Council Directive 73/405/EEC on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to methods of testing the biodegradability of anionic surfactants.

This Directive concerns the methods of testing the biodegradability of anionic surfactants. In accordance with the provisions of article 4 of Council Directive 73/404/EEC, due account being taken of the unreliability of testing methods, the Member States shall prohibit the placing on the market and use on their territory of a detergent if the level of biodegradability of this detergent is less than 80 percent, determined on a single analysis in accordance with one of the methods referred to in article 2 of this Directive. The reference method is fully described in the Annex attached, which consists of two Chapters. Chapter II regards the preliminary treatment of products to be tested.