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Action brought on 10 June 2010 - PPG and SNF v ECHA

(Case T-268/10)

Language of the case: English

Parties

Applicants: Polyelectrolyte Producers Group GEIE (PPG) (Brussels, Belgium) and SNF SAS (Andrezieux Boutheon, France) (represented by: K. Van Maldegem, R. Cana, lawyers and P. Sellar, Solicitor)

Defendant: European Chemical Agency (ECHA)

Form of order sought

declare the application admissible and well-founded;

annul the contested act;

order ECHA to pay the costs of these proceedings;

take such other or further measure as justice may require.

Pleas in law and main arguments

The applicants seek the partial annulment of the decision of the European Chemicals Agency ("ECHA") to identify acrylamide (CE n° 201-173-7) (CAS Number 79-06-1) as a substance meeting the criteria set out in Article 57 Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006¹ ("REACH"), in accordance with Article 59 REACH.

The applicants consider that the contested act is unlawful because it is based on an assessment of acrylamide that is scientifically and legally flawed since it relies on the evidence that is not sufficiently reliable and cogent. In the applicant's opinion, ECHA committed a manifest error of appraisal in adopting the contested act, in breach of Articles 2(8) and 59 REACH and in breach of its duty to carefully and impartially examine the evidence.

Further, the applicants claim that the contested act infringes a series of general principles of EU law such as principle of proportionality and of non-discrimination since it discriminates against acrylamide with regard to other comparable substances without any objective justification.

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¹ - 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).