Legal base: Article 95 on the establishment and functioning of the internal market.
HSE
The Biocidal Products Directive 98/8/EC made provision for a 10-year transitional period to allow completion of a review of active substances used in biocidal products that were already on the market when Directive 98/8/EC came into force on 14 May 2000 (known as ‘existing’ active substances).
The EC published proposals on 8 October 2008 to make some simple amendments to Directive 98/8/EC that would extend the transitional period for a further three years. The proposals must be agreed by the Council and Parliament in co-decision. The EC hopes to get such agreement at the First Reading.
The proposal from the EC is to amend Article 16 of Directive 98/8/EC, extending the transitional period from 14 May 2010 to 14 May 2013. This will allow further time to complete the review of existing active substances, as there has been significant slippage in the timetable for reviewing the 416 active substances being supported by industry. The proposals will also amend Article 12 dealing with data protection so that information submitted by industry under Directive 98/8/EC will continue to be protected during the extended review period. The proposal includes provision for an additional "safety net" of Comitology to deal with any outstanding remaining substances after the 2013 deadline.
The draft amending Directive was presented at the 28 November 2008 meeting of the Council Working Party on the Environment. As a result of submissions by various Member States the outgoing French and incoming Czech Presidencies will be presenting various amendments to the 15 January 2009 Environment Working Party meeting, including extending the transitional period to 14 May 2014 with an absolute limit of 14 May 2016 for further extension by Comitology decision.