Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 1 March 2012 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Landgericht Hamburg — Germany) — Söll GmbH v Tetra GmbH

(Case C-420/10) (1)

(Placing on the market of biocidal products - Directive 98/8/EC - Article 2(1)(a) - Concept of ‘biocidal products’ - Product causing flocculation of harmful organisms without destroying or deterring them or rendering them harmless)

2012/C 118/05

Language of the case: German

Referring court

Landgericht Hamburg

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Söll GmbH

Defendant: Tetra GmbH

Re:

Reference for a preliminary ruling — Landgericht Hamburg — Interpretation of Article 2(1)(a) of Directive 98/8/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 February 1998 concerning the placing of biocidal products on the market (OJ 1998 L 123, p. 1) — Classification, as a ‘biocidal product’, of a product causing flocculation of harmful organisms, without destroying them, deterring them or rendering them harmless — Anti-algae agent containing the substance aluminium chlorohydrate — Concept of ‘biocidal product’

Operative part of the judgment

The concept of ‘biocidal products’ set out in Article 2(1)(a) of Directive 98/8/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 February 1998 concerning the placing of biocidal products on the market must be interpreted as including even products which act only by indirect means on the target harmful organisms, so long as they contain one or more active substances provoking a chemical or biological action which forms an integral part of a causal chain, the objective of which is to produce an inhibiting effect in relation to those organisms.

(1)  OJ C 288, 23.10.2010