CELEX: C2001/004/14
Language: en
Date: 2001-01-06 00:00:00
Title: Case T-339/00: Action brought on 8 November 2000 by Bactria Industriehygiene Service GmbH & Co K.G. against the Commission of the European Communities

6.1.2001               EN                     Official Journal of the European Communities                                            C 4/9
Action brought on 8 November 2000 by Bactria Industrie-                  —     It grants phase-out periods for the continued selling of
hygiene Service GmbH & Co K.G. against the Commission                          active substances that are found to be unfit for EU central
                 of the European Communities                                   register inclusion which are unreasonably long and will
                                                                               economically damage participating diligent companies,
                                                                               like the applicant.
                         (Case T-339/00)
                          (2001/C 4/14)                                  —     It requires companies to share commercially sensitive
                                                                               market information when making a notification, which
                                                                               gives rise to antitrust concerns when producers become
                                                                               aware of each other’s market volumes and shares.
                   (Language of the case: English)
An action against the Commission of the European Communi-                —     It infringes well established principles of EU law such as
ties was brought before the Court of First Instance of the                     the fundamental right of data ownership, the principles
European Communities on 8 November 2000 by Bactria                             of legitimate expectations, proportionality, uniform
Industriehygiene Service GmbH & Co. KG, represented by                         application of Community law, and supremacy of inter-
Mr Koen Van Maldegem and Mr Claudio Mereu of the Brussels                      national agreements.
Bar.
The applicant claims that the Court should:
                                                                         (1) Directive 98/8/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council
                                                                             of 16 February 1998 concerning the placing of biocidal products
—     annul Commission Regulation (EC) No 1896/2000 of                       on the market, OJ L 123 , of 24 April 1998, p. 1.
      7 September 2000 on the first phase of the programme
      referred to in Article 16(2) of Directive 98/8/EC of the           (2) Commission Regulation (EC) No 1896/2000 of 7 September
                                                                             2000 on the first phase of the programme referred to in Article
      Europan Parliament and of the Council on biocidal
                                                                             16(2) of Directive 98/8/EC of the European Parliament and of the
      products, based on Article 230(4) of the EC Treaty;                    Council on biocidal products, OJ L 228 , of 8 September 2000,
                                                                             p. 6.
—     order the defendant to pay all the costs of these proceed-
      ings.
Pleas in law and main arguments
The applicant manufactures peracetic acid (‘PAA’), which is an
active substance used in biocidal products.
Pursuant to Article 16, paragraph 2 of Directive 98/8/EC (1),
the Commission initiated a programme of work for the review              Action brought on 7 November 2000 by the Comunità
of all active substances of biocidal products already on the             Montana della Valnerina against Commission of the Euro-
market. To this end, the Commission adopted regulation (EC)                                      pean Communities
No 1896/2000 (2). This regulation initiates a notification
procedure for active substances to be evaluated for a possible
inclusion in a list of substances that are eligible to be placed
on the market.                                                                                     (Case T-340/00)
The applicant submits that it is individually and directly                                          (2001/C 4/15)
concerned by this regulation and seeks its annulment on the
following grounds:
—     The Regulation violates the data protection provisions                                 (Language of the case: Italian)
      set forth in the Directive by ignoring protection for
      commercially sensitive and expensive active substance
      data, legally granted by the Directive, during the review          An action against the Commission of the European Communi-
      period of these active substances.                                 ties was brought before the Court of First Instance of the
                                                                         European Communities on 7 November 2000 by the Comu-
—     It distorts competition in violation of the EC Treaty in           nità Montana della Valnerina, represented by Emilio Cappelli
      that it allows companies which do not participate in the           and Paolo De Caterini, of the Rome Bar, with an address for
      review process to take a free ride on notifications made           service in Luxembourg at the Chambers of Charles Turk, 13 B,
      by participating diligent companies, like the applicant;           avenue Guillaume.