EN Official Journal of the European Union C 63/38

Reference for a preliminary ruling from High Court of Justice (England & Wales), Queen's Bench Division (Administrative Court) made on 11 January 2010 — Nickel Institute v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions

(Case C-14/10)

2010/C 63/61

Language of the case: English

Referring court

High Court of Justice (England & Wales), Queen's Bench Division (Administrative Court)

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Nickel Institute

Defendant: Secretary of State for Work and Pensions

Questions referred

1. Are Commission Directive 2008/58/EC (1) (the ‘30th ATP Directive’) and/or Commission Regulation (EC) No 790/2009 (2) (the ‘1st ATP Regulation’), to the extent that they purport to classify or reclassify the Nickel Carbonates for the relevant endpoints, invalid in that: (a) the classifications were arrived at without adequate assessment of the intrinsic properties of the Nickel Carbonates in accordance with the criteria and data requirements set out in Annex VI to Directive 67/548/EEC (3) (the ‘Dangerous Substances Directive’); (b) there was no adequate consideration of whether the intrinsic properties of the Nickel Carbonates may present a risk during normal handling and use, as required by sections 1.1 and 1.4 of Annex VI to the Dangerous Substances Directive; (c) the conditions for the use of the procedure in Article 28 of the Dangerous Substances Directive were not made out; (d) the classifications were impermissibly based on a derogation statement prepared for the purposes of a risk assessment carried out by a competent authority pursuant to Regulation (EEC) No 793/93 (4); and/or (e) the reasons for adopting the classifications were not given as required by Article 253 EC?

2. Are Commission Directive 2009/2/EC (5) (the ‘31st ATP Directive’) and or the 1st ATP Regulation invalid, to the extent that they purport to classify or reclassify the Nickel Hydroxides and the Grouped Nickel Substances (together, the ‘Contested Nickel Substances’) in the specified respects, in that: (a) the classifications were arrived at without adequate assessment of the intrinsic properties of the Contested Nickel Substances in accordance with the criteria and data requirements set out in Annex VI to the Dangerous Substances Directive, but rather on the basis of certain read-across methods; (b) there was no adequate consideration of whether the intrinsic properties of the Contested Nickel Substances may present a risk during normal handling and use, as required by sections 1.1 and 1.4 of Annex VI to the Dangerous Substances Directive; and/or (c) the conditions for the use of the procedure in Article 28 of the Dangerous Substances Directive were not made out?

3. Is the 1st ATP Regulation invalid, so far as it concerns the Nickel Carbonates and the Contested Nickel Substances, in that: (a) the conditions for the use of the procedure in Article 53 of Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 (6) (the ‘CLP Regulation’) were not made out, and/or (b) the classifications for Table 3.1 of Annex VI to the CLP Regulation were arrived at without adequate assessment of the properties of the Nickel Carbonates and the Contested Nickel Substances in accordance with the criteria and data requirements set out in Annex I to the CLP Regulation, but rather on the application of Annex VII to the CLP Regulation?

(1) Commission Directive 2008/58/EC of 21 August 2008 amending, for the purpose of its adaptation to technical progress, for the 30th time, Council Directive 67/548/EEC on the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to the classification, packaging and labelling of dangerous substances (Text with EEA relevance)

OJ L 246, p. 1

(2) Commission Regulation (EC) No 790/2009 of 10 August 2009 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 (Text with EEA relevance)

OJ L 235, p. 1

(3) Council Directive 67/548/EEC of 27 June 1967 on the approximation of laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to the classification, packaging and labelling of dangerous substances

OJ 196, p. 1

(4) Council Regulation (EEC) No 793/93 of 23 March 1993 on the evaluation and control of the risks of existing substances

OJ L 84, p. 1

(5) Commission Directive 2009/2/EC of 15 January 2009 amending, for the purpose of its adaptation to technical progress, for the 31st time, Council Directive 67/548/EEC on the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to the classification, packaging and labelling of dangerous substances (Text with EEA relevance)

OJ L 11, 16.1.2009, p. 6

(6) Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2008 on classification, labelling and packaging of substances and mixtures, amending and repealing Directives 67/548/EEC and 1999/45/EC, and amending Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 (Text with EEA relevance)

OJ L 353, p. 1