Proposal for aDirective of the European Parliament and of the Councilamending for the 24th time Council Directive 76/769/EEC relating to restrictionson the marketing and use of certain dangerous substances and preparations (pentabromodiphenyl ether)
Date: 2001-01-15
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: dangerous substance, environmental protection, environmental risk prevention, marketing restriction, plastics

C 154 E/112

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

29.5.2001

Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending for the 24th
time Council Directive 76/769/EEC relating to restrictions on the marketing and use of certain
dangerous substances and preparations (pentabromodiphenyl ether)

(2001/C 154 E/09)

(Text with EEA relevance)

COM(2001) 12 final (cid:151) 2001/0018(COD)

(Submitted by the Commission on 16 January 2001)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL
OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community, and in particular Article 95 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Having regard to the opinion of
Committee,

the Economic and Social

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article
251 of the Treaty,

Whereas:

(1) Under Article 14 of the Treaty, an area without internal
frontiers is to be established, in which the free movement
of goods, persons, services and capital is ensured.

(2) The risks to the environment of pentabromodiphenyl ether
(pentaBDE) have been assessed under Council Regulation
(EEC) 793/93 of 23 March 1993 on the evaluation and
the risks of existing substances (1). The risk
control of
reducing risks of
identified a need for
assessment
In its opinion of
to the
pentaBDE
the Scientific Committee on toxicity,
4 February 2000,
ecotoxicity and the environment
(CSTEE) confirms the
conclusions of the assessment of pentaBDE on the need
to reduce risks to protect the environment. Furthermore,
the CSTEE confirmed, in its opinion of 19 June 2000, the
concern about exposure of breast-fed children to pentaBDE
and that the increasing levels of pentaBDE in breast milk
might be the result of a use not yet identified.

environment.

(3) The Commission has adopted a recommendation in the
framework of Regulation (EEC) 793/93 on a
risk
reduction strategy for pentaBDE providing for restrictions
on marketing and use to control risk to the environment. It
also recommended that any measures should take account
of the concerns about infants exposed via milk.

(4) In order to protect health and the environment the placing
on the market and the use of pentaBDE and the placing on
the market of articles containing pentaBDE should be
prohibited.

(5) The commercially available,

technical grade, diphenyl
ethers are mixtures and contain molecules with different
numbers of bromine atoms. Technical grade octabromo-
diphenyl ether (octaBDE) contains pentaBDE,
in addition
to mainly octaBDE and heptaBDE. OctaBDE is currently
the subject of risk assessment under Regulation (EEC)
793/93. This risk assessment
is not yet complete and
though risk reduction measures may be recommended in
the future the present proposal should not have the effect
of restricting technical grade octaBDE.

(6) Presence of pentaBDE in concentrations higher than 0,1 %
can be identified using standard analytical techniques such
as GC-MS (gas chromatography-mass spectrometry). These
techniques can distinguish between technical grades of
octaBDE and pentaBDE.

for

(7) Whereas this Directive does not affect Community legis-
lation laying down minimum requirements
the
protection of workers contained in Council Directive
89/391/EEC of 12 June 1989 on the introduction of
measures to encourage improvements in the safety and
health of workers at work (2), and in individual directives
based thereon, in particular Council Directive 90/394/EEC
of 28 June 1990 on the protection of workers from the
risks related to exposure to carcinogens at work (Sixth
individual Directive within the meaning of Article 16(1)
of Directive
and Council Directive
98/24/EC on protection of health and safety of workers
from the risk related to chemical agents at work,

89/391/EEC) (3)

HAVE ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:

Article 1

Annex I to Directive 76/769/EEC is hereby amended as set out
in the Annex to this Directive.

Article 2

Member States shall adopt and publish the laws, regulations
and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this
Directive no later than 31 December 2002 (one year after
the date of its entry into force). They shall forthwith inform
the Commission thereof.

(1) OJ L 84, 5.4.1993, p. 1.

(2) OJ L 183, 29.6.1989, p. 1.
(3) OJ L 196, 26.7.1990, p. 1.

29.5.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 154 E/113

They shall apply those provisions from 1 July 2003 (eighteen
months after the entry into force of this Directive).

When Member States adopt those provisions, the provisions
shall contain a reference to this Directive or be accompanied
by such a reference on the occasion of their official publication.
Member States shall determine how such reference is to be
made.

Article 3

This Directive shall enter into force on the twentieth day
following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the
European Communities.

Article 4

This Directive is addressed to the Member States.

The following point [XX] is added to Annex I of Directive 76/769/EEC:

ANNEX

(cid:145)[XX] diphenylether, pentabromo

derivative

C12H5Br5O

1. May not be placed on the market or used as a substance or as a
constituent of preparations in concentrations higher than 0,1 % by
mass.

2. Articles may not be placed on the market if they, or flameretarded
parts thereof, contain this substance in concentrations higher than
0,1 % by mass.

3. By way of derogation these provisions do not apply to technical grade
octabromodiphenyl ether provided it contains less than 5 % diphenyl-
ether, pentabromo derivative by mass.(cid:146)