Case C-420/10

Söll GmbH

v

Tetra GmbH

(Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Landgericht Hamburg)

‛Placing on the market of biocidal products — Directive 98/8/EC — Article 2(1)(a) — Concept of ‘biocidal products’– Product causing flocculation of harmful organisms without destroying or deterring them or rendering them harmless’

Summary of the Judgment

Approximation of laws — Biocidal products — Directive 98/8 — Scope — Definition of biocidal products

(European Parliament and Council Directive 98/8, Art. 2(1)(a))

The term ‘biocidal products’ used in Article 2(1)(a) of Directive 98/8 concerning the placing of biocidal products on the market must be interpreted as including even products that act only indirectly on the target harmful organisms, so long as they contain one or more active substances provoking a chemical or biological action which forms an integral part of a causal chain, the objective of which is to produce an inhibiting effect in relation to those organisms.

In that regard, the gradation in the description of the purposes of such products set out in the first subparagraph of Article 2(1)(a) of Directive 98/8, from the destruction of the harmful organisms to their prevention, and, more importantly, the fact that that provision covers, lastly, products ‘otherwise’ exerting a controlling effect on those harmful organisms mean that if a product has such an effect that is enough, even when that effect is limited to the possibility of that product’s exerting greater control over the target harmful organisms or of facilitating their elimination.

(see paras 28, 31, operative part)

Case C-420/10

Söll GmbH

v

Tetra GmbH

(Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Landgericht Hamburg)

‛Placing on the market of biocidal products — Directive 98/8/EC — Article 2(1)(a) — Concept of ‘biocidal products’– Product causing flocculation of harmful organisms without destroying or deterring them or rendering them harmless’

Summary of the Judgment

Approximation of laws — Biocidal products — Directive 98/8 — Scope — Definition of biocidal products

(European Parliament and Council Directive 98/8, Art. 2(1)(a))

The term ‘biocidal products’ used in Article 2(1)(a) of Directive 98/8 concerning the placing of biocidal products on the market must be interpreted as including even products that act only indirectly on the target harmful organisms, so long as they contain one or more active substances provoking a chemical or biological action which forms an integral part of a causal chain, the objective of which is to produce an inhibiting effect in relation to those organisms.

In that regard, the gradation in the description of the purposes of such products set out in the first subparagraph of Article 2(1)(a) of Directive 98/8, from the destruction of the harmful organisms to their prevention, and, more importantly, the fact that that provision covers, lastly, products ‘otherwise’ exerting a controlling effect on those harmful organisms mean that if a product has such an effect that is enough, even when that effect is limited to the possibility of that product’s exerting greater control over the target harmful organisms or of facilitating their elimination.

(see paras 28, 31, operative part)