Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the ' Amended proposal for a European Parliament and Council Directive concerning the placing of biocidal products on the market'
Date: 1996-03-27
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: environmental impact, marketing, plant health product, product safety, public health













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51996AC0415

Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the ' Amended proposal for a European Parliament and Council Directive concerning the placing of biocidal products on the market'  


Official Journal C 174 , 17/06/1996 P. 0032 





Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the 'Amended proposal for a  European Parliament and Council Directive concerning the placing of biocidal products on the  market`(96/C 174/10)On 15  March 1996 the Council consulted the Economic and Social  Committee, under Article  100a of the Treaty establishing the European Community, on the  above-mentioned proposal. The Section for Protection of the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Affairs, which was  responsible for preparing the Committee's work on the subject, adopted its Opinion on 5  March  1996. The Rapporteur was Mr  Gardner, the Co-Rapporteurs: Mr  Aspinall and Mr  Wilms. At its 334th Plenary Session (meeting of 27  March 1996), the Economic and Social Committee adopted  the following Opinion by a majority vote in favour and one vote against, with two abstentions. 1. Introduction1.1. BackgroundThis proposal is the result of disagreement between  institutions. In its Proposal on Biocides (), the Commission proposes common principles for the  evaluation of dossiers in Article  4, and in Article  26 proposes a standard Consultative Committee  procedure for this. Normally the Council changes this into a Regulatory Committee so as to retain  power in its own hands. Following Maastricht, the European Parliament found leverage to get in on  the act and wanted the common principles established by a modification of the original proposal. 1.2. BiocidesBiocides are compounds which have an effect on pests. They cover a very wide range -  disinfectants, rat control compounds, wood preservatives, etc., but exclude plant protection  products. 1.3. ESC Opinion on the base proposalThe Committee gave an Opinion () which was generally  favourable while suggesting a number of improvements. It was content with Articles 4 and 26 and  only commented on one of the five detailed appendices. 2. General commentsThe Committee has no objection to establishing the common principles by this  Proposal of amended Directive on biocides as they have the purpose to secure a high level of  protection of human and animal health and environment through harmonized national evaluation of  dossiers. 3. Detailed comments(The numbers refer to the Annex of the Proposal.)3.1. Point 11The  Committee approves of the requirement that the Member State 'shall cooperate`; 'must cooperate`  would be even better so as to ensure there is no undue delay. 3.2. Point 16The Committee places particular emphasis on this overall risk assessment and  emphasizes that this must be done in the light of Article  9(5). 3.3. Point 21To ensure that industrial workers are covered, the word 'professionals` should be  replaced in all versions by 'professional and industrial workers`. 3.4. Point 35Since 'Animals` are defined as those kept or fed by humans, this point needs to be  preceded by a heading: 'Effects on pests or noxious vertebrates`. Also a definition of 'humane` is needed, otherwise there is a danger that 'humane` is described by  the effect on the observer and not the observed animal. 'Humane` in the English language version  should be replaced by 'does not cause unnecessary suffering`. 3.5. Point 48Add at end: 'under normal or reasonably foreseeable conditions of use. Where appropriate Member States may  require the use of suitable resistance management methods.`3.6. Point 51Add at end of first  paragraph: 'when methods exist, providing they are suitable for the purpose.`This is necessary since some of  these standard methods are geared to very specific uses which may not always be appropriate. Also change 'standard` to 'standard method` since this point deals with the testing methods only. 3.7. Point 55It would be better to split the present (2) into two parts so that this point reads: '(2) The biocidal product can be authorised for its proposed use pattern subject to appropriate  precautions in use. (3) The biocidal product can be authorised conditionally subject to provision of extra data within  a reasonable time limit.`Existing (3) becomes (4). Frequently there is need for temporary authorization in cases where full data can probably be  obtained satisfactorily. 3.8. Point 67See comments under 3.2 above. 3.9. Point 70Change 'as a last resort` to 'whenever necessary`. For professional users protective  equipment should always be available and its use should be encouraged. 3.10. Points 80 and 81This refers to the existing Directives and needs revising when the successor  Directive (COM(94) 612 final) () has been adopted. The Committee particularly refers to its Opinion  () and the remarks in that concerning zero tolerances for plant protection products. Done at Brussels, 27  March 1996. The Presidentof the Economic and Social CommitteeCarlos FERRER() OJ No C  239, 3. 9. 1993.  () OJ No C 195, 18. 7. 1994.  () OJ No C 131, 30. 5. 1995.  () OJ No C 82, 19. 3. 1996, p. 64.