A EU norm on fertilizers adopted before the end of 2017
Phosphates: a European polemical norm on fertilizers adopted before the end of 2017
The European regulation introducing new standards for fertilizers marketed within the European Union will be voted in plenary before the end of 2017. The OCP is in its final battle before it will have to comply with the new text if it is adopted as it is .
Moroccan phosphate may no longer supply the European market in its present form. The new regulation, which is currently being adopted by the European Parliament, incorporates new standards for fertilizers marketed within the European Union.
Brussels wishes to introduce a strict limit on the content of cadmium, a toxic metal naturally contained in phosphate rock and transmitted in fertilizers. This metal is considered carcinogenic by European experts.
However, associations of the fertilization industries, in particular the Union of Fertilization Industries (France), consider that a transfer to plants and food via fertilizers is very complex to analyze. They also point out that, apart from a few possible occupational or accidental exposures, the doses of cadmium that are diffuse in air or food and thus absorbed by humans in everyday life are far below the toxicity thresholds Advocated by WHO ".
Despite this, the EU proposes to lower the authorized limit of cadmium in fertilizers to 60 mg / kg and then to 40 mg / kg after three years (2021) and to 20 mg / kg by 2030. A deviation Considering the current contents contained in Moroccan phosphates, which vary from 29.5 to 72.7 mg / kg depending on the rock extraction site and the type of fertilizer produced.
The OCP, which has a turnover of 32% in the European Union and a few European professional associations in the fertilizers sector, have struggled at the level of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and (ENVI) of the European Parliament which was to deliver its opinion on the new regulation on the authorized thresholds of cadmium.
A battle lost, because last June the opinion is voted in maintaining the contents cited above and tightening the timetable of its application. The original text proposes moving to a limit of 20 mg / kg 12 years after adoption of the text, whereas the commission reduces the time limit to 9 years.
Henceforth, this draft regulation continues its legislative path. The vote on the text in plenary in the European Parliament is scheduled for September. This leaves very little time for the OCP to move the lines.
However, according to our information, the vote could well be postponed to the plenary of the European Parliament in early October. "It is not yet officially confirmed," explains a source close to the file. "In the Council, two meetings will be organized in September and the Estonian Presidency hopes to find a final agreement before the end of December 2017," continues our interlocutor. In other words, there are only four months left for OCP and its allies on this issue to intervene.
For the EU, this regulation "will lead to new areas of cooperation and innovation in favor of more sustainable raw materials with countries exporting phosphate rock", explained in a previous statement a source to the ENVI commission In the European Parliament.
Our source assured us that the EU is "ready to facilitate the transition by supporting investment in research and development in decadmiation technologies". It is a technology that allows the removal of cadmium by industrial process.
The European Commission is playing this card to maintain its settlement. Industrialists believe that this technology is still expensive and not always economically viable and will inevitably have an impact on prices.
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https://telquel.ma/2017/08/29/phosphates-une-norme-europeenne-polemique-sur-les-fertilisants-adoptee-avant-fin-2017_1559326