Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber) of 8 July 2010 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the High Court of Justice of England and Wales, Queen’s Bench Division (Administrative Court) — United Kingdom) — Afton Chemical Limited v Secretary of State for Transport

(Case C-343/09) (1)

(Reference for a preliminary ruling - Validity - Directive 2009/30/EC - Article 1(8) - Directive 98/70/EC - Article 8a - Atmospheric pollution - Fuels - Use of metallic additives in fuels - Limit for methylcyclopentadienyl manganese tricarbonyl (MMT) content - Labelling - Impact assessment - Manifest error of assessment - Precautionary principle - Proportionality - Equal treatment - Legal certainty - Admissibility)

2010/C 234/20

Language of the case: English

Referring court

High Court of Justice of England and Wales, Queen’s Bench Division (Administrative Court)

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Afton Chemical Limited

Defendant: Secretary of State for Transport

Re:

Reference for a preliminary ruling — High Court of Justice of England & Wales, Queen’s Bench Division (Administrative Court) — Validity of Directive 2009/30/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 amending Directive 98/70/EC as regards the specification of petrol, diesel and gas-oil and introducing a mechanism to monitor and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and amending Council Directive 1999/32/EC as regards the specification of fuel used by inland waterway vessels and repealing Directive 93/12/EEC (OJ 2009 L 140, p. 88) — Validity with regard to the labelling requirement for fuels which contain metallic additives and with regard to the setting of a limit for methylcyclopentadienyl manganese tricarbonyl (MMT) — Manifest error of assessment — Infringement of the principles of proportionality, equal treatment and legal certainty

Operative part of the judgment

Consideration of the questions referred has disclosed nothing capable of affecting the validity of Article 1(8) of Directive 2009/30/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 amending Directive 98/70/EC as regards the specification of petrol, diesel and gas-oil and introducing a mechanism to monitor and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and amending Council Directive 1999/32/EC as regards the specification of fuel used by inland waterway vessels and repealing Directive 93/12/EEC, in so far as it inserts a new Article 8a(2) and 8a(4) to (6) in Directive 98/70/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 October 1998 relating to the quality of petrol and diesel fuels and amending Council Directive 93/12/EEC.

(1)  OJ C 267, 7.11.2009