A review. Coatings manufacturers use biocides to preserve their product in the can and when the coating is applied. The industry was alerted in 1998 when the Biocide Product Directive (BPD) was published, with the objective to review all existing biocides by 2010. With 2006 nearing an end, we do not, as yet, see any significant impact. This could have been foreseen from the pesticide review, another European legislation from which the BPD text was largely based. A monster legislation was created with limited resources to implement it, and with the typical European subsidiary principle. But watch out, it is acting and will affect the availability of biocide products in due time.