#2026-357France sets quality and safety monitoring rules for fertilizers and growing media
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This decree creates four use categories for fertilizers and growing media, separating products that can be used by the general public from those reserved for professional users, including products spread under a land-spreading plan. It also defines which livestock-related materials fall into a specific professional spreading category, such as slurry, manure, raw milk by-products, runoff water from animal areas, and livestock wastewater. Businesses placing these products on the market must run suitable quality and safety checks, including risk analysis and representative sampling. For many marketed products, testing must happen at least every six months. For certain professionally spread materials, producers must test before first spreading and at least every three years, with new tests after major operational changes. Labels and product information must also show the category, allowed uses, restrictions, and special biostimulant information where relevant.
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Key Changes
- Creates four categories for fertilizer and growing media use, including public use, professional-only use, and professional land-spreading categories.
- Requires regular quality and safety analyses, including six-month testing for many marketed products and three-year testing for certain spread materials.
- Updates labeling rules to show product category, allowed uses, restrictions, dose and frequency instructions, and required biostimulant information.
Obligations
What this law requires
Classify fertilizers and growing media placed on the market by permitted use category: A1 for professional or non-professional use, A2 for professional-only use outside a land-spreading plan, B1 for listed livestock-related materials used by professionals under a land-spreading plan, and B2 for other materials used by professionals under a land-spreading plan.
For products in categories A1 or A2, the party responsible for placing the product on the market must ensure agronomic quality and safety through appropriate analyses and risk analysis on representative samples of the product as marketed.
For category B2 products spread under a land-spreading plan, the producer must ensure agronomic quality and safety through appropriate analyses and risk analysis on representative samples of the product as spread.
For category B2 products, the producer must carry out new analyses without delay if a major event occurs at the installation or if there is a notable change in the composition or nature of inputs.
Product information for fertilizers and growing media must state the applicable category under Article R. 255-1-1 and the authorized uses; for category A2 products, it must include the statement that use is reserved for professional users.