CELEX: 51982PC0527
Language: en
Date: 1982-09-10
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL DIRECTIVE ON THE USE OF SEWAGE SLUDGE IN AGRICULTURE

8.10.82                            Official Journal of the European Communities                               No C 264/3
                                                            II
                                                     (Preparatory Acts)
                                               COMMISSION
                       Proposal for a Council Directive on the use of sewage sludge in agriculture
                            (Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 13 September 1982)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN                                      Whereas special arrangements should be made to
COMMUNITIES,                                                     ensure that human beings, animals, plants and the
                                                                 environment are fully safeguarded against the harmful
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the                     effects arising from the uncontrolled spreading of
European Economic Community, and in particular
                                                                 sludge;
Articles 100 and 235 thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,               Whereas sludge sometimes has valuable agronomic
                                                                 properties and agricultural applications are therefore
Having regard to the opinion of the European                     justified subject to certain precautions being taken;
Parliament,                                                      whereas the spreading of sewage sludge must not
                                                                 impair the quality of agricultural and forestry
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and
                                                                 products in the long term;
Social Committee,
Whereas the main objective of this Directive is to               Whereas some trace elements are more toxic to plants
provide better protection for the environment and to             than others; and whereas, consequently, it is
make use of waste; whereas it is therefore necessary             necessary to lay down mandatory values, to be
to make specific provision for this purpose; whereas             complied with all times, for the more toxic elements,
the Treaty makes no provision for the powers                     whilst recommended values, to be complied with as
required for such action and it is therefore necessary           far as possible, are laid down for the less toxic ones;
to act under Article 235 of the Treaty;
Whereas the disparity between the Member States'                 Whereas sludge from small sewage plants which
current provisions on the agricultural applications of           process only domestic sewage presents little risk to
sewage sludge, or between those under consideration,             the health of human beings and of animals, or to
might create an imbalance in the conditions of                   plants or the environment and this sludge may
competition and therefore directly affect the                    therefore be excluded from the scope of the
functioning of the common market; whereas in this                 Directive;
field the approximation of laws provided for under
Article 100 of the Treaty should therefore be                    Whereas to this end the amount of trace elements
instigated;                                                       added to soil under cultivation should be restricted by
                                                                  limiting the total input of such elements into the soil
Whereas under Article 2 (c) and (d) of Council                    over a given period, whilst at the same time ensuring
Directive 75/442/EEC (*) on the disposal of waste in              that a concentration threshold for those elements in
general, waste waters and substances used in farming,             the soil is not exceeded, or even by prohibiting the
with the exception of waste in liquid form, are                   use of sludge with an excessive concentration of trace
excluded from the scope of that Directive;                        elements;
Whereas the measures for which provision is made in               Whereas in order to safeguard human health, the
 Council Directive 78/319/EEC of 20 March 1978 on                 spreading of sludge on crops which would come into
toxic and dangerous waste (2) also apply to sewage                direct contact with it and/or which are supplied raw
sludge containing or contaminated by substances or                to consumers must be prohibited; whereas this
materials listed in the Annex to that Directive which             provision should also apply to woodland areas, parks
are of such a nature or are present in such quantities            and playgrounds;
or concentrations that they present a hazard to health
or to the environment;
                                                                  Whereas for other crops sludges must be stabilized
                                                                   and a certain period must elapse between spreading
 O OJ No L 194, 25. 7. 1975, p. 47.                               the sludge and putting stock out to pasture or
 O O J N o L 8 4 , 31.3. 1978, p. 43.                              harvesting fodder crops;
 ---pagebreak---   No C 264/4                          Official Journal of the European Communities                             8.10.82
  Whereas sludge which is directly pumped or worked             sludge, for the cumulative quantities of trace elements
  into the soil may be untreated;                               introduced into soil used for agriculture and for
                                                               permissible concentrations of trace elements in the
  Whereas in accordance with Council Directives                receiving soils.
  75/440/EEC (') and 80/68/EEC (2), spreading                   Member States shall ensure that the mandatory values
  should be carried out under conditions which ensure          laid down in Annexes I A, I B and I C are complied
  that the soil and the surface and ground water are
                                                               with when sludge is spread.
 protected;
                                                               Member States shall make every effort to observe the
 Whereas to this end it is necessary to monitor the            recommended values laid down in Annexes I A, I B
 quality of sludges and of the soils to which they are         and I C where local conditions permit.
 applied and hence to make regular analyses and to
 communicate the results to the users;
                                                                                       Article 4
 Whereas the scope of this Directive should be limited         Sludge having a concentration of one or more
 to municipal sludges, certain non-toxic commercial or         elements listed in Annex I A higher than the
 agro-food industry sludges, and mixed urban and               mandatory values may not be used in agriculture.
 industrial or commercial sludges, so excluding
 industrial and commercial sludges, which often                Member States shall make every effort to observe the
 contain too high a load of one or more trace                  recommended values laid down in Annex I A where
 elements,                                                     local conditions permit.
                                                               Member States shall take whatever steps are necessary
                                                               to ensure that sludge of this type is disposed of with
 HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:
                                                               minimum risk to human beings, animals, plants and
                                                               the environment.
                         Article 1
 For the purposes of this Directive:                                                  Article 5
 (a) sludge means residual sludge from sewage                 Repeated applications of sludge must not lead to an
      treatment plants treating urban or similar               accumulation of trace elements in the soil exceeding
      effluents and mixed effluents, that is, mixtures of     the mandatory values laid down in Annex I C.
      urban and industrial or commercial effluents;
                                                              For trace elements for which mandatory values have
 (b) stabilized sludge means sludge which has
                                                              been fixed in Annex I B Member States shall lay
      undergone biological or chemical treatment or
                                                              down the maximum amounts which may be added
      long-term storage;
                                                              per unit of soil surface area per year, calculated over
 (c) agriculture means the commercial growing of all           10 years.
      types of food crops;
                                                              For trace elements for which recommended values are
 (d) spreading of sewage sludge means all uses of
                                                              given in Annex I B Member States shall make every
      sewage sludge on and in the soil.
                                                              effort to observe the recommended values where local
                                                              conditions permit.
                         Article 2
 Sewage sludge from treatment plants treating only                                    Article 6
 urban or similar effluents and serving throughout the
                                                              Member States shall prohibit the spreading on soil of
 year a population of less than 5 000 persons shall be
                                                              sludge in which the concentration of one of more
 excluded from the scope of this Directive.                   trace elements exceeds the mandatory values laid
                                                              down in Annex I C.
                         Article 3                            Member States shall make every effort to observe the
                                                              recommended values laid down in Annex I C where
Mandatory (M) and recommended (R) values shall be             local conditions permit.
laid down for the trace element concentrations in the
                                                                                      Article 7
                                                              Without prejudice to Article 8:
0) OJ No L 194, 25. 7. 1975, p. 26.                           — sludge shall be stabilized before being used in
(2) OJ No L 20, 26. 1. 1980, p. 43.                                agriculture; and
 ---pagebreak--- 8.10.82                           Official Journal of the European Communities                            N o C 264/5
— non-stabilized sludge may be used only if it is                                     Article 13
     immediately injected or worked into the soil.            In accordance with the procedure referred to in
                                                              Article 15, adaptation to technical progress shall
                                                              concern:
                         Article 8
                                                              — the values given in Annex I;
1.     Member States shall prohibit the application of        — the analyses specified in Annex II;
sludge in parks, playgrounds and woodlands save
where special authorization has been granted for              — methods of sampling and analysis.
special reasons.
                                                                                      Article 14
2.     Grassland shall not be grazed and forage crops
shall not be harvested for at least six weeks after the       1.    A committee for adapting this Directive to
application of stabilized sludge.                             technical      progress     (hereinafter   called   'the
                                                              Committee') is hereby set up. It shall consist of
3.     Member States shall prohibit the spreading of          representatives of the Member States with a rep-
sludge on crops which would be in direct contact              resentative of the Commission as chairman.
with the sludge and/or are supplied raw to
consumers.                                                    2. The Committee shall draw up its own rules of
                                                              procedure.
                                                                                       Article 15
                         Article 9
                                                               1.    Where the procedure laid down in this Article is
The application of sludge shall be carried out in             to be followed, matters shall be referred to the
accordance with the following rules:                          Committee by the Chairman, either on his own
— the sludge shall be spread in a manner which                initiative or at the request of the representative of a
     fulfills the needs of the plants and preserves the       Member State.
     quality of the soil and of the surface and ground
                                                              2.     The representative of the Commission shall
     water;                                                   submit to the Committee a draft of the measures to
— sludge shall not be spread on soil with a p H value         be adopted. The Committee shall deliver its opinion
     which will allow excessive mobility of the trace         on the draft within a period to be determined by the
     elements. Member States shall ensure that the p H        Chairman according to the urgency of the matter. It
     value of the soil does not fall below six after          shall decide by a majority of 45 votes, the votes.of the
     spreading.                                               Member States being weighted as provided for in
                                                              Article 148 (2) of the Treaty. The Chairman shall not
                                                              vote.
                         Article 10
                                                               3. (a) The Commission shall adopt the measures
Sludge and the soil on which it is spread shall be                     envisaged where these are in accordance with
analyzed in accordance with the schedule in Annex                      the opinion of the Committee.
II.                                                               (b) Where the measures envisaged are not in
                                                                       accordance with the opinion of the Committee
                                                                       or if no opinion has been given, the
                         Article 11                                    Commission shall forthwith propose to the
Member States shall ensure that a record is kept of                    Council the measures to be adopted. The
the amounts of sludge produced, of the quantities                      Council shall act by a qualified majority.
supplied for use in agriculture, of the recipients, the           (c) If, within three months of the proposal being
methods of treatment and of the results of the                         submitted to it, the Council has not acted, the
analyses referred to in Article 10.                                    measures proposed shall be adopted by the
                                                                       Commission.
The record will provide a basis for the consolidated
report referred to in Article 17.                                                      Article 16
 Information on the methods of treatment and the               1.    Member States shall bring into force the laws,
 results of the analyses shall be released upon request        regulations and administrative provisions necessary to
 to farmers and competent bodies.                              comply with this Directive within three years of its
                                                               notification. They shall forthwith inform the
                                                               Commission thereof.
                         Article 12                            2.    Member States shall communicate to the
Where conditions so demand the Member States may               Commission the texts of the provisions of national
 take more stringent measures than those provided for          law which they adopt in the field covered by this
 in this Directive.                                            Directive.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 264/6                            Official Journal of the European Communities                               8. 10.82
                       Article 17                                  used and any difficulties encountered; they shall send
                                                                   the report to the Commission which shall publish the
Five years after the notification of this Directive and
                                                                   information contained therein.
every three years thereafter Member States shall
prepare a consolidated report on the use of sludge in                                         Article 18
agriculture setting out the quantities applied and the
percentage thereof on each type of soil, the criteria              This Directive is addressed to the Member States.
                                                         ANNEX IA
                         Limit values of trace-element concentrations in sludge for use in agriculture
                                                      (mg/kg dry matter)
             Element                                                                                 M
             Cadmium         (Cd)                                       20                            40
             Copper          (Cu)                                    1 000                         1 500
             Nickel          (Ni)                                      300                           400
             Lead            (Pb)                                      750                         1000
             Zinc            (Zn)                                   2 500                          3 000
             Chromium        (Cr)                                      750
             Mercury         (Hg)                                       16
                                                        ANNEX IB
             Amounts of trace elements which may be added annually to agricultural land, based on a ten-year
                                                           average
                                                          (kg/ha/yr)
             Element                                                   R                             M
             Cadmium        (Cd)                                     0 10                           0-15
             Copper         (Cu)                                    10                            12
             Nickel         (Ni)                                     2                              3
             Lead           (Pb)                                    10                            15
             Zinc           (Zn)                                    25                            30
             Arsenic        (As)                                     0- 35
             Chromium       (Cr)                                    10
             Mercury        (Hg)                                     0- 40
                                                        ANNEX IC
                   Concentrations of trace elements admissible in agricultural soil to which sludge is applied
                                                     (mg/kg dry matter)
             Element                                                                                Af
            Cadmium         (Cd)                                        1                             3
            Copper         (Cu)                                       50                            100
            Nickel         (Ni)                                       30                             50
             Lead           (Pb)                                       50                           100
            Zinc            (Zn)                                     150                           300
            Arsenic         (As)                                      20
             Chromium       (Cr)                                       50
             Mercury        (Hg)                                        2
 ---pagebreak--- 8. 10. 82                               Official Journal of the European Communities                                                               N o C 264/7
                                                                    ANNEX IIA
                                                                    Sludge analysis
             As a rule, sludge is to be analyzed at least every six months. Where changes occur in the charac-
             teristics of the sewage being treated the frequency of the analyses must be increased. If the results of
             the analysis do not vary significantly over a full year, the sludge must be analyzed every 12 months.
             Analysis should cover the following parameters:
             — dry matter, organic matter;
             -pH;
             — nitrogen and phosphorus;
             — copper, cadmium, nickel, lead and zinc.
             It is for the Member States to decide whether the following parameters should also be calculated :
             — C/N ratio;
             — salinity;
             — faecal content.
             Analyses must also be carried out for the other trace elements for which the Member States have
             fixed recommended values.
                                                                     ANNEX IIB
                                                                     Soil analysis
             Soils must be analyzed prior to the first application of sludge and every five years thereafter (').
             Analysis should cover the following parameters:
             -pH;
             — copper, cadmium, nickel, lead and zinc.
             It is for the Member States to decide whether the following parameters should also be calculated:
             — physical characteristics of the soil;
             — buffering capacity.
             Analyses must also be carried out for the other trace elements for which the Member States have
             fixed recommended values.
             (') The number of soil samples taken will depend on the homogeneity of the soil and the land area; the depth at which samples are
                 taken will depend on the type of crop.
              Proposal for a Council Decision on a financial contribution from the Community to the
                                  campaign against foot-and-mouth disease in south-east Europe
                               (Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 24 September 1982)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN                                                      Having regard to the opinion of the                                  European
COMMUNITIES,                                                                     Parliament;
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the                                     Whereas there have been outbreaks of foot-and-
                                                                                mouth        disease caused           b
European Economic Community, and in particular                                                                          y v i r u s e s f o r e i S n . t o ther
Article 43 thereof                                                               Community in recent years in certain regions or
                                                                                 south-east          Europe; whereas                   the danger              to
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,                               Community livestock from such exotic foot-and-