EU revamps biocide review

The European Commission has amended rules governing the review of existing active ingredients under the EU biocidal products Directive (98/8). The original rules and lists of ais covered by the review were contained in Regulation 2032/2003. However, this has been continually updated to reflect the accession of new EU member states, lessons learned during the implementation of the review, and the removal of ais from the review programme. Such a practice has proven "ineffectual and time-consuming" and could create confusion, the Commission acknowledges. Therefore, it has replaced Regulation 2032/2003 with Regulation 1451/2007, which simplifies the rules and provides an up-to-date list of ais covered by the review.

 

The review covers a wide range of biocidal ais, including non-crop pesticides, that were on the market before May 14th 2000. Companies or member states had to notify the Commission that they would support a particular ai for a particular use, or "product type", through the review and eventual listing in Annex I of Directive 98/8. Any ais not notified had to be withdrawn from the market on September 1st 2006.

 

All ai/product type combinations that are currently going through the review are listed in the new Regulation. The Commission stresses that biocidal products can no longer be sold if their ai/product type combination is not listed.