. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/N/EEC/285 
16 July 2009  
 (09-3493) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   English 
  
 
NOTIFICATION 
 
The following notification is being circ ulated in accordance with Article 10.6 
 
1. Member to Agreement notifying:  EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
  
If applicable, name of local governme nt involved (Article 3.2 and 7.2):     
2. Agency responsible:  European Commission 
Name and address (including telephone 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 
EC-TBT Enquiry Point Fax:  +(32) 2 299 80 43 E-mail:  ec-tbt@ec.europa.eu Website: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/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 applicable, otherwise national tariff heading. 
ICS numbers may be provided in addition, where applicable):  Metam (pesticide active 
substance).       
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:  Draft Council Decision 
concerning the non-inclusion of metam in Anne x I to Council Directive 91/414/EEC and the 
withdrawal of authorisations for plant protection products c ontaining that substance  (10 
pages, in English).  
6. Description of content:  The draft provides that metam is  not included in the positive 
Community list and that Member States have to withdraw authorisations for plant protection products containing that substa nce. However, provisi ons are included to grant a longer phase 
out for authorisations issued on certain limited crops in t hose Member States where an 
alternative is not available. This draft Decision only concerns the placing on the market of this 
substance and does not affect the Community or national Maximum Re sidue Levels (MRLs) 
for residues of the concerned substance.  
7. Objective and rationale, including the natu re of urgent problems where applicable:  
Directive 91/414/EEC concerning the placing of plant protection products  on the market sets 
up a harmonised framework for the authoris ation and placing on the market of plant 
protection products in orde r to protect human health and the environment.  G/TBT/N/EEC/285 
Page 2  
 
   Article 8(2) of this Directive provides a program me to be carried out over a period of 12 years 
for the gradual examination of the active substances contained in the plant protection products 
on the market. Substances for which the outcome  of the evaluation is favourable are then 
included in Annex I of the Directive. 
Metam is a substance covered by the third stage of this work programme. 
During the evaluation of this active substance, a number of concerns have been identified. In 
particular, the consumers risk assessment could not be finalized due to inadequate residues investigations and to the lack of information on a relevant impurity (DMTU). In addition, the 
environmental risk assessment could not be fi nalized with regard to  potential groundwater 
contamination due to lack of appr opriate data to address the mobility in soil of the relevant 
metabolite (MITC) and the impurity (DMTU). Cons equently, it was not possible to conclude, 
on the basis of the information made available w ithin the legal deadline s, that metam met the 
criteria for inclusion in A nnex I to Directive 91/414/EEC. 
A period of grace for disposal, storage, placing on the market and use of existing stocks of 
plant protection products contai ning metam allowed by Member States, in accordance with 
the provisions of Article 4(6) of Directive 91/414/EEC, is limi ted to a period not longer than 
12 months, i.e. 18 months from the date  of adoption of this draft Decision. 
8. Relevant documents:   Council Directive 91/414/EEC of 15 July 1991 concerning the placing 
of plant protection products on the market, OJ L 230, 19 August 1991, p. 1. 
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CONSLEG:1991L0414:20070201:EN:PDF  
9. Proposed date of adoption:   
Proposed date of entry into force:    September 2009 
Member States have to withdraw all existing authorizations for pl ant protection products 
containing metam 6 months after the date of 
adoption, with the exception of the authorisations listed in the Annex of the proposal (withdrawal by 31 December 2014).  
10. Final date for comments:  60 days from date of notification. 
11. Text available from: National enquiry point [  ], or addre ss, telephone and fax numbers, 
e-mail and web-site addresses, if available of the other body:    
European Commission 
EC-TBT Enquiry Point 
Fax:  + (32) 2 299 80 43 
E-mail:  ec-tbt@ec.europa.eu The text is available on the EC-TBT Website :  http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/tbt/ 
  
And can also be downloaded here.