. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/N/EEC/131 
16 November 2006 
 (06-5540) 
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 government involved (Articles 3.2 and 7.2):         
2. Agency responsible:   European Commission 
Name and address (including telephone and fax numbers, e-mail and web-site 
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) 22995725 E-mail:  ec-tbt@ec.europa.eu  
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):   Plant protection products 
containing diazinon  (pesticide active substance). 
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:   Draft Commission 
Decision concerning the Non-inclusion of diazinon in Annex I to Council Directive 
91/414/EEC and the withdrawal of authorisati ons for plant protection products containing 
that substance (6 pages; in English). 
6. Description of content:   Provides that diazinon is not included in the positive Community 
list and that Member States have to withdraw  authorisations for plant protection products 
containing this substance. This decision onl y concerns the placing on the market of this 
substance and does not affect the Commun ity or national Maxi mum Residue Levels 
(MRLs) for residues of the concerned pesticides. 
7. Objective and rationale, including the na ture 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 authorisation and placing on the market of plant 
protection products in order to protect  human health and the environment. 
Article 8(2) of this Directive provides a progr amme 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. 
Diazinon is a substance covered by the second stage of this work programme. G/TBT/N/EEC/131 
Page 2  
 
  During the evaluation of this active substance, a number of concerns were identified. In 
particular based on the available data it has not been demonstrated that the operator, worker 
and bystander exposure is acceptable. Moreover there is insufficient information on some very toxic impurities and their presence at levels wh ich might be of toxicological or ecotoxicological 
concern can not be excluded. Therefore, it has not been demonstrated that it may be expected 
that, under the proposed conditions of use, pl ant protection products containing diazinon 
satisfy in general the requirements laid dow n in Article 5(1)(a) and (b) of 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 Diazinon allowed by Member States, in accordance with 
the provisions of Article 4(6) of Directive 91/414 /EEC, is limited to a period not longer than 12 
months, i.e. 18 months from the date of adoption of this decision. 
8. Relevant documents:   Draft Commission Decision concerning the Non-inclusion of 
diazinon in Annex I to Council Directive 91/414/E EC and the withdrawal of authorisations 
for plant protection products containing that substance. 
9. Proposed date of adoption:   
Proposed date of entry into force:    15 January 2007 
MS have to withdraw all existing 
authorizations for plant protection products containing diazinon 6 months after date of 
adoption of the Commission Decision 
10. Final date for comments:   60 days from circulation 
11. Texts available from:  National enquiry point [    ] or address, 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 57 25 E-mail : ec-tbt@ec.europa.eu