Keywords

Summary



Keywords

1. Agriculture – Approximation of laws – Placing of plant protection products on the market – Directive 91/414 – Procedure for the inclusion of active substances of those products in Annex I to that directive – Regulation No 3600/92 – Notification in respect of the same product made independently by several undertakings – Notification which is not a collective notification – Obligation on each undertaking to supply a complete dossier of the product

(Commission Regulation No 3600/92, Art. 6(1); Council Directive 91/414, Annex I)

2. Agriculture – Approximation of laws – Placing of plant protection products on the market – Directive 91/414 – Procedure for the inclusion of active substances of those products in Annex I to that directive – Regulation No 3600/92 – Time-limits for submitting the dossier on those substances – Extension in exceptional cases – Discretion of the Community institutions – Scope – Judicial review – Limits

(Commission Regulation No 3600/92, Art. 7(4); Council Directive 91/414, Annex I)

3. Agriculture – Approximation of laws – Placing of plant protection products on the market – Directive 91/414 – Objectives – Protection of human and animal health and the environment – Precedence of that protection over economic and social damage, even that which is substantial

(Council Directive 91/414)

4. Community law – Principles – Proportionality – Acts of the institutions – Proportionate nature – Criteria for assessment – Discretionary power of the Community legislature in matters concerning the common agricultural policy – Judicial review – Limits

(EC Treaty, Art. 43 (now, after amendment, Art. 37 EC))

5. Actions for annulment – Pleas in law – Misuse of powers – Meaning

Summary

1. Misuse of powers In that respect, Article 6(1) of Regulation No 3600/92 lays down specific provisions providing that the notifiers must send to the rapporteur Member State a summary dossier and a complete dossier and that each notifier is responsible for preparing those dossiers. Therefore the fact that a notifier withdraws from the procedure does not alter the obligations of the other notifier.

(see paras 71-73)

2. Article 7(4) of Regulation No 3600/92 laying down the detailed rules for the implementation of the first stage of the programme of work referred to in Article 8(2) of Directive 91/414, which introduces a procedure for the inclusion of active substances of plant protection products in Annex I to that directive, provides that the Commission is able to extend the time-limits for submitting a complete dossier and additional information on those substances only in exceptional cases, namely where it has not been possible for the rapporteur Member State and the Commission, by 25 May 2001, to identify the long-term studies necessary for examining the dossier.

That power falls within the broad discretion enjoyed by the Community institutions in that area regarding definition of the objectives to be pursued and choice of the appropriate means of action. Accordingly, review by the Community judicature of the substance of the relevant act must be confined to examining whether the exercise of such discretion is vitiated by a manifest error or a misuse of powers or whether the Community institutions clearly exceeded the bounds of their discretion.

(see paras 92, 95)

3. The objectives to be pursued by Directive 91/414 concerning the placing of plant protection products on the market are not the protection of the market or of competition, but the protection of human and animal health and the environment. That objective is consistent with the precautionary principle and reflects the case-law upholding the primacy of the protection of health and the environment over economic interests. The importance of the objective pursued, namely the protection of human health, may justify adverse economic consequences, even those which are substantial, for certain traders. The protection of public health must take precedence over economic considerations.

(see paras 133-134)

4. The principle of proportionality, which is one of the general principles of Community law, requires that measures adopted by Community institutions should not exceed the limits of what is appropriate and necessary in order to attain the legitimate objectives pursued by the legislation in question, and where there is a choice between several appropriate measures, recourse must be had to the least onerous, and the disadvantages caused must not be disproportionate to the aims pursued.

None the less, in matters concerning agriculture, being a question of measures taken under Article 43 of the EC Treaty (now, after amendment, Article 37 EC), judicial review of the principle of proportionality is special, inasmuch as the Court acknowledges the Community legislature’s wide discretion in that sphere as it entails choices of a political, economic and social nature and complex assessments. Consequently, the legality of a measure adopted in that sphere can be affected only if the measure is manifestly inappropriate in relation to the objective which the competent institution is seeking to pursue.

(see paras 135-136)

5. It is settled case-law that the concept of misuse of powers has a specific meaning in Community law and refers to a situation in which an administrative authority uses its powers for the purpose of achieving an end other than that for which they were granted. A decision amounts to a misuse of powers only if it appears, on the basis of objective, relevant and consistent factors, to have been taken to achieve an end other than that stated.

(see para. 146)