Q: Francesca Donato (NI, IT) - Online sale of dog and cat poisons (2022-11-30)

On 19 November 2022, a UK company selling paints and other products that are toxic to humans and animals posted on its website [1] an advertisement for poisonous bait intended to kill dogs (‘dog killer’). Such products can easily be purchased without any form of control in EU Member States also. Following a number of complaints, both the link and the product description have been modified, replacing the term ‘dog killer’ with ‘dog repellent’ and ‘cat repellent’ to designate the same poisoned bait. It is now described as fast-working product that ‘repels’ (replacing the word ‘kills’) the animal five minutes after it has ingested the paste, which comes in the form of ‘delicious meat croquettes containing ‘repellent’ (replacing the word ‘poison’) that is not detectable by dogs.

In view of this:

1.Is the Commission aware that such products are also being sold on the EU internal market?

2.Have no stringent rules been adopted to ban the marketing of such products?

3.What action does it plan to take to prevent such poisons from freely entering the market and ensure their rapid withdrawal from circulation?

[1] https://www.ferberpainting.co....

A: Ms Kyriakides on behalf of the European Commission

The Commission was not aware that the products referred to by the Honourable Member were sold in the EU and fully shares the concerns expressed. It considers that the products are within the scope of the Biocidal Products Regulation (the BPR) [1] and are being made available in the EU illegally.

In fact, biocidal products can only be made available in the EU when authorised in accordance with the BPR. To obtain an authorisation, a stringent evaluation of the risks posed by biocidal products and the active substances contained therein must be performed to ensure that the biocidal product has no unacceptable effects for human and animal health and the environment or causes no unnecessary suffering and pain for vertebrates.

Biocidal products for control of other vertebrates belong to product-type 20 as described in Annex V to the BPR and their use is subject to stringent conditions and risk mitigation measures. Furthermore, it is not allowed to advertise biocidal products with terms that are misleading as to the risks they pose.

In the light of the question submitted by the Honourable Member, the Commission has alerted the enforcement bodies of the Member States in charge of the control of the implementation of the BPR, invited them to take immediate action to investigate these sales practices and take the appropriate measures.

As the company offering these illegal products is headquartered in the United States, the Commission has also alerted the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the authority in the United States responsible for authorising biocidal products to inform about the illegal sales practice of the company.

[1] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/lega...