CELEX: C2004/106/43
Language: en
Date: 2004-04-30 00:00:00
Title: Case C-102/04: Actionbrought on 27 February 2004 by the Kingdom ofSweden against the Commission of the European Communities

30.4.2004   
            
            
               EN
            
            
               Official Journal of the European Union
            
            
               C 106/24
            
         Action brought on 27 February 2004 by the Kingdom of Sweden against the Commission of the European Communities
   (Case C-102/04)
   (2004/C 106/43)
   An action against the Commission of the European Communities was brought before the Court of Justice of the European Communities on 27 February 2004 by the Kingdom of Sweden, represented by A. Kruse, acting as Agent, with an address for service in Sweden.
   The Kingdom of Sweden claims that the Court should:
   
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               annul Commission Directive 2003/112/EC (1) of 1 December 2003 amending Council Directive 91/414/EEC (2) to include paraquat as an active substance,
            
         
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               order the Commission to pay the Kingdom of Sweden's costs.
            
         Pleas in law and main arguments
   The Commission adopted Directive 2003/112/EC on 1 December 2003. By that directive, paraquat was included as an active substance in Annex I to Council Directive 91/414/EEC of 15 July 1991 concerning the placing of plant protection products on the market.
   By adopting the directive the Commission has disregarded Articles 6 and 174 EC, Article 5 of Council Directive 91/414/EEC and Article 7(1) of Commission Regulation (EEC) No 3600/92 of 11 December 1992 laying down the detailed rules for the implementation of the first stage of the programme of work referred to in Article 8(2) of Council Directive 91/414/EEC concerning the placing of plant protection products on the market.
   In adopting the directive the Commission has clearly gone beyond the limits of its discretionary powers in that it has failed to apply the principle of caution when assessing and dealing with the risk posed by paraquat both to human and to animal health. Its failure to apply the principle of caution has in turn made it impossible to ensure the high level of protection required by the EC Treaty and in Directive 91/414/EEC. In disregarding the need for a high level of protection, the Commission must also be considered not to have fulfilled the requirements of environmental protection and the principle of integration laid down in the EC Treaty. The Commission has thus breached Articles 6 and 174(2) EC and Article 5 of Directive 91/414/EEC. The Commission has also mishandled this matter by failing to have regard for available published data on paraquat and the risks associated with that substance. In so doing it has breached Articles 174(3) EC and Article 5(1) of Directive 91/414/EEC and Article 7(1) of Commission Regulation (EEC) No 3600/92.
   
      (1)  OJ L 321, 6.12.2003, p. 32.
   
      (2)  OJ L 230, 19.8.1991, p. 1.