A biocidal product's first steps: Check your active substance

Action for biocidal product formulators, suppliers, and distributors

If you want to import or make a biocidal product available on the market in Great Britain (GB), the first thing you need to do is check the status and applicable regulatory process of your active substance for the relevant product type(s) under the GB Biocidal Products Regulation (GB BPR). You can do this by checking the GB List of Active Substances.

Making available on the market means any supply of a biocidal product, whether in return for payment or free of charge, at all stages of the supply chain. Some examples of this could include:

manufacturer to distributor
distributor to retail store
retail store to user

For some biocidal products there may be multiple steps in the supply chain – if you only sell or distribute another company's biocidal products, you should check with your supplier whether their products comply with the GB legal requirements.

If you manufacture or market your own biocidal products, or import biocidal products, you will need to check the status of the active substance in your product. If your product contains more than one active substance you will need to determine the status of each substance and regularly check the status of your active substance on the GB List of Active Substances.

Checking the status

To check the status of the active substance(s) in your product you should view the GB List of Active Substances.

Information on how to search the table is included on the webpage and in the 'Guidance' tab of the downloadable Excel spreadsheet.

You can find the status of an active substance in the 'Approval/assessment status' column.

You can find the regulatory process applicable to an active substance (eg new active substance, Review Programme for existing active substances) in the 'Regulatory Process' column.

The definition of each status is included on the webpage and in the 'Definitions' tab.

Please note the information in the table is presented for information purposes only and may not be entirely accurate, for example due to time-lags.

Next steps

'Approved' or 'Approved - under renewal'

If the date of approval has already passed for all the active substances in the relevant product type, under any regulatory process, you will need to:

apply for and receive GB BPR product authorisation before the biocidal product can be made available on the GB market

If the date of approval is in the future for one or more of the active substances in the relevant product type you should check the regulatory process:

New or Non-Review Programme existing active substances
If one or more of the active substances in the relevant product type is a new active substance or a non-Review Programme existing active substance you will need to:
- apply for GB BPR product authorisation by the approval date for the last active substance / product type combination
- receive GB BPR product authorisation before the biocidal product can be made available on the GB market
Review Programme for existing active substances
If all the active substances in the relevant product type are under the Review Programme for existing active substances, you:
- may make the product available on the GB market
- must comply with the requirements of the Control of Pesticides Regulations (COPR) and other national law where applicable in GB
- must comply with specific elements of GB BPR such as GB Article 95 and advertising requirements - 'Approved' or 'Approved - under renewal'
- must apply for GB BPR product authorisation by the approval date for the last active substance / product type combination to remain on the market
Article 93 active substances
Article 93 of GB BPR provides a derogation for biocidal products that were not in scope of previous biocides legislation (the Biocidal Products Directive) to allow them to remain on the GB market as long as the active substance was supported by the relevant deadline.

If one or more of the active substances in the relevant product type is an Article 93 active substance and your product was not in scope of previous biocides legislation you:

may make the product available on the GB market
must comply with the requirements of other national law where applicable in GB
must comply with specific elements of GB BPR such as GB Article 95 (where applicable) and advertising requirements (where applicable)
must apply for GB BPR product authorisation by the approval date for the last active substance / product type combination to remain on the market

Some active substances are those that are generated at the point of use by the reaction of one or more precursors – in situ generated active substances. The actions you need to take may vary if you want to:
generate an active substance in situ
supply a precursor with the intention that it is used to generate an active substance in situ

Find out more about in situ generation and the actions you need to take.

'Not approved'

New biocidal products containing one or more active substances that are not approved for the relevant product type cannot be made available on the GB market.
Existing biocidal products containing one or more active substances that are not approved for the relevant product type can continue to be made available on the GB market following the publication of the non-approval decision for:
- up to 12 months for making the product available(at all stages of the supply chain)
- up to 18 months for its use

During the phase-out periods, your biocidal product must still comply with:

the requirements of the Control of Pesticides Regulations (COPR) and other national law where applicable in GB
specific elements of GB BPR such as GB Article 95 and advertising requirements - not approved

'Expired'

If one or more active substances are expired for the relevant product type you:
- cannot make the product available on the GB market

'Under review'

If one or more of the active substances in the relevant product type are under review and the others are listed as approved, open invitation or notified, you:
- may make the product available on the GB market
- must comply with the requirements of the Control of Pesticides Regulations (COPR) and other national law where applicable in GB
- must comply with specific elements of GB BPR such as GB Article 95 and advertising requirements - under review
- must apply for GB BPR product authorisation by the approval date for the last active substance / product type combination to remain on the market

Under assessment

If one or more of the active substances in the relevant product type is a new active substance or a non-Review Programme existing active substance, you will need to:
- apply for GB BPR product authorisation by the approval date for the last active substance / product type combination
- receive GB BPR product authorisation before the biocidal product can be made available on the GB market
If one or more of the active substances in the relevant product type is an Article 93 active substance, and your product was not in scope of previous biocides legislation (the Biocidal Products Directive) you:
may make the product available on the GB market
- must comply with the requirements of other national law where applicable in GB
- must comply with specific elements of GB BPR such as GB Article 95 (where applicable) and advertising requirements - under assessment (where applicable)
- must apply for GB BPR product authorisation by the approval date for the last active substance / product type combination to remain on the market
Some active substances are those that are generated at the point of use by the reaction of one or more precursors – in situ generated active substances. The actions you need to take may vary if you want to:
generate an active substance in situ
supply a precursor with the intention that it is used to generate an active substance in situ

Find out more about in situ generation and the actions you need to take.

'Application withdrawn'

If one or more of the active substances is listed as application withdrawn for the relevant product type you:
- cannot make the product available on the GB market
- may choose to support the active substance through the assessment process, but it could not be used in biocidal products made available on the GB market before active substance approval and subsequent product authorisation overview is received

'Open Invitation or Notified'

If one or more of the active substances is listed as open invitation or notified for the relevant product type and the others are approved or under review, you:
- may make the product available on the GB market
- must comply with the requirements of the Control of Pesticides Regulations (COPR) and other national law where applicable in GB
- must comply with specific elements of GB BPR such as GB Article 95 and advertising requirements
- must apply for GB BPR product authorisation by the approval date for the last active substance / product type combination to remain on the market
- should decide if you want to support, or help others support, the active substance through the assessment process – if no-one supports the active, products containing it will eventually have to be removed from the market

'No longer supported'

New biocidal products containing one or more active substances that are no longer supported for the relevant product type cannot be made available on the GB market.
Existing biocidal products containing one or more active substances that are no longer supported for the relevant product type can continue to be made available on the GB market until a non-approval decision is published.
Following the publication of the non-approval decision, existing products may only continue to be made available on the market for:

up to 12 months for making the product available(at all stages of the supply chain)
up to 18 months for its use