The Federal Ministry of Agriculture must protect water bodies from nitrate pollution from agriculture with a National Action Programme. This was decided by the Federal Administrative Court (BVerwG) (Ref.: 10 C 1.25 of 8 October 2025). The action programme must ensure that the limit value of 50 mg/l nitrate is adhered to in all German groundwater measuring points. In a second step, the action programme must then be included in the consultations for an amendment to the Fertiliser Ordinance. So far, the BVerwG has failed to draw up an action programme that meets the requirements of the Fertiliser Act (Section 3a (1) DüG).

The court thus ruled in favour of the action brought by Deutsche Umwelthilfe. The environmental organisation had failed with its claim in the previous instance. The Münster Higher Administrative Court ruled that the plaintiffs' entire submission was excluded under the provisions of the German Environmental Appeals Act (preclusion) because they had raised incomplete and insufficiently substantiated objections in the resolution on a national action programme (case no.: 20 D 8/19 of 25.01.2024).