New scientific committee in ECHA

A new scientific committee in ECHA has been established to contribute to the availability of safe biocidal products in the European markets. The Biocidal Products Committee will have an important role in the approval of active substances and the authorisation of biocidal products under the Biocidal Products Regulation, which enters into operation on 1 September 2013.

The first meeting of the Biocidal Products Committee from 26 to 27 March 2013 was one of the big milestones in preparation for the new regulation. The committee has started work on the working methods, procedures and priorities for future work.

"ECHA is working hard to be ready to receive industry's dossiers after the regulation has entered into operation on 1 September 2013 The new Biocidal Products Committee will have a crucial role to play and a challenging workload ahead, and based on the discussions during the committee's first meeting, I am convinced of the expertise and commitment of its members," says Geert Dancet, Executive Director for ECHA.

The Biocidal Products Committee gives an opinion on all active substances that will be used in biocidal products. The Committee is expecting to have the first discussions on active substances early next year, when ECHA takes over the review programme of existing active substances from the European Commission. ECHA will forward these opinions to the Commission for its decisions making. After that, companies can choose, for their biocidal products, whether they prefer to apply for an authorisation for all European markets through ECHA or to do it on a national level and subsequent mutual recognition to other countries. Discussions on product authorisations will therefore start later, as the active substances need to be approved before the product authorisation can start.

Almost all Member States have now appointed a member to the Biocidal Products Committee. Most of the Committee members have been involved in the approval process already under the Biocidal Products Directive, which was the predecessor of the Biocidal Products Regulation. An observer from Croatia also attended, because Croatia is expected to become a European Union member in July.

The secretariat for the Biocidal Products Committee is provided by ECHA.