EU Fertilising Products Regulation applied from 16 July 2022: CE marking for digestate

From 16 July 2022 Regulation (EU) 2019/1009 applies throughout the European Union, establishing rules for making CE-marked fertilising products available on the market. It replaces Regulation (EC) No 2003/2003 and for the first time covers not only mineral fertilisers but also organic fertilisers, organo-mineral fertilisers, soil improvers, growing media and biostimulants. For digestate producers this is an opportunity to enter the single market, provided that the requirements for ingredients, quality and conformity assessment are met.

What is changing

The regulation defines product function categories (PFC) and component material categories (CMC). Compost from biowaste is designated as component material CMC 3, and digestate as CMC 4 (digestate from fresh crop biomass) and CMC 5 (digestate other than from fresh crop biomass). Products containing certain component materials, including compost and digestate, are subject to conformity assessment involving a notified body (under Annex IV of the regulation). The producer must meet criteria for nutrient content, contaminants (including heavy metals), pathogens and material stability.

CE marking is voluntary. A producer may continue to sell fertiliser under national rules, but then the product does not benefit from the principle of free movement in the EU. Products placed on the market before 16 July 2022 as "EC fertilisers" may be marketed under the previous rules.

Significance for the industry in Poland

In Poland the management of digestate is regulated, among others, by the Act on Fertilisers and Fertilisation and by waste legislation. Digestate is often applied directly to the fields of the farm or of neighbouring farmers, which usually does not require CE marking. CE marking makes sense for larger installations that want to sell fertiliser in packaging, in wholesale trade or outside the country.

The regulation does, however, introduce a quality standard that will also be a reference point for domestic products. For biogas plants this means it is worth taking care of:

• consistent quality and analyses of digestate (content of N, P, K, dry matter, contaminants),
• documentation of the origin of feedstocks and of the hygienisation process,
• a plan for managing digestate on cooperating farms.

The restrictions on contaminants and pathogens are particularly important: digestate from waste must meet more stringent requirements than digestate from agricultural biomass.

When CE marking pays off

CE marking is worth considering when the product is standardised: a fixed recipe, repeatable quality, packaging and sales channels outside one's own farms. For liquid digestate distributed to neighbouring fields the benefit is small, while the costs of conformity assessment, testing and a quality management system are tangible. A sensible approach is to check whether changing the product form (e.g. separation into solid and liquid fractions, granulation) will make it possible to achieve added value that justifies the additional requirements.

What next

Polish rules must be adapted to the regulation: an amendment to the Act on Fertilisers and Fertilisation is the subject of legislative work. Digestate producers should observe how market oversight will be regulated and which national requirements will be retained. The European Commission will also extend the list of component materials, which may open the way for further products, e.g. recovered nitrogen compounds.