NETHERLANDS – ECJ

BY KEITH NUTHALLEXEMPTIONS from mineral levies paid on phosphate and nitrogen fertilisers in the Netherlands for garden centres or glasshouses have been confirmed as breaking the European Union (EU) nitrates directive by the European Court of Justice (ECJ). The Netherlands' MINAS system is based on the assumption that glasshouse flowers and crops take up 460 kg phosphates and 800 kg nitrogen per hectare per year, "considerably higher than for outdoor crops". The system penalises growers if their input of nitrogen and phosphates before production is greater than ...


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