. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/N/EEC/128 
2 November 2006 
 (06-5275) 
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: 00 3 222995725 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 malathion (pesticide active substances). 
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:   Draft Commission 
Decision concerning the non-inclusion of malathion in Annex I to Council Directive 
91/414/EEC and the withdrawal of authorisati ons for plant protection products containing 
that substance (6 pages, in English). 
6. Description of content:   Provides that malathion 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 only 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 pr ogramme to be carried out over a period of 
12 years for the gradual examination of the ac tive substances contained in 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/128 
Page 2  
 
  Malathion is a substance covered by th e second stage of this work programme. 
Assessments made on the basis of the information submitted show that the estimated exposure 
of operators, workers and bystanders could not be concluded. Moreover, the estimated acute 
and chronic exposure of consumers cannot be re garded as acceptable due to the insufficient 
information on the effects of certain degrada tion products that may be present in raw or 
processed commodities. 
Therefore, it has not been demonstrated that  it may be expected that, under the proposed 
conditions of use, plant protection products containing malathion satisfy in general the 
requirements 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 containi ng malathion allowed by Member State, in accordance with 
the provisions of Article 4(6) of  Directive 91/414/EEC, is limite d to a period not longer than 
12 months, i.e. 18 months from the da te of adoption of this decision. 
8. Relevant documents:   Draft Commission Decision concerning the non-inclusion of 
malathion 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:    December 2006 
 MS have to withdraw all existing 
authorizations for plant protection products 
containing malathion 6 months after date of adoption. 
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: 0032 2 299 57 25 
E-mail: ec-tbt@ec.europa.eu