WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade
G/TBT/N/FRA/95 29 January 2009
(09-0407)
Original: Spanish
NOTIFICATION The following notification is being circulated in accordance with Article 10.6. 1. 2. Member to Agreement notifying: FRANCE If applicable, name of local government involved (Articles 3.2 and 7.2): Agency responsible: Ministère de l'écologie, de l'énergie, du développement durable et de l'aménagement du territoire (Ministry of Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development, and Town and Country Planning) Direction générale de la prévention des risques. Service de la prévention des nuisances et de la qualité de l'environnement Département Produits chimiques, pollutions diffuses, agriculture Bureau des substances et préparations chimiques 20 avenue de Ségur - 75302 Paris 07 SP Name and address (including telephone and fax numbers and e-mail and website addresses, if available) of agency or authority designated to handle comments regarding the notification shall be indicated if different from above: Notified under Article 2.9.2 [ X ], 2.10.1 [ ], 5.6.2 [ ], 5.7.1 [ ], other: Products covered (HS or CCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff heading. ICS numbers may be provided in addition, where applicable): Construction products Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document: Arrêté relatif aux conditions de mise sur le marché des produits de construction et de décoration contenant des substances cancérigènes, mutagènes ou reprotoxiques de catégorie 1 ou 2 (Order concerning the criteria for the placing on the market of construction and decorative products that contain Category 1 or 2 carcinogenic, mutagenic or reprotoxic substances) (2 pages). Description of content: The notified text is a ministerial Order prohibiting the placing on the market of construction and decorative products that emit certain Category 1 or 2 carcinogenic, mutagenic or reprotoxic substances. It provides that construction and decorative products may be placed on the market only if they emit less than µg/m3 of the following substance: trichloroethylene. This limit is measured and calculated in accordance with standard NF ISO 16000.
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G/TBT/N/FRA/95 Page 2
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Objective and rationale, including the nature of urgent problems where applicable: Generally speaking, the placing on the market, for consumer use, of Category 1 and 2 substances and preparations classified as carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic for reproduction (CMR) is prohibited. Construction and decorative materials are generally considered as objects and are therefore excluded from this generic ban. Nevertheless, the population spends more than 80 per cent of its time indoors and, more generally, in confined spaces, where high concentrations of pollutants, in particular building-related volatile organic compounds, including CMR substances, may be present. The ban on CMR substances in construction products will help to ensure the protection of health and reduce the potential impact of these materials on indoor air quality. Relevant documents: Council Directive 67/548/EEC on the classification, packaging and labelling of dangerous substances, Annex I; Council Directive 89/106/EEC on construction products; Article L.521-6 of the Environment Code: "Article L.251-6-II. The following measures may be taken in respect of substances and preparations that pose unacceptable danger or risks to humans or the environment, and manufactured products or equipment containing such substances, under the conditions set forth in Article L.521-1: (1) Total, provisional or partial ban on production, importation, exportation, transportation, placing on the market, or certain uses; (2) Measure to restrict or regulate production, importation, exportation, placing on the market, certain uses, salvaging, regeneration, recycling, disposal, storage, transportation, composition, labelling, packaging, trade names and advertising, as well as any other measure required to safeguard public health and the environment."
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Proposed date of adoption: Proposed date of entry into force: Final date for comments: 1 May 2009
30 May 2009 30 June 2009
Texts available from: National enquiry point [X] or address, telephone and fax numbers, e-mail and website addresses, if available, of other body: Guillaume Bailly or Emilie Brisorgueil MEEDDAT/SPNQE/BSPC E-mail: guillaume.bailly@developpement-durable.gouv.fr or emilie.brisorgueil@developpement-durable.gouv.fr National enquiry point: CINORTECH AFNOR 11, Avenue Francis de Pressensé 93571 - SAINT- DENIS – LA PLAINE Cédex and: here