Case T-207/18: Judgment of the General Court of 16 December 2020 — PlasticsEurope v ECHA (REACH — Establishment of a list of substances identified with a view to their eventual inclusion in Annex XIV to Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 — Supplement to the entry relating to the substance bisphenol A on that list — Articles 57 and 59 of Regulation No 1907/2006 — Manifest error of assessment — Weight of evidence approach — Exploratory studies — Intermediate uses — Proportionality)
Date: 2020-12-16
Institutions: General Court
Subjects: chemical product, dangerous substance, endocrine disease, environmental protection, health risk, intermediate goods, principle of proportionality








C_2021053EN.01003101.xml










15.2.2021   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 53/31






Judgment of the General Court of 16 December 2020 — PlasticsEurope v ECHA
(Case T-207/18) (1)

(REACH - Establishment of a list of substances identified with a view to their eventual inclusion in Annex XIV to Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 - Supplement to the entry relating to the substance bisphenol A on that list - Articles 57 and 59 of Regulation No 1907/2006 - Manifest error of assessment - Weight of evidence approach - Exploratory studies - Intermediate uses - Proportionality)
(2021/C 53/40)
Language of the case: English

Parties


Applicant: PlasticsEurope (Brussels, Belgium) (represented by: R. Cana, É. Mullier and F. Mattioli, lawyers)

Defendant: European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) (represented by: M. Heikkilä, W. Broere and C. Buchanan, acting as Agents)

Interveners in support of the defendant: Federal Republic of Germany (represented by: J. Möller, D. Klebs and S. Heimerl, acting as Agents), French Republic (represented by: A.-L. Desjonquères, J. Traband, E. Leclerc and W. Zemamta, acting as Agents), ClientEarth (London, United Kingdom) (represented by: P. Kirch, lawyer)

Re:

Application pursuant to Article 263 TFEU seeking the annulment of ECHA Decision ED/01/2018 of 3 January 2018, by which the existing entry relating to bisphenol A on the list of identified substances with a view to their eventual inclusion in Annex XIV to Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2006 concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH), establishing a European Chemicals Agency, amending Directive 1999/45/EC and repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No 793/93 and Commission Regulation (EC) No 1488/94 as well as Council Directive 76/769/EEC and Commission Directives 91/155/EEC, 93/67/EEC, 93/105/EC and 2000/21/EC (OJ 2006 L 396, p. 1, corrigendum OJ 2007 L 136, p. 3), in accordance with Article 59 of that regulation, was supplemented to the effect that bisphenol A is also identified as a substance with endocrine disrupting properties that may have serious effects on the environment which give rise to an equivalent level of concern to those of other substances listed in Article 57(a) to (e) of that regulation, within the meaning of Article 57(f) thereof.

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:






1.


Dismisses the action;










2.


Orders PlasticsEurope to bear its own costs and pay those incurred by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) and ClientEarth;










3.


Orders the Federal Republic of Germany and the French Republic to bear their own costs.






(1)  OJ C 190, 4.6.2018.