Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs
Resources Based, Manufacturing and Consumer Goods Industries
Chemicals Industry
Note to the Members of
the Explosives Working Group
Subject:Date of application of rules on explosives traceability
1.Background
(1)Pursuant to Article15(1) of Directive2008/43/EC (hereinafter the "Explosives Traceability Directive"), Member States shall apply the Directive's provisions on data collection and record keeping (hereinafter the "traceability rules") as of 5April 2015.
(2)The Commission's Unit responsible for explosives (hereinafter 'DG GROW I2') have received questions from MemberStates and stakeholders in relation to two issues.
2.The first question: Extension of the transitional period
(3)First, it has been suggested by some stakeholders that the application of the traceability rules should be postponed for explosives which have been labelled in accordance with the Explosives Traceability Directive after 5April2013, when the Directive entered into application. The justification for the suggested postponement was that not all downstream users were in possession of the electronic data required to comply with the rules, since not all explosives manufacturers had communicated that data in sufficient time.
(4)However, other stakeholders did not support this suggestion, since in their view the foreseen transitional period (which has already been extended by three years compared with the initial period foreseen in the Explosives Traceability Directive) was adequate. In their view, the co-existence of traced and non-traced products would create confusion in the supply chain and make controls and enforcement difficult. Furthermore, companies having put effort and investment in ensuring compliance by 5April2015 would be commercially disadvantaged. Finally, uncertainty would be created, as there would be no guarantee that an additional transitional period would improve the situation.
(5)In addition to those arguments, it should be taken into account that any prolongation of the deadline would probably take around a year as a minimum to be decided and take effect. This would in all likelihood indeed create significant confusion on the applicability of the rules in the meantime, and at the same time much if not all of the envisaged additional transition period might already have lapsed. Therefore, and in light of the arguments raised in the previous paragraph, DG GROW I2 has no intention to propose a revision of the Explosives Traceability Directive. Should any disproportionate practical problems occur in the meantime, the Commission would however be ready to discuss pragmatic ways forward with the concerned MemberStates and the members of the Explosives Working Group.
3.The second question: Scope of application
(6)Second, it has been suggested by certain competent authorities that the traceability rulesare not fully applicable to explosives that were placed on the market before 5April2013 and are hence not duly marked in accordance with the Explosives Traceability Directive. Under this interpretation, Member States could still allow storage or use of such explosives without requiring traceability. DGGROW I2 has been asked for its opinion on this interpretation.
(7)In DG GROW I2's reading of Articles13 and 14 of the Explosives Traceability Directive, the traceability obligations appear to become applicable for all undertakings in the explosives sector, including licenced or authorised users, as of 5April2015. Furthermore, the traceability obligations appear to become applicable to all explosives as of 5 April 2015, without any differentiation between explosives manufactured or imported before and after 5 April 2013 (when the unique identification marking became mandatory).
4.Requested Action
(8)The members of the Explosives Working Group are requested to take note of the lines taken by DG GROW I2. If appropriate, the members are invited to send written comments by 5 May 2015 to and . Without prejudice to the above, it is recalled that only the Court of Justice of the European Union can give authoritative interpretations on the contents of Union law.