AIC at 20: How FIAS secures the UK's fertiliser supply chain

Some fertilisers can be volatile and explosive if not stored or transported correctly. They can also be used in improvised explosive devises (IEDs) and without the data that supports FIAS, the supply chain would be less transparent.

This could result in fertilisers being unaccounted for and stored or transported incorrectly, as well as falling into potential terrorist networks, with devastating consequences.

Because of FIAS, all fertilisers are now accounted for and sellers have to carry out rigorous checks to “know their customers” for full traceability.

Sometimes the poor storage and transportation of fertilisers, as well as thefts and incidents, can lead to fertiliser explosions globally, which have had devastating human and infrastructure costs.

In the event of this, FIAS has provided a due diligence defence for the industry, and wider stakeholder group, and handle media enquiries. This provides strong reassurance that the sector is secure, safe, and traceable.

In the UK no major fertiliser incident has occurred since FIAS was set up, however, globally a number of major fertiliser incidents have occurred including United States, Lebanon, China, Mexico, France and Beirut.

These all resulted in the loss of life, casualties, and major infrastructure damage.

The FIAS Standard has been written by the industry, for the industry and considers the latest good practice the industry has adopted. Fully trained auditors are used to ensure that the industry adopts the relevant FIAS Standard.

The fifth version of this Standard is now in operation, which has been compiled by the FIAS Working Group. Over 500 independent audits are carried out on the supply chain each year.

As FIAS has evolved, all parts of the industry have adopted the scheme, from merchants, manufacturers, stores, hauliers, and ports. This complete coverage ensures a secure supply chain with total traceability.

FIAS is supported by the industry, which provides an assurance framework in a changing sector environment. Farm assurance schemes also promote the purchase of fertiliser from a FIAS supplier, promoting secure supply chains right up to the farm gate and intended end user.

Over 95% of the industry is part of FIAS and for those that are not, FIAS companies have to carry out a self-assessment on their supply base.

FIAS is guided by a steering group which consists of stakeholders and government officials.

This group conveys any relevant security information that supports the wider public good and government policies.

The scheme also has “Earned Recognition" with the Department for Transport, which reduces burden of site inspections by the competent authority.

Having this joined up approach ensures that FIAS remains fully relevant to the various objectives set.

The group consists of the following bodies:

• Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (Defra)
• Health and Safety Executive (HSE)
• National Counter Terrorism Security Office (NaCTSO)
• Home Office, Road Haulage Association (RHA)
• Red Tractor Farm Assurance
• Department for Transport (DfT)
• Port Skills and Safety
• Scottish Government
• Welsh Government
• Plus industry representatives, the audit and certification body, and AIC Executives

AIC Services and its relevant committees create, regularly review and update the FIAS Standard, and a Certification Body is appointed to manage the scheme.

Participants in the scheme are routinely audited for compliance against the FIAS Standard and, if successfully completed, receive a certificate of compliance valid for one year.

Watch the overview video below to find out more.

AIC Services appoints a Certification Body for each of their schemes. This is necessary as AIC and the FIAS Committees are responsible for creating the FIAS Standard.

The FIAS Certification Body is Kiwa Agri Food, a role that is contracted via a tender process at regular intervals. Kiwa has a deep knowledge of FIAS, having been involved since it was launched in 2006.

It organises and manages the day-to-day operation of FIAS, which includes core interactions with Participants such as booking audits, collecting fees, reviewing action points and their corrective actions.

As a Certification Body, Kiwa must comply with internationally recognised assessment standards such as ISO17065 and are approved to certify the FIAS scheme by the UK Accreditation Service (UKAS).

The accreditation is fundamental in giving our stakeholders complete confidence that there is a reliable interpretation of the FIAS Standard. Find out more on the UKAS website.

Collection of data and statistics forms the basis for FIAS Steering Group and Working Group actions and how the scheme develops in the future. 

Accreditation also supports the Earned Recognition of the scheme by the Department for Transport (DfT), which is valuable for hauliers transporting fertilisers classed as "Dangerous Goods".

This government recognition means that FIAS Participants are subject to fewer inspections from the relevant authorities.

Auditors are people with experience of the feed and food industry who are trained on how to audit and check how a business meets the requirements detailed in the clauses of the Standards.

Auditor training includes how to deliver and conduct an audit to ensure a full assessment is carried out, communicate effectively with the Participants and a detailed understanding of the requirements of Standards.

Approval to be an auditor is gained via classroom training, shadowing approved auditors and carrying out witnessed audits. Once approval is gained, witnessed audits continue at regular intervals.

Training is key here - shadow audits, internal training, and audits witnessed by UKAS all help to ensure that the FIAS Standard is applied robustly, consistently and without bias for all Participants.

Visit the Kiwa website to find out more about audits.

FIAS Participants and industry stakeholders have a range of ways to keep up to date with the work of the scheme, including:

• FIAS Update - a twice yearly newsletter covering topical issues and scheme updates
• Trade Assurance Checker - a current list of Participants and their certification status
• Webinars
• Reports to committees

After the UK withdrew from the European Union in 2021, the Government adopted a "lite version" of REACH - an EU regulation passed to improve the protection of human health and the environment from the risks that can be posed by chemicals, while enhancing the competitiveness of the EU industry.

In doing so, the UK converted a global registration process into a regional one, meaning the vast global inventory of chemical products (which includes fertilisers) needed to be re-registered by businesses trading in the UK.

This process is viewed as wholly unworkable by all stakeholders, with the exception of the UK regulatory authorities. In July 2023, the Government has responded to pressure from AIC and others by announcing a three-year extension to the registration deadlines.

However, this merely delays the inevitable issue of the fertiliser industry requiring the Government to accept that the UK should adopt a system that fully recognises existing EU REACH registrations in the UK. This would avoid the unnecessary cost and resource effort of duplication and re-registration.

The UK's exit from the EU saw the UK adopt all former EU legislation into the UK statute book. Perversely and by coincidence of poor timing, the EU has adopted a new regulation covering the formulation and labelling of fertilisers.

The result is that EU-manufactured fertilisers are made and marketed under different parameters to the UK, which in turn has two competing and conflicting regulations of its own for fertiliser - one being the Fertilisers Regulations 1991 of Great Britain, and the other being the adopted EC Regulation 2003/2003.

The impact of this has been felt in subtle ways. Technically, the withdrawal from the EU meant that EU laboratories for testing fertilisers were no longer legally recognised by the UK, and therefore all Detonation Resistance Testing - a crucial safety test - had to be undertaken in the Health and Safety Executive's own laboratory in Buxton.

Subsequently, this facility went offline and is unable to commercially test ammonium nitrate. AIC lobbied Defra for a change in the regulations and special legislation had to be passed to allow a resumption of testing using specific EU laboratories. 

Similarly, a dispensation has been temporarily granted to allow fertilisers marketed in accordance with the European Fertiliser Product Regulations to be distributed in the UK without repackaging and relabelling.

AIC is working closely with Defra in seeking a consolidation of the UK fertiliser regulations to ensure that the benefits of cross-border fertiliser marketing may be continued, given that the UK imports the vast majority of its fertiliser requirements, while also recognising that the existing European regulations are so complicated as to be practically unworkable.

At the time of writing in 2023, the fertiliser industry has been battered by instability caused by global impacts affecting the availability and cost of various inputs.

The war in Ukraine has damaged trade with Russia regarding the availability of chemical precursors used in the manufacture of fertilisers - specifically gas and ammonia - and led to a de facto ban on the availability of Russian finished products, such as fertilisers which constituted some 30% of the global market.

This in turn has affected the ability to manufacture fertilisers within Europe, particularly regarding the volatility of gas price.

It is to the industry's credit that it has remained both resilient and competitive during this hiatus. Manufacturers have sought to explore and secure new channels of supply for fertiliser finished materials and imports of ammonia feedstock, which is now supplementing most ammonia production in Europe and the UK.

AIC continues to face regulatory challenges head on in defence of ensuring the availability and widest possible choice of fertiliser.  It has lobbied against an outright ban on the use of urea as a fertiliser and devised and offered an alternative option for urea and urea ammonium nitrate without the use of inhibitors year round.

This non-regulatory solution has been accepted by Government and is colloquially now known as "Option 4" - a voluntary scheme managed by the fertiliser industry.

AIC maintains its defence of the availability of ammonium nitrate in the UK market. In the face of Home Office efforts to restrict sales by requiring a purchaser to show photo ID, it is seeking to find a means of making this requirement workable in practice by working with the fertiliser industry's core customer base to find collaborative solutions in which the Government can have confidence.

Self-regulation via FIAS has supported the industry, maintained and driven improvements in product safety, security and traceability. This has generated confidence with authorities and stakeholders. Maintaining this is an ongoing challenge.

Without self-regulation, the fertiliser industry could face a future with reduced control over the type of fertilisers used, the level at which they can be used and therefore reduced opportunities for innovation to support the market as it continues to develop with consideration of climate change, sustainability and in variable economic situations.

Fertiliser feeds the plants that make food. Use of organic and mineral fertilisers ensures that the plants and crops grown for our food are supplied with the nutrients they require to grow successfully, healthily and in sufficient quantities to supply a growing world population. FACTS advisers work with farmers to provide professional advice on crop nutrition.

Gaining and increasing the understanding among government, stakeholders and the public that fertilisers are key to food security remains a core challenge for the industry.

FIAS focuses on safety and security of fertilisers, including those which can be used with intent to harm or cause damage or for which safe storage and handling is key to avoid accidents. This will always be a challenge for the industry to face.

The FIAS Guide to Storing Fertilisers "Think Safe, Be Safe" campaign and the AIC-endorsed National Counter Terrorism Security Office (NaCTSO) five-point plan are strong examples of advice the sector provides to the supply industry to the end user.

Watch the video and download the safety leaflet below.

05 Jun 2021

AIC Fertiliser Safety Leaflet

THINK SAFE, BE SAFE when handling and storing fertilisers

Find further advice on the ProtectUK website.

The coronavirus pandemic had wide ranging effects on auditing of FIAS with restrictions on travel and access to Participant sites.

Remote auditing was introduced, with approval from UKAS, to ensure that compliance audits and certification could continue. This accelerated the use of supporting technologies, such as video calls and the AIC-Kiwa portal for uploading of documents.

Compliance standards and levels of non-conformances have been monitored and shown to have remained stable across both remote auditing and subsequent return to on-site audits.

There are benefits to both audit formats and some Participants preferred one type over the other. As a scheme, FIAS aims to provide flexibility for Participants and will use both formats in the future, considering the security and product safety risks associated with different scopes. 

Further flexibility around the required frequency of on-site versus remote audit is under consideration for later in 2023 for some scope categories and business type or size.

The AIC-Kiwa Portal has been beneficial in allowing the upload of documents prior to audit, ease of storage for FIAS records and allowing Participants to upload corrective actions as part of the audit process.

The majority of Participants find the portal easy to use and time saving. Auditors have found that time on site can be used more effectively when documents have been preloaded.

The Portal will continue to develop for example by including a list of all records required for audit and investigating an option to hold approved contractor lists and audit information with a function to remind when next audits are due.

Participants are encouraged to contact either Kiwa or AIC with questions about the scheme or the contents of the Standard, as well as make suggestions for topics requiring FIAS consideration.

Some projects on the horizon include:

• Webinars and animations are useful, time-efficient ways to provide bite-sized information

  • Developing a series of these covering specific topics relevant to the Standard, such as ways to complete internal audits or management reviews to maximise benefits to business and aid compliance

• Reviewing and updating of i-learning modules to refresh and incorporate new legislation, product types, references and guidance

• Reviewing and issuing of the next version of the FIAS Standard

• Developing functionality of the AIC-Kiwa Portal to enhance the audit process

AIC's fertiliser sector is involved with government departments to ensure the voice of the agri-supply industry is heard during the development, amendment and consultation processes for legislation and regulations.

EU Exit and sustainability policy means that several pieces of legislation may change over coming years.

As changes are implemented, they are reviewed by the FIAS committees and the effects on Participants assessed.

Where Participants are impacted, information and support to meet any new requirements is developed, for example, webinars, template documents, briefings, question and answer sessions.

Where changes to the clauses of the FIAS Standard are required – these will be managed through the review and consultation process by the FIAS committees for communication to Participants and auditor training provision.

As an example, in October 2023 amendments to the Poisons Act 1972 in the form of new Control of Explosive Precursor Regulations will come into force.

FIAS is working closely with the Home Office Chemical Precursors Team to provide information and guidance about how some Participants may be affected via articles and webinars.