22. 4. 82 Official Journal of the European Communities No L 109/1 (Acts whose publication is not obligatory) COUNCIL COUNCIL DIRECTIVE of 31 March 1982 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to methods of testing the biodegradability of non-ionic surfactants and amending Directive 73/404/EEC (82/242/EEC) THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, and in particular Article 100 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commis- sion (%), Having regard to the opinion of the European Par- liament (?), Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (*), Whereas the methods of testing in force in the Member States, while pursuing the same objective, differ in certain respects and are thus detrimental to the proper functioning of the common market; Whereas Council Directive 73/404/EEC of 22 November 1973 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to detergents (*) provides in Article 4 for the adoption of Directives specifying methods of testing as well as relevant tolerances to (*) OJ No C 104, 28. 4. 1980, p. 112. () OJ No C 197, 4. 8. 1980, p. 66. () OJ No C 310, 30. 11. 1981, p. 7. () OJ No L 347, 17. 12. 1973, p. 51. enable compliance with the requirements of that Directive to be established; whereas Council Directive 73/405/EEC of 22 November 1973 on the approx- imation of the laws of the Member States relating to methods of testing the biodegradability of anionic surfactants (*) specified such methods and tolerances for anionic surfactants; Whereas, to enable Member States to determine the level of biodegradability of non-ionic surfactants, it is advisable to employ methods of testing already in use for this purpose in certain Member States; whereas, however, in the event of disputes, biodegradability should be tested by a common reference method; Whereas, in regard to the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to detergents, suitable tolerances for measuring biodegradability should be laid down, as provided for in Article 4 of Council Directive 73/404/EEC, in order to safeguard against the unreliability of methods of testing which could lead to rejection decisions having considerable economic consequences; whereas a rejection decision must be taken only if the results obtained by an analytical method mentioned in Article 2 show a level of biodegradability lower than 80 %; () OJ No L 347, 17. 12. 1973, p. 53. -