Biocide Working Group (WG)

BIOCIDE-WG

The Biocidal Products Regulation (BPR, Regulation (EU) 528/2012) concerns the placing on the market and use of biocidal products and repeals the Directive 98/8/EC.

The BPR is gradually substituting the national registrations, as consequence of the revision of the active substances which moves from the Annex II (active substances under revision) to the Annex I (active substances approved).

Why the BPR affects our work?

• Reduced availability of active substances and products (risk for the development of resistance of mosquitoes to active ingredients).
• Restrictions of use.

A new biocidal product becomes available on the market when it has been registered.

The process to register a biocidal product is very complex and expensive, both in terms of money, time and energy and it involves several aspects and requires many different expertises. Even if the BPR is changing the pest and vector control, most of the operators are not aware of this and of the consequences for the future.

Of the several product types, PT18 and PT19 are of interest for mosquito control operators. To register products, an efficacy evaluation is requested and the procedure for the efficacy evaluation is described in the “Guidance on the Biocidal Products Regulation - Volume II: efficacy – Parts B+C: Assessment and Evaluation”. Because of the several products, targets and ways of use of biocidal products, the ECHA guidelines cannot include all the possible situations. In other situations the ECHA guidelines refers to other guidelines which have been written for a different purpose or are obsolete, requiring to respect a non-realistic  procedure.

Who is the Biocide WG made up for?

Operators, consultants, researchers from the field of entomology, representatives of industry, public health, National Authorities.

Purposes of the Biocide WG

• To get informed of the BPR
• To discuss the BPR acrossing different expertizes
• To offer opinions to the National Authorities about the interpretation of the guidelines and the scientific solidity of efficacy test procedure.
• To work out concrete suggestions to be made to ECHA to fill the gaps in the guidelines
• To propose amendment to the ECHA guidelines, especially for the PT18
• To propose modification to other guidelines which ECHA refers to.

Inaugurator and chairman: Andrea Drago, Board member, Italy

For joining the WG follow the instructions here.