Mr. Fabien Santini:

There is a different procedure. I talked to colleagues in customs who are doing this. At the moment, nobody has asked for a suspension of duties for fertilisers. If it is to happen, there is an exercise every six months in which somebody can request it with the evidence that there is a need to suspend the duties autonomously for these products. Again, it is something that is framed by some procedures and people need to demonstrate, again, by evidence that there is a case for this kind of suspension. Again, this is not something that you decide for one month as an exception.

Fertilisers are not agricultural products. For agricultural products, we, as the Commission, have a legal base to suspend duties in case of an emergency, but not for fertiliser. Fertilisers are not in themselves agricultural products. We could do this for milk, for example, but we have never done it. Members can imagine what the reaction of the meat producers would be. For this, we have a legal base. The work of the Commission is framed by what the co-legislators, the Parliament and the Council, decide. In the case of agricultural products, there is a legal base to suspend duties; not for fertilisers. For fertilisers, it has to go through the general procedure of autonomous suspension of duties for any products. That procedure is a bit lengthy.