Article 2
Definitions For the purpose of this Regulation: 1. "Detergent" means any substance or preparation containing soaps and/or other surfactants intended for washing and cleaning processes. Detergents may be in any form (liquid, powder, paste, bar, cake, moulded piece, shape, etc.) and marketed for or used in household, or institutional or industrial purposes. Other products to be considered as detergents are: - "Auxiliary washing preparation", intended for soaking (pre-washing), rinsing or bleaching clothes, household linen, etc.; - "Laundry fabric-softener", intended to modify the feel of fabrics in processes which are to complement the washing of fabrics; - "Cleaning preparation", intended for domestic all purposes cleaners and/or other cleaning of surfaces (e.g.: materials, products, machinery, mechanical appliances, means of transport and associated equipment, instruments, apparatus, etc.); - "Other cleaning and washing preparations", intended for any other washing and cleaning processes. 2. "Washing" means the cleaning of laundry, fabrics, dishes and other hard surfaces. 3. "Cleaning" has the meaning defined by EN ISO 862. 4. "Substance" means chemical elements and their compounds in the natural state or obtained by any production process, including any additive necessary to preserve the stability of the products and any impurity deriving from the process used, but excluding any solvent which may be separated without affecting the stability of the substance or changing its composition. 5. "Preparation" means a mixture or solution composed of two or more substances. 6. "Surfactant" means any organic substance and/or preparation used in detergents, which has surface-active properties and which consists of one or more hydrophilic and one or more hydrophobic groups of such a nature and size that it is capable of reducing the surface tension of water, and of forming spreading or adsorption monolayers at the water-air interface, and of forming emulsions and/or microemulsions and/or micelles, and of adsorption at water-solid interfaces. 7. "Primary biodegradation" means the structural change (transformation) of a surfactant by micro-organisms resulting in the loss of its surface-active properties due to the degradation of the parent substance and consequential loss of the surface-active property as measured by test methods listed in Annex II. 8. "Ultimate aerobic biodegradation" means the level of biodegradation achieved when the surfactant is totally used by micro-organisms in the presence of oxygen resulting in its breakdown to carbon dioxide, water and mineral salts of any other elements present (mineralisation), as measured by test methods listed in Annex III, and new microbial cellular constituents (biomass). 9. "Placing on the market" means introducing onto the Community market, thereby making available to third parties, whether in exchange for payment or not. Import into the Community customs territory shall be deemed to be placing on the market. 10. "Manufacturer" means the natural or legal person responsible for placing a detergent or a surfactant for a detergent on the market; in particular, a producer, an importer, a packager working for his own account, or any person changing the characteristics of a detergent or of a surfactant for a detergent, or creating or changing the labelling thereof, shall be deemed to be a manufacturer. A distributor who does not change the characteristics, labelling or packaging of a detergent, or of a surfactant for a detergent, shall not be deemed to be a manufacturer, except where he acts as an importer. 11. "Medical personnel" means a registered medical practitioner, or a person working under the direction of a registered medical practitioner, acting to provide patient care, make a diagnosis or administer treatment, and who is bound by professional confidentiality. 12. "Industrial and institutional detergent" means a detergent for washing and cleaning outside the domestic sphere, carried out by specialised personnel using specific products.