Brussels, 14/05/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 14 May, the General Court of the EU (ruling T-198/12) upheld the decision of the European Commission to deny Germany authorisation to keep in place its current limit values for arsenic, antimony and mercury in toys, as the country has failed to prove that these limit values, which correspond to the former EU standard (directive 88/378/EEC of 1988 on toy safety), guarantee better protection than the new European limit values (directive 2009/48/EC).
However, the European judges annulled the Commission's decision on the limit values for the lead, taking the view that this contains an internal contradiction.
The new directive from 2009, laying down new limit values in toys for the four elements referred to above plus barium, was supposed to be transposed into national law by 20 January 2011 and enter into force on 20 July the same year. In a decision of March 2012, the Commission refused to grant Germany authorisation to keep its national limit values the same as under the previous directive (see above), which the country felt offered better protection to children's health, for antimony, arsenic and mercury. It authorised Germany to keep its limit values for lead and barium until no later than 21 July 2013. Germany called for this decision to be annulled and requested provisional authorisation from the General Court to keep its current limit values for the five elements until the judgement was returned, to which which the President of the General Court agreed.
In today's ruling, the General Court rejects Germany's action for annulment of the decision as regards the limit values for arsenic, antimony and mercury. It appears, amongst other things, that the data submitted by the Commission clearly indicate that for liquid or sticky material as well as for dry, brittle, powder-like or pliable material in toys, the German limit values for these three elements, when converted into migration limit values used in the European standard, are considerably higher than those in the new directive, whereas the migration limit values laid down in it for scraped-off material are higher than those that result from the conversion of the bioavailability limit values laid down in the notified German provisions. Germany cannot therefore claim that the new directive authorises higher migration of harmful substances than those permitted in Germany and that its own legislation ensures a high level of protection.
As regards lead, the General Court has annulled the Commission's decision which it argues contains a contradiction liable to prevent the decision from being properly understood. Under the new directive, the limit values laid down by the former directive were to continue to apply until 20 July 2013 and the Commission had only authorised Germany to keep its limit values until 21 July of the same year (the difference between those two dates being purely symbolic). The General Court therefore found that the contested decision, in terms of its practical effect, amounted to a negative decision, even though the Commission found that the conditions for approving the continued application of the national limit values the lead had been satisfied. As for barium, the General Court notes that there is no longer any need to adjudicate on the action as the Commission has in the meantime amended the limit values for that heavy metal, so that the action has become devoid of purpose with regard to barium. (FG)