The Biocidal Products Directive (BPD) also known as the Biocides Directive is European Union Directive

European Union directive

A directive is a legislative act of the European Union, which requires member states to achieve a particular result without dictating the means of achieving that result. It can be distinguished from regulations which are self-executing and do not require any implementing measures. Directives...

, (98/8/EC), which concerns biocides. It is officially known as DIRECTIVE 98/8/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 16 February 1998 concerning the placing of biocidal products on the market

Definition

Therein, biocide is defined in Article 2(1)(a):

Active substances and preparations containing one or more active substances, put up in the form in which they are supplied to the user, intended to destroy, deter, render harmless, prevent the action of, or otherwise exert a controlling effect on any harmful organism by chemical or biological means.

Classification

They are classified in Annex V:

MAIN GROUP 1: Disinfectants and general biocidal products

• Product-type 1: Human hygiene biocidal products
• Product-type 2: Private area and public health area disinfectants and other biocidal products
• Product-type 3: Veterinary hygiene biocidal products
• Product-type 4: Food and feed area disinfectants
• Product-type 5: Drinking water
  Drinking water
  Drinking water or potable water is water pure enough to be consumed or used with low risk of immediate or long term harm. In most developed countries, the water supplied to households, commerce and industry is all of drinking water standard, even though only a very small proportion is actually...
  
   disinfectants

MAIN GROUP 2: Preservatives

• Product-type 6: In-can preservatives
• Product-type 7: Film preservatives
• Product-type 8: Wood preservatives
  Wood preservation
  All measures that are taken to ensure a long life of wood fall under the definition wood preservation . Apart from structural wood preservation measures, there are a number of different preservatives and processes that can extend the life of wood, timber, wood structures or engineered wood...
  
  
• Product-type 9: Fibre, leather, rubber and polymerised materials preservatives
• Product-type 10: Masonry preservatives
• Product-type 11: Preservatives for liquid-cooling and processing systems
• Product-type 12: Slimicides
• Product-type 13: Metalworking-fluid preservatives

MAIN GROUP 3: Pest control

• Product-type 14: Rodenticides
• Product-type 15: Avicide
  Avicide
  An avicide is any substance which can be used to kill birds.Commonly used avicides include strychnine, DRC-1339 and CPTH , and Avitrol . Chloralose is also used as an avicide...
  
  s
• Product-type 16: Molluscicide
  Molluscicide
  Molluscicides, also known as snail baits and snail pellets, are pesticides against molluscs, which are usually used in agriculture or gardening to control gastropod pests like slugs and snails that can damage crops by feeding on them....
  
  s
• Product-type 17: Piscicide
  Piscicide
  A piscicide is a chemical substance which is poisonous to fish. The primary use for piscicides is to eliminate a dominant species of fish in a body of water, as the first step in attempting to populate the body of water with a different fish...
  
  s
• Product-type 18: Insecticide
  Insecticide
  An insecticide is a pesticide used against insects. They include ovicides and larvicides used against the eggs and larvae of insects respectively. Insecticides are used in agriculture, medicine, industry and the household. The use of insecticides is believed to be one of the major factors behind...
  
  s, acaricides and products to control other arthropods
• Product-type 19: Repellent
  Repellent
  Repellent can refer to:* Insect repellent* Animal repellent...
  
  s and attractants

MAIN GROUP 4: Other biocidal products

• Product-type 20: Preservatives for food or feedstocks
• Product-type 21: Antifouling products
• Product-type 22: Embalming
  Embalming
  Embalming, in most modern cultures, is the art and science of temporarily preserving human remains to forestall decomposition and to make them suitable for public display at a funeral. The three goals of embalming are thus sanitization, presentation and preservation of a corpse to achieve this...
  
   and taxidermist fluids
• Product-type 23: Control of other vertebrates

External links

• http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:1998:123:0001:0063:EN:PDF
• http://www.hse.gov.uk/biocides/bpd/