In March 2016, the European Commission presented a legislative proposal on fertilising products as part of the Circular Economy package.
The proposal discussed at ENVI Committee on 24 of April, aims to cover a wider range of fertilising products (including those manufactured from secondary raw materials), as well as to set limits for the presence of heavy metals and contaminants in fertilising products. Some of the amendments considered by the Committee concerned cadmium (Cd) limits, the possibility of using animal by-products, animal manure, and other recovered waste (such as struvite, biochar and ash-based products) in fertilisers, the definition of plant biostimulants, as well as the authorisation procedure for the use of micro-organisms in microbial plant biostimulants.