EN    EN  
 EUROPEAN  
COMMISSION 
Brussels, XXX   
[…](2012) XXX  draft 
  
COMMISSION REGULATION (EU) No …/.. 
of XXX  
amending Regulation (EC) No 2003/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council 
relating to fertilisers for the purpo ses of adapting Annexes I and IV 
(Text with EEA relevance) 
 EN 2   EN COMMISSION REGULATION (EU) No …/.. 
of XXX  
amending Regulation (EC) No 2003/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council 
relating to fertilisers for the purpo ses of adapting Annexes I and IV 
(Text with EEA relevance) 
THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION, 
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, Having regard to Regulation (EC) No 2003/2003 of the European Parliament and of the 
Council of 13 October 2003 re lating to fertilisers
1, and in particular Article 31(1) and (3) 
thereof, 
Whereas: (1) Crude potassium salts are materials obtaine d from natural resources through mining. 
For such natural products, the minimum nutri ent content requirements set out in entry 
1 of Table A.3 of Annex I to Regula tion (EC) No 2003/2003 were laid down in 
accordance with sound industrial practice. Howe ver, when the potassium grade in the 
ore is naturally declining, producers encount er increasing difficulties to comply with 
the current limits, which jeopardies the continuous supply of fertilisers obtained from crude potassium salts to professional farm ers. Therefore, these limits should be 
slightly reduced by amending entry 1 of Tabl e A.3 of that Annex to allow producers to 
continue marketing their product as “EC fertiliser”. This amendment takes into account that the revised, sligh tly lower limit values also allow for efficient fertilisation 
and can therefore be consider ed as technical pr ogress in accordance with Article 31 (3) 
of Regulation (EC) No 2003/2003.  
(2) 3,4–dimethyl-1H-pyrazole phosphate (hereinafter “DMPP”) is a nitrification inhibitor 
that is suitable for use with common nitrog en fertilisers (solid or fluid). DMPP reduces 
the risks of nitrogen losses into the soil a nd in the atmosphere and therefore enhances 
nitrogen use efficiency. 
(3) The reaction mixture between N-butyl -thiophosphoric-triamide and N-propyl-
thiophosphoric-triamide (hereinafter "N BPT/NPPT") is a urease inhibitor. 
NBPT/NPPT reduces the risk of  nitrogen losses in the form of ammonia emissions 
after the application of urea- containing fertilisers and ther efore enhances the nitrogen 
use efficiency. 
                                                
 
1 OJ L 304, 21.11.2003, p. 1. EN 3   EN (4) In order to make them more widely av ailable to farmers throughout the Union, DMPP 
and NBPT/NPPT should be added to the lists of authorised nitrification and urease 
inhibitors in Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 2003/2003 in accordance with Article 31 
(1) of Regulation (EC) No 2003/2003.  
(5) Solid or fluid straight urea formaldehyde fer tilisers as well as solid NPK, NP and NK 
fertilisers containing urea formaldehyde are li sted as fertiliser types in Annex I to 
Regulation (EC) No 2003/2003.Although urea form aldehyde condensates are stable in 
solution and in suspension, fluid NPK, NP and NK fertilise rs containing urea 
formaldehyde are not yet listed in Anne x I to Regulation (EC) No 2003/2003 as an 
individual product type. As ther e is a growing interest in marketing fluid NPK, NP and 
NK fertilisers containing a certain amount of  urea formaldehyde as source of nitrogen, 
urea formaldehyde should be allowed in the preparation of flui d NPK, NP and NK 
fertilisers. Six new type designations shoul d therefore be included in Table C.2 of 
Annex I to that Regulation. 
(6) Further to the inclusion of  DMPP and NBPT/NPPT in Anne x I to Regulation (EC) No 
2003/2003, analytical methods to be applied for the official control of those fertilisers 
should be added to Annex IV to that Regulation. 
(7) Regulation (EC) No 2003/2003 should therefore be amended accordingly. 
(8) In order to ensure that th e method for the analysis of NBPT/NPPT, which is currently 
under validation, is published by the European  Committee for Standardisation before 
the addition of NBPT/NPPT in Annex I to  Regulation (EC) No 2003/2003 and the new 
analytical method for that fe rtiliser type in its Annex IV, the application should be 
deferred as regards those amendments.   
(9) The measures provided for in this Regulati on are in accordance with the opinion of the 
Committee established by Article 32  of Regulation (EC) No 2003/2003, 
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: 
Article 1 
Amendments 
Regulation (EC) No 2003/2003 is amended as follows: 
(1) Annex I is amended in accordance with Annex I to this Regulation. (2) Annex IV is amended in accordan ce with Annex II to  this Regulation. 
Article 2 
Entry into force 
This Regulation shall enter into  force on the twentieth day follo wing that of its publication in 
the Official Journal of  the European Union . 
Annex I, point (4), and Annex II, point  (2), shall apply from 1 January 2016.  
This Regulation shall be binding in  its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States. EN 4   EN Done at Brussels, 
 For the Commission 
 The President  José Manuel Barroso