Nitrates Directive

The Nitrates Directive binds Member States, which designate nitrate vulnerable zones and adopt action programmes; a business's duties come from the national action programme, not the Directive itself. Those programmes cover organic fertilising materials generally, and in several countries they reach food-processing residues applied to land, such as dairy washwater or vegetable-processing sludge. A small food business spreading such material can be bound directly; one that applies nothing to land is not.

From 2 March 2026 Member States may allow certain processed manure materials above the 170 kg N/ha/yr ceiling, up to 80 kg more; transposition is due by 2 March 2028.