Treated Articles

The Biocidal Products Regulation (BPR) contains provisions under Article 58 on treated articles and apply to articles and mixtures that have been treated with or incorporate a biocidal product. Articles are defined under the REACH Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006.

In particular, articles can only be treated with active substances that have been approved in the EU for that purpose. This is a significant change to the previous biocides legislation under Directive 98/8/EC, where articles imported from non-EU countries were permitted to be treated with substances that are not allowed in the EU.

Labelling and information on treated articles

The BPR requires manufacturers and importers of treated articles to label these when:

• a claim is made that the treated article has biocidal properties; or

• the active substance used to treat the article was approved subject to specific labelling provisions to protect human health, animal health and the environment.

The BPR allows consumers to request information on the biocidal treatment applied to the article from the person that supplies it. This information must be provided within 45 days and free of charge.