G/TBT/N/EU/334  
 
8 January 2016  
(16-0158)  Page: 1/2  
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: English  
 
  NOTIFICATION 
The following notification is being circulated in accordance with Article 10.6 
 
1. Notifying Member: EUROPEAN UNION 
If applicable, name of local government involved (Article 3.2 and 7.2):  
2. Agency responsible: European Commission 
Name and address (including telephon e and fax numbers, email and website 
addresses, if available) of agency or authority designated to handle comments 
regarding the notification shall be indicated if different from above : 
European Commission 
EU-TBT Enquiry Point 
Fax: +(32) 2 299 80 43 E-mail: grow-eu-tbt@ec.europa.eu   
Website: http://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/tbt/  
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [X], 2.10 .1 [ ], 5.6.2 [ ], 5.7.1 [ ], other: 
4. Products covered (HS or CCCN where applic able, otherwise national tariff heading. 
ICS numbers may be provided in addition, where applicable): Aerosol dispensers 
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document: Draft Commission 
Directive amending Council Directive 75/324/EEC as regards the maximum allowable pressure of aerosol dispensers and to adapt its labelling provisions to Regulation (EC) 
No 1272/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council on classification, labelling and 
packaging of substances and mixtures (5 pages, in English) 
6. Description of content: This draft Commission Directive intends to increase the 
maximum allowable pressure in an aerosol dispenser from 13.2 to 15 bar at 50°C when non-flammable propellants (compressed gases)  are used. The maximum pressure provided 
currently by Directive 75/324/EEC limits the use of non-flammable propellants for some 
categories of aerosol dispensers. Commission Directive 2008/47/EC amending for the 
purposes of adapting to technical progress Directive 75/324/EEC increased the maximum allowable pressure from 12 to 13.2 bar, which was at the time the maximum pressure limit 
allowing to guarantee safety. However, furt her technical progress and innovation made 
possible a further increase of the maximum allowable pressure in the case of non-flammable propellants enabling thus to remedy a situation where the drop of the internal 
pressure during the use of the aerosol dispenser resulted in noticeable deterioration of its 
performance. The increase in pressure will therefore address this problem for some applications and will encourage industry to switch from flammable to non-flammable and thus more environmental friendly propellants. It will also allow a wider choice for 
manufacturers and also for consumers without however affecting the current safety levels.  
The draft Directive also intends to adapt the labelling provisions of Directive 75/324/EEC to 
the latest modifications of the correspon ding requirements of Regulation (EC) 
No 1272/2008 of 16 December 2008 by Commission Regulation (EU) No 487/2013 of 
8 May 2013, so as to improve legal clarity, coherence and readability. The labelling requirements of Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 constitute the basis for the labelling 
requirements of Directive 75/324/EEC with regard to "non-flammable", "flammable" and G/TBT/N/EU/334 
 
- 2 - 
 
  "extremely flammable"  aerosol dispensers. The intended modifications do not have any 
competitiveness or other impact as they do not affect the content of the requirements as those were already updated with Commission Directive 2013/10/EU of 19 March 2013 
amending Directive 75/324/EEC in order to adapt its labelling provisions to Regulation (EC) 
No 1272/2008. The provisions of Directive 2013/10/EU also reflect the, at the time, on-going modification of the CLP Regulation which led to the subsequent adoption of 
Commission Regulation (EU) No 487/2013. However, the adoption of the latter Regulation 
enables a further simplification of the labelling provisions of Directive 75/324/EEC by less and more comprehensive legal references. The suggested adaptation will therefore also 
reduce the need for future modifications of th e labelling provisions of Directive 75/324/EEC 
due to further updates of the corresponding provisions of Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008. 
7. Objective and rationale, including the nature of urgent problems where 
applicable: The draft Commission Directive intends to increase the maximum allowable 
pressure of an aerosol dispenser in case of use of non-flammable propellants and also to align the labelling provisions of Directive 75/324/EEC to the latest relevant modifications of 
Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 by Commission Regulation (EU) No 487/2013.  
The draft Directive will provide aerosol dispenser manufacturers with an additional and 
therefore a wider choice in the case of use of non-flammable propellants, without affecting 
the current levels of safety provided for by Directive 75/324/EEC. It will also increase 
coherence and legal clarity between the labelling provisions of Directive 75/324/EEC and the labelling provisions of Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008. 
As the draft measure does not provide for any new obligations for manufacturers but 
rather for an additional option and, in th e absence of any substantial change to the 
labelling requirements of Directive 75/324/EEC as modified by Directive 2013/10/EU, it will 
not result in any risk of barrier to trade. On the contrary, it will further facilitate 
international trade as it results in less strict requirements as far as the maximum allowable 
pressure limits are concerned. 
8. Relevant documents:  
1. Directive 75/324/EEC on the approximation of the laws of the Member States 
relating to aerosol dispensers: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/TXT/?qid=1452006501042&uri=CELEX:31975L0324  
2. Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 on classification, labelling and packaging of 
substances and mixtures: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/TXT/?qid=1452006592213&uri=CELEX:32008R1272   
9. Proposed date of adoption: First half of 2016 
Proposed date of entry into force: 20 days from publication in the Official Journal of 
the EU 
10. Final date for comments: 60 days from notification 
11. Texts available from: National enquiry point [ ] or address, telephone and fax 
numbers and email and website addresses, if available, of other body:  
European Commission 
EU-TBT Enquiry Point 
Fax: + (32) 2 299 80 43 E-mail: grow-eu-tbt@ec.europa.eu   
The text is available on the Website: http://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/tbt/   
https://members. wto.org/crnattachments/2016/TBT/EEC/16_0039_00_e.pdf