Commission Regulation (EC) No 551/2009 of 25 June 2009 amending Regulation (EC) No 648/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council on detergents, in order to adapt Annexes V and VI thereto (surfactant derogation) (Text with EEA relevance)

• Published date: 26 June 2009
• Subject Matter: Environment,Technical barriers,Industry
• Official Gazette Publication: Official Journal of the European Union, L 164, 26 June 2009

26.6.2009 EN Official Journal of the European Union L 164/3

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COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 551/2009

of 25 June 2009

amending Regulation (EC) No 648/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council on detergents, in order to adapt Annexes V and VI thereto (surfactant derogation)

(Text with EEA relevance)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,

Having regard to Regulation (EC) No 648/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 March 2004 on detergents (1), and in particular Article 13(1) thereof,

Whereas:

(1) Regulation (EC) No 648/2004 ensures the free circulation of detergents, and of surfactants for detergents, on the internal market while at the same time providing, inter alia, a high level of protection to the environment by laying down requirements for the ultimate biodegradability of surfactants used in detergents.

(2) In addition, Articles 5, 6 and 9 of the Regulation provide a mechanism by which surfactants that do not fulfil the abovementioned requirement of ultimate biodegradability may nevertheless be granted a derogation for use in specific industrial or institutional applications providing that those applications constitute a low-dispersive use and that the associated risk to the environment is small compared to the socioeconomic benefit.

(3) The Regulation stipulates that the risk to the environment is to be assessed by means of a complementary risk assessment, described in Annex IV, carried out by the manufacturer of the surfactant and submitted to competent authority of a Member State for evaluation.

(4) Surfactants that are granted a derogation should be listed in Annex V to the Regulation. Those that are refused a derogation should be listed in Annex VI to the Regulation.

(5) Derogations should be adopted in accordance with Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission (2).

(6) A request for a derogation was made for the surfactant with the IUPAC (3) name ‘alcohols, Guerbet, C16-20, ethoxylated, n-butyl ether (7-8EO)’, also known by the trade name ‘Dehypon G 2084’, with the CAS (4) number 147993-59-7, for use in three industrial applications, namely: bottle washing, cleaning-in-place and metal cleaning.

(7) The request for a derogation was evaluated by the German competent authority in accordance with the procedure described in Article 5 of the Regulation. The request was found to fulfil the three conditions required under Article 6. Firstly, the three named uses are low-dispersive applications. Secondly, the applications are specific industrial applications. Thirdly, there is no risk to the environment as the surfactant itself does not pose a risk and the metabolites are not persistent.

(8) The three named uses were considered to be low-dispersive industrial applications in view of the total annual consumption of the surfactant and in view of the use of the surfactant exclusively in specific types of industrial installations.

(9) The conclusion concerning lack of risk to the environment is based on the rapid achievement of a high degree of primary biodegradability of the surfactant and on the ultimate biodegradability of the surfactant metabolites. The

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