. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/N/EEC/155 
25 May 2007 
 (07-2168) 
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) 2 299 80 43 
E-mail:  ec-tbt@ec.europa.eu Website:  http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/tbt/ 
 
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):   Trifluralin  (pesticide 
active substances) 
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:   Draft Commission 
Decision Concerning the Non-Inclusion of trif luralin in Annex I to Council Directive 
91/414/EEC and the Withdrawal of Authorisati ons for Plant Protection Products Containing 
that Substance (4 pages, in English). 
6. Description of content:   Provides that trifluralin 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 onl y 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/155 
Page 2  
 
  Trifluralin 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. 
Trifluralin is of high toxicity to aquatic orga nisms, in particular fish. It is also highly 
persistent in soil and not readily biode gradable. Moreover, it shows potential for 
accumulation. In particular, it exceeds signifi cantly the maximum bioconcentration factor 
(BCF) laid down in Directive 91/414/EEC for a quatic organisms, indicating a potential for 
bioaccumulation in such organisms. Due to its  high volatility, transport through air cannot 
be excluded and, despite a rapid photochemica l degradation, monitoring programmes have 
shown migration to places distant from application.  These concerns made it appear that 
trifluralin does not meet the criteria for inclusion in Annex I to 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 trifluralin al lowed by Member State,  in accordance with 
the provisions of Article 4(6) of Directive 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/10158/2006 rev 5 
9. Proposed date of adoption:   
Proposed date of entry into force:    15 August 2007 
Member States have to withdraw all existing authorisations for plant protection products 
containing trifluralin 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 CommissionEC-TBT Enquiry Point 
Fax: (+32) 2 299 80 43 E-mail: ec-tbt@ec.europa.eu 
The text is available on the EC-TBT Webs ite: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/tbt/