Labelling - Article 22, §5 penultimate subparagraph amending article 28 of the Royal Decree of 2019.
We wonder on what basis it has been decided to require this information on the front label. The commercial designation is part of the identity of a product and is in most case always on the font label. The identity and the concentration of active substance, registration or authorization number, the name and address of the authorization holder and the phone number of poison center certainly constitute important information to be included on the label. However, for the average consumer, this info is not relevant on the front of the label. Consumers are accustomed to find these data on the back of the label of (biocidal) products.
In addition, the name of all substances of concern present + their concentration if present in the biocide should be indicated on the label.
The European Biocidal Products Regulation seeks to achieve European harmonization when placing biocides on the market. The information requested on the front of the label and the indication of the identity of every substance of concern are not included in the BPR. This additional requirements will impede the EU single market.
Advertising - Article 23 amending article 29 of the Royal Decree of 2019.
We regret that a total ban is being proposed for advertising and commercial practices for biocides for consumer use with a score above 0. Companies that place biocides on the market cannot communicate anymore about their products, with the results that they can no longer sell them. The risk is that they will then leave the Belgian market. In addition, Belgian companies will be disadvantaged by the fact that companies in neighbouring countries can communicate and advertise via the internet (in the languages used in Belgium) about similar products. If advertising is considered to be all public communication, this has disastrous consequences for all players in the supply chain. Moreover, if a company want to place an innovative product on the market, it will not be able to communicate about it if its score is above 0. This is a major obstacle to innovation.
The information requested in the advertising is certainly important but at the same time, it is also important not to overload consumers with too much incomprehensible information such active substances... Adding the sentence : "Use biocides safely. Before use, read the label and product information" seems to be a sufficient and worthwhile proposal.
Information obligations in the supply chain - Article 27 amending article 32/1 of the Royal Decree of 2019.
If the holder of the authorization sells biocides to a customer (distributors or professional users), then a transfer of ownership takes place. So, the biocides change owner and the responsibility shifts to the distributor. The holder of the authorization possesses all the information about the biocides and is responsible for compliance until the moment of transfer of ownership. After this, the customer is responsible for the correct management of storage, stock and transport, as all this can impact on the conformity of the biocides. The authorization holder has no insight into and influence over how all this is done. The holder of authorization taking back the remaining packaging located at the premises of a customer/distributor free of charge would only encourage bad practices. Apart from the fact this sort of measure is unfair, it could also lead to more waste due to over-ordering.
Transition period
With the proposed changes to labelling and stringent rules for advertising, we request a transition period of at least 2 years, and 3 years for seasonal products.
