PRODUCT REGULATION

EU Product legislation

Fertilizers and their raw materials are regulated in Regulation 2003/2003/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 October 2003 relating to fertilisers. In addition, they require proper labelling for handling and use (Council Directive 67/548/EEC of 27 June 1967 on the approximation of laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to the classification, packaging and labeling of dangerous substances. as amended and Council Directive 88/379/EEC of 7 June 1988 on the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States relating to the classification, packaging and labeling of dangerous preparations, as amended) and for transport.

ICCA High Production Volume program and REACH

In 2003, EFMA together with The Fertilizer Institute (TFI, USA) completed a research program with the purpose of gathering the toxicological data for 23 fertilizers and their intermediates. At present, EFMA is working to get these fertilizers approved in the voluntary ICCA High Production Volume testing program, and this will be part of the necessary compliance with the new EU chemical policy program REACH. 

During 2005-2006, EFMA together with the Dutch Institute NOTOX finalised the information which was necessary for the ICCA program and submitted the information to the Environmental Protection Agency (USA) who will act as sponsor country. It is to be expected that the test data will be reviewed in the OECD meetings in the spring and the autumn of 2007. 

In 2006, EFMA established a special task force to assist EFMA members in preparation for the EU chemical policy program REACH. Some of the activities of this task force can be found on EFMA’s REACH webpage.

 Material Safety Data Sheets

Only a small number of fertilizer substances or preparations are classified as dangerous and therefore legally require Safety Data Sheets to be produced and provided in accordance with the above-mentioned Directives (ammonia, nitric acid, phosphoric acid and sulphuric acid.). However, in the interest of good Responsible Care and to provide basic product information for the user, model Safety Data Sheets (SDSs ) were also produced for a number of common fertilizers. These model SDSs are intended for EFMA member companies to produce a uniform set of Safety Data Sheets, thus avoiding the possibility of different information appearing on various SDSs for similar products and confusing the customer. 

For further information, please see EFMA's Guidance for the Compilation of Safety Data Sheets for Fertilizer Materials.