Judgment of the Court of First Instance of 9 September 2008 - Bayer CropScience and Others v Commission
(Directive 91/414/EEC - Plant protection products - Endosulfan as an active substance - Withdrawal of marketing authorisations - Evaluation procedure - Time-limits - Rights of the defence - Principle of proportionality)
Language of the case: English
Parties
Applicants: Bayer CropScience AG (Monheim am Rhein, Germany); Makhteshim-Agan Holding BV (Rotterdam, Netherlands); Alfa Georgika Efodia AEVE (Athens, Greece); and Aragonesas Agro, SA (Madrid, Spain) (represented by: C. Mereu and K. Van Maldegem, lawyers)
Defendant: Commission of the European Communities (represented by: B. Doherty and L. Parpala, acting as Agents)
Intervener in support of the applicants: European Crop Protection Association (ECPA) (Brussels, Belgium) (represented by: D. Waelbroeck and N. Rampal, lawyers)
Intervener in support of the defendant: Kingdom of Spain (represented by: J. Rodríguez Cárcamo, abogado del Estado)
Re:
APPLICATION for the annulment of Commission Decision 2005/864/EC of 2 December 2005 concerning the non-inclusion of Endosulfan in Annex I to Council Directive 91/414/EEC and the withdrawal of authorisations for plant protection products containing that active substance (OJ 2005 L 317, p. 25)
Operative part of the judgment
The Court:
Dismisses the action;
Orders Bayer CropScience AG, Makhteshim-Agan Holding BV, Alfa Georgika Efodia AEVE and Aragonesas Agro, SA to bear their own costs and to pay those incurred by the Commission;
Orders the Kingdom of Spain and the European Crop Protection Association (ECPA) to bear their own costs.
____________1 - OJ C 96, 22.4.2006.