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With the designation of so-called red areas, the German federal government wants to change and further standardize the procedure criticized by the European Commission for the implementation of the CJEU ruling on the nitrate directive by designating eutrophic and nitrate-polluted areas.
The basis for the administrative regulation is the amended Fertilizer Ordinance, which the Federal Council approved in the spring of 2020. The federal states are obliged to redesignate the corresponding areas by November 30, 2022. In order to put an end to EU infringement proceedings, the state fertilizer regulations must be adjusted within a short period of time.
The Federal Council is in favor of a rapid amendment of the Fertilizer Law to obtain a legally secure basis for effective impact control. It points out that drugs and pesticides also pollute groundwater and surface water, so a system of origin and identification is required.
Part of the agreement with the EU Commission also includes the expansion of the nitrate measuring point networks of the federal states to be able to use a geostatic method everywhere in Germany by 2028 at the latest. The Bundesrat requests the federal government to provide financial support to the federal states to expand the network of measuring points.
Furthermore, the general council calls on the government, together with the federal states and in close coordination with the EU Commission, to develop a sound, legally secure, and enforceable system for differentiation of measures based on reliable monitoring for the future and to prepare the necessary technical and legal requirements for this.
July 8, 2022/ Bundesrat/ Germany.
https://www.bundesrat.de
