. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/N/EEC/147 
5 February 2007 
 (07-0486) 
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) 2 2995725 
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):   Diuron  (pesticide active 
substances) 
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:   Draft Commission 
Decision Concerning the Non-Inclusion of diuron in Annex I to Council Directive 
91/414/EEC and the Withdrawal of Authorisati ons for Plant Protection Products Containing 
that Substance  (5 pages, in English). 
6. Description of content:   Provides that diuron 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 only 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.  G/TBT/N/EEC/147 
Page 2  
 
  Diuron is a substance covered by the second stage of this work programme. 
During the evaluation of this active substance, a number of concerns have been identified. 
The assessment of the data provided by the no tifier indicated that even with protective 
equipment, operators would be exposed to quantities of the substance which exceed the 
Acceptable Operator Exposure Level (AOEL). It was not possible to reach a conclusion on 
the possible risk of groundwater contamination because of the lack of data on the 
degradation pattern of certain metabolites a nd the overly optimistic assumption made by the 
notifier that application rates may be considered  significantly lower in practise. Similarly, 
based on the available data, it has not been de monstrated that the exposure for birds and 
mammals is acceptable. 
A period of grace for disposal, storage, placing on the market and use of existing stocks of 
plant protection products containing Diuron allowed by Member State, in accordance with the provisions of Article 4(6) of Di rective 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:   Doc. SANCO/10121/2006 rev 9 
9. Proposed date of adoption:   
Proposed date of entry into force:    March 2007 
MS have to withdraw all existing authorizations for plant protection products containing diuron 6 months after date of 
adoption. 
10. Final date for comments:   60 days from date of notification 
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