Judgment of the General Court of 9 June 2021 — Exxonmobil Petroleum & Chemical v ECHA

(Case T-177/19) (1)

(REACH - Establishment of a list of substances identified with a view to their eventual inclusion in Annex XIV of Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 - Inclusion of phenanthrene on that list - Articles 57 and 59 of Regulation No 1907/2006 - Manifest error of assessment - Weight of evidence determination - Proportionality - Obligation to state reasons - Right to be heard)

(2021/C 297/37)

Language of the case: English

Parties

Applicant: Exxonmobil Petroleum & Chemical BVBA (Antwerp, Belgium) (represented by: A. Kołtunowska and A. Bartl, lawyers)

Defendant: European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) (represented by: W. Broere, C. Buchanan and M. Heikkilä, acting as Agents, and by S. Raes, lawyer)

Intervener in support of the applicant: European Petroleum Refiners Association (Brussels, Belgium) (represented by: J.-P. Montfort and T. Delille, lawyers)

Intervener in support of the defendant: French Republic (represented by: A.-L. Desjonquères, E. Leclerc, T. Stehelin and W. Zemamta, acting as Agents)

Re:

Application under Article 263 TFEU seeking the annulment of ECHA Decision ED/88/2018 of 19 December 2018, in so far as it places phenanthrene on the list of substances identified as being of very high concern provided for in Article 59 of Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2006 concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH), establishing a European Chemicals Agency, amending Directive 1999/45/EC and repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No 793/93 and Commission Regulation (EC) No 1488/94 as well as Council Directive 76/769/EEC and Commission Directives 91/155/EEC, 93/67/EEC, 93/105/EC and 2000/21/EC (OJ 2006 L 396, p. 1, corrigendum OJ 2007 L 136, p. 3).

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

1.	Dismisses the action;

2.	Orders Exxonmobil Petroleum & Chemical BVBA to bear its own costs and pay those incurred by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA);

3.	Orders the French Republic and the European Petroleum Refiners Association to bear their own costs.

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(1)  OJ C 187, 3.6.2019.