Biocides Symposium 2021

David has recently retired after 35 years in global legislative processes, and a wide range of experience of EU biocide committees, working groups and technical workshops. In addition to his recent role as Senior Regulatory Analyst in Chemical Watch he worked for just under 20 years at UK HSE (UK Competent Authority for Biocides) as well as 7 years in industry and 5 years as a consultant.

In 2009 Mario started as administrator at the pharmaceuticals unit in DG Enterprise. In January 2015 he started in the unit E3/ Pesticides and Biocides of DG for Health and Food Safety (currently unit DG SANTE E4). In the biocides team his main responsibilities are endocrine disruptors, treated articles, maximum residue limits and controls. Currently he is Acting Head of Sector of biocides.

Claudio has been Head of the Biocidal Active Substances Unit of the European Chemical Agency (ECHA) since April 2020. Previously he was Head of Unit dealing with evaluation and hazard identification under REACH. He joined ECHA from its start-up phase in 2007, coming from the European Commission Joint Research Centre in Ispra. He holds a PhD in chemistry and has more than 25 years’ experience in the field of chemicals risk assessment.

Hugues joined ECHA in 2012. He is responsible for the Biocidal Products Unit which, together with the Biocide Active Substances unit, provides the biocides technical and scientific assessment activities and the R4BP 3 product management. He has been working at the national and EU level on risk assessment and management for more than twenty years.

With an MSc in Political Science, Charlotta has worked for the Danish Ministry of the Environment since 2007, mainly with pesticides and water management, and since 2014 at DEPA with biocides.

Irantzu is the Project Officer at the Joint Research Center leading the SSbD project in the Technologies for Health Unit and in charge of the safety aspects of the SSbD framework. She has more than 15 years of experience as a professional in the field of regulatory affairs and product stewardship.

Dr Samantha Walker, Head of Biocides and Cosmetics, is an expert in biocidal products regulation, and specializes in the approval and management of active substances and products.

Ian started CTL in 1995.  Initially he made a living helping with business development projects. In the mid 2000s he was sent an enquiry about PMD as an insect repellent active and set to work to develop a product and then develop the market for Citrepel as an active insect repellent substance. Subsequently he developed some novel technology, now patented, to produce the unique grade Citrepel 75.

Joerg joined Dr. Wolman GmbH in 1998 as Product Manager. Since 2001 he has been Head of Research and Development and since 2021 Head of Wood Protection R&D and Regulatory Affairs at Wolman Wood and Fire Protection GmbH.

Thomas started working in the registration department of RRA in 2011. Since then he has had the opportunity to work on a wide range of projects in the biocidal as well as in the PPP sectors. As project manager and now manager of the team, he is handling registration dossiers for active substances and biocidal products following the approval of active substances. He supports the applicant from the establishment of a regulatory strategy for a whole products portfolio.

Principal Enforcement Officer, Chemicals Regulation Division, Mike has worked in the Health and Safety Executive for 32 years. His current role is leading the Case Management Team within the Enforcement team of CRD, he has also led on Enforcement Policy and Strategy.

John has worked in the chemical and related industries for more than 40 years. Since joining Thomas Swan and Co. Ltd. in 2001, John has had a number of roles, taking on responsibility for regulatory affairs in 2010. As Regulatory Affairs Manager, he is responsible for compliance with global regulations, but with a particular focus on the EU as this is the company's biggest market.

Wayne joined knoell Germany GmbH in 2018, with a subsequent move to knoell Korea Ltd in early 2021. In both Germany and South Korea, he applies the experience gained at the CA for biocides in his current role as a consultant. His main focus is on the recent biocides legislation in Korea (the K-BPR), whilst other duties also include supporting and managing biocidal product authorisation and active substance approval applications in the EU and also globally. 

Eulàlia has worked in the biocides regulatory affairs field for over 15 years. Previously, she worked as a product safety specialist in industry. In 2005 she joined knoell Germany GmbH and since then has contributed to the coordination and dossier preparation for many active substance approvals and biocidal product authorisations. Eulàlia’s main focus is on the preparation of regulatory strategies to allow for the marketing of products and meeting new regulatory challenges.

Laura joined the ECHA Biocides Assessment Unit´s human health team in 2013. She has been team leader of the human health team from 2108 to 2020. Since February 2021 she is team leader of Active Substance team. She has been chair of the ad hoc Biocidal Product Committee Working Group on the Assessment of Residue Transfer to Food (ARTFood) since 2014.

Andrew has concentrated on the regulation of biocides since 2007 and has a lead consulting position providing technical advice, regulatory awareness and strategy for a wide range of biocide companies supporting active substance approval and product authorisation within the EU. He has a background in the environmental fate and behavior of chemicals.

Vanessa has covered biocides, occupational health and various other topics for Chemical Watch News & Insight since 2013. Having spent more than a decade writing about the international chemical industry and chemical sciences, she combines her role at Chemical Watch News & Insight with freelance writing for several other publications in the chemistry sphere.

Darren enables clients throughout the chemicals and life sciences supply chain to get and keep their products on the European market (both in the UK and the EU). He provides a global clientele (companies, consortia and trade associations) with strategic advice, undertakes advocacy before public authorities and agencies and litigates before courts and tribunals (including the ECHA board of appeal and CJEU). Darren has a wealth of experience with regulation of biocidal products, plant protection products, REACH, CLP, food and feed, GMOs and wider aspects of environmental law, including extensive work with the Aarhus convention. He loves tackling “impossible” problems, learning new fields and working in multi-disciplinary client teams, with scientists, business leaders, regulatory and public affairs specialists and (even other) lawyers.

Cyril is working as Scientist Consultant for CEHTRA (Consultancy for Environmental & Human Toxicology & Risk Assessment) for 12 years after a PhD in ecotoxicology. His area of expertise covers relevance and reliability assessment for standard or non-standard scientific data, hazard and environmental risk assessment, regulatory and scientific advices in relation to Biocidal Products Regulation 528/2012 obligations and requirements.

Costanza works as Scientific Officer at CAAT-Europe, University of Konstanz, to promote alternatives to animal testing at both scientific and political level. She is also part of TEAM Mastery staff as Senior Regulatory Specialist where she has an active role in the preparation of REACH Registration dossiers, taking care in particular to the possible application of advanced testing strategies for the risk assessment of chemicals.

Michèle is a biologist, with a PhD in Applied Zoology and Animal Ecology, and a member of the Biocides efficacy team of the German Environment Agency since 2016. She works on the assessment of the efficacy for PTs 18 and 19.

Pete is Managing Director of Industrial Microbiological Services Ltd (IMSL) which is a testing and consultancy service focused on industrial microbiology and the use of biocides in materials. He is Chairman of the plastics and textiles groups of the International Biodeterioration Research Group (IBRG) and a consultant to OECD on treated articles.

Hannah has a background in animal science. She joined Diversey in 2020 as an efficacy specialist, having spent the previous four years as a biocide consultant.

Anders coordinates the chemical management in Region Västra Götaland, Sweden, from the aspects of health and environmental protection. He has been involved in risk assessments of hazardous chemicals for over 15 years and initiated the National Substitution Group (NSG) in Sweden - an active network for sharing experiences in chemical management and substitution.

Johannes is a chemist, who until recently worked as a research fellow at the Institute of Sustainable Chemistry of Leuphana University Lüneburg. During this time, he was the lead researcher of a project to increase the environmental profile of rodenticides in cooperation with the Federal Scientific Environment Agency (UBA).

Catrine has worked in the textile sector for about 30 years and of these, the last 25 years her focus has been within the sports industry. For many years she has focused on phasing out hazardous chemicals from sports products such as PFAS, phthalates and all types of antibacterial treatments. Part of her work has also been to collaboration with other organizations and companies in order to change and speed up the requirements of certain chemical legislations.

Sylvie, Cefic's Deputy Director General, has more than twenty years experience in EU regulatory affairs focused on chemicals policy, working in both trade associations (A.I.S.E. and Cefic) and in chemical companies (ExxonMobil Chemical, Dow).

Klaus joined the European Commission in 1994 and is currently Head of Unit in the European Commission's Directorate-General Health and Food Safety, responsible for the implementation of the Pesticides and Biocides legislation. Before, he was Head of Unit in the European Commission’s Directorate-General Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship & SMEs, in charge of the implementation of the EU Regulation concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH).

Stefanie has a background in environmental engineering and wrote her PhD-thesis on biocides in households and their emissions to waste water at Leuphana University Lüneburg. She has been working at the German Environment Agency since 2009 in the section responsible for the environmental risk assessment of biocides. Within this section, she focusses on the sustainable use of these products.

Elisabeth holds an LLM in European and international law, and has specialized in advocacy, project management and awareness raising activities around chemicals and health, and environmental health for more than 10 years now.

Eugen is senior scientific officer in the chemical safety unit, dealing with inspections & enforcement for the State Government Services in Vorarlberg. He is the Austrian Member of the ECHA FORUM & also appointed chair of the BPR Enforcement Forum. He has 20+ years experience in national & international regulatory issues on chemicals in the context of implementation, enforcement & regulation setting.

Heribert worked for 15 years in the enforcement of the environmental protection as an analytical chemist for different authorities. With this background, he has broad experience of analytical methods and the enforcement of the environmental legislation for water, wastewater, soil and air. In 2006 he changed to the Federal Office of Public Health as head of the section Market Control and Advice where he is responsible for the coordination and enforcement of chemicals and biocides in Switzerland.

Peter is partner at VVGB Advocaten / Avocats in Brussels where he heads the EU Regulatory practice. He specialises in EU environmental, health and safety (EHS) risk regulation pursuant to various laws and regulations on chemicals and other highly regulated products. He has expertise in data sharing negotiations and data sharing dispute cases and he is legal counsel to several task forces (consortia).