Any EU Directive of the European Commission amending the Biocidal Products Directive 98/8/EC for the purpose of including an active substance in Annex I or IA (Inclusion Directive) requires the Member States in Article 2 to adopt the national legal and administrative rules necessary to comply with the relevant Inclusion Directive.

Implementing the Inclusion Directives at national level is associated with the obligatory transition from different national rules for placing biocidal products on the market to EU-wide harmonisation (see Article 16 (3) of Directive 98/8/EC).

Thus the present Biocides Act-Ordinance on Existing Active Substances also specifies the requirements for the placing on the market of biocidal products which are subject to authorisation/registration. It should be noted that different time limits, as well as different obligations for applications and notifications, apply to

• “existing biocidal products” placed on the market in Austria before the date of inclusion of the relevant (first) active substance in Annex I/IA of the Biocidal Products Directive, containing only one active substance already included in Annex I/IA, or containing more than one active substance, one of which included in Annex I/IA and the other active substance(s) listed in Annex II of  Regulation (EC) No 1451/2007.
• According to the Biocides Act-Ordinance on Existing Active Substances, “new biocidal products” are biocidal products not placed on the market in Austria before the date of inclusion in Annex I/IA of the first active substance they contain. Pursuant to the Biocides Act-Ordinance on Existing Active Substances, new biocidal products may contain only those active substances which are included in the Annex to this Ordinance. A “new biocidal product” may not be placed on the market until its authorisation or registration has been obtained.

Implementation following the inclusion of further existing biocidal active substances is effected by adding these to the Annex of the present Biocides Act-Ordinance on Existing Active Substances. 

The recent adaption of the Biocides Act-Ordinance on Existing Active Substances (BGBl. II Nr. 346/2009) transposes the new Inclusion Directives into national law. Moreover it regulates the sale of biocidal products if no application for a first authorisation or if no written communication has been submitted according to Section 2, paragraph 1/point 2.