Order of the General Court of 22 December 2023 – Exxonmobil Petroleum & Chemical v Commission and ECHA
(Case T-121/23) 1
(Action for annulment – REACH – Establishment of a list of substances identified for eventual inclusion in Annex XIV to Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 – Letter requesting that the Commission ask ECHA to re-examine the inclusion of phenanthrene on that list – Commission’s refusal to make a request to ECHA to prepare a dossier in accordance with Annex XV to Regulation No 1907/2006 – Act not open to challenge – Inadmissibility)
Language of the case: English
Parties
Applicant: Exxonmobil Petroleum & Chemical BVBA (Antwerp, Belgium) (represented by: H. Estreicher, A. Bartl and M. Escorneboueu, lawyers)
Defendants: European Commission (represented by: K. Mifsud-Bonnici and E. Mathieu, acting as Agents), European Chemicals Agency (represented by: M. Heikkilä, W. Broere and S. Mahoney, acting as Agents)
Re:
By its action under Article 263 TFEU, the applicant seeks annulment of the letter of the European Commission of 21 December 2022, by which that institution refused to make a request to the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) to prepare a dossier in accordance with Annex XV to 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), for the purposes of re-examining its Decision ED/88/2018 of 19 December 2018, by which that body included phenanthrene on the list of substances identified as being of very high concern provided for in Article 59 of Regulation No 1907/2006.
Operative part of the order
The action is dismissed as inadmissible.
Exxonmobil Petroleum & Chemical BVBA shall bear its own costs and pay those incurred by the European Commission and the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA).
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1 OJ C 155, 2.5.2023.