(1)

Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 provides that substances meeting the criteria for classification as carcinogenic (category 1A or 1B), mutagenic (category 1A or 1B) and toxic for reproduction (category 1A or 1B) in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2008 on classification, labelling and packaging of substances and mixtures (2), substances that are persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic, substances that are very persistent and very bioaccumulative, and substances for which there is scientific evidence of probable serious effects to human health or the environment giving rise to an equivalent level of concern may be subject to authorisation.

(2)

Diisobutyl phthalate (DIBP) meets the criteria for classification as toxic for reproduction (category 1B) in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 and therefore meets the criteria for inclusion in Annex XIV to Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 set out in Article 57(c) of that Regulation. It has been identified and included in the candidate list in accordance with Article 59 of Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006.

(3)

Diarsenic trioxide meets the criteria for classification as carcinogenic (category 1A) in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 and therefore meets the criteria for inclusion in Annex XIV to Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 set out in Article 57(a) of that Regulation. It has been identified and included in the candidate list in accordance with Article 59 of Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006.

(4)

Diarsenic pentaoxide meets the criteria for classification as carcinogenic (category 1A) in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 and therefore meets the criteria for inclusion in Annex XIV to Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 set out in Article 57(a) of that Regulation. It has been identified and included in the candidate list in accordance with Article 59 of Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006.

(5)

Lead chromate meets the criteria for classification as carcinogenic (category 1B) and toxic for reproduction (category 1A) in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 and therefore meets the criteria for inclusion in Annex XIV to Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 set out in Article 57(a) and (c) of that Regulation. It has been identified and included in the candidate list in accordance with Article 59 of Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006.

(6)

Lead sulfochromate yellow (C.I. Pigment Yellow 34) meets the criteria for classification as carcinogenic (category 1B) and toxic for reproduction (category 1A) in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 and therefore meets the criteria for inclusion in Annex XIV to Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 set out in Article 57(a) and (c) of that Regulation. It has been identified and included in the candidate list in accordance with Article 59 of Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006.

(7)

Lead chromate molybdate sulphate red (C.I. Pigment Red 104) meets the criteria for classification as carcinogenic (category 1B) and toxic for reproduction (category 1A) in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 and therefore meets the criteria for inclusion in Annex XIV to Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 set out in Article 57(a) and (c) of that Regulation. It has been identified and included in the candidate list in accordance with Article 59 of Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006.

(8)

Tris (2-chloroethyl) phosphate (TCEP) meets the criteria for classification as toxic for reproduction (category 1B) in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 and therefore meets the criteria for inclusion in Annex XIV to Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 set out in Article 57(c) of that Regulation. It has been identified and included in the candidate list in accordance with Article 59 of Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006.

(9)

2,4-Dinitrotoluene (2,4 DNT) meets the criteria for classification as carcinogenic (category 1B) in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 and therefore meets the criteria for inclusion in Annex XIV to Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 set out in Article 57(a) of that Regulation. It has been identified and included in the candidate list in accordance with Article 59 of Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006.

(10)

The abovementioned substances have been prioritised for inclusion in Annex XIV to Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 by the European Chemicals Agency in its recommendation of 17 December 2010 (3) in accordance with Article 58 of that Regulation.

(11)

For each substance listed in Annex XIV to Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006, where the applicant wishes to continue to use the substance or place the substance on the market, it is appropriate to set a date by which applications must be received by the European Chemicals Agency, in accordance with Article 58(1)(c)(ii) of that Regulation.

(12)

For each substance listed in Annex XIV to Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 it is appropriate to set a date from which the use and placing on the market is prohibited, in accordance with Article 58(1)(c)(i) of that Regulation.

(13)

The European Chemicals Agency recommendation of 17 December 2010 has identified different latest application dates for the substances listed in the Annex to this Regulation. These dates should be set on the basis of the estimated time that would be required to prepare an application for the authorisation, taking into account the information available on the different substances and the information received during the public consultation carried out in accordance with Article 58(4) of Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006. The Agency’s capacity to handle applications in the time provided for in the Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 should also be taken into account.

(14)

In accordance with Article 58(1)(c)(ii) of Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006, the latest application date is to be set at least 18 months before the sunset date.

(15)

Diisobutyl phthalate is an alternative substance to dibutyl phthalate which is already included in Annex XIV to Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006. In order to avoid potential substitution between these two substances, the latest application date for diisobutyl phthalate should be set as close as possible to the latest application date set out for dibutyl phthalate.

(16)

Article 58(1)(e) in conjunction with Article 58(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 provides for the possibility of exemptions of uses or categories of uses in cases where there is specific EU legislation imposing minimum requirements relating to the protection of human health or the environment that ensures proper control of the risks. In accordance with the information currently available it is not appropriate to set exemptions based on those provisions.

(17)

On the basis of the information currently available it is not appropriate to set exemptions for product and process orientated research and development.

(18)

On the basis of the information currently available it is not appropriate to set review periods for certain uses.

(19)

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee established pursuant to Article 133 of Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006,

(1)

Article 29(1) of Regulation (EC) No 834/2007 requires control authorities and control bodies to provide documentary evidence to the operators subject to their controls.

(2)

According to Article 28(1) of Regulation (EC) No 834/2007, operators who export products produced in compliance with the production rules laid down in that Regulation must submit their undertaking to the control system referred to in Article 27 of that Regulation.

(3)

Under that control system and in the light of the production rules established by Article 14(1)(e) of Regulation (EC) No 834/2007 and by Article 24 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 889/2008 of 5 September 2008 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 834/2007 on organic production and labelling of organic products with regard to organic production, labelling and control (2), the control authorities and the control bodies currently verify the livestock records of the operator, including regarding veterinary treatment and the use of antibiotics. In the light of this concrete application of the control system and in the interest of organic livestock producers in the Union, it is appropriate to ensure the identification of certain production methods not using antibiotics when such identification is requested by the operator. Adequate information about the specific characteristics of the production method is also needed in order to facilitate the market access to the United States. Those specific characteristics should be attested through complementary documentary evidence provided in accordance with Article 29 of Regulation (EC) No 834/2007, in addition to the documentary evidence referred to in Article 68 of Regulation (EC) No 889/2008.

(4)

Certain agricultural products imported from the United States are currently marketed in the Union pursuant to the transitional rules provided for in Article 19 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1235/2008 of 8 December 2008 laying down detailed rules for implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 834/2007 as regards the arrangements for imports of organic products from third countries (3). The United States submitted a request to the Commission to be included in the list provided for in Article 7 of Regulation (EC) No 1235/2008. It submitted the information required pursuant to Articles 7 and 8 of that Regulation. The examination of that information and subsequent discussions with the US authorities have led to the conclusion that in that country the rules governing the production and controls of organic agricultural products are equivalent to those laid down in Regulation (EC) No 834/2007. The Commission has carried out a satisfactory on-the-spot check of the rules of production and the control measures actually applied in the United States, as provided for in Article 33(2) of Regulation (EC) No 834/2007. Consequently, the United States should be included in the list set out in Annex III to Regulation (EC) No 1235/2008.

(5)

Annex IV to Regulation (EC) No 1235/2008 contains a list of control bodies and control authorities competent to carry out controls and issue certificates in third countries for the purpose of equivalence. As a consequence of the inclusion of the United States in Annex III to that Regulation, the relevant US control bodies and control authorities should be deleted from Annex IV to the extent that they control production in the United States.

(6)

Regulations (EC) No 889/2008 and (EC) No 1235/2008 should therefore be amended accordingly.

(7)

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the regulatory Committee on organic production,

(1)

in Article 63(1), the following point (d) is added:

(2)

Article 68 is replaced by the following:

(3)

in the title of Annex XII, the reference to ‘Article 68’ is replaced by a reference to ‘Article 68(1)’;

(4)

Annexes XIIa and XIIb are inserted as set out in Annex I to this Regulation.

(1)

By Commission Directive 2008/116/EC (2) metazachlor was included as active substance in Annex I to Council Directive 91/414/EEC (3) for use as a herbicide at a maximum application rate of 1,0 kg/ha only every third year on the same field. Since the replacement of Directive 91/414/EEC by Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009, this substance is deemed to have been approved under that Regulation and is listed in Part A of the Annex to Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 540/2011 of 25 May 2011, implementing Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the list of approved active substances (4).

(2)

On 23 March 2010 one of the notifiers at whose request metazachlor was included in Annex I to Directive 91/414/EEC, submitted an application for an amendment to the specific provisions of use of metazachlor to allow more frequent applications on the same field, without however exceeding the total maximum amount of 1,0 kg/ha over a three-year period. That application was accompanied by additional information. It was submitted to the United Kingdom which had been designated rapporteur Member State by Commission Regulation (EC) No 1490/2002 (5).

(3)

The rapporteur Member State assessed the additional information submitted by the applicant and prepared an addendum to the draft assessment report. It submitted that addendum to the Commission on 4 January 2011 which communicated it to the other Member States and to the European Food Safety Authority for comments. The addendum to the draft assessment report was reviewed by the Member States and the Commission within the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health on 24 January 2012 in the format of an addendum to the Commission review report for metazachlor.

(4)

It has appeared from the various examinations carried out that the amendment to the specific provisions of use applied for does not cause any risks in addition to those already taken into account in the approval of metazachlor and in the Commission review report for that substance.

(5)

The Annex to Implementing Regulation (EU) No 540/2011 should therefore be amended accordingly.

(6)

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health,

(1)

Implementing Regulation (EU) No 543/2011 lays down, pursuant to the outcome of the Uruguay Round multilateral trade negotiations, the criteria whereby the Commission fixes the standard values for imports from third countries, in respect of the products and periods stipulated in Annex XVI, Part A thereto.

(2)

The standard import value is calculated each working day, in accordance with Article 136(1) of Implementing Regulation (EU) No 543/2011, taking into account variable daily data. Therefore this Regulation should enter into force on the day of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union,

(1)

By letters registered with the Commission on 5 September 2011 and 13 September 2011 respectively, Spain and France requested authorisation to introduce a special measure derogating from the provisions of Directive 2006/112/EC in relation to the construction of an underground electricity interconnection between their respective electricity networks.

(2)

The Commission informed the other Member States by letters dated 25 October 2011 of the requests made by Spain and France. By letters dated 27 October 2011, the Commission notified Spain and France that it had all the information necessary to consider the requests.

(3)

On 27 June 2008 an agreement was signed between Spain and France for the construction of an underground electricity interconnection between Santa Llogaia in Spain and Baixas in France.

(4)

Through the special measure, the underground electricity interconnection is to be treated as being situated 50 % in Spain and 50 % in France for the purposes of supplies of goods and services, intra-Community acquisition of goods and importations of goods intended for its construction.

(5)

In the absence of such measure, it would be necessary, according to the principle of territoriality, to ascertain for each supply whether the place of taxation was within Spain or France.

(6)

The purpose of the special measure is therefore to simplify the procedure for collecting value added tax on the construction of the underground electricity interconnection.

(7)

The derogation could affect the overall amount of the tax revenue of the Member States collected at the stage of final consumption only to a negligible extent and has no negative impact on the Union’s own resources accruing from valued added tax,

(1)

On 22 December 2009 and on 18 January 2010, the Council adopted Decisions 2009/1014/EU (1) and 2010/29/EU (2) appointing the members and alternate members of the Committee of the Regions for the period from 26 January 2010 to 25 January 2015.

(2)

An alternate member’s seat on the Committee of the Regions has become vacant following the end of the term of office of Ms Riitta MYLLER,

—

Ms Sanna PARKKINEN, Liperin kunnanvaltuuston jäsen,

(1)

On 22 December 2009 and on 18 January 2010, the Council adopted Decisions 2009/1014/EU (1) and 2010/29/EU (2) appointing the members and alternate members of the Committee of the Regions for the period from 26 January 2010 to 25 January 2015.

(2)

An alternate member’s seat has become vacant following the end of the term of office of Ms Cristina Elena TENIENTE SÁNCHEZ,

—

Ms María Isabel NIETO FERNÁNDEZ, Secretaria Técnica de Acción Exterior de la Junta de Extremadura.