1. 【EU BPR】The First opinion on Union authorization was adopted

The Biocidal Products Committee (BPC) supported applications for EU-wide access to the market  of two biocidal product families containing iodine/PVP-iodine for use in veterinary hygiene on 20 December 2017. It is the first opinion supporting applications for Union authorization which means that it is realized successfully that companies are allowed to place their biocidal products on the market throughout the entire Union with one authorization form.

2. 【US EPA-FIFRA】Pesticide Registration Improvement Extension Act (PRIA 4) will recently be updated

PRIA 3 is about to expire and PRIA 4 will enable after PRIA 3 is invalid. While PRIA 3 was originally set to expire December 8, 2017, now for the duration of that Continuing Resolution period, it has been extended until January 19, 2018. When PRIA 4 is expected to be enabled, a number of new registration types, such as disinfectant devices identification, will be added, as well as additional review costs.

3. 【Chinese disinfectant products】 The relevant standards for relevant Chinese disinfectant products are to be issued.

NHFPC (National Health and Family Planning Commission) is working to formulate or revise relevant standards for disinfection products, including the classified catalogue of disinfection products, hygienic safety evaluation, test contents, disinfecting wipes, etc. These are expected to be announced in the first half year of 2018.

4. 【EU BPR】Draft guidance for identifying endocrine disruptors was issued

This draft guidance for identifying endocrine disruptors which will be used to evaluate pesticides and biocides has been developed by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) with the support of the Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC). ECHA and EFSA are inviting interested parties to comment on the draft guidance document for the identification of endocrine disruptors under EU legislation for pesticides and biocides by 31 January 2018.

5. 【EU BPR】Active substances list allowed to be used in treated article was issued

Active substances list allowed to be used in treated article prepared as of 13 November 2017 has been issued. The list will help treated articles’s companies to ensure which active substances could be used in treated article based on EU BPR.

6. 【US EPA-FIFRA】New EPA Quick Guide for Registering Disinfectant Products for Drinking Water Use

On October 17, 2017, EPA developed this Quick Guide for Disinfectant Products for Drinking Water Use in response to requests to help prospective disinfectant registrants gain a basic understanding of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) product registration process and how it relates to the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) requirements.

7. 【EU BPR】The effect of the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union

On 13 September 2017, the European Commission (EC) published a list of Questions and Answers to business operators in the field of EU BPR concerning the making available on the market and use of biocidal products (the BPR). EC reminders business operators of considering if as a third country, the United Kindom cannot act as evaluating Member States or reference Member States. Taking account of these uncertainties as well as the regulatory framework, business operators should consider taking the relevant actions.

8. 【Chinese disinfectant products】 China is working to strengthen supervision and control for imported disinfectant products.

NHFPC (National Health and Family Planning Commission) requests to introduce the system to check and accept the disinfectant products, and strengthen the market supervision of imported disinfectant products. The compliance under Chinese disinfection laws and regulations for imported disinfectant products is the main part of this work.

9. 【US EPA-FIFRA】Disinfectant Electronic Application Submission Portal Updated with New Features

On August 28, 2017, EPA updated the Pesticide Submission Portal, the Web-based system for electronic submission of pesticide registration applications to EPA. The first release focused on new features such as submitting voluntary data and resubmitting 90-Day Responses, along with numerous bug fixes and user experience enhancements. This action is another step in a phased approach that will ultimately lead to EPA’s ability to accept all pesticide applications electronically, a move that will help modernize the pesticide registration process, increase operational efficiencies and reduce paper waste.

10. 【EU BPR】BPR enforcement subgroup starts to work

The BPR enforcement subgroup in the Forum met for the first time on 31 March. The subgroup is a body under the umbrella of the ECHA Enforcement Forum that will deal with coordinating the exchange on enforcement of the Biocidal Products Regulation (BPR), which is now under the remit of the Forum. The BPR subgroup elected Mr Eugen Anwander (Austria) as its Chair and Mr Dominik Pisarek (Poland) as its Vice Chair. The subgroup discussed its priorities and decided that one of its first activities will be an enforcement project on the hazard classification and labelling of biocidal products. The project will be conducted in 2018 in the scope of the Forum REACH-EN-FORCE-6 (REF-6) project on hazard classification and labelling of mixtures.