# Biochar as a Multifunctional Component of the Environment--A Review
## 3 Legal Aspects and Quality Standards
Given the wide range of substrates used in the production of biochar, as well as the diverse conditions of thermal processing applied, and consequently the varied chemical composition of the final products, attempts have been made to regulate quality requirements related to carbonization products. It was necessary to take adequate steps and develop uniform guidelines and define quality requirements for biochar and substrates used in its production. As a result, global biochar organizations developed their own quality standards (biochar quality certificates):  
* Biochar standards defined by the International Biochar Initiative (IBI), USA [1];
* European Biochar Certificate defined by the European Biochar Foundation [59];
* Biochar Quality Mandate developed by the British Biochar Foundation in the United Kingdom [60]. These standards present recommendations related to the substrates applied in the production of biochar, parameters of technological processes, requirements for biochar materials introduced into the soil as well as providing guidelines for the methodology of conducting measurements and analyses. Importantly, the requirements contained therein take the form of guidelines and they are not legally binding in the European Union member states [61]. Developed under the European Union Framework Program, the project entitled REFERTTIL (reducing mineral fertilizers and chemicals use in agriculture by recycling treated organic waste as compost and biochar products) was designed to develop quality requirements for biochar to be adopted as recommendations for legal regulations relating to fertilizers [62]. The quality requirements defined for biochar ensure the safety of its soil-related applications, specify permissible contents of heavy metals, furans, polychlorinated biphenyls, dioxins and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons [63; 64; 65]. Table 3 summarizes and compares permissible levels of contaminants in biochar, as defined by the International Biochar Initiative (IBI), British Biochar Foundation (BQM), European Biochar Foundation (EBC) and under the REFERTIL project. In Poland, the requirements related to the permissible contamination of organic and organic-mineral fertilizers, as well as crop enhancers are defined by the Regulation of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of 18 June 2008 on the implementation of certain provisions of the Act on fertilizers and fertilization [66]. It specifies e.g., permissible contents of cadmium, lead, nickel, mercury, respectively at the levels of 5, 140, 60, 2 mg kg\({}^{-1}\) of dry mat \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c} \hline \hline  & & \multicolumn{3}{c}{**BQM**} & \multicolumn{3}{c}{**EBC**} \\ \cline{3-7}
**Parameter** & & & \multicolumn{3}{c}{**Type of Biochar**} & \multicolumn{3}{c}{**REFERTIL**} \\ \cline{3-7}
**(mg kg\({}^{-1}\) of Dry Matter)** & & & **High Grade** & **Standard** & **Premium** & **Basic** & \\ \hline As & 13–100 & 10 & 100 & 13 & 13 & 10 \\ Cd & 1.4–39 & 3 & 39 & 1 & 1.5 & 1.5 \\ Cr & 93–1200 & 15 & 100 & 80 & 90 & 100 \\ Cu & 143–6000 & 40 & 1500 & 100 & 1000 & 200 \\ Hg & 1–17 & 1 & 17 & 1 & 1 & 1 \\ Ni & 47–420 & 10 & 600 & 30 & 50 & 50 \\ Pb & 121–300 & 60 & 500 & 120 & 150 & 120 \\ Zn & 416–7400 & 150 & 2800 & 400 & 400 & 600 \\ Se & 2–200 & 5 & 100 & – & – & – \\ Mo & 5–75 & 10 & 75 & – & – & – \\ F & – & – & – & – & – & – \\ WWA & 6–300 & 20 & 20 & 4 & 12 & 6 \\ PCB & 0.2–1 & 0.5 & 0.5 & 0.2 & 0.2 & 0.2 \\ Dioxins and furans & 20 & 20 & 20 & 20 & 20 & 20 \\ (ng kg\({}^{-1}\)) & & & & & & \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 3: The permissible content of contaminants in biochar, based on the existing quality standards [1; 59; 60; 62]. crop enhancer, yet it fails to take into account contaminations taking the form of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons or polychlorinated biphenyls.