers — Spectrophotometric method  
AOAC 965.08, Water (free) in fertilizers — Vacuum -desiccatio n  
AOAC 2006.03, Arsenic, Cadmium, Cobalt, Chromium, Lead, Molybdenum, Nickel and Selenium in fertilizers  
ISO 5315 , Fertilizers — Determination of Total Nitr ogen Content — Titrimetric method after distillation   
ISO 8157 , Fertilizers , soil conditioners and beneficial substances — Vocabulary  
ISO 8397 , Solid Fertilizers and soil conditioners — Test sieving   
ISO 17318 , Fertilizers and soil conditioners — Determinat ion of arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead and 
mercury contents  
ISO 18643, Fertilizers and soil conditioners — Determination of  biuret content of urea -based fertilizers — 
HPLC method  
ISO 14820 -1, Fertilizers and liming materials - Sampling and sample preparat ion - Part 1: Sampling  
 ISO 148 20-2, Fertilizers and liming materials - Sampling and sample preparation - Part 2: Sample preparation  
ISO 7409, Fertilizers  -Marking - Presentation and declarations  
3 Terms and definitions  
For the purpose s of this document , the terms and definitions given in ISO 8157 apply . 
ISO and IEC maintain terminological databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:  
— ISO Online browsing platform: available at http://www.iso.org/obp  
  
2 © EAC  2023  – All rights reserved  
 4 Requirements  
4.1 General  requirements  
4.1.1 Urea fertilizer shall be in the form of a free -flowing granules  or prills, free from foreign matter and 
impurities. The colour of the fertilizer shall be uniform.  
4.1.2 When tested using  ISO 8397, not less than 90 % by weight of the material shall be of particles in the 
size range of 1 mm to 4 mm for prills and 2  mm to 4 mm for granules.  
 
4.2 Specific requirements  
Urea fertilizer  shall comply with the specific requirements specified in Table 1  when tested i n accordance with 
the test methods prescribed therein.   
Table 1 — Specific  requirements for urea fertilizer  
S/N Characteristic  Requirement  Test method  
i.  Total nitrogen, % by mass, min.  46 ISO 5315  
ii.  Biuret, % by mass, max.  1.5 ISO 18643  
AOAC 960.04  
iii.  Moisture, % by mass, max. 1.0 AOAC 965.08  
5 Contaminants  
Heavy metal contaminants in urea fertilizer  shall conform to the limits given in Table 2 when tested in 
accordance with the test methods prescribed therein.   
Table 2 — Requirements for heavy metal cont aminants  in urea fertilizer  
S/N Heavy metal  Requirement  
mg/kg, max.  Test method  
i.  Arsenic  (As) 20 
ISO 17318  ii.  Cadmium  (Cd) 7 
iii.  Mercury  (Hg) 0.1 
iv.  Lead  (Pb) 30 
v.  Chromium  (Cr) 500 
vi.   Selenium  (Se)  1.0  AOAC 2006.03  
7  Packaging  
Urea fertilizer  shall be packaged in materials that are clean and non -defective that protect the product from 
physical, chemical and moisture contamination and  withstand multiple stages of handlin g (transportation and 
storage ).  
© EAC 2023  – All rights reserved  3 
 8 Labelling  
Each package shall be legibly and indelibly labeled in accordance with ISO 7409 in English and/or any other 
official language  in the destination country  with the following  information : 
a) name of the fertilizer; “Urea  Fertilizer ”  
b)  brand name  if any ; 
c) name and address of the manufacturer /importer ; 
d) nutrient content;  
e) net content by mass in metric units ; 
f) handling instructions – including the words “Use No hooks”;  
g) production date  
h)  expiry date;  
i) country of origin ; 
j) batch number ; and 
k) storage conditions .  
9 Sampling   
Sampling and sample preparation of urea fertilizers shall be carried out as prescribed in ISO 14820 -1 and ISO 
14820-2 respectively . 
 
 
 
 
. DEAS 910: 2023    
 
© EAC 2023  – All rights reserved