The EU council of ministers has adopted its position on the proposed regulation on digital labelling of EU fertilising products today (Friday, November 17).
The proposal aims to improve the readability of labels, leading to more efficient use of fertiliser, and to simplify labelling obligations for suppliers, while reducing industry costs.
The council introduced amendments in an attempt to strike a balance between moving towards digitalisation of labels and the prevention of potential information problems for end users.
The negotiating mandate agreed today formalises the council’s position for negotiations with the European Parliament, which will start as soon as the parliament has adopted its position.
Digital fertiliser labels
The council’s mandate clarifies the obligation to provide a physical label for products intended for end-users, whether they are sold with or without packaging.
The council agreed that product quantity should not be a mandatory element of a digital label to avoid having to generate a new label during each transaction if the product volume changes.
Likewise, the production date of the product has been retained as a non-mandatory element of the digital label if it is already stated in the physical label.
To ensure better traceability and to level the playing field with local distributors, the council mandate adds importer information as a mandatory element of digital labels.
The mandate clarifies that the requirement of economic operators to provide, if requested by end users, the information on digital labels by alternative means and free of charge applies independently of a purchase.
The council introduced a requirement to post physical labels in a visible place at the point of sale to ensure access to the information not provided in the digital label.
The adopted position ensures that labels will continue to include the relevant information for assessing the agronomic efficiency of fertiliser and for selecting the right product.
Therefore, some elements which, in the commission’s original proposal, had been moved to the digital label, have been moved back to the physical format.
EU Commission proposal
Under the commission’s proposal the revised legislation would allow fertiliser suppliers to communicate labelling information in a physical format, a digital format or a combination of both.
It is also proposed that a digital-only format will be allowed when EU fertiliser is sold without packaging or when the products are sold to the economic operators who are not end users.
Farmers buying packed fertiliser could still access the most important information on digital and physical labels, such as on health and environmental protection, agronomic efficiency or contents.
Economic operators would have to ensure that digital labels will be searchable, accessible, free of charge and capable of meeting the needs of vulnerable groups.