. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/N/EEC/358 
10 January 2011  
 (11-0118) 
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 UNION
  
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, e-mail 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, 
EU–TBT Enquiry Point, Fax:  +(32) 2 299 80 43, E-mail:  mailto:eu-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):  Certain chemical 
substances and mixtures including them, which can serve as precursors to explosives (an 
explicit list of covered chemicals is in A nnex I and Annex II of the proposed regulation). 
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:  Proposal for a 
Regulation of the European Pa rliament and of the Council on the marketing and use of 
explosives precursors (COM(2010) 473) (21 pages,  in English, French and Spanish).     
6. Description of content:  The proposed Regulation prohibits the sales of certain chemicals 
above certain concentration thresholds, both set in Annex I of the proposal, to members of the 
general public.  The sales of higher concentra tions would only be allowed to users who can 
document a legitimate need to use the chemical – these users can obtain a licence to purchase the chemical from the relevant national authorit ies.  The obligation to possess a license to 
purchase the respective products (containing listed chemicals ab ove the stated concentration 
thresholds) should be indicated clearly on the pa ckaging thereof.  In addition to this, the 
proposed Regulation introduces an obligation to report suspicious transactions (concerning 
sales to end users from the general public).  G/TBT/N/EEC/358 
Page 2  
 
  7. Objective and rationale, including the nature of urgent problems where applicable:  The 
proposed regulation addresses the problem of th e misuse of certain chemicals, which are 
widely available to the general public on the ma rket, as precursors to homemade explosives. 
Home-made explosives, in turn, are a popular t ool preferred of terrorists and other criminals 
to perpetrate attacks. The main aim of the measures proposed is to reduce this risk by 
preventing access to selected highly concentrated chemicals by members of the general 
public.  
8. Relevant documents:   – 
9. Proposed date of adoption:   
Proposed date of entry into force:    To be determined 
Entry into force is foreseen 18 months after the adoption by the European Parliament and the Council.  
10. Final date for comments:  90 days from date of notification. 
11. Text available from: National  enquiry point [ ], or address, telephone and fax numbers, 
e-mail and website addresses, if available of the other body:  
European Commission, 
EU–TBT Enquiry Point, 
Fax:  + (32) 2 299 80 43, 
E-mail:  mailto:eu-tbt@ec.europa.eu  
 The text is available on the EU–TBT Website:  http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/tbt/
   
and at: 
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/L exUriServ.do?uri=COM:2010:0473:FIN:EN:PDF  
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/L exUriServ.do?uri=COM:2010:0473:FIN:FR:PDF  
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/L exUriServ.do?uri=COM:2010:0473:FIN:ES:PDF  
And can be downloaded at: 
http://members.wto.org/crnatt achments/2010/tbt/EEC/10_4814_00_e.pdf