. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/N/EEC/260 
3 May 2005 
 (05-1841) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures Original:   English 
  
 
NOTIFICATION  
 
1. Member to Agreement notifying:   EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
 
If applicable, name of local government involved: 
2. Agency responsible:   Commission of the European Communities Health & Consumer 
Protection Director ate-General Direct orate D – Food Safety:  production and distribution 
chain 
3. Products covered (provide tariff item numbe r(s) as specified in national schedules 
deposited with the WTO; ICS numbers should be provided in addition, where applicable):  Endosulfan (pesticide active su bstance) CAS N§.:  115-29-7. 
4. Regions or countries likely to be affected , to the extent relevant or practicable:  
Member States of the European Communities (E C) and third countries exporting the plant 
protection products concerned to the EC.  
5. Title, language and number of pages of the notified document:   Draft Commission 
Decision Concerning the Non-Inclusion of e ndosulfan in Annex I to Council Directive 
91/414/EEC and the Withdrawal of  Authorisations for Plant Protection Products Containing 
this Active Substance (availabl e in English;  6 pages). 
6. Description of content:  Subsequently to the "assessment re port", endosulfan is not included 
in the positive Community list.  The Member Stat es have to withdraw authorisations for plant 
protection products cont aining this substance. 
7. Objective and rationale:  [   ] food safety, [   ] animal health, [ X ] plant protection, 
[   ] protect humans from animal/plant pest or disease,  [   ]  protect territory from other 
damage from pests 
The harmonised framework for the authorisa tion and placing on the market of plant 
protection products (PPP) in the EC is se t by Directive 91/414/EEC/(OJ L230, 19 August 
1991 pp. 1-32).  This Directive provides for a pr ogramme, to be carried out over a period of 
12 years, for the gradual examination of the active substances present on the EC market with the aim of that only the substances with a favour able outcome on its evaluation be included in 
Annex I.  The first stage of this work prog ramme covers 90 active s ubstances and endosulfan 
is one of them. 
The assessment of the safety of the use of e ndosulfan has been made by the Member States 
and the Commission with the outcome of that  it does not satisfy the minimum safety 
requirements in particul ar the environmental fate, eco-toxico logical profile and the operators' 
exposure risk, and as a consequence, the dr aft Commission decision notified hereby proposes 
not to include endosulfan in the po sitive Community list (Annex 1). 
This decision does not prejudice the future su bmission of an application for endosulfan in 
view of a possible inclusion in its Annex I.  See also G/SPS/GEN/557 of 29 March 2005. G/SPS/N/EEC/260 
Page 2  
 
 8. International standard, guideline or recommendation:  
[   ] Codex Alimentarius Commission, [   ] World Organization for Animal Health 
(OIE), [   ] International Plant Protection Convention, [ X ] None  
If an international standard, guideline or recommendation exists, give the appropriate 
reference and briefly identify deviations:    
9. Relevant documents and language(s ) in which these are available:   
European Commission Document:  (SANCO/ 10658/2004 rev 2) available in English.  
Translation in all Community languages ongoing.   The English version is the reference 
document.  When adopted, it will be published in  the Official Journal which is available at: 
http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/oj/index.html 
G/SPS/GEN/557 of 29 March 2005 "Questions and answers on the procedure to obtain 
import tolerances and the Incl usion of Active substances fo r plant protection uses in the 
European Communities List".  Availa ble in http://docsonline.wto.org/ 
For more details on the PPP evaluation programme go to  
http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/plant/ protection/evaluation/index_en.htm 
10. Proposed date of adoption:   1 August 2005 
11. Proposed date of entry into force:   1 August 2005 
Member States have to withdr aw all existing authorisations  for plant protection products 
containing endosulfan 6 months  after date of adoption. 
12. Final date for comments:  Sixty (60) days after th e date of notification. 
Agency or authority designated to handle comments:  [   ] National notification 
authority, [ X ] National enquiry point, or  address, fax number and E-mail address (if 
available) of other body:    
13. Texts available from:  [   ] National notificati on authority, [ X ] National enquiry point, 
or address, fax number and E-mail address (if available) of other body: