BAKGRUNN (fra kommisjonsforordningen)

(1) Regulation (EU) 2022/2379 establishes an integrated framework for the development, production and dissemination of European statistics related to agricultural inputs and outputs. 

(2) In order to ensure that comparable data are produced by Member States and to achieve harmonisation within the agricultural statistics system, it is necessary to specify the technical elements of the statistics on agricultural inputs and outputs as regards nutrients to be transmitted to the Commission (Eurostat). 

(3) Those elements consist of the list of variables, the descriptions of the variables, the observation units, the precision requirements to be applied, the methodological rules to be applied, and the deadlines for transmitting the data, where appropriate. 

(4) The coverage of the data sets should be specified beyond the requirements in Article 4 of Regulation (EU) 2022/2379 where appropriate, to avoid inconsistencies between Member States. 

(5) The reference periods mentioned in Article 9(4) of Regulation (EU) 2022/2379 should be further specified to ensure comparability of the statistics between Member States. 

(6) The European statistics on nutrients should be compiled pursuant to methodologies which are coherent with the relevant internationally agreed standards, such as those of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change or the European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme. 

(7) Nutrient balances are important indicators of the sustainability of agricultural activities. They can reflect risks to the environment by revealing persistent nitrogen and phosphorous surpluses or deficits in agricultural soils. A lack of nitrogen or phosphorous may cause degradation in soil fertility, while an excess may cause air and water pollution, potentially leading to, for example, eutrophication of surface waters and contamination of drinking water. 

(8) Statistics on nutrients contribute to assessing the efficiency of the use of fertilisers and the dependency of food production on these inputs. The statistics are thus an important element of food security. 

(9) The Commission’s Farm to Fork strategy in the context of the European Green Deal establishes the objective to reduce nutrient losses by half, while ensuring no deterioration in soil fertility, leading to an overall reduction of at least 20% in the use of fertilisers by 2030. Moreover, the gross nutrient balance is a context indicator used to monitor the Common Agricultural Policy. Comparable and timely data on nutrient balances and on the use of fertilisers in agriculture will contribute to the assessment of these targets and other future policy targets. A timely assessment of the targets and indicators requires that data on nutrients balances is available before 2030. 

(10) Nutrient balances should be calculated following the land budget approach, using coefficients to reflect the impact of crops and livestock on the nutrient flows. Those coefficients should be calculated using comparable methodologies in all Member States in order to ensure coherence and comparability. The coefficients should reflect a stable trend, removing the annual volatility. 

(11) The availability of such coefficients is a prerequisite for calculating nutrients balances. The coefficients are used in conjunction with other related data sets, in particular statistics on crop and animal production, provided by the Member States, in order to produce annual nutrient balances. 

(12) The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the European Statistical System Committee,