Minister Carola Schouten (Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality) has stated in a letter to Parliament that he will enforce strict enforcement if dairy farmers produce more phosphate in 2018 than the number of phosphate rights allows.
In the letter, Schouten appeals to the responsibility of the dairy farmers; they have to produce within their phosphate space. After all, the sector ceiling can be jeopardized if dairy farmers produce more phosphate than is permitted. "We should not run that risk," she writes. This mainly wants to prevent the generic discount (for non-land-based dairy farmers) must be increased.
Poultry and pig rights
If the dairy farmers produce outside the number of phosphate rights, they are committing an economic offence. This is laid down in Article 21b of the Fertilizers Act. In terms of criminal proceedings, the minister follows the line that applies to other animal rights systems (pigs and poultry). She does say that she wants to take this into account if some of the decisions (due to an ongoing objection or appeal procedure) are not yet irrevocable.
It is up to the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) to identify which dairy farms are producing too much. The Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO.nl) checks on data from the Identification and Registration System and data from dairy processors.
From March on
The NVWA is expected to start analyzing the data from March. Ultimately, it is up to the Public Prosecution Service to consider the amount of the sentence. Schouten emphasizes that companies can also be fined retroactively if it later transpires that a dairy farm has produced too much phosphate in a particular year.
Click here to read the letter to parliament.
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This is in response to it Boerenbusiness article:
[url=http://www.boerenbusiness.nl/melk/artikel/10880623/schouten-bevangent-violen-meststoffenwet]Schouten punished violation of the Fertilizers Act[/url]