Advocate General Giovanni Pitruzzella recommended annulling a European Commission decision of December 2020 granting authorisation for certain uses of chromium trioxide under the ‘REACH’ regulation (1907/2006) governing the authorisation of chemical substances in the European Union, in conclusions delivered on Thursday 27 October (Case C-144/21).
In this case, the European Parliament has brought an action for annulment before the Court of Justice of the EU, which is asked to clarify the analysis that the European Commission must carry out in the context of the so-called ‘socio-economic’ authorisation procedure (Article 60 of the ‘REACH’ regulation) for the use of a chemical substance of very high concern.
The Parliament is asking the Court to assess the analysis carried out by the Commission in the contested decision on the two conditions required for authorisation of the use of chromium trioxide to be granted, namely: (1) the socio-economic benefits outweigh the risks to human health or the environment from the use of that substance; (2) there are no suitable alternative substances or technologies.
In his conclusions, Mr Pitruzzella welcomes all the pleas put forward by the Parliament and proposes that the Court uphold the European Parliament’s action in its entirety. It suggests that the effects of the contested decision remain until the Commission adopts a new decision.
In July 2020, the European Parliament had rejected, by one vote, a proposal to object to the European Commission’s contentious draft decision (see EUROPE 12525/11).
See the opinion of the Advocate General: https://aeur.eu/f/3tf (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)