Commission Decision (EU) 2022/1244

Contents

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,Having regard to Regulation (EC) No 66/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2009 on the EU Ecolabel^note, and in particular Article 8(2) thereof,After consulting the European Union Ecolabelling Board,Whereas:

(1)Under Regulation (EC) No 66/2010, the EU Ecolabel may be awarded to those products with a reduced environmental impact during their entire life cycle.

(2)Regulation (EC) No 66/2010 provides that specific EU Ecolabel criteria are to be established according to product groups.

(3)Commission Decision (EU) 2015/2099^note established EU Ecolabel criteria and related assessment and verification requirements for the product group ‘growing media, soil improvers and mulch’. The period of validity of those criteria and requirements has been extended to 30 June 2022 by Commission Decision (EU) 2019/1134^note.

(4)In order to better reflect best practice in the market for the product group and to take account of policy developments, potential future windows of opportunity for increased uptake and the market`s demand for sustainable products, it is appropriate to establish a new set of criteria for growing media and soil improvers.

(5)The EU Ecolabel Fitness check Report^note of 30 June 2017, reviewing the implementation of Regulation (EC) No 66/2010, concluded on the need to develop a more strategic approach for the EU Ecolabel, including the bundling of closely related product groups where appropriate.

(6)In line with those conclusions, it is appropriate to revise the criteria for the product group ‘growing media, soil improvers and mulch’, and to ensure harmonisation with Regulation (EU) 2019/1009 of the European Parliament and of the Council^note.

(7)In line with Regulation (EU) 2019/1009, point (6) of the preamble and Part I of Annex I to that Regulation, the product group name should be modified to ‘growing media and soil improvers’ to better reflect product functionality, since ‘mulch’ is considered to be a type of soil improver.

(8)Harmonisation with Regulation (EU) 2019/1009 should also increase the market visibility of the EU Ecolabel for growing media and soil improvers products and reduce the administrative burden for national authorities. Additionally, certain modifications should be made to the definitions within the product group ‘growing media and soil improvers’, notably to harmonise terminology with Regulation (EU) 2019/1009.

(9)The New Circular Economy Action Plan for a cleaner and more competitive Europe^note adopted on 11 March 2020 stipulates that the durability, recyclability and recycled content requirements are to be more systematically included in the EU Ecolabel criteria.

(10)The revised EU Ecolabel criteria for growing media and soil improvers should aim, in particular, to promote products that have limited environmental impact along their life cycle, and that are produced using material-efficient and energy-efficient processes. In order to contribute towards the transition to a more circular economy, the criteria should promote the inclusion, in growing media and soil improvers, of recycled organic matter and nutrients, and they should encourage the recovery of mineral growing media at their end-of-life phase. The revised criteria should guarantee the products’ safety for human, animals or plant health and/or for the environment by setting limits on the presence of hazardous substances, such as heavy metals and organic pollutants, and by ensuring controlled sourcing of minerals. Considering efforts towards climate neutrality and the decarbonisation of European industry, the criteria should set mandatory requirements on CO₂ emissions and energy consumption for expanded minerals and mineral wool manufacturing and should incentivise the incorporation of recycled/recovered material content in growing media.

(11)The new criteria and related assessment and verification requirements should remain valid until 30 June 2030, taking into account the innovation cycle for the product group.

(12)For reasons of legal certainty, Decision (EU) 2015/2099 should be repealed.

(13)A transitional period should be allowed for producers whose products have been awarded the EU Ecolabel for growing media, soil improvers and mulch on the basis of the criteria set out in Decision (EU) 2015/2099, so that they have sufficient time to adapt their products to comply with the new criteria and requirements. For a limited period after adoption of this Decision, producers should also be allowed to submit applications based either on the criteria established by Decision (EU) 2015/2099 or on the new criteria established by this Decision. EU Ecolabel licences awarded in accordance with the criteria set out in Decision (EU) 2015/2099 should be allowed to be used for 12 months from the date of adoption of this Decision.

(14)The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee established by Article 16 of Regulation (EC) No 66/2010,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1 #

The product group ‘growing media and soil improvers’ shall comprise growing media and soil improvers.

Article 2 #

For the purpose of this Decision, the following definitions shall apply:

(1)‘growing medium’ means a product other than soil in situ, the function of which is for plants, including algae, or mushrooms to grow in;

(2)‘soil improver’ means a product, including mulch, the function of which is to maintain, improve or protect the physical or chemical properties, the structure or the biological activity of the soil to which it is added;

(3)‘mulch’ means a type of soil improver used as protective covering placed around plants on the topsoil whose specific functions are to prevent the loss of moisture, control weed growth, help moderate soil temperature and reduce soil erosion.

Article 3 #

In order for a product to be awarded the EU Ecolabel for growing media and soil improvers under Regulation (EC) No 66/2010, it shall fall within the product group ‘growing media and soil improvers’ as defined in Article 1 of this Decision, and shall comply with the criteria and related assessment and verification requirements set out in the Annex to this Decision.

Article 4 #

The EU Ecolabel criteria for the product group ‘growing media and soil improvers’ and the related assessment and verification requirements shall be valid until 31 December 2030.

Article 5 #

For administrative purposes, the code number assigned to the product group ‘growing media and soil improvers’ shall be ‘048’.

Article 6 #

Decision (EU) 2015/2099 is repealed.

Article 7 #

1.Applications for the EU Ecolabel for the product group ‘growing media, soil improvers and mulch’, as defined in Article 1 of Decision (EU) 2015/2099, submitted before the date of application of this Decision shall be evaluated in accordance with the conditions laid down in Decision (EU) 2015/2099.

2.Applications for the EU Ecolabel for products falling within the product group ‘growing media and soil improvers’, as defined in Article 1 of this Decision, submitted on or within two months from the date of application of this Decision may be based either on the criteria set out in this Decision or on the criteria set out in Decision (EU) 2015/2099. Those applications shall be evaluated in accordance with the criteria on which they are based.

3.EU Ecolabel licences awarded on the basis of an application evaluated in accordance with the criteria set out in Decision (EU) 2015/2099 may be used for 12 months from the date of application of this Decision.

Article 8 #

This Decision is addressed to the Member States.It shall apply from 20 July 2022.

EU Ecolabel criteria for awarding the EU Ecolabel to growing media and soil improvers

Framework

Eu ecolabel criteria

The criteria for awarding the EU Ecolabel to growing media and soil improvers, and their applicability to each type of product covered by the scope, are as follows:

Table 1
Criterion	Growing media	Soil improvers
1 – Components	x	x
1.1 – Organic components of the product	x	x
2 – Mineral components	x	x
2.1 – Energy consumption and CO₂ emissions during the manufacture of mineral growing media	x
2.2 – Sources of mineral extraction	x	x
2.3 – Mineral growing media use and after use	x
3 – Organic components and recycled/recovered materials in growing media	x
4 – Restricted substances	x	x
4.1 – Limits for heavy metals	x	x
4.2 – Limits for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)	x	x
4.3 – Restrictions on substances and mixtures classified as hazardous under Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council^note	x	x
4.4 – Restrictions on substances of very high concern (SVHCs) as identified under Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council^note	x	x
4.5 – Microbiological criteria	x	x
5 – Fitness for use	x	x
5.1 – Stability	x	x
5.2 – Macroscopic impurities	x	x
5.3 – Organic matter and dry matter in soil improvers		x
5.4 – Viable weed seeds and plant propagules	x	x
5.5 – Plant response	x	x
6 – Growing media features	x
6.1 – Electrical conductivity	x
6.2 – Sodium content	x
6.3 – Chloride content	x
7 – Provision of information	x	x
7.1 – Soil improvers		x
7.2 – Growing media	x
8 – Information appearing on the EU Ecolabel	x	x

Assessment and verification requirements

(1)‘annual input’ means the annual quantity of materials treated in a waste or animal by-product treatment plant;

(2)‘annual output’ means the annual quantity of products composed of the same components;

(3)‘batch’ means a quantity of goods manufactured by the same process under the same conditions and labelled in the same manner and is assumed to have the same characteristics;

(4)‘bio-waste’ means biodegradable garden and park waste, food and kitchen waste from households, offices, restaurants, wholesale, canteens, caterers and retail premises and comparable waste from food processing plants, including similar waste from households collected together with bio-waste;

(5)‘component’ means the material that is used as an ingredient of the product;

(6)‘mineral growing medium’ means a growing medium totally composed of mineral components, which is only offered for use for professional horticultural applications, as green walls and/or green roofs;

(7)‘organic component’ means components composed primarily of carbon and molecules derived from living organisms, other than fossil fuels and materials derived from fossil fuels;

(8)‘recovered material’ means any material that underwent any recovery operation, including preparing for re-use, recycling and backfilling, but excluding energy recovery and the reprocessing into materials that are to be used as fuels or other means to generate energy;

(9)‘recovery’ means any operation the principal result of which is waste serving a useful purpose by replacing other materials that would otherwise have been used to fulfil a particular function, or waste being prepared to fulfil that function, in the plant or in the wider economy;

(10)‘recycling’ means any recovery operation by which waste materials are reprocessed into products, materials or substances whether for the original or other purposes, including the reprocessing of organic material but excluding energy recovery and the reprocessing into materials that are to be used as fuels or for backfilling operations;

(11)‘total organic carbon (TOC)’ means quantity of carbon that is converted into carbon dioxide by combustion and which is not liberated as carbon dioxide by acid treatment.

—Type 1: Treatment plants for waste or for animal by-products,

—Type 2: Product manufacture plants using materials from Type 1 plants, and

—Type 3: Product manufacture plants not using materials from Type 1 plants.

For the EU Ecolabel to be awarded to a specific product, applicants must comply with each requirement.

Specific assessment and verification requirements are indicated under each criterion.

Where the applicant is required to provide declarations, documentation, analyses, test reports, or other evidence to show compliance with the criteria, these may originate from the applicant and/or their supplier(s) as appropriate.

Competent bodies shall preferentially recognise attestations that are issued by bodies accredited in accordance with the relevant harmonised standard for testing and calibration laboratories, and verifications by bodies that are accredited in accordance with the relevant harmonised standard for bodies certifying products, processes and services.

Where appropriate, test and sampling methods other than those indicated for each criterion may be used if the competent body assessing the application accepts their equivalence.

Where appropriate, competent bodies may require supporting documentation and may carry out independent verifications.

Changes in suppliers and production sites pertaining to products to which the EU Ecolabel has been granted shall be notified to competent bodies, together with supporting information to enable verification of continued compliance with the criteria.

As a prerequisite, the product must meet the relevant requirements in Regulation (EU) 2019/1009 or the legal requirements of the Member State in which the product is intended to be placed on the market. In the latter case, the applicant shall declare the product’s compliance with this requirement.

The sampling shall be carried out in accordance with EN 12579 (Soil improvers and growing media – Sampling). Samples are be prepared in accordance with EN 13040 (Soil improvers and growing media – Sample preparation for chemical and physical tests, determination of dry matter content, moisture content and laboratory compacted bulk density).

Once available, test and sampling methods shall be conducted in accordance with the corresponding harmonised standards, the references of which have been published in the Official Journal of the European Union in accordance with Article 13 of Regulation (EU) 2019/1009.

For the application year, the sampling and test frequency shall fulfil the requirements set down in Appendix 1. For the following years, the sampling and test frequency of products shall fulfil the requirements set down in Appendix 2. Different sampling and testing frequencies are set for the following types of plants:

For Type 2 plants, the sampling and test frequencies for the application year and the following years will be the same as the frequencies set for Type 3, if the supplied materials derived from waste/animal by-products comply with the EU Ecolabel criteria for growing media and soil improvers. The applicant shall provide the competent body with the test reports from the suppliers, together with the documentation, to ensure the compliance of the supplied material with the EU Ecolabel criteria. The competent body may recognise the sampling and testing frequencies under national legislation and standards as valid to ensure compliance with the EU Ecolabel criteria of the supplied materials derived from waste or animal by-products.

A written confirmation from the applicant that all the criteria are fulfilled shall also be required for the assessment.

An EU fertilising product is a fertilising product that is CE marked when made available on the market. If the product is an EU fertilising product, the following documentation shall be delivered to the competent body: the EU declaration of conformity; the technical documentation; and, where applicable, the documents issued by a notified body involved in the conformity assessment procedure of the product.

For the purposes of this Annex, the following definitions shall apply:

Criterion 1 – Components

This criterion applies to growing media and soil improvers.

The components admitted shall be organic and/or mineral components.

The product shall not contain intentionally added peat.

Criterion 1.1 – Organic components of the product

(1)bio-waste from separate collection at source, as defined in Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council^note;

(2)living or dead organisms or parts thereof that are unprocessed or processed only by manual, mechanical or gravitational means, by dissolution in water, by flotation, by extraction with water, by steam distillation or by heating solely to remove water, or which are extracted from air by any means, except:

(a)materials originating from mixed municipal waste;

(b)sewage sludge, industrial sludge or dredging sludge;

(c)animal by-products or derived products falling within the scope of Regulation (EC) No 1069/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council^note for which no end point in the manufacturing chain has been determined in accordance with Article 5(2), third subparagraph, of that Regulation;

(3)category 2 or category 3 materials or derived products thereof, in accordance with the conditions set out in Article 32(1) and (2) and in the measures referred to in Article 32(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1069/2009, provided that the end point in the manufacturing chain has been determined, in accordance with Article 5(2), third subparagraph, of that Regulation, and reached before placing the product on the market;

(4)sludges that comply with both of the following two conditions:

I.they are identified as one of the following types of waste^note:

0203 05sludges from on-site effluent treatment in the preparation and processing of fruit, vegetables, cereals, edible oils, cocoa, coffee, tea and tobacco, conserve production, yeast and yeast extract production, molasses preparation and fermentation;

0204 03sludges from on-site effluent treatment in sugar processing;

0205 02sludges from on-site effluent treatment in the dairy products industry;

0206 03sludges from on-site effluent treatment in the baking and confectionery industry;

0207 05sludges from on-site effluent treatment in the production of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages (except coffee, tea and cocoa);

II.they are single-source separated, meaning that there has been no mixing with effluents or sludges outside a specific production process.

(5)digestate obtained through anaerobic digestion or compost obtained through aerobic composting of any of the materials indicated in points 1, 2, 3 and 4 of this list.

(a)plants, plant parts or plant extracts, derived from agricultural or forestry activities, having undergone no other processing than cutting, grinding, milling, sieving, sifting, centrifugation, pressing, drying, frost treatment, freeze-drying, extraction with water, supercritical CO₂ extraction, or fiberisation at a temperature not higher than 100 °C and without any additives except water. For the purpose of this point, plants include mushrooms and algae and exclude blue-green algae (cyanobacteria);

(b)food industry factory lime, i.e. a material from the food processing industry obtained by carbonation of organic matter, using exclusively burnt lime from natural sources;

(c)molasses, i.e. a viscous by-product of the refining of sugar cane or sugar beets into sugar;

(d)vinasse, i.e. a viscous by-product of the fermentation process of molasses into ethanol, ascorbic acid or other products;

(e)distillers grains, i.e. by-products resulting from the production of alcoholic beverages;

(f)lime from drinking water production, i.e. residue that is released by production of drinking water from groundwater or surface water and consists, mainly, of calcium carbonate;

(g)digestate obtained through anaerobic digestion or compost obtained through aerobic composting of one or more of the materials listed below from 1 to 5.

The product may contain one or more of the following organic components:

Organic components (g) can be obtained by processing one or more of the following input materials:

Heavy metal	Maximum content in the product (mg/kg DM)
Cadmium (Cd)	1
Chromium total (Cr total)	100
Copper (Cu)	200
Mercury (Hg)	0,45
Nickel (Ni)	40
Lead (Pb)	100
Zinc (Zn)	300
Inorganic Arsenic (As)	10

Heavy metal	Maximum content in the product (mg/kg DM)
Mineral growing media	Growing media other than mineral growing media
Cadmium (Cd)	1,3	1,3
Chromium total (Cr total)	310	100
Chromium VI (Cr VI)	2	Not applicable
Copper (Cu)	200	200
Mercury (Hg)	0,45	0,45
Nickel (Ni)	40	40
Lead (Pb)	100	100
Zinc (Zn)	300	300
Inorganic arsenic (As)	10	10

Micro-organisms to be tested	Sampling plans	Limit
n	c	m	M
Salmonella spp.	5	0	0	Absence in 25 g or 25 ml
Escherichia coli or Enterococcaceae	5	5	0	1000 CFU in 1 g or 1 ml

Parameter	Test method
E. coli	CEN/TR 16193 or ISO 16649-2 or EN ISO 9308-3
Salmonella spp.	EN ISO 6579 or CEN/TR 15215
Enterococcacea	EN 15788 or EN ISO 7899-1 or BEA method

Stability parameter	Requirement
Maximum Respirometric index	15 mmol O₂/kg organic matter/h
Minimum Rottegrad, where applicable	IV (self-heating test temperature rise of maximum 20 °C above ambient temperature)

Stability parameter	Requirement
Maximum Respirometric index	25 mmol O₂/kg organic matter/h
Minimum Rottegrad, where applicable	III (self-heating test temperature rise of maximum 30 °C above ambient temperature)

Parameter	Test method
Dry matter (% FW)	EN 13040
Organic matter as loss on ignition (% dry mass)	EN 13039
Total organic carbon (TOC) (% dry mass)	EN 15936

Type of plant	Criterion	Annual input/output	Test frequency
Type 1: Waste/animal –by-product treatment plants	4.1 – Limits for heavy metals4.5 – Microbiological criteria5.1 – Stability5.2 – Macroscopic impurities5.3 – Organic matter and dry matter in soil improvers5.4 – Viable seeds and plant propagules5.5 – Plant response6 – Growing media features	Input (t) ≤ 3000	1 every 1000 tonnes input material rounded to the next integer
3000 < input (t) < 20000	4 (one sample every season)
Input (t) ≥ 20000	number of analyses per year = amount of annual input material (in tonnes)/10000 tonne + 1
4.2 – Limits for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)	Input (t) ≤ 3000	1
3001 < input (t) < 10000	2
10001 < input (t) < –20000	3
20001 < input (t) < 40000	4
40001 < input (t) < 60000	5
60001 < input (t) < 80000	6
80001 < input (t) < 100000	7
100001 < input (t) < 120000	8
120001 < input (t) < 140000	9
140001 < input (t) < 160000	10
160001 < input (t) < 180000	11
Input (t) ≥ 180000	12
Type 2: Product manufacture plants using materials derived from waste/animal by-product, except those that are waste treatment plants	4.1 – Limits for heavy metals4.5 – Microbiological criteria5.1 – Stability5.2 – Macroscopic impurities5.3 – Organic matter and dry matter in soil improvers5.4 – Viable seeds and plant propagules5.5 – Plant response6 – Growing media features	Output (m³) ≤ 5000	Representative combined samples from 2 different batches in accordance with EN 12579^note
Output (m³) > 5000	Representative combined samples from 4 different batches in accordance with EN 12579
4.2 – Limits for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)	Output (m³) ≤ 5000	Representative combined samples from 1 different batch in accordance with EN 12579
Output (m³) > 5000	Representative combined samples from 2 different batches EN 12579
Type 3: Product manufacture plants NOT using materials derived from waste/animal by-product	4.1 – Limits for heavy metals4.5 – Microbiological criteria5.1 – Stability5.2 – Macroscopic impurities5.3 – Organic matter and dry matter in soil improvers5.4 – Viable seeds and plant propagules5.5 – Plant response6 – Growing media features	Output (m³) ≤ 5000	Representative combined samples from 1 batch in accordance with EN 12579
Output (m³) > 5000	Representative combined samples from 2 different batches in accordance with EN 12579
4.2 – Limits for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)	Regardless of the input/output	Representative combined samples from 1 batch in accordance with EN 12579

Type of plant	Criteria	Annual input/output	Test frequency
Type 1: Waste/animal by-product treatment plants	4.1 – Limits for heavy metals4.5 – Pathogens5.1 – Stability5.2 – Macroscopic impurities5.3 – Organic matter and dry matter in soil improvers5.4 – Viable seeds and plant propagules5.5 – Plant response6 – Growing media features	Input (t) ≤ 1000	1
Input (t)> 1000	number of analyses per year = amount of annual input material (in tonnes)/10000 tonne + 1
Minimum 2 and maximum 12
4.2 – Limits for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)	Input (t) ≤ 10000	0,25 (once every 4 years)
10001 < input (t) < 25000	0,5 (once every 2 years)
25001 < input (t) < 50000	1
50001 < input (t) < 100000	2
100001 < input (t) < 150000	3
150001 < input (t) < 200000	4
200001 < input (t) < 250000	5
250001 < input (t) < 300000	6
300001 < input (t) < 350000	7
350001 < input (t) < 400000	8
400001 < input (t) < 450000	9
450001 < input (t) < 500000	10
500001 < input (t) < 550000	11
Input (t) ≥ 550000	12
Type 2: Product manufacture plants using materials derived from waste/animal by-product, except those that are waste treatment plants	4.1 – Limits for heavy metals4.5 – Pathogens5.1 – Stability5.2 – Macroscopic impurities5.3 – Organic matter and dry matter in soil improvers5.4 – Viable seeds and plant propagules5.5 – Plant response6 – Growing media features	Output (m³) ≤ 5000	Representative combined samples from 1 different batch in accordance with EN 12579
Output (m³) > 5000	Representative combined samples from 2 different batches in accordance with EN 12579
4.2 – Limits for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)	Output (m³) ≤ 15000	Representative combined samples from 1 batch in accordance with EN 12579, once every 4 years
15000 < Output (m³) < 40000	Representative combined samples from 1 batch in accordance with EN 12579, every two years
Output (m³) ≥ 40000	Representative combined samples from 1 batch in accordance with EN 12579, every year
Type 3: Product manufacture plants NOT using materials derived from waste/animal by-product	4.1 – Limits for heavy metals4.5 – Pathogens5.1 – Stability5.2 – Macroscopic impurities5.3 – Organic matter and dry matter in soil improvers5.4 – Viable seeds and plant propagules5.5 – Plant response6 – Growing media features	Regardless of the input/output	Representative combined samples from 1 batch in accordance with EN 12579
4.2 – Limits for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)	Regardless of the input/output	Representative combined samples from 1 batch in accordance with EN 12579, once every 4 years

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