Action brought on 30 December 2023 – Apc Europe and Others v Commission
(Case T-1194/23)
Language of the case: Italian
Parties
Applicants: Apc Europe SL (Granollers, Spain) and nine other applicants (represented by: M. Moretto, lawyer)
Defendant: European Commission
Form of order sought
The applicant claims that the Court should:
annul the decision, contained in the letter signed by the Director-General of the Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety and received by the applicants on 24 October 2023, in which the European Commission rejected the request to review, in light of the new situation that has arisen in the European Union with the effective disappearance of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), the current prohibition on the use of blood and blood products of bovine origin in the diet of aquaculture animals and to present draft measures allowing their use, a request made by the applicants by letter of 28 August 2023; and
order the defendant to pay the costs.
Pleas in law and main arguments
In support of the action, the applicants rely on two pleas in law.
First plea in law, alleging: (i) a breach of Articles 7, 23 and 24 of Regulation No 999/2001 1 and of Articles 7(2) and 5(3) of Regulation No 178/2002 2 ; (ii) manifest errors of assessment by the Commission and (iii) a breach of the principle of good administration and of Article 41 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights.
In that regard, by their first plea in law, the applicants claim that the Commission infringed Articles 7, 23 and 24 of Regulation No 999/2001 and Articles 7(2) and 5(3) of Regulation No 178/2002, and committed a manifest error of assessment, further infringing the principle of good administration and Article 41 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, by refusing, in the contested decision, to review the prohibition on the use of blood products of bovine origin in the diet of aquaculture animals and to submit to the committee draft measures allowing their use, if necessary subject to the requirement to meet specific conditions.
The absence of cases of classical BSE in the European Union for more than six years, the classification of Member States as countries with negligible BSE risk, the international standards adopted by the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) and the new data acquired in the last evaluation carried out by the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) in 2007, together with a number of further relevant elements, ignored by the Commission, demonstrate that the risk can now be limited by less stringent measures than the current absolute prohibition on use.
Second plea in law, alleging a breach of the principle of proportionality and of Article 7(2) of Regulation No 178/2002.
By the second plea in law, the applicants claim that, in light of the significantly improved epidemiological situation recorded in the European Union, the Commission’s refusal in the contested decision to review the absolute prohibition on the use of blood products of bovine origin in the diet of aquaculture animals infringes the principle of proportionality and the second sentence of Article 7(2) of Regulation No 178/2002, read in the light of the case-law and of recitals 17 and 66 of that same regulation.
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1 Regulation (EC) No 999/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2001 laying down rules for the prevention, control and eradication of certain transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (OJ 2001 L 147, p. 1).
1 Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 January 2002 laying down the general principles and requirements of food law, establishing the European Food Safety Authority and laying down procedures in matters of food safety (OJ 2002 L 31, p. 1).