. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/N/EEC/217 
13 October 2008 
 (08-4849) 
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 Email: 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):   Sunscreen products. 
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:   Draft Commission 
Directive amending Council Directive 76/768/ EEC, concerning cosmetic products, for the 
purpose of adapting Annexes II and VII thereto to technical progress (4 pages, in English). 
6. Description of content:   The Scientific Committee on Consumer Products (SCCP) 
concluded, in its opinion SCCP/1008/06 of 20 June 2006, that: "Although 4-aminobenzoic 
acid (PABA) is presently permitted and used as  a sunscreen, it became apparent in the 
process of evaluation of the dossier that much of the information did not conform to current 
standards and guidelines."  Before any further evaluation of the use of 4-aminobenzoic acid, both as a UV-filter and for 
purposes other than a UV filter, the SCCP requi red a new dossier - containing data to all 
relevant toxicological endpoints and confor ming to modern standards and SCCNFP/SCCP 
guidelines - to be submitted before 1 July 2007. 
 
The EC received confirmation from the European  cosmetics industry that there is no longer 
an interest in using this UV-filter (PABA) in cosmetic products placed on the Community 
market. The cosmetics industry does not intend to defend the use of PABA by a submission 
of additional safety data as required in the opinion SCCP/1008/06. In view of the above, the EC intends to ban the use of PABA by deleting it from Annex VII 
and by listing it in Annex II (“List of subs tances which must not form part of the 
composition of cosmetic products”) to the Cosmetics Directive. G/TBT/N/EEC/217 
Page 2  
 
  Moreover, in the opinion 166/08 of 15 April 2008, the SCCP concluded that the use of 
diethylamino hydroxybenzoyl hexyl benzoate at a maximum concentration of 10% in 
cosmetic products, including sunscreen products, does not pose a risk to the health of the 
consumer. Therefore, it has been proposed to extend the scope of the allowed use of 
diethylamino hydroxybenzoyl hexyl benzoate fo r all cosmetic products by deleting the 
restriction for “sunscreen products” in column  “c” of the entry 28 in Annex VII of the 
Cosmetics Directive. 
7. Objective and rationale, including the na ture of urgent problems where applicable:  
Protection of human health 
8. Relevant documents:   Council Directive 76/768/EEC of 27 July 1976 on the 
approximation of the laws of the Member St ates relating to cosmetic products (text: 
http://europa.eu.int/comm/enterprise/ cosmetics/html/consolidated_dir.htm ) 
9. Proposed date of adoption:   
 
Proposed date of entry into force:    Adoption and publication in the Official 
Journal of the EU: December 2008 
Entry into force: twentieth day following the 
publication in the Official Journal of the EU 
10. Final date for comments:   60 days from circulation by WTO Secretariat 
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 80 43 E-mail:  ec-tbt@ec.europa.eu
 
The text is available on the EC-TBT Website: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/tbt/  
and 
http://members.wto.org/crnattach ments/2008/tbt/EEC/08_3221_00_e.pdf