Article 80(1) of Regulation No 528/2012 concerning the making available on the market and use of biocidal products confers on the Commission the power to adopt an implementing regulation, pursuant to Article 291(2) TFEU, concerning the fees payable to the European Chemicals Agency which are linked to its various actions in implementation of that regulation.

The concept of an implementing act within the meaning of Article 291 TFEU must be assessed in relation to the concept of a delegated act, as derived from Article 290 TFEU.

When the EU legislature confers, in a legislative act, a delegated power on the Commission pursuant to Article 290(1) TFEU, the Commission is called on to adopt rules which supplement or amend certain non-essential elements of that act. In accordance with the second subparagraph of Article 290(1) TFEU, the objectives, content, scope and duration of the delegation of power must be explicitly defined in the legislative act granting such a delegation. That requirement implies that the purpose of granting a delegated power is to achieve the adoption of rules coming within the regulatory framework as defined by the basic legislative act.

By contrast, when the EU legislature confers an implementing power on the Commission on the basis of Article 291(2) TFEU, the Commission is called on to provide further detail in relation to the content of a legislative act, in order to ensure that it is implemented under uniform conditions in all Member States.

The EU legislature has discretion when it decides to confer a delegated power on the Commission pursuant to Article 290(1) TFEU or an implementing power pursuant to Article 291(2) TFEU. Consequently, judicial review is limited to manifest errors of assessment as to whether the EU legislature could reasonably have taken the view, first, that, in order to be implemented, the legal framework which it laid down regarding the system of fees referred to in Article 80(1) of Regulation No 528/2012 needs only the addition of further detail, without its non-essential elements having to be amended or supplemented and, secondly, that the provisions of Regulation No 528/2012 relating to that system require uniform conditions for implementation.

Both the guiding principle of the system of fees and the conditions and criteria governing the exercise by the Commission of the power conferred on it by Article 80(1) of Regulation No 528/2012 have been laid down by the EU legislature itself in that legislative act. The exercise of that power therefore takes place within a normative framework laid down by the legislative act itself, the non-essential elements of which can neither be amended nor supplemented by the implementing act.

It follows from this that the EU legislature could reasonably take the view that Article 80(1) of Regulation No 528/2012 confers on the Commission the power to provide further detail in relation to the normative content of that regulation, in accordance with Article 291(2) TFEU.

In addition, since the system of fees referred to in Article 80(1) of Regulation No 528/2012 relates to fees payable to an EU agency, the conferral of an implementing power on the Commission under Article 291(2) TFEU may be considered reasonable for the purposes of ensuring uniform conditions for the implementation of that system within the European Union.

(see paras 32, 35, 38-40, 43, 46, 49, 52, 53)