European Associations are working cooperatively to ensure a well informed and adequately prepared supply chain capable of implementing the European Union (EU) Directive on identification and traceability of explosives for civil uses by the revised deadline of April 2015. The Commission Directive 2008/43/EC setting up a system for the identification and traceability of explosives for civil uses is part of the series of measures to help combat terrorism and adopt measures to strengthen the control of explosiv
European Associations are working cooperatively to ensure a well informed and adequately prepared supply chain capable of implementing the European Union (EU) Directive on identification and traceability of explosives for civil uses by the revised deadline of April 2015.
The Commission Directive 2008/43/EC setting up a system for the identification and traceability of explosives for civil uses is part of the series of measures to help combat terrorism and adopt measures to strengthen the control of explosives for civil use.
Commonly referred to as the Track & Trace Directive, its aims commence at the sites where the explosives and blasting accessories are produced (or at the point of first importation into the EU) and its first placing on the market, until its final end use, with the purpose of preventing misuse and theft and to assist law enforcement authorities in the tracing of the origin of lost or stolen explosives.
For every uniquely identified article, the requirement is to keep records available for inspection for a period of ten years.
Postponement of the Directive
The Track & Trace Directive was due to be implemented by April 2012. A postponement was requested by UEPG (the European Aggregates Association) in conjunction with other associations representing users and manufacturers of explosives.
The delay was and is essential to provide the explosives industry with extra time to develop, test and validate a single robust industry-wide software and scanning system, common to all manufacturers to avoid the impracticability of intermediaries and end-users having to grapple with different systems operated by different explosives manufacturers.
Realising the practical impediments that would be faced, the European Commission (EC) agreed to the request to delay such that the obligation on manufacturers and importers to mark explosives was postponed by one year to 5 April, 2013.
Additional time was also deemed necessary for the electronic tracking systems to be implemented by the whole supply chain. The obligations for data collection and record keeping by the end-user were therefore postponed by three years to 5 April, 2015.
Cooperative work to prepare sectors for the implementation of the Directive
The Explosives for Civil Uses Task Force, led by César Luaces Frades, UEPG Health and Safety Committee Vice-Chairman and Director of Spain’s Federacion de Aridos, was created to establish recommendations on a common action plan for all the supply chain’s actors to inform, support and optimise implementation of the directive more effectively and within the required timing.
Actions were also focused on information and training on the Track and Trace IT software system and scanning devices to the benefit of all users.
Members of the task force included the European Commission, the European associations representing the users, the explosives’ manufacturers, blasting engineers and operators, and Track and Trace software manufacturers.
The Task Force called upon all relevant sectors to be aware and to participate directly in the ongoing work.
The recommendations of a common action plan were presented at the European Commission Explosives Working Group to Member States’ representatives on 25 October, 2012. No comments were received and so the document was agreed.
Member States were requested to communicate and disseminate the information from national to local level to raise awareness throughout the whole supply chain.
The next work of the Explosives for Civil Uses Task Force, led by UEPG, is to draft a guidance document to inform the supply chain in 2013, and subsequently in 2014, when all Track and Trace IT systems, devices and equipment will need to be available, to draft a second guidance document to inform and prepare users as to their duties necessary to comply with the directive.
Reference Documents
COMMISSION DIRECTIVE 2008/43/EC of 4 April 2008 setting up, pursuant to Council Directive 93/15/EEC, a system for the identification and traceability of explosives for civil uses (Text with EEA relevance)
For further information, contact UEPG Secretariat at: ; Tel: +32 (0)2 233 53 00.
