BIOCIDE REGULATION

For several years, biocidal wood products have been regulated by the European Union (EU n° 528/2012). Commercial products must acquire a biocidal product registration number (AMM) from the French environmental safety agency (ANSES) to be sold in France.

The European biocides regulation, which covers the sale and use of biocidal products, came into effect in 2012. It builds on the provisions set out in the biocidal directive 98/8/EC, and in the case of France, voluntary CTB-P+ certification.

EU biocidal regulation is an ongoing process, which is constantly developing. It is important to keep abreast with the latest provisions.

The regulation focuses on three main areas:

1) Evaluation of the active substances

Each active substance is assessed in line with several criteria: efficacy; use; risks for users and the environment; etc.

The list of active substances which have been authorised by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) is available here: ECHA BIOCIDE ACTIVE SUBSTANCE

(For wood treatment, select the Product-type PT08 under the heading Active substance details)

The active substances used for treating wood used for class 2 were all assessed by May 2016 at the latest. Therefore, treatment products for timber used for class 2 must all have acquired a biocidal product registration number (AMM).

2) Authorisation of biocide products

Once the active substance has been authorised, the biocidal product that we sell must then be assessed in line with criteria for efficacy, user exposure, use class of the treated timber, and more.

Koatchimie has been registering its products since 2013. MICROKOAT was our first product to receive an AMM. We now have three AMM, which cover the majority of the market for wood treatments, and we are currently working on new AMM.

3) Labelling products

In order for the chain of control and information to reach the end user, wood that is treated with our products must also comply with the European biocide regulation.

This means that timber professionals must prove that they treated their timber with a biocidal product, list the active substances used in the treatment and provide details of the precautions they undertook when applying the treatment. As labelling each individual piece of timber is too cumbersome a task, timber professionals are permitted to itemize this information in either a certificate of treatment or on the bill issued for the timber.