For more than 30 years, butralin has been supported as a tobacco sucker control agent, on a world basis to serve the tobacco market. Today, butralin-based products are registered in five continents and 22 countries. Recently, owing to an important and a constantly updated data package comprising about 250 studies, butralin was registered in Japan (2004) and in Korea (2005). Some further registrations are underway. Butralin is a high-quality active substance with a typical purity of 99% and a nitrosamine content controlled at less than 1 ppm. Butralin is manufactured in France in a dedicated workshop, where strict quality control prevails. In Europe, butralin is part of the European notification programme of existing active substances, as requested by Commission regulation Nr 1490/2002 laying down the rules for the implementation of the third stage of the programme of work referred to in Article 8(2) of Council directive 91/414/EC.Our poster will show how this performance was achieved and how this present European challenge is being coped with.