. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/N/EEC/258 
23 March 2009  
 (09-1402) 
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 [   ], 2.10.1 [ X ], 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):   
Consumer products as defined in article 2(a) of Directive 2001/95/EC on general products 
safety. OJ L 11, 15.1.2002, p. 4.  
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/L exUriServ.do?uri=OJ :L:2002:011:0004:0017:EN:PDF  
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:   
Commission Decision of 17 March 2009 requiring Member States to en sure that products 
containing the biocide dimethyl fumarate are not placed or made  available on the market (6 
pages, in English). 
6. Description of content:   
This temporary Commission Deci sion requires Member States to ensure that consumer 
products do not contain the non-authoris ed biocide dimethylfumarate (DMF).  G/TBT/N/EEC/258 
Page 2  
 
  7. Objective and rationale, including the nature of urgent problems where applicable:   
DMF in consumer products such as upholstered furniture and footwear has caused severe 
dermatitis to hundreds of consumers. It penetr ated through the clothes onto consumers' skin 
where it caused painful dermatitis which was part icularly difficult to treat. The presence of 
DMF is thus a serious risk.  
Such risk cannot be addressed in the short term  under the applicable EU  chemicals legislation 
(REACH). Therefore, this temporary Decision bans the presence of DMF in consumer products until the permanent rest riction under REACH is establ ished in the coming years. 
8. Relevant documents:    
1. Williams JDL, et al (2008) An outbreak of  furniture dermatitis in the U.K.  British 
Journal of Dermatology 159: 233-234. 
2. Rantanen T (2008) The cause of the Chines e sofa/chair dermatitits epidemic is likely 
to be contact allergy to dimethylfumarate , a novel potent contact senisitizer. Concise 
communication. British Journa l of Dermatology 159: 218-221. 
9. Proposed date of adoption:   
Proposed date of entry into force:   }The Decision was adopted on 17 March 2009.  
Hundreds of consumers suffered from serious dermatitis when using upholstered furniture and 
footwear containing DMF. DMF was also identified in riding helmets. It was therefore 
necessary to act quickly to avoid further cases 
of serious consumer hea lth damage. Because of 
these urgent health problems, a quick adoption was necessary.  
10. Final date for comments:  See point 9 
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 be downloaded here.