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Unlike most of the other chemical regulations we assist our customers with, the BPR comes with a few non-technical requirements. In particular correctly labelling the items you’re selling for which you claim a biocidal effect, known as a ‘Treated Article’, containing a biocidal product. In this blog we’ll explore the steps necessary to ensure BPR compliant labelling for your products.

Why Does BPR Have A Labelling Requirement?
The BPR encourages chemical transparency, consumers wish to and should be able to access information on all the ingredients used in whatever they buy. We’ve seen greater transparency recently as a trend across the consumer chemical industry. For example, take a look at how big international companies such as Unilever and P&G are helping customers discover more about the ingredients they do or do not use.

The BPR wishes to empower the consumer as well as ensure that biocidal products used reduce negative human, animal and environmental impacts. And labelling is a part of this effort.

Labelling requirements also have a secondary function, in that if your Treated Article is not labelled correctly for BPR compliance it may be more visible to scrutiny by enforcement officials in your Member State. Having no BPR compliant labelling automatically means your Treated Article will be an easy target for BPR compliance investigation.

You can learn more about compliance in general in our ‘Guide To BPR for Treated Articles’, which you can download for free on this link.


What Do You Have To Include On A BPR Compliant Label?
The tag or the packaging must include the following information:

  1. A statement that the Treated Article incorporates Biocidal Products;
  2. Where this is substantiated, the biocidal property attributed to the treated article;
  3. The name of all Active Substances, which are contained in the Biocidal Products;
  4. The names of all nano materials contained in the Biocidal Products, if applicable, followed by the word “nano” in parentheses.

The label must be clearly visible, easily read and in that or those official languages of the respective country.

Here is an example of our swing tag in English, available to SANITIZED license holders.

Label or packaging contains the following information:

1. A statement that the treated article incorporates biocidal products;
= Contains biocidal product with active substance ✅

2. Where this is substantiated, the biocidal property attributed to the treated article;
= Claim: Odor-resistant

3. The name of all active substances, which are contained in the biocidal products;
= Contains biocidal product with active substance: silver phosphate glass

4. The names of all nano materials contained in the biocidal products, if applicable, followed by the word “nano” in parentheses.
= SANITIZED has no products with nano material

The QR code provides additional proactive information about the biocidal products used on a web page and the additional SANITIZED URL, www.sanitized.com, where more information about each of our BPR Compliant ingredients can be found.

And here is a great example of a manufacturer/retailer working with our team to ensure that their label meets the correct standard for BPR compliance:

 

What Is Article 58?
Article 58 is a section of the official BPR documentation which details all the requirements that must be met before you place a Treated Article for sale on the market in the EU. As expected, this section of the document first states the chemical requirements, for which many Treated Articles are compliant, but it then goes on to state the other requirements – such as labelling – and this is where we’re seeing many brands fail compliance.

As well as a clear label meeting all requirements as stipulated in the previous section of this blog, Article 58 also requires you to have additional information about the Biocidal Products used freely and readily available upon request. This means that should a customer contact your brand about any Treated Article, you’re required to respond with the correct additional information within 45 days.

Article 58 requirements mean that BPR compliance affects a greater number of your team members, both marketing and customer service teams must be aware of the roles they play in compliance. If you’ve been told your Treated Article has failed BPR compliance on Article 58 then it’s likely you need to review your labelling and your process for the distribution of additional information on request.

 

What To Do If Your Products Have Failed BPR Compliance On Labelling
There’s no one-size-fits-all solution for BPR compliant labelling, unfortunately. Each label needs to be specific to the ingredients used, the biocidal claim you make and be incorporated appropriately into your packaging or information. And if you’ve failed on labelling you will be required to rectify this if you’d still like to sell your products in the EU.

The most common ways we’re seeing brands fail BPR labelling requirements are:

  • Having no label at all
  • Having a label which is hidden, hard to locate or too small
  • Using only one language on the label when there may be several national languages spoken in that country
  • Having a label that is not detailed enough
  • Failing to list all Active Substances used/li>
  • Making a biocidal claim that is not applicable to the Biocidal Product used

For the most part, we’re seeing brands fail the BPR on labelling requirement simply because they either didn’t know there was a requirement to provide such a label, or didn’t realize what an important part of the BPR this is.

If you’ve chosen not to provide a clear label on your Treated Article because you worry that consumers will avoid your product if it incorporates such a label, then you may be interested in our blog: Using BPR Compliance As A USP For Your Product”. 

We are aware that your stock is your company’s most valuable asset, and only in extreme cases of BPR failure are products destroyed because there is no other way to sell them. If your Treated Article has failed due to non compliant Biocidal Products being used, you will have more of a challenge on your hands. But the good news is that there could be a way to save your stock if you’ve only failed based on the labelling requirement.

If your stock fails the BPR on labelling you could be able to rectify this by:

  • Adding a sticky label to your packaging containing all the necessary information
  • Redesigning your packaging and repackaging your stock

Please contact the authorities in your Member State to confirm if either of these solutions are acceptable in your specific case.


Work With SANITIZED On Your BPR Compliance
SANITIZED offer full regulatory and marketing support to our license holders, so if you’re a customer please get in touch with us should you believe your Treated Article label may not be compliant, or if you have not yet added a BPR compliant label.

If you’re not a SANITIZED license holder but would like more information about using our BPR compliant ingredients and becoming a license holder please get in touch with our team today to discuss your products. Becoming a license holder comes with many great benefits, learn more on our website here.


Looking For More Information on BPR Treated Articles?
SANITIZED have published a free Guide To BPR for Treated Articles download which covers all areas of BPR compliance for Treated Articles. This guide has been written for both technical regulatory and non technical professionals. So whereas the official BPR documentation may be a little challenging to understand for those who don’t deal with technical requirements, our guide is user-friendly for all.

 

Download The Guide to BPR Treated Articles Here