E Europe-wide trichlorethylene usage ban is based on two articles of legislation that apply equally and immediately to all EU member states:
REACH Regulation (EC) No. 1907/2006 of the European Parliament and
REACH is short for the Registration, Evaluation, AuthorizationandRestrictionofChemicals. The REACH Regulations came into force on 01.06.2007 with the goal of fundamentally harmonizing and simplifying chemical laws within the EU.
German Federal Environmental Agency information on the subject of REACH and the latest legislation text can be found via the following link:
http://www.reach-info.de/verordnungstext.htm