Detergents

The Commission has adopted the amended proposal adapting the original proposal for a Regulation on Detergents following Parliament's first reading of the text. The text has been adopted where appropriate in the interest of clarity. A number of detailed improvements on matters of substance, in line with the Commission's original proposal, have also been made. Five Parliamentary proposals have been accepted in their entirety. Those accepted in part or subject to reformulation relate to: - Complementary risk assessment; - The definition of industrial and institutional detergents; - Forwarding information on detergents to medical staff and the definition of medical personnel; - In cases of "specific analytical methods", the Commission has reformulated the text to include high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and/or gas chromatography (GC). This applies to surfactants methods MBAS, BiAS and DBAS. - Additional consumer information on two different categories of detergent, namely heavy-duty detergents and detergents for delicate fabrics. - The definition of a surfactant in terms of an extended list of properties instead of including the intention of the manufacturer. - The criteria for derogations remaining subject to the co-decision procedure - Clarifications concerning the implementation of the provisions. The Commission did not accept thirty-eight amendments.�