. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/N/EEC/132 
16 November 2006 
 (06-5541) 
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 oxydemeton-methyl  (pesticide active substance). 
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:   Draft Commission 
Decision concerning the non-inclusion of oxy demeton-methyl in Annex I to Council 
Directive 91/414/EEC and the withdrawal of au thorisations for plant protection products 
containing that substance (6 pages; English). 
6. Description of content:   Provides that oxydemeton-methyl is not included in the positive 
Community list and that Member States have to  withdraw authorisations for plant protection 
products containing this substance.  This deci sion only concerns the placing on the market 
of this substance and does not affect the Co mmunity or national Maximum 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/132 
Page 2  
 
  Oxydemeton-methyl is a substance covered by  the second stage of this work programme. 
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 consumer exposure is acceptable.  The information available indica tes concerns for metabolites which are at the 
same level of toxicity as the active substance, and their presence at levels which might be of 
toxicological concerns can not be excluded.  More over concerns were identified with regard to 
operator, worker and bystander exposure Therefore, it has not been demonstrated that it may 
be expected that, under the proposed conditions of use, plant protection products containing 
oxydemeton-methyl satisfy in general the requi rements laid down 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 containing Oxydemet on-methyl allowed by Member States, in 
accordance with the provisions of  Article 4(6) of Directive 91/41 4/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 
oxydemeton-methyl in Annex I to Council Directive 91/414/EEC 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 oxydemeton-methyl 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