HEALTH AND FOOD SAFETY DIRECTORATE-GENERAL
Safety of the food chain
E.3 - Pesticides and Biocides
62ndmeeting of representatives of Members States Competent Authorities for the implementation of Regulation (EU) No 528/2012 concerning the making available on the market and use of biocidal products
Subject:Contribution of sulfuryl fluoride to global warming
Sulfluryl fluoride is an active substance approved for use in PT8 and 18.
Commission Directive 2006/140/EC sets an obligation for the authorisation holders of sulfuryl fluoride containing products to directly transmit monitoring results of concentration of sulfuryl fluoride in remote tropospheric air to the Commission, every fifth year starting from 1 January 2009[1].
The first monitoring results were submitted to the Commission on 10 January 2014.
Pursuant to Article 75(1)(g) of Regulation (EU) No 528/2012, the Commission has requested ECHA to formulate an opinion as to whether assumptions made regarding the environmental risk characterisation at the time of approval of sulfuryl fluoride needs to be revised or not in the light of the submitted monitoring data.
ECHA has now delivered its opinion through its Biocidal Product Committee (BPC) on 30 September, which is publicly available on its website[2]. The BPC concluded that:
1. The assumptions made in the assessment reports regarding the contribution of sulfuryl fluoride to global warming need to be revised. The global warming potential of this greenhouse gas is estimated to be 4800 (over 100 years), which is more than 10 times higher than in previous estimates.
2. Currently, the contribution of sulfuryl fluoride to global warming is small, approximately 0.03%, when compared to the total anthropogenic emissions of green-house cases into the atmosphere.
3. The development both regarding concentrations in the atmosphere as well as the amounts placed on the market, including plant protection products, should be continuously followed. This is sufficiently ensured by the monitoring requirements in place in the Inclusion Directives.
4. In the frame of the ordinary process of renewal of the approval of the active substance, particular attention should be paid to whether or not the contribution of sulfuryl fluoride to climate change poses an unacceptable environmental risk. At renewal stage the possibility of risk mitigation measures in order to reduce the emissions to air needs to be addressed.
The application for renewal of approval for sulfuryl fluoride for product-type 8 has to been submitted at the latest before 29/06/2017 (and for product-type 18 at the latest before 28/12/2019).
The Commission would like to invite prospective applicants for the renewal of approval of this active substance to take note of ECHA's BPC conclusions, and in particular of point 4. Prospective applicants should therefore explore risk mitigation measures in order to reduce the emission to air and be prepared to submit any relevant information on the matter in their application for renewal of approval.
Lastly, should several applicants be interested to support the renewal of this active substance, the Commission strongly encourages applicants to join forces to submit a single application for renewal.
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