Compost production – Notification

General information

The compost ordinance standardises uniform requirements all over the federal territory for composts from wastes which are placed on the market as products.

This ordinance lays down precise requirements for the raw materials which are authorised for the production of compost taking into consideration the various fields of application. Depending on the quality of the final product three quality grades of composts may be placed on the market.

• Class A
  Class A is the prerequisite for the suitability of the compost for agricultural use.
• Class A+
  Class A+ constitutes a special class, which is, fulfilling additional requirements concerning the use of certain limited raw materials, also suitable for organic farming.
• Class B
  Class B constitutes the minimum quality for organic farming.

Producers and/or importers of compost must send prior to the first placing on the market of compost and in case of considerable changes a notification to the Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology.

Deadlines

• Producers and/or importers of composts from wastes or of compost of the quality class B must forward the following information until 10 April for the previous calendar year
  • Annual quantities and designated use (possible application according to the declaration and labelling of the compost) of the actually delivered composts
  • Once before the first launching on the market and in case of considerable changes. Nomination of the potential customers (at least if more than 10 percent of the compost were handed over by the compost producer to not yet registered potential customers.)
• Producers and/or importers of composts from wastes must in addition to that notify once before the first placing on the market and in case of considerable changes until 10 April for the previous calendar year. Proof of quality (inspection contract with authorized competent person or institution in order to ensure the required quality and the control of the compliance with the mixing ban).
  
• All producers and/or importers must notify changes of the registered data as well as the ceasing of the placing on the market within a period of three months.

Competent authority

Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology (→ BMK)

Procedure

The notification can take place informally, by means of a form or within the framework of the registration at edm.gv.at.

It must contain the following information:

• Name, address and phone number and – if available – waste owner number of the producer
• Category of the compostable raw materials which are used for compost production
• Designation of the compost according to the Kompostverordnung (e.g. "compost", "quality compost", "quality compost suitable for ecological farming", "quality sewage sludge compost", "waste compost" or "bovine compost")
• Mandatory declaration that the mixing ban is complied with

Producers and/or importers of waste compost or of compost of quality class B, which shall be placed on the market according to the Kompostverordnung, must provide in addition to that the following information:

• Annual quantities and designated use (possible application according to the declaration and labelling of the compost) of the actually delivered composts: once a year until the 10 April for the previous calendar year.
• Once before the first placing on the market and in case of considerable changes. until the 10 April for the previous calendar year: Nomination of the potential customers (at least if more than 10 percent of the compost have been handed over by the compost producer to not yet registered potential customers).

Entrepreneurs registered in the Business Service Portal USP have the possibility to use edm.gv.at and many other online procedures with one single logging into the USP. More detailed information on the registration in the USP is available in the online guidance on USP registration^{German text}.

Required documents

• As a rule none
  
• Producers and/or importers of composts from wastes must in addition to that notify once before the first placing on the market and in case of considerable changes until 10 April for the previous calendar year. Proof of quality (inspection contract with authorised experts or technical institutions competent in order to ensure the required quality and the control of the compliance with the mixing ban)
  

Costs and fees

No cost accrue for the notification

Further information

edm.gv.at (→ BMK)

Legal bases

• section 5 of the Abfallwirtschaftsgesetz (AWG)
• section 11 paragraphs 1 and 2 of the Kompostverordnung