The European Chemicals Agency’s (ECHA) Biocidal Products Committee (BPC) has concluded its November meeting with significant updates in the regulation of biocidal products. These updates include decisions on the renewal and approval of active substances, as well as Union authorizations for biocidal product families, shaping the regulatory landscape for companies in the biocide industry.

As a trusted partner in regulatory compliance, REACH24H brings you the latest industry updates from the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA). In November 2024, ECHA’s Enforcement Forum held its meeting remotely, unveiling crucial updates on enforcement priorities and launching new initiatives for the year ahead. These developments are set to impact businesses across various industries, including chemicals, biocides, and consumer products.

On June 5, 2024, the Biocidal Products Committee (BPC) of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) adopted four opinions on active substances and seven on Union authorisations during its May meeting, noting a rise in opinions not supporting approvals due to insufficient data.

Prothioconazole, a broad-spectrum triazolinthione class of fungicides developed by Bayer and launched in 2004, features such advantages as broad-spectrum fungicidal activity, good systemic activity, high protective, curative and eradicative activity, and long effective period, with prominent control effect on wheat head blight. 

On August 11, 2022, the Korea Ministry of Environment and the Korea Environmental Industry& Technology Institute issued a prohibition on the manufacturing, importing and marketing of 623 kinds of  consumer chemical products that violate the “Act on the Safety Management for Consumer Chemical Products and Biocides” (hereinafter as K-BPR Regulations). 

What’s the difference between China’s disinfection products, EU biocides, and antimicrobial pesticides in the U.S.? To help enterprises better understand China’s disinfection products classification system, today we will introduce the detailed definitions and types of disinfection products in China.

In the second half of 2021, the South Korean Ministry of Environment and the Korea Environmental Industry and Technology Institute investigated and penalized a total of 387 illegal consumer chemical products, which include 340 products without completing the safety verification and reporting obligations, 33 products found to have excessive levels of hazardous substances and 14 products violating label requirements.

On December 31, 2021, the South Korean National Institute of Environmental Research released Announcement 488 to amend the designation of existing biocidal substances subject to deferred approval. A total of 17 previously designated substances will be removed, 8 and 15 existing substances will have their biocidal usage (product types) partially canceled or expanded, and 6 substances will be newly designated.

On November 1, 2021, the South Korean National Institute of Environmental Research(NIER) invited a 20-day consultation on the amendment to the department rules, “Regulation on the Scope and Method for Preparing Application Data on Biocidal Substance and Product Approvals”. The current version was published on January 26, 2021, in the form of NEIR Notice 2021-7, which specified all the endpoints of test data and items of general data in the form of mandatory or conditional required data, criteria for exemption, additional test data, acceptance of testing methodology and testing institutes, as well as methods for preparing this data.