CELEX: 51987PC0646
Language: en
Date: 1987-12-17
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL DIRECTIVE SUPPLEMENTING AND AMENDING DIRECTIVE 76/116/EEC IN RESPECT OF THE CALCIUM, MAGNESIUM, SODIUM AND SULPHUR CONTENT OF FERTILIZERS

26.1.88                                        Official Journal of the European Communities                                No C 20/5
                                                                      II
                                                              (Preparatory Acts)
                                                        COMMISSION
                 Proposal for a Council Directive supplementing and amending Directive 76/116/EEC in respect
                                   of the calcium, magnesium, sodium and sulphur content of fertilizers
                                                             COM(87) 646 final
                                    (Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 21 December 1987)
                                                                (88/C 20/06)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                                  continue to satisfy the requirements of Annex I to
                                                                          Directive 76/116/EEC. In such cases, the marking
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European                     specified in Article 6 of this Directive shall be added to
Economic Community, and in particular Article 100 A                       the type designation.
thereof,
                                                                                                      Article 2
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
                                                                          A declaration of the magnesium, sodium and sulphur
In cooperation with the European Parliament,                              content of the EEC fertilizers referred to in Article 1
                                                                          may be made only if they contain not less than:
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and
Social Committee,                                                         — 2 % of magnesium oxide (MgO), i.e. 1,2 % Mg,
Whereas measures need to be adopted for the                               — 3 % of sodium oxide (Na 2 0), i.e. 2,2 % Na,
progressive completion of the internal market by 31
December 1992; whereas the internal market is an area
                                                                          — 5 % of sulphur trioxide (S0 3 ) i.e. 2 % S.
without internal frontiers in which the free movement of
goods, persons, services and capital is guaranteed;
                                                                                                      Article 3
Whereas Council Directive 76/116/EEC of 18
December 1975 on the approximation of the laws of the                     Within the meaning of this Directive, a declaration of
 Member States relating to fertilizers laid down rules for                the calcium content considered to be a nutrient shall be
the marketing of solid EEC fertilizers (l) as last amended                 made only for fertilizers of types 1 and 2 as listed in
by the Act of Accession of Spain and Portugal; whereas                    Annex I. Member States may stipulate that the calcium
 it has proved necessary to extend the Directive to include                content of fertilizers marketed in their territories be
the calcium, magnesium, sodium and sulphur contents of                     expressed in the oxide form (CaO), in the elemental
 such fertilizers;                                                         form (Ca), or in both of these forms.
Whereas Directive 76/116/EEC may also be applicable                        The following formula shall be used to convert the
to fertilizers containing only calcium, magnesium and                      calcium content into a calcium oxide content:
 sulphur,
                                                                                 Calcium (Ca) = calcium oxide (CaO) x 0,715
 HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:
                                                                                                      Article 4
                                Article 1
                                                                           Fertilizers meeting the requirements of the Annexes may
 A declaration of the magnesium, sodium and sulphur                        be marked 'EEC fertilizer'.
 content of the EEC fertilizers listed in Annex I to
 Directive 76/116/EEC may be made provided that these
 elements are present at least in the minimum quantities                                              Article 5
 specified in Article 2 and that the EEC fertilizers
                                                                           Member States may stipulate that the magnesium,
                                                                           sodium and sulphur contents of fertilizers marketed in
  (') O J N o L 2 4 , 30. 1. 1976, p. 21.                                  their territories shall be expressed:
 ---pagebreak--- No C 20/6                               Official Journal of the European Communities                                   26. 1. 88
— either in the oxide form (MgO, N a 2 0 , S 0 3 ) ,               Nutrients shall be indicated both in words and by appro-
                                                                   priate chemical symbols, e.g. nitrogen (N), phosphorus
— or in the elemental form (Mg, Na, S),
                                                                   (P), phosphorus pentoxide (P 2 O s ) potassium (K),
— or in both of these forms.                                       potassium oxide ( K 2 0 ) , magnesium (Mg), magnesium
                                                                   oxide (MgO), sodium (Na), sodium oxide (Na a O),
The following formulae shall be used to convert the                sulphur (S), sulphur trioxide (S0 3 ).
sodium and sulphur contents into sodium and sulphur
oxide contents:
                                                                                               Article 7
      Sodium (Na) = sodium oxide (Na 2 0) x 0,742
                                                                   The declaration of the magnesium, sodium and sulphur
       Sulphur (S) = sulphur trioxide (S0 3 ) x 0,400              content of the fertilizers referred to in Article 1 shall be
                                                                   followed by one of the following phrases:
If the oxide content is calculated, the figure declared
shall be rounded to the nearest decimal place.                     — total, (determined under the conditions specified in
                                                                        the analytical methods referred to in Article 8 of
                          Article 6                                     Directive 76/116/EEC),
Compulsory marking for identification purposes:                    — water-soluble (minimum content to be specified as a
(a) 'EEC FERTILIZER' in capital letters;                                relative or absolute value).
(b) the designation of the type of fertilizer:
                                                                                               Article 8
     — either in accordance with Annex I to Directive
         76/116/EEC followed by 'containing . . .' and             The tolerances allowed in respect of the declared
         the name and chemical symbol of the element(s)            calcium, magnesium, sodium and sulphur contents shall
         referred to in this Directive which the fertilizer        be lA of the declared contents of these elements up to a
         contains. The figures indicating the contents of          maximun of 0,9 % in absolute terms for CaO, MgO,
         the    elements    referred    to    in     Directive     N a 2 0 and S 0 3 , i.e. 0,64 for Ca, 0,55 for Mg, 0,67 for
         76/116/EEC may be followed by figures in                  Na and 0,36 for S.
         brackets for the elements referred to in the
         Annex I to this Directive,                                                            Article 9
     — or in accordance with the Annex I to this
                                                                   The EEC fertilizer mentioned in Annex II to this
         Directive;
                                                                   Directive is added to Annex I to Directive 76/116/EEC
(c) the guaranteed content in respect of each nutrient             under No 7 in Section A — Straight fertilizers, III
     and the guaranteed content expressed as forms                 Potassic fertilizers.
     and/or solubilities, where these are specified in the
     Annexes to the Directives on fertilizers.                                                 Article 10
The nutrient content of straight and compound ferti-               1.     Member States shall adopt the measures necessary
lizers shall be given as a percentage by weight in whole           to comply with this Directive within 12 months of its
numbers, or where necessary, to one decimal place. If a            notification. They shall forthwith inform the Commission
fertilizer contains several declarable nutrients, their            thereof.
contents shall be indicated in the following order:
N, P 2 0 5 and/or P, K 2 0 and/or K; MgO and/or Mg,                2.     Member States shall communicate to the
N a 2 0 and/or Na, S 0 3 and/or S.                                 Commission the text of the provisions of national law
                                                                   which they adopt in the field governed by this Directive.
The forms and solubilities of the nutrients shall also be
expressed as a percentage by weight of fertilizer, except                                      Article 11
where Annex I to Directive 76/116/EEC explicitly
provides that this content shall be otherwise expressed.           This Directive is addressed to the Member States.
 ---pagebreak--- 26.1.88                                        Official Journal of the European Communities                                             No C 20/7
                                                                      ANNEX I
              LIST OF FERTILIZERS CONTAINING CALCIUM, MAGNESIUM, AND SULPHUR AS PRIN-
                                                              CIPAL NUTRIENTS
                                                              Minimum content of nutrients                                Nutrient content to be
                                    Data on method of                (% by weight);            Other data on the type
  No      Type designation       production and essential       data on the expression of                                        declared;
                                        ingredients                     nutrients;                  designation       solubilities of the nutrients;
                                                                   other requirements                                         other criteria
   1              2                           3                             4                            5                           6
   1   Calcium sulphate        Product of natural or          25 % CaO                       Commercial designations Total CaO
                               industrial origin contain-     35 % S 0 3                     may be added             Optional: total sulphur
                               ing calcium sulphate at                                                                trioxide
                               various       degrees      of  Calcium              sulphur
                               hydration                      expressed as total CaO
                                                              and S 0 3
                                                              Fineness of grind:
                                                              — at least 80 % to pass
                                                                   through a sieve with
                                                                   a 2 mm mesh width;
                                                              — at least 99 % to pass
                                                                   through a sieve with
                                                                   a 10 mm mesh width
   2    Calcium     chloride Calcium chloride so- 12 % CaO                                                            Water-soluble CaO
        solution               lution      of      industrial Calcium expressed           as
                               origin                         water-soluble CaO
   3    Elemental sulphur      Comparatively         refined 98 % S (245 % S0 3 )                                     Total sulphur trioxide
                               natural product                sulphur expressed           as
                                                              total S 0 3 - 24 % MgO
                                                              - 45 % S 0 3
   4    Kieserite              Product        of     mineral  24 % MgO                                                Water        soluble     mag-
                               origin containing mono-        45 % S 0 3                                              nesium oxide
                               hydrated          magnesium    Magnesium and sulphur                                   Optional:
                               sulphate         as     main   expressed       as     water-                           Water-soluble          sulphur
                               component                      soluble magnesium oxide                                 trioxide
                                                              and sulphur trioxide
   5    Magnesium         sul- Product containing only 15 % MgO                              Commercial designations  Water-soluble             mag-
        phate                   heptahydrated          mag- 28 % S 0 3                       may be added              nesium oxide
                                nesium sulphate as main Magnesium and sulphur                                          Optional:
                               component                       expressed      as     water-                           Water-soluble          sulphur
                                                               soluble magnesium oxide                                 trioxide
                                                               and sulphur trioxide
   6    Magnesium      chlor- Product        obtained      by  13 % MgO magnesium                                      Water-soluble            mag-
        ide solution            dissolving       magnesium     expressed      as     water-                            nesium oxide
                                chloride of industrial         soluble magnesium oxide
                                origin                         Maximum calcium con-
                                                               tent 3 % CaO
 ---pagebreak--- No C 20/8                               Official Journal of the European Communities                                            26.1.88
                                                            ANNEX II
                                                                                                               Nutrient content to be
                                                     Minimum content of nutrients
                              Data on method of                                                                      declared;
                                                        (percentage by weight);      Other data on the type
 No     Type designation    production and essential
                                                       data on the expression of          designation
                                                                                                            forms and solubilities of the
                                  ingredients                                                                        nutrients;
                                                     nutrients; other requirements
                                                                                                                   other criteria
  1            2                       3                           4                           5                         6
                                                                                                                                    ma
  7   Kieserite with pot- Product obtained from 8 % MgO                            Usual trade names may Water-soluble                 g~
      assium              crude potassium salts Magnesium expressed as be added                             nesium oxide
                          with potassium sulphate water-soluble MgO                                         Water-soluble potassium
                          added                                                                             oxide
                                                      6 % K20
                                                      Potassium expressed as                                Optional mention of the
                                                      water-soluble K 2 0                                   chlorine content where
                                                      Total        MgO + K 2 0 :                            lower than 3 % CI
                                                      20%
                                                      Maximum chlorine con-
                                                      tent 3 % CI