WRITTEN QUESTION E-2402/99 by Bart Staes (Verts/ALE) to the Council. Use of sewage sludge as a fertiliser in the agricultural sector.
Date: 1999-12-13
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU environmental policy, domestic waste, fertiliser

3.10.2000

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 280 E/41

(2000/C 280 E/039)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2402/99

by Bart Staes (Verts/ALE) to the Council

(13 December 1999)

Subject: Use of sewage sludge as a fertiliser in the agricultural sector

In a number of EU Member States, including the Belgian Federation, sludge from waste water purification
plants is used as a fertiliser in the agricultural sector. The sludge is usually highly polluted with heavy
metals. Scientific research (Adeline Montcharmont: Les risques sanitaires liØs (cid:224) l(cid:146)Øpandage des boues de
stations d(cid:146)Øpuration urbaines, Ecole nationale vØtØrinaire de Lyon, thŁse numØro 31, 1999) also shows that
such sludge can be infected with bacteria, viruses and parasites. Both these facts necessitate further
research and an appropriate approach at all policy levels.

In which EU Member States is sludge from waste water purification plants used as a fertiliser in the

1.
agricultural sector?

2. Which Member States have restrictions in force on the use of such sludge as fertiliser?

3. What is the Council(cid:146)s attitude towards the use of sludge from waste water purification plants as a
fertiliser in the agricultural sector, in view of the pollution with heavy metals and infection with bacteria,
viruses and parasites?

Does the Council feel that a ban should be imposed on using sewage sludge as a fertiliser, in view of

4.
the pollution with heavy metals and infection with bacteria, viruses and parasites? If not, why not?

Reply

(13 March 2000)

1.
The use of sewage sludge as an agricultural fertiliser and means of soil improvement is one of the
traditional ways in the majority of the Member States for the disposal and recycling of such substances.
Such use has already received the Council(cid:146)s attention with a view to preventing the damaging effects that
such use can have on the environment and on human and animal health.

2.
In particular, the Council adopted Directive 86/278/EEC of 12 June 1986 on the protection of the
environment, and in particular of the soil, when sewage sludge is used in agriculture (1), which instrument
governs the use of sewage sludge on farms.

3.
In respect of the first two questions put by the Honorable Member, the Council would draw his
attention to Articles 12 and 17 of Council Directive 86/278/EEC, which state that it is for the Commission
to publish information on the use of sewage sludge on the basis of reports submitted by the Member
States.

By adopting Directive 86/278/EEC, the Council generally authorised the use of sewage sludge as an
4.
fertiliser, subject to strict regulation and the necessary controls. That Directive regulates
agricultural
sewage-sludge use in order to prevent harmful effects for soil, vegetation, animals and man, while
encouraging its proper use. It also sets limit values for concentrations of heavy metals (cadmium, copper,
nickel,
lead, zinc and mercury). The Directive accordingly lays down certain restrictions to prevent
contamination of the environment, as well as spelling out the risks for human and animal health from
pathogens.

5.
The Council believes that the Commission is currently working on the revision of the Directive so as
to adapt it to technological and scientific progress made since it was adopted. When it receives the
proposal for revision, the Council will examine it at the earliest opportunity.

C 280 E/42

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

3.10.2000

As regards the more specific questions concerning the use of sewage sludge as an agricultural
it does not possess the relevant
the Council regrets that

6.
fertiliser in the various Member States,
information.

(1) OJ L 181, 4.7.1986.

(2000/C 280 E/040)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2405/99

by Karl-Heinz Florenz (PPE-DE) to the Commission

Subject: Suspension of payment of structural funding

(16 December 1999)

In how many cases, and in what instances, has the Commission made the allocation of structural fund
appropriations dependent on the Member States in question complying with requirements of Community
environmental legislation? In which of these cases has the Commission suspended payment of structural
funding?

Answer given by Mr Barnier on behalf of the Commission

(25 January 2000)

Compliance with the whole body of Community legislation constitutes one of the conditions for granting
Structural Fund aid. This is, moreover, laid down in the standard clauses included in the various decisions
granting Community aid. Non-observance of Community legislation, including that on the environment,
can therefore lead to the suspension, or even cancellation of assistance.

The procedure for establishing an infringement of Community law is separate from the procedure for
suspending and cancelling aid.

However, for reasons of consistency, payment of Community aid is, as a matter of principle, suspended
after the infringement procedure is initiated (formal notice to the Member State). An aid cannot be
suspended on the basis of a complaint or following a simple request to the Member State for information.
The Commission can cancel the payment when it establishes, by reasoned opinion, that there has been an
infringement of Community law.

It should, finally, be stressed that Community aid can be suspended following the formal notice to the
Member State (in order to allow investigation of the infringement without putting the Commission in a
contradictory situation), whereas cancellation of aid is never decided automatically.

Infringements of Community environmental
law have led to the suspension of European Regional
Development Fund assistance, inter alia, in the following cases: the joint project by Germany and the
Netherlands in the Aachen/Heerlen industrial area; a dam at Abrilongo in Portugal; the protection of the
Caretta caretta turtle in Greece; and a road project in Algeciras in Spain. With regard to aid from the
Guidance Section of the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund, no payment has been
suspended for non-observance of environmental rules.

there may be certain specific conditions within plans or programmes which are not

However,
in
in the single programming
themselves grounds for suspension but do affect eligibility. For example,
document of the Spanish region Aragon for Objective 5b, the eligibility of irrigation work in sector VIII is
conditional upon an agreement between the Commission and those responsible for the measure at national
and regional level guaranteeing compliance with Council Directives 79/409/EEC of 2 April 1979 on the
conservation of wild birds (1) and 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and
of wild fauna and flora (2).

(1) OJ L 103, 25.4.1979.
(2) OJ L 206, 22.7.1992.