62018TJ0645_INF
Judgment of the General Court (Eighth Chamber, Extended Composition) of 16 December 2020 – Bilbaína de Alquitranes v Commission
(Case T‑645/18)
(Non-contractual liability – Environment – Classification, labelling and packaging of certain substances and mixtures – Classification of pitch, coal tar, high-temp as an Aquatic Acute 1 (H400) toxic substance and as an Aquatic Chronic 1 (H410) toxic substance – Sufficiently serious breach of a rule of law intended to confer rights on individuals)
1.
Non-contractual liability – Conditions – Unlawfulness – Damage – Causal link – One of the conditions not satisfied – Claim for compensation dismissed in its entirety
(Art. 340, second para. TFEU)
(see paras 54, 55)
2.
Non-contractual liability – Conditions – Unlawfulness – Sufficiently serious breach of a rule of law intended to confer rights on individuals – Rule of law intended to confer rights on individuals – Meaning – Classification method for aquatic environmental hazards – Precluded
(Art. 340, second para. TFEU; European Parliament and Council Regulation No 1272/2008, as amended by Regulations No 286/2011 and No 944/2013, Annex I, point 4.1.3.5.5)
(see paras 58, 66-69)
3.
Non-contractual liability – Conditions – Unlawfulness – Sufficiently serious breach of a rule of law which leads to the imposition or strengthening of obligations on individuals so as to affect their legal situation
(Art. 340, second para. TFEU)
(see paras 70, 71)
4.
Non-contractual liability – Conditions – Unlawfulness – Sufficiently serious breach of EU law – Requirement that the institutions manifestly and seriously disregard the limits of their discretion – Breach by the Commission of a rule affording it some discretion when classifying chemical substances and mixtures – Highly complex scientific situation – No sufficiently serious breach
(Art. 340, second para. TFEU; European Parliament and Council Regulation No 1272/2008, as amended by Regulations No 286/2011 and No 944/2013, Annex I, point 4.1.3.5.5)
(see paras 80-116)
Re:
Action under Article 268 TFEU seeking compensation for the damage which the applicant claims to have suffered as a result of the adoption of Commission Regulation (EU) No 944/2013 of 2 October 2013 amending, for the purposes of its adaptation to technical and scientific progress, Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council on classification, labelling and packaging of substances and mixtures (OJ 2013 L 261, p. 5), in so far as that regulation classified pitch, coal tar, high-temp as an Aquatic Acute 1 (H400) and Aquatic Chronic 1 (H410) substance.
Operative part
The Court:
1.
Dismisses the action;
2.
Orders Bilbaína de Alquitranes, SA to bear its own costs and to pay those incurred by the European Commission;
3.
Orders the Kingdom of Spain and the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) to bear their own costs.