Nitrates & Phosphorus Regulations

On 1 January 2007 new legislation came into operation in Northern Ireland introducing measures to improve the use of nitrogen and phosphorus nutrients on farms and reduce their input to Northern Ireland's water environment from agricultural sources.

The Nitrates Action Programme Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006(.PDF 104Kb)

Phosphorus (Use In Agriculture) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006(.PDF 40.6Kb)

These regulations will apply to all farmers in Northern Ireland. The document Nitrates and Phosphorus Regulations 2007 Summary(.PDF 209Kb) provides a useful summary of these regulations.

The summary document highlights the key action programme measures that must be followed to comply with these new regulations. Each of the sections of summarised measures, with the exception of measures relating to chemical phosphorus fertiliser application, are Cross-Compliance verifiable standards. Failure to comply with an action programme measure has the following possible outcomes:

1. You may have committed an offence under the regulations,
2. You may have breached a Cross-Compliance verifiable standard. This can result in a penalty being applied by Department of Agriculture and Rural Development which could affect your Single Farm Payment.

More information can be found in the full Guidance Booklet(.PDF 1.65Mb) and Guidance Workbook(.PDF 855Kb).

Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) is responsible for implementing these new regulations and we also aim to assist farmers and growers through this period of regulatory change.

Contact us

If you have any further queries in relation to these new regulations please do not hesitate to contact the Agricultural Regulations Team by using the contact details below:

Further Information

View the Frequently Asked Questions on the Nitrates and Phosphorus Regulations 2007.

View the Background Information on the implementation of the Nitrates Directive in Northern Ireland.