Case T-77/20: Judgment of the General Court of 4 October 2023 — Ascenza Agro and Industrias Afrasa v Commission (Plant protection products — Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 — Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/17 — Non-renewal of approval of the active substance chlorpyrifos-methyl — Action for annulment — Standing to bring proceedings — Admissibility — Obligation to examine all the conditions and criteria set out in Regulation No 1107/2009 — Absence of an EFSA conclusion — Transparency obligation — Right to be heard — Obligation to state reasons — Divergent risk assessments by the rapporteur Member State and EFSA — Obligation to take into account all the relevant factors of the case — Interim report on an ongoing study — Precautionary principle — Burden of proof and matter to be proved — Manifest error of assessment — Applicability of the read-across approach and of the weight-of-evidence approach — Possibility of relying on the ECHA and EFSA guidelines)
Date: 2023-10-04
Institutions: General Court
Subjects: European Food Safety Authority, market approval, plant health product, proof, right of action, rights of the defence, toxic substance, transparency in decision-making








C_202300973EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
Series C













C/2023/973


27.11.2023





Judgment of the General Court of 4 October 2023 — Ascenza Agro and Industrias Afrasa v Commission
(Case T-77/20) (1)

(Plant protection products - Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 - Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/17 - Non-renewal of approval of the active substance chlorpyrifos-methyl - Action for annulment - Standing to bring proceedings - Admissibility - Obligation to examine all the conditions and criteria set out in Regulation No 1107/2009 - Absence of an EFSA conclusion - Transparency obligation - Right to be heard - Obligation to state reasons - Divergent risk assessments by the rapporteur Member State and EFSA - Obligation to take into account all the relevant factors of the case - Interim report on an ongoing study - Precautionary principle - Burden of proof and matter to be proved - Manifest error of assessment - Applicability of the read-across approach and of the weight-of-evidence approach - Possibility of relying on the ECHA and EFSA guidelines)
(C/2023/973)
Language of the case: English

Parties


Applicants: Ascenza Agro, SA (Setúbal, Portugal) Industrias Afrasa, SA (Paterna, Spain) (represented by: K. Van Maldegem, P. Sellar, M. Ombredane, lawyers, and V. McElwee, Solicitor)

Defendant: European Commission (represented by: A. Dawes, F. Castilla Contreras and M. ter Haar, acting as Agents)

Intervener in support of the applicants: European Crop Care Association (ECCA), (Overijse, Belgium) (represented by: S. Pappas and A. Pappas, lawyers)

Interveners in support of the defendant: Kingdom of Denmark (represented by: M. Søndahl Wolff and J. Kronborg, acting as Agents), French Republic (represented by: A.-L. Desjonquères, acting as Agent), Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL) (Brussels, Belgium) (represented by: A. Bailleux, lawyer)

Re:

By their action brought under Article 263 TFEU, the applicants seek the annulment of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/17 of 10 January 2020 concerning the non-renewal of the approval of the active substance chlorpyrifos-methyl, in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the placing of plant protection products on the market, and amending the Annex to Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 540/2011 (OJ 2020 L 7, p. 11).

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:






1.


Dismisses the action;










2.


Orders Ascenza Agro, SA and Industrias Afrasa, SA, to bear their own costs, to pay those incurred by the European Commission, including those relating to the proceedings for interim measures, and to pay the costs incurred by the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL);










3.


Orders the Kingdom of Denmark, the French Republic and the European Crop Care Association (ECCA) to bear their own costs.






(1)  
            OJ C 129, 20.4.2020.


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2023/973/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)