COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 551/2009  
of 25 June 2009  
amending Regulation (EC) No 648/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council on 
detergents, in order to adapt Annexes V and VI thereto (surfactant derogation)  
(Text with EEA relevance)  
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,  
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European 
Community,  
Having regard to Regulation (EC) No 648/2004 of the European 
Parliament and of the Council of 31 March 2004 on 
detergents (  1 ), and in particular Article 13(1) thereof,  
Whereas:  
(1) Regulation (EC) No 648/2004 ensures the free circulation 
of detergents, and of surfactants for detergents, on the 
internal market while at the same time providing, inter 
alia, a high level of protection to the environment by 
laying down requirements for the ultimate biodegrad ­
ability of surfactants used in detergents.  
(2) In addition, Articles 5, 6 and 9 of the Regulation provide 
a mechanism by which surfactants that do not fulfil the 
abovementioned requirement of ultimate biodegradability 
may nevertheless be granted a derogation for use in 
specific industrial or institutional applications providing 
that those applications constitute a low-dispersive use 
and that the associated risk to the environment is 
small compared to the socioeconomic benefit.  
(3) The Regulation stipulates that the risk to the environ ­
ment is to be assessed by means of a complementary 
risk assessment, described in Annex IV, carried out by 
the manufacturer of the surfactant and submitted to 
competent authority of a Member State for evaluation.  
(4) Surfactants that are granted a derogation should be listed 
in Annex V to the Regulation. Those that are refused a 
derogation should be listed in Annex VI to the Regu ­
lation.  
(5) Derogations should be adopted in accordance with 
Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying 
down the procedures for the exercise of implementing 
powers conferred on the Commission (  2 ). 
(6) A request for a derogation was made for the surfactant 
with the IUPAC (  3 ) name ‘alcohols, Guerbet, C16-20, 
ethoxylated, n-butyl ether (7-8EO)’, also known by the trade name ‘Dehypon G 2084’, with the CAS (  4 ) number 
147993-59-7, for use in three industrial applications, 
namely: bottle washing, cleaning-in-place and metal 
cleaning.  
(7) The request for a derogation was evaluated by the 
German competent authority in accordance with the 
procedure described in Article 5 of the Regulation. The 
request was found to fulfil the three conditions required 
under Article 6. Firstly, the three named uses are low- 
dispersive applications. Secondly, the applications are 
specific industrial applications. Thirdly, there is no risk 
to the environment as the surfactant itself does not pose 
a risk and the metabolites are not persistent.  
(8) The three named uses were considered to be low- 
dispersive industrial applications in view of the total 
annual consumption of the surfactant and in view of 
the use of the surfactant exclusively in specific types of 
industrial installations.  
(9) The conclusion concerning lack of risk to the environ ­
ment is based on the rapid achievement of a high degree 
of primary biodegradability of the surfactant and on the 
ultimate biodegradability of the surfactant metabolites. 
The metabolites therefore meet the same criteria as 
those surfactants for which the Regulation guarantees 
free circulation on the internal market.  
(10) The Committee for the adaptation to technical progress 
of legislation on the removal of technical barriers to 
trade in detergents decided nevertheless to limit the dero ­
gation to a period of 10 years to encourage the devel ­
opment of surfactants of equivalent performance which 
fulfil the criteria of ultimate biodegradability and which 
therefore would not require a derogation.  
(11) In the past, substances in the Community were allocated 
either an Einecs number or an ELINCS number. However, 
in addition, some 700 substances previously identified as 
polymers have been recognised as non-polymers and 
have been assigned NLP (No-Longer Polymer) numbers. 
Einecs, ELINCS and NLP numbers are now referred to 
collectively as ‘EC numbers’ and the corresponding 
headings in tables in Annex V and VI should be 
changed to reflect the new nomenclature.EN 26.6.2009 Official Journal of the European Union L 164/3  
( 1 ) OJ L 104, 8.4.2004, p. 1.  
( 2 ) OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23.  
( 3 ) International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry.  (  4 ) Chemicals Abstracts Service.(12) Annexes V and VI to Regulation (EC) No 648/2004 
should be amended accordingly.  
(13) The measures provided for in this Regulation are in 
accordance with the opinion of the Detergents 
Committee,  
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:  
Article 1  
Regulation (EC) No 648/2004 is amended as follows:  1. Annex V is replaced by the text set out in Annex I to this 
Regulation.  
2. Annex VI is replaced by the text set out in Annex II to this 
Regulation.  
Article 2  
This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following its 
publication in the  Official Journal of the European Union . 
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.  
Done at Brussels, 25 June 2009.  
For the Commission  
Günter VERHEUGEN  
Vice-PresidentEN L 164/4 Official Journal of the European Union 26.6.2009ANNEX I  
‘ANNEX V  
LIST OF SURFACTANTS THAT HAVE OBTAINED A DEROGATION  
By way of derogation granted in accordance with Articles 4-6 and in accordance with the procedure laid down in 
Article 12(2), the following detergent surfactants, which pass the tests stipulated in Annex II, but which fail the tests 
stipulated in Annex III, may be placed on the market and used subject to the limitations mentioned below.  
Name in the IUPAC nomenclature  EC Number  CAS number  Limitations  
Alcohols, Guerbet, C16-20, 
ethoxylated, n-butyl ether (7-8EO)  None (polymer)  147993-59-7  May be used for the following industrial 
applications until 27 June 2019: 
— bottle washing, 
— cleaning-in-place, 
— metal cleaning,  
The “EC number” means the Einecs, ELINCS or NLP number and is the official number of the substance within the 
European Union.  
“Einecs” means the European Inventory of Existing Commercial Chemical Substances. This inventory contains the 
definitive list of all substances deemed to be on the Community market on 18 September 1981. The Einecs number 
can be obtained from the European Inventory of Existing Commercial Chemical Substance (  1 ). 
“ELINCS” means the European List of Notified Chemical Substances. The ELINCS number can be obtained from the 
European List of Notified Substances, as amended (  2 ). 
“NLP” means No-Longer Polymer. The term polymer is defined in Article 3(5) of Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 (  3 ) of the 
European Parliament and of the Council. The NLP number can be obtained from the list of “No-Longer Polymers”, as 
amended (  4 ).EN 26.6.2009 Official Journal of the European Union L 164/5  
( 1 ) OJ C 146 A, 15.6.1990, p. 1.  
( 2 ) Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2006, ISSN 1018-5593 EUR 22543 EN.  
( 3 ) OJ L 396, 30.12.2006, p. 1, as corrected by OJ L 136, 29.5.2007, p. 3.  
( 4 ) Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2007, ISSN 1018-5593 EUR 20853 EN/3.’ANNEX II  
‘ANNEX VI  
LIST OF BANNED OR RESTRICTED DETERGENT SURFACTANTS  
The following detergent surfactants have been identified as not complying with the provisions of this Regulation:  
Name in the IUPAC 
nomenclature  EC Number  CAS number  Limitations  
The “EC number” means the Einecs, ELINCS or NLP number and is the official number of the substance within the 
European Union.’EN L 164/6 Official Journal of the European Union 26.6.2009