Biocidal Products: Why Authorities Are Sounding the Alarm

Every third biocidal product, including many disinfectants, violates EU law. That’s the result of a review of more than 3,500 products sold in Europe. The ECHA published the detailed test results on November 21 as part of a project report.

The inspectors classified about 18% of the deficiencies they found as serious. That means that safe use of the products could no longer be assumed in these cases. Either the product approval was missing, or the products contained active ingredients that were not approved. The products were all withdrawn from the market. The authorities imposed criminal charges and/or fines on some manufacturers.

The results of the chemical analysis were interesting. A total of 285 biocidal products were analyzed. For every fourth product, the concentrations of the active ingredients stated in the safety data sheets did not match the actual levels found.

Background

The inspections took place as part of a monitoring project, BEF-2 (Biocide Enforcement Project-2, BEF-2), which the ECHA initiated. The inspectors primarily checked active substances in biocidal products. They paid special attention to disinfectants.

BEF-1 monitoring project had been carried out previously, when the inspectors found that 30% of the products tested were not labeled in accordance with the law.

With these monitoring projects, the EU aims to check the extent to which manufacturers comply with the requirements of the Biocidal Products Regulation (EU) No. 528/2012.

We advise you with regard to the requirements of Regulation (EU) No. 528/2012 (Biocidal Products Regulation, BPR), check the labeling and marketability of biocidal products within the EU and carry out the biocide notification in Germany to the BAuA according to the German “Chemikaliengesetz (ChemBiozidMeldeV)”.

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