G/TBT/W/723  
 
10 March  2020 
(20-1844) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: English  
 
EUROPEAN UNION - CHLOROTHALONIL (PESTICI DE ACTIVE SUBSTANCE)  
STATEMENT BY THE EUROPEAN UNION TO THE COMMITTEE ON TECHNICAL BARRIERS T O TRADE  
26 – 27 FEBRUARY  2020 
The following communication, dated 9 March 2020, is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of the European Union . 
 
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1.  The E uropean Union thanks WTO Members for raising this issue.  
2.  As explained at previous TBT Committee meetings, the EU proposed not to renew the approval 
of ch lorothalonil and notified third countries of the draft Regulation via the TBT procedure. The 
measure did not lead to immediate disruptions in trade, as it does not amend the maximum residue 
levels (MRLs) and provides for a grace period.  
3.  The possibility for granting transitional measures will be considered when proposing any changes 
to existing MRLs, which will not take place before expiry of the grace period. Furthermore, it is 
important to reiterate that any action to reduce MRLs in the future will be subject to a separate 
notification under the WTO/SPS procedure.  
4.  As previously explained, Chlorothalonil was evaluated in accordance with Regulation (EC) 
No 1107/2009 on the placing of plant protection products on the market1. The conclusion2 by the 
European Food Safety Authority on chlorothalonil, following assessment by the "rapporteur " Member 
State and an extensive peer review process, was published in January 2018. During this peer review 
process, the approval criteria provided for in Art icle 4 of the Regulation were not satisfied with 
respect to one or more representative uses of at least one plant protection product.  
5.  During the assessment:  
• a critical concern was identified by the Authority in relation to the contamination of 
groundwater  by certain metabolites of chlorothalonil3, 
• the Authority could not exclude a genotoxicity concern for residues to which consumers 
will be exposed and identified a high risk to amphibians and fish for all the uses evaluated,  
• several areas of the risk asses sment could not be finalised due to insufficient data in the 
dossier, and  
• it was noted that chlorothalonil is classified as carcinogen category 2 in accordance with 
Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council, while the 
 
1 http://eur -lex.europa.eu/legal -content/EN/TXT/?qid=1489747880535&uri=CELEX:32009R1107 . 
2 EFSA 2018 Conclusion on the peer review of the pesticide risk assessment of the active substance 
chlorothalonil. EFSA Journal 2018;16(1):5126 : http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/efsajournal/pub/5126 . 
3 In particular, metabolites R417888, R419492, R471811, SYN507900, M3, M11, M2, M7 and M10 are 
predicted to occur above the parametric value of 0.1 μg/L in all pertinent scenarios for all proposed uses of 
chlorothalonil.  G/TBT/W/723  
 
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  conclusion of the Authority indicated that chlorothalonil should be classified as carcinogen 
category 1B.  
6.  In light of the above, the EU proposed not to renew the approval of chlorothalonil in accordance 
with Article 20(1)(b) of the plant protection products Re gulation. On 29 April 2019, the Commission 
adopted Implementing Regulation (EU) No 2019/6774 concerning the non -renewal of the approval 
of the active substance chlorothalonil. The grace period shall expire by 20 May 2020, at the latest.  
7.  Import tolerance requests however remain possible and will be assessed on a case -by-case basis 
by the "rapporteur " Member State and the European Food Safety Authority . Such requests would 
have to be supported by substantial new data addressing the concerns . 
 
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4 OJ L 114, 30.4.2019, p. 15.