DIN EN 16320:2013-12

In addition to nutrients and organic matter, heavy metals and organic pollutants may also enter the soil. In order to keep the risks as low as possible, the requirements for product quality and product safety of fertilizers have considerably increased. In the future, the requirements and official controls of fertilizers will focus on controlling heavy metal contents (risk aspect) not only on the national level but also within the European market and, as a result, make an important contribution to the environmental and consumer protection. Validated analytical techniques are the basis of comparable controls. The European Standards EN 13317 and EN 13320 have been prepared within the framework of Mandate M/418 given to CEN by the European Commission and the European Free Trade Association. EN 16317 contains a method for the determination of arsenic in fertilizers with ICP-AES. EN 16320 contains a method for the determination of the content of mercury by vapour generation. All methods have been validated in interlaboratory tests with 19 participating laboratories from nine European countries. The statistical results are each given in the informative Annex A. Following the requirements of Mandate M/418, the methods were at first published as Technical Specifications. The Technical Specifications have been adopted as European Standards under the Unique Acceptance Procedure (UAP) once they have been accepted accordingly by CEN/TC 260. The documents have been prepared by CEN/TC 260 "Fertilizers and liming materials" (secretariat: DIN, Germany) with close German collaboration. The national mirror committee is Working Committee NA 057-03-02 AA "Düngemittel" ("Fertilizers") of NAL.