Registration of fertilisers traded or used in Flanders.

Draft Decree of the Flemish Government amending the VLAREME of 28 October 2016 as regards thedeclaration and register for fertilisers and fertilisation

Flemish legislation on manure (Manure Decree of 22 December 2006 and the Flemish EnvironmentalPermits Regulation of 28 October 2016) has for more than ten years included an obligation for traders whoplace fertiliser on the Flemish market to keep a register of the fertiliser they produce in Flanders, distribute inFlanders, import into Flanders or export from Flanders. The introduction of the sixth Manure Action Plan underthe Nitrates Directive (hereafter MAP 6), also introduced a registration obligation for the monitoring of fertiliseruse by farmers. In addition, it was stipulated that both the register of fertiliser traders and that of farmers mustbe kept in digital form.

The further development of this digital register was already the subject of an earlier decree (Decree of theFlemish Government of 19 March 2021 amending the VLAREME of 28 October 2016 as regards thedeclaration and register for fertilisers and fertilisation). However, this decree, which was also notified(notification of 19 November 2020, with reference 2020/0715/B) was annulled by the Belgian Council of Statedue to a procedural error. Subsequently, a new Decree was drawn up, which was also notified to TRIS (underreference 2023/0468/BE). A number of important amendments were made to this new Decree, whichnecessitated a new TRIS notification.
On the one hand, the present draft Decree contains the data that farmers must record concerning the amountof fertiliser they receive or use.
On the other hand, for both the (new) register of farmers and the (existing) register of fertiliser dealers, it isclarified how the register should be filled in. For this purpose, the draft Decree states that the keeping of theregister must be performed using the Internet counter made available by the administration concerned (i.e. theManure Bank, department of the Flemish Land Agency). This internet counter, known as the Mestbankloket,already exists and has been expanded with a module in which the data subjects can record the register data.The present draft Decree also contains the period within which the register must be completed.