. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/N/EEC/272 
27 October 2005 
 (05-4974) 
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 Co mmunities. Health & Consumer 
Protection Directorate-General  Directorate E – Food Safety: Plant Health, Animal Health 
and Welfare, International questions.  
3. Products covered (provide tariff item number(s) as specified in national schedules 
deposited with the WTO; ICS numbers should be provided in addition, where 
applicable):  All agricultural products containing methabenzthiazuron (pesticide active 
substance).  
4. Regions or countries likely to be affected , to the extent relevant or practicable:  
Member States of the European Communiti es (EC) and third countries exporting the 
products concerned to the EC.  
5. Title, language and number of p ages of the notified document:  Draft Commission 
Decision Concerning the Non-inclusion of Methabenzthiazuron in Annex I to Council 
Directive 91/414/EEC and the Withdrawal of Authorisations for Plant Protection Products 
Containing this active Substance (SANCO/10135/2005 rev 2, 5 pages, text available in all 
Community languages).  
6. Description of content:  Provides that methabenzthiazuron is not included in the positive 
Community list and that Member States have to  withdraw authorisations for plant protection 
products containing this substance.  
7. Objective and rationale: [ X ] food safety,  [   ] animal health,  [ X ] plant protection, 
[   ] protect humans from animal/plant pest or disease, [   ] protect territory from other damage from pests   
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 h ealth and the environment.  This Directive 
provides for a programme to be carried out over a period of 12 years for the gradual examination of the active substances contained in the pesticides, which are on the market 
for the inclusion in Annex I of the Directive.  Methabenzthiazuron is a substance covered by 
the third stage of this work programme.   
No complete dossier has been submitted for Me thabenzthiazuron within the prescribed time 
limit.  However, the Commission decision will allow a further 4 years of authorisation and use for a limited number of Member States and for a restricted number of crops.  G/SPS/N/EEC/272 
Page 2  
 
 8. International standard, guideline or recommendation: 
[   ] Codex Alimentarius Commission,  [ X ] 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/10135/2005 rev 2) available in all Community 
languages.  The English version is  the reference document. When a dopted, it will be 
published in the Official Jour nal which is available at: 
http://europa.eu.int/eur-l ex/lex/JOYear.do?year=2005  . 
G/SPS/GEN/557 (29 March 2005) "Questions and answers on the procedure to obtain import 
tolerances and the Inclusion of Active substanc es for plant protection uses in the European 
Communities List" .  Available 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 January 2006  
11. Proposed date of entry into force:  1 January 2006 
MS have to withdraw all existing authorisa tions for plant protection products containing 
methabenzthiazuron within 6 months after date of adoption. 
For this active substance the authorisations fo r specified crops in specified Member States 
have to be withdrawn only by 30 June 2009,  with a period of grace for existing stocks 
expiring on 31 December 2009 at the latest.  
12. Final date for comments:  Sixty (60) days after the 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 noti fication authority, [ X ] National enquiry 
point, or address, fax number and E-mail address (if available) of other body: