Fertilizers Regulations 2017

Fertilizers Regulations 2017

4 December 2017

I, the Governor in and over the State of Tasmania and its Dependencies in the Commonwealth of Australia, acting with the advice of the Executive Council, make the following regulations under the Fertilizers Act 1993.

These regulations may be cited as the Fertilizers Regulations 2017.

These regulations take effect on the day on which their making is notified in the Gazette.

In these regulations –

Act means the Fertilizers Act 1993;

animal material includes blood, bone, fish, animal flesh and feather meal;

blood and bone fertilizer– see regulation 24(1);

composite sample means a single sample made by combining a number of samples in accordance with regulation 33(2);

effective neutralising value– see regulation 4;

foliar application means application to the foliage of a plant;

lime means a substance which contains calcium carbonate, magnesium carbonate, calcium oxide or magnesium oxide and which is used – to increase the pH of soil; or as a soil conditioner; or as a fertilizer;

neutralising value, of lime, means the value of the amount of acid neutralised by an amount of the lime, that is expressed as a percentage of the amount of acid neutralised by an equivalent amount of calcium carbonate;

tolerance means the amount, expressed as a percentage, by which a characteristic of a fertilizer set out in Schedule 3 may vary from the value of that characteristic stated on the label, invoice or delivery docket for that fertilizer.

For the purpose of these regulations, the effective neutralising value of lime is calculated in accordance with the following formula:

where –

A is the effective neutralising value; and

B is the proportion of weight of lime of particle size not greater than 300 micrometres; and

C is the proportion of weight of lime of particle size greater than 300 micrometres but not greater than 850 micrometres; and

D is the proportion of weight of lime of particle size greater than 850 micrometres; and

E is the neutralising value of lime.

For the purposes of section 7(1)(a) of the Act, a prescribed label for a package of fertilizer is to contain – the name of the fertilizer; and the concentration and form of each constituent of the fertilizer; and the quantity of fertilizer within the package; and any relevant warnings prescribed under Part 3; and the name and place of business of the manufacturer or wholesaler of the fertilizer.

A label in respect of a package of fertilizer is to be – printed or stencilled on the package; or securely fixed to the outside of the package.

For the purposes of section 8(3)(a) of the Act, the following information is prescribed in relation to an invoice or delivery docket for a fertilizer in bulk or a custom fertilizer mixture:a statement of the constituents in the mixture and their proportions by weight; any relevant warnings prescribed under Part 3.

For the purposes of section 8(3)(b) of the Act, the seller of a fertilizer in bulk or a custom fertilizer mixture is to ensure that the invoice or delivery docket in relation to the fertilizer is – handed to the purchaser, or person authorised by the purchaser, of the fertilizer; or left in a safe and conspicuous position with the fertilizer; or posted to the purchaser of the fertilizer.

If the invoice or delivery docket is left in accordance with subregulation (2)(b), the seller is to post a copy of the invoice or delivery docket to the purchaser within 14 days after the delivery of the fertilizer.

Printing on a label, invoice or delivery docket, that is required under the Act, is to be – in English; and clearly legible; and indelible; and in a distinctly contrasting colour to the background colour; and not less than 1.5 millimetres high in the case of capital letters and 1 millimetre high in the case of lower case letters; and proportional to the size of the label, invoice or delivery docket.

Information that is printed in English on a label, invoice or delivery docket, that is required under the Act, may be repeated on the label, invoice or docket in another language.

If a fertilizer is sold in a package, the printing is to be on the outside face of the package.

For the purposes of section 7(1)(b) of the Act –

a fertilizer is to be labelled, branded or marked so as to make the fertilizer easily distinguishable from all other fertilizers; and the name of a fertilizer is not to be inappropriate or misleading; and if a constituent or ingredient of a fertilizer is used as part of the name, the name of the fertilizer is to include the manufacturer's name; and the proportion of an ingredient in a fertilizer is not to be represented by numbers in the name; and if the concentrations of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium are included in the name of a fertilizer, those concentrations are to be in the following order:nitrogen; phosphorus; potassium; and the concentrations of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, if they are included in the name of a fertilizer, are to be represented as the nearest whole numbers, rounded down from, and including, the mid-range.

Subject to subregulation (2), constituents that are to be listed on the label, invoice or delivery docket under regulation 5(1)(b) or regulation 6(1)(a) are to be listed in alphabetical order.

However, if a fertilizer contains one or more of the following constituents, those constituents are to be listed before any other constituents, in the following order:nitrogen; phosphorus; potassium; sulphur; calcium; magnesium.

The concentration of a constituent that is to be listed on the label, invoice or delivery docket under regulation 5(1)(b) or regulation 6(1)(a) is to be printed on the label, invoice or delivery docket – in the case of products sold by weight, as the percentage by weight; and in the case of products sold by volume, as the percentage by volume.

If nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium or sulphur is a constituent of a fertilizer, the form or forms in which the constituent is present and the concentration of each of those forms is to be printed on the label, invoice or delivery docket in the following order:nitrogen (N) as urea; nitrogen (N) as ammonium; nitrogen (N) as nitrate; nitrogen (N) as other (form to be stated); phosphorus (P) as water-soluble phosphorus; phosphorus (P) as citrate-soluble; phosphorus (P) as citrate-insoluble; phosphorus (P) as other (form to be stated); potassium (K) as sulphate; potassium (K) as chloride; potassium (K) as other (form to be stated); sulphur (S) as sulphate; sulphur (S) as elemental sulphur; sulphur (S) as other (form to be stated).

A seller must ensure that, in relation to lime, the label, invoice or delivery docket for the lime states –

the effective neutralising value of the lime; and the percentage of calcium in the lime; and the percentage of magnesium in the lime; and the grade of lime determined in accordance with regulation 28.

Fine not exceeding 10 penalty units.