Implementing decision 2020/1073 - Granting of a derogation requested by the Netherlands pursuant to Council Directive 91/676/EEC concerning the protection of waters against pollution caused by nitrates from agricultural sources (Only the Dutch version is authentic) - Main contents

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 234/20

By Decision 2005/880/EC (2), the Commission granted a derogation requested by the Netherlands pursuant to Directive 91/676/EEC for the purpose of allowing the application of grazing livestock manure up to a limit of 250 kg nitrogen per hectare per year on farms with at least 70 % grassland.

By Decision 2010/65/EU (3), the Commission amended Decision 2005/880/EC and extended the derogation until 31 December 2013.

By Commission Implementing Decision 2014/291/EU (4), which expired on 31 December 2017, the Netherlands was granted a derogation pursuant to Directive 91/676/EEC to allow the application of grazing livestock manure on farms with at least 80 % grassland up to a limit of 230 kg nitrogen per hectare per year for farms on southern and central sandy soils and on loess soils and up to a limit of 250 kg nitrogen per hectare per year for farms on other soils. The derogation concerned 19 564 farms in 2016, corresponding to 47 % of the total net agricultural area in the Netherlands.

By Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2018/820 (5), which ceased to apply on 1 January 2020, the Netherlands was granted a derogation pursuant to Directive 91/676/EEC to allow the application of grazing livestock manure on farms with at least 80 % grassland up to a limit of 230 kg nitrogen per hectare per year for farms on southern and central sandy soils and on loess soils and up to a limit of 250 kg nitrogen per hectare per year for farms on other soils. The derogation concerned 18 818 farms in 2019, corresponding to 44,7 % of the total net agricultural area in the Netherlands.

As recognised in Implementing Decision (EU) 2018/820, over the recent years the implementation by the Netherlands of its manure management policy suffered some set-backs leading to a situation where there were concerns over possible fraud. This situation required the Netherlands to step up its efforts in preventing fraud in the implementation of its manure policy. While the 6th Dutch Action Programme, already provides for measures aimed at reinforcing the control and inspections with a view to improving overall compliance with the rules of the Dutch manure policy, additional efforts were needed to be deployed to foster effective implementation and full compliance. Those efforts included the establishment of an enhanced enforcement strategy, taking into account also the provisions of Directive 2008/99/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (6). The strategy was to be based on an independent assessment of compliance with the rules on Dutch manure policy and contain specific measures aiming at further strengthening inspections and controls and a clear methodology to establish sufficiently dissuasive penalties and sanctions. It was therefore justified to limit the period of validity of Implementing Decision (EU) 2018/820 in order to enable the Netherlands to fully implement the enhanced enforecement strategy.

By letter of 4 February 2020, the Netherlands submitted to the Commission a request, under the third subparagraph of paragraph 2 of Annex III to Directive...