Reporting obligation according to §16 Fertilizer Act 2021
In order to be able to maintain effective and efficient control for the Federal Office for Food Safety, § 16 Fertilizer Act 2021 provides for a notification obligation. This states that anyone who intends to place fertilizer products on the market in commercial transactions must notify the Federal Office for Food Safety of this before commencing the activity, stating the responsible company owner, the address or the company headquarters, as well as the type and designation of the fertilizer products.
Placing fertilizers on the market without notification pursuant to § 16 Fertilizer Act is an administrative offence and must therefore be reported by the Federal Office for Food Safety to the competent district administrative authority.
Notification according to § 16 Fertilizer Act 2021 (i.e. changes or notifications of termination of an activity) must be submitted via BAES eServices.
Control of fertilizer products placed on the market under mutual recognition in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2019/515.
(Other than EU) fertilizer products that are lawfully placed on the market in another Member State are deemed to be marketable on the Union market (and thus also in Austria) in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2019/515 on the mutual recognition of goods. A further active, present notification to the authority is not required.
If fertilizer products of this type are checked as part of the official traffic control, the following items must be submitted to the authority upon request:
- Self-declaration of the distributor,
- Delivery note/invoice as proof of placing on the Union market,
- labeling of the product.
If the BAES finds during the traffic control that a product has significant non-conformities such as deficiencies in safety and quality, an evaluation of goods may be carried out in accordance with Article 5 of Regulation (EU) 2019/515, and the procedure under Regulation (EU) 2019/515 shall be applied. If the assessment of the fertilizer product shows that it complies with the national technical requirements, this product will be mutually recognized and included as such in the Austrian Fertilizer Register.
Risk-based control plan
Fertilizer monitoring and control by the Federal Office for Food Safety is carried out regularly, on a risk basis and with appropriate frequency. Thus, the objectives of the relevant legal requirements are achieved. The following points in particular are taken into account for planning purposes:
- the identified risks of the products as defined in the Fertilizer Act (fertilizers) with regard to factors relevant to safety, health, deception and quality;
- the previous behavior of the entrepreneurs with regard to compliance with the legal provisions;
- Information that could indicate a violation.
The annual inspection plan specifies the number of sampling and/or compliance checks, as well as the number of farms to be inspected and the farm inspections to be conducted. The plan numbers establish sampling and account for follow-up activities due to non-compliance from previous periods and capacity for ad hoc activities.