The EBIC Regulatory Workshop entitled "The Fertilising Products Regulation: four months later", took place in Brussels on November 15th.

This workshop provided members with an opportunity to reflect on the lessons learned since the FPR started to apply in July of 2022, and to think about solutions for the remaining difficulties. The programme included a small-group exercise, a presentation from the European Commission, a panel discussion with representatives of two of the five notified bodies accredited to do the conformity assessment of plant biostimulants under the FPR, and a large-group Q&A session.

While the Commission representative, Jérémy Pinte, acknowledged the slow progress made on key EBIC issues, such as animal by-products or microbials, he highlighted the progress made on industrial by-products or phosphites, and went over some of the ongoing initiatives that would provide opportunities for EBIC to foster engagement with policy makers.

The representatives from the notified bodies provided an update on the number of dossiers that they have processed for plant biostimulants so far, the current processing timelines, the differences between Module B and Module D1, and the topics that are currently being discussed by the coordination group of notified bodies.

Finally, the Q&A session enabled members to ask questions to the Commission about the coexistence of the FPR with national rules or the next steps for animal by-products and the EU Survey, as well as to the notified bodies about the efficacy trials for plant biostimulants.

Read about the General Assembly & Mid-Term Strategy Forum

Resources

Presentation of the Regulatory Workshop and General Assembly:
20221115-EBIC-GA-Final.pdf

Presentation by Jérémy Pinte:
20221115-EBIC-regulatory-workshop-J-Pinte-DG-GROW.pdf

Presentation of the MTS Forum:
20221116-EBIC-MTS-Forum-For-intranet.pdf

Sticky notes (MTS Forum):
20221116-EBIC-sticky-notes.pdf

Photo gallery (both days)
https://photos.app.goo.gl/9LM3ibSrcG27xNDG6