Article 2 Definitions

‘detergent’ means a substance, mixture or micro-organisms, or a combination thereof, which are intended:

‘consumer laundry detergent’ means a detergent for laundry placed on the market for use by non-professionals, including in public laundrettes;

‘consumer automatic dishwasher detergent’ means a detergent placed on the market for use in automatic dishwashers by non-professionals;

‘detergent containing micro-organisms’ means a detergent to which one or more micro-organisms have been intentionally added, either on their own or via one of the components of the detergent;

‘industrial and institutional detergent’ means a detergent placed on the market for use only outside the domestic sphere, carried out by specialised personnel;

‘cleaning’ means the process by which an undesirable deposit is degraded or dislodged from a substrate or from within a substrate and brought into a state of solution or dispersion;

‘substance’ means a substance as defined in Article 3, point (1), of Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006;

‘mixture’ means a mixture as defined in Article 3, point (2), of Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006;

‘micro-organism’ means a micro-organism as defined in Article 3(1), point (b), of Regulation (EU) No 528/2012;

‘genetically modified micro-organisms’ means micro-organisms in which the genetic material has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally by mating and/or by natural recombination; within the terms of this definition:

‘surfactant’ means any organic substance or mixture contained in or intended to be 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 performing all of the following actions:

‘end-user surfactant’ means a surfactant made available on the market to professional users or consumers;

‘ultimate aerobic biodegradation’ means the level of biodegradation achieved when the substance or mixture 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, as measured by test methods listed in Part A of Annex I, and new microbial cellular constituents (biomass);

‘films’ means water-soluble polymeric films used as detergents capsules;

‘making available on the market’ means any supply for distribution, consumption or use on the Union market in the course of a commercial activity, whether in return for payment or free of charge;

‘placing on the market’ means the first making available on the Union market;

‘manufacturer’ means any natural or legal person that manufactures or has a detergent or a surfactant designed or manufactured, and that places that detergent or surfactant on the market under their name or trade mark;

‘authorised representative’ means any natural or legal person established within the Union that has received a written mandate from a manufacturer to act on its behalf in relation to specified tasks;

‘importer’ means any natural or legal person established within the Union that places a detergent or surfactant from a third country on the Union market;

‘distributor’ means any natural or legal person in the supply chain, other than the manufacturer or importer, that makes a detergent or surfactant available on the market;

‘economic operator’ means the manufacturer, authorised representative, importer or distributor;

‘market surveillance’ means the activities carried out and measures taken by market surveillance authorities to ensure that products comply with this Regulation;

‘market surveillance authority’ means a market surveillance authority as defined in Article 3, point (4), of Regulation (EU) 2019/1020;

‘recall’ means a recall as defined in Article 3, point (22), of Regulation (EU) 2019/1020;

‘withdrawal’ means a withdrawal as defined in Article 3, point (23), of Regulation (EU) 2019/1020;

‘corrective action’ means a corrective action as defined in Article 3, point (16), of Regulation (EU) 2019/1020;

‘release for free circulation’ means the procedure laid down in Article 201 of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013;

‘data carrier’ means a data carrier as defined in Article 2, first paragraph, point (29), of Regulation (EU) 2024/1781;

‘unique product identifier’ means a unique product identifier as defined in Article 2, first paragraph, point (30), of Regulation (EU) 2024/1781;

‘unique formula identifier’ means a unique formula identifier as referred to in Part A, point 5, of Annex VIII to Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008;

‘unique operator identifier’ means a unique operator identifier as defined in Article 2, first paragraph, point (31), of Regulation (EU) 2024/1781;

‘digital product passport’ means a set of data specific to a product that contains the information set out in Part A of Annex VI and that is accessible via electronic means through a data carrier in accordance with Article 21(4);

‘digital product passport service provider’ means a digital product passport service provider as defined in Article 2, first paragraph, point (32), of Regulation (EU) 2024/1781;

‘customs authorities’ means customs authorities as defined in Article 5, point (1), of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013;

‘EU Customs Single Window Certificates Exchange System’ means the system established by Regulation (EU) 2022/2399;

‘individual packaging’ means packaging in which the detergent or end-user surfactant is made available on the market and which is intended to accompany the content to the place of use;

‘refill’ means the on-site operation by which a detergent or surfactant offered by an economic operator to end-users in the course of a commercial activity, whether in return for payment or free of charge, is filled in a packaging;

‘refill station’ means a place where an economic operator offers to end-users a detergent or surfactant that can be acquired through refill, either manually or through automatic or semi-automatic equipment;

‘model’ means a type of detergent or surfactant all of whose units meet the following conditions:

‘end-user’ means any natural or legal person residing or established in the Union to whom a detergent or surfactant has been made available on the market, either as a consumer outside of any trade, business, craft or profession or as a professional end-user in the course of its industrial or professional activities.