. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/SPS/N/EEC/216
9 October 2003
(03-5332)
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Original:  English
NOTIFICATION
1. Member to Agreement notifying:   EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
If applicable, name of local government involved:
2. Agency responsible:   Commission of the European Communities. Health & Consumer
Protection Directorate-General  Directorate E – Food Safety: Plant Health, Animal Health
and Welfare, International questions
3. Products covered (provide tariff item number(s) as specified in national schedules
deposited with the WTO; ICS numbers should be provided in addition, where
applicable):  Amitraz [IUPAC:  N-methylbis (2,4-xylyliminomethyl)amine)] and plant
protection products containing amitraz
4. Regions or countries likely to be affected, to the extent relevant or practicable:
Member States of the European Communities (EEC) and third countries exporting the
products concerned to the EEC.
5. Title, language and number of pages of the notified document:   SANCO/10322/2003
Rev 2:  Draft Commission Decision Concerni ng the Non-inclusion of Amitraz as Active
Substance in Annex I to Directive 91/414/EEC and the Withdrawal of Authorisations forPlant Protection Products Containing this Active Substance.
6. Description of content:  The Commission is proposing not to include amitraz in the positive
Community list.  EC Member States have to withdraw authorisations for plant protection
products containing amitraz.  Any period of grace for disposal, storage, placing on the market
and use of existing stocks of plant protection products containing amitraz, should be limited to
a period no longer than 12 months, i.e. 18 months from the date of adoption.
7. Objective and rationale:  [  X ] food safety, [   ] animal health, [ X ] plant protection,
[   ] protect humans from animal/plant pest or disease,  [   ]  protect territory from other
damage from pests:
Council Directive 91/414/EEC of 15 July 1991 concerning the placing of plant protection
products on the market.  (O. J. L230, 19/08/1991 pp.1-32)  as last amended by Commission
Directive 2003/82/EC (O. J. L228, 12/09/2003 P.11 –28) sets up a Community harmonised
framework for the authorisation and placing on the market of plant protection products;
Article 8(2) of this directive institutes a programme, to be carried out over a period of
12 years, for the gradual examination of the act ive substances contained in the pesticides,
which are on the market for the inclusion in Annex I of the Directive.
Amitraz is one of the 90 active substances covered by the first stage of this work and an
evaluation of the information provided by this programme indicates that plant protection
products containing amitraz, under the proposed conditions of use, are not expected to
satisfy in general the requirements of the acute consumer exposure for the supported uses.G/SPS/N/EEC/216
Page 2
8. International standard, gu ideline or recommendation:
[ X ] Codex Alimentarius Commission, [   ] Office International des Epizooties,
[   ] International Plant Prot ection Convention, [   ] None
If an international standard , guideline or recommendation exists, give the appropriate
reference and briefly identify deviations:  CODEX has established MRL for amitraz.  The
MRL presently established in Community legisl ation will continue to apply until reviewed,
probably in mid-2005.
9. Relevant documents and language(s) in which these are available:  European
Commission Document:  SANCO/10322/2003 Rev 2 available in all Communitylanguages (English text is the reference document).  When adopted, it will be published in
the Official Journal, which is available at: http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/oj/index.html.
10. Proposed date of adoption:   1 December 2003
11. Proposed date of entry into force:   31 May 2004
Withdrawal of existing authorizations:  6 months after date of adoption.  End of period of
grace for existing stocks (maximum):  18 after date of adoption.
12. Final date for comments:  Sixty (60) days after the date of notification.
Agency or authority designated to handle co mments:  [   ] EC notification authority,
[ X ] EC enquiry point, or address, fax number and E-mail address (if available) of
other body:
13. Texts available from:  [   ] National notification authority, [ X ] EC enquiry point, or
address, fax number and E-mail address (if available) of other body: