Proposal for a Council Regulation amending Annex IV to Regulation (EC) No 850/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council on persistent organic pollutants and amending Directive 79/117/EEC
Date: 2006-05-31
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EC Regulation, dangerous substance, environmental protection, environmental standard, organic pollution, public health, waste management

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 31.5.2006 
COM(2006) 242 final 

Proposal for a 

COUNCIL REGULATION 

amending Annex IV to Regulation (EC) No 850/2004 of the European Parliament and of 
the Council on persistent organic pollutants and amending Directive 79/117/EEC 

(presented by the Commission) 

EN 

   EN 

 
 
 
  
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 

Article 7(4)(a) of Regulation (EC) 850/2004 on persistent organic pollutants provides that the 
content of the substances listed in Annex IV is below the concentration limits to be specified 
in  Annex  IV  before  31  December  2005,  in  accordance  with  the  procedure  referred  to  in 
Article  17(2).  In  accordance  with  Article  17(1),  the  Commission  shall  be  assisted  by  the 
Committee established by Article  18 of  Directive  75/442/EEC,  for  matters relating to waste 
under this Regulation. 

Accordingly,  the  Commission  submitted  a  draft  Regulation  for  vote  in  the  Committee 
established  under  Article  18  of  Directive  75/442/EEC  on  waste  on  25  January  2006.  There 
was no qualified majority for the draft Regulation. 

Thus  in  accordance  with  the  procedure  set  out  in  Article  5  of  Decision  1999/468/EC  a 
Proposal for a Council Regulation is submitted to Council. If the Council has not acted within 
three months from the date of referral of the proposal, the proposed measures shall be adopted 
by the Commission. 

In accordance with Article 7(6) and 14(3) of Regulation (EC) 2004/850 the Commission had 
intended  to  also  propose  to  adopt  a  measure  on  the  solidification  of  wastes  to  be  otherwise 
recovered exceeding the concentration of 1 µg/kg PCDD/PCDF, but complying with the low 
concentration  limit  of  15  µg/kg  PCDD/PCDF.  This  additional  measure  depends  on  the 
adoption of the low concentration limit for PCDD/PCDF. As there was no qualified majority 
for  the  draft  Regulation  on  the  low  concentration  limit  of  15  µg/kg  PCDD/PCDF,  the 
additional  measure  alone  would  be  meaningless  and  was  not  proposed  for  vote  yet.

EN 

2 

   EN 

 
Proposal for a 

COUNCIL REGULATION 

amending Annex IV to Regulation (EC) No 850/2004 of the European Parliament and of 
the Council on persistent organic pollutants and amending Directive 79/117/EEC 

(Text with EEA relevance) 

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, 

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, 

Having  regard  to  Regulation  (EC)  No  850/2004  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the 
Council  of  29  April  2004  on  persistent  organic  pollutants  and  amending  Directive 
79/117/EEC1, and in particular Article 7(4)(a) and 14(3) thereof, 

Whereas: 

(1) 

(2) 

(3) 

(4) 

(5) 

The Commission conducted a study on the implementation of waste-related provisions 
of Regulation No 850/2004. 

The proposed concentration limits in Annex IV are considered the most appropriate to 
ensure  a  high  level  of  protection  in  view  of  the  destruction  or  irreversible 
transformation of the persistent organic pollutants. 

For  toxaphene,  a  mixture  of  over  670  substances,  no  agreed  and  relevant  analytical 
methodology  to  determine  the  total  concentration  is  available.  However  the  above 
mentioned  study  has  not  identified  any  stocks  consisting  of,  containing  or 
contaminated  with 
the 
the  European  Union. 
study demonstrates 
that,  whenever  any  persistent  organic  pollutant  pesticides 
were detected  in  wastes,  their  concentrations  were  usually high  when  compared  with 
the  proposed  concentration  limits.  For  the  time  being,  the  available  analytical 
methodologies for the determination of toxaphene can be considered as sufficiently fit 
for the purpose of this Regulation. 

In  addition 

toxaphene 

in 

limit  for  PCDF/PCDD 

The  concentration 
toxic  equivalent 
concentration (“TEQ”), using the 1998 World Health Organisation toxic equivalency 
factors (“TEFs”). Available data on dioxin-like PCB is not sufficient to include these 
compounds in the TEQ. 

is  expressed 

in 

Hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH) is the name of a technical mixture of various isomers. 
The  effort  to  completely  analyse  them  would  be  inadequate.  Only  alpha-,  beta-  and 
gamma-HCH  is  of  toxicological  relevance.  Therefore  the  concentration  limit 

1 

OJ L 158, 30.4.2004, p. 7; corrected version in OJ L 229, 29.6.2004, p. 5. 

EN 

3 

   EN 

 
                                                 
exclusively refers to them. Most commercially available analytical standard mixtures 
for the analyses of this compound class only identify these isomers. 

(6) 

Regulation (EC) No 850/2004 should therefore be amended accordingly. 

(7) 

The Committee established under Article 17(1) of Regulation (EC) No 850/2004 has 
not delivered an opinion on the measures laid down in a draft Commission Regulation, 
following its consultation, on 25 January 2006, in accordance with the procedure laid 
down in Article 17(2) of that Regulation, 

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: 

The  Annex  IV  to  Regulation  (EC)  No  850/2004/EEC  is  replaced  by  the  text  set  out  in  the 
Annex to this Regulation. 

Article 1 

Article 2 

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

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States. 

Done at Brussels, 

For the Council 
The President 

EN 

4 

   EN 

 
 
 
 
 
ANNEX 

Annex IV to Regulation (EC) No 850/2004 is replaced by the following:  

ANNEX IV 

“LIST OF SUBSTANCES SUBJECT TO WASTE MANAGEMENT PROVISIONS 

SET OUT IN ARTICLE 7 

SUBSTANCE 

CAS No 

EC No 

CONCENTRATION LIMIT 
REFERRED TO IN 
ARTICLE 7(4)(a) 

Aldrin  

309-00-2 

206-215-8 

50 mg/kg 

Chlordane  

57-74-9 

200-349-0 

50 mg/kg 

Dieldrin  

Endrin  

60-57-1 

200-484-5 

50 mg/kg 

72-20-8 

200-775-7 

50 mg/kg 

Heptachlor  

76-44-8 

200-962-3 

50 mg/kg 

Hexachlorobenzene  

118-74-1 

200-273-9 

50 mg/kg 

Mirex  

2385-85-5 

219-196-6 

50 mg/kg 

Toxaphene  

8001-35-2 

232-283-3 

50 mg/kg 

Polychlorinated 
Biphenyls (PCB) 

1336-36-3 

215-648-1 

50 mg/kg* 

and others 

DDT 

50-29-3 

200-024-3 

50 mg/kg 

(1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-
bis(4-chlorophenyl) 

ethane)  

Chlordecone  

143-50-0 

205-601-3 

50 mg/kg 

Polychlorinated 
dibenzo-p-dioxins and 
dibenzofurans 
(PCDD/PCDF) 

15 µg/kg** 

The  sum  of  alpha, 
beta- 
and  gamma- 
HCH 

58-89-9, 
319-84-6, 
319-85-7 

206-270-8, 
206-271-3  and 
200-401-2 

50 mg/kg 

EN 

5 

   EN 

 
 
 
Hexabromobiphenyl  

36355-01-8 

252-994-2 

50 mg/kg 

* Where applicable, the calculation method laid down in European standards EN 12766-1 and 
EN 12766-2 shall be applied 

** The limit is calculated as PCDD and PCDF according to the following toxic equivalency 
factors (TEFs): 

PCDD 

2,3,7,8-TeCDD 

1,2,3,7,8-PeCDD 

1,2,3,4,7,8-HxCDD 

1,2,3,6,7,8-HxCDD 

1,2,3,7,8,9-HxCDD 

1,2,3,4,6,7,8-HpCDD 

OCDD 

PCDF 

2,3,7,8-TeCDF 

1,2,3,7,8-PeCDF 

2,3,4,7,8-PeCDF 

1,2,3,4,7,8-HxCDF 

1,2,3,6,7,8-HxCDF 

1,2,3,7,8,9-HxCDF 

2,3,4,6,7,8-HxCDF 

1,2,3,4,6,7,8-HpCDF 

1,2,3,4,7,8,9-HpCDF 

OCDF 

“ 

TEF 

1 

1 

0.1 

0.1 

0.1 

0.01 

0.0001 

0.1 

0.05 

0.5 

0.1 

0.1 

0.1 

0.1 

0.01 

0.01 

0.0001 

EN 

6 

   EN