Judgment of the General Court (First Chamber) of 18 July 2017.EDF Toruń SA v European Chemicals Agency.REACH — Fee for registration of a substance — Reduction granted to SMEs — Error in the declaration relating to the size of the enterprise — Decision imposing an administrative charge — Recommendation 2003/361/EC — Legitimate expectations — Proportionality — Calculation criteria of the amount of the administrative charge.Case T-758/15.

Judgment // 18/07/2017 // 4 min read
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Judgment of the General Court (First Chamber) of 18 July 2017 — EDF Toruń v ECHA

(Case T‑758/15)

(REACH — Fee for registration of a substance — Reduction granted to SMEs — Error in the declaration relating to the size of the enterprise — Decision imposing an administrative charge — Recommendation 2003/361/EC — Legitimate expectations — Proportionality — Calculation criteria of the amount of the administrative charge)

  1. Judicial proceedings—Rules on languages—Production of procedural documents in a language other than that of the case—Admissibility criteria

(Rules of Procedure of the General Court, Art. 46)

(see para. 21)

  1. Approximation of laws—Registration, evaluation, authorisation and restriction of chemicals—REACH Regulation—Fees due to the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA)—Reduction in the fee granted to small and medium-sized undertakings—Classification of an undertaking as small or medium-sized—Determination on the basis of criteria defined in Recommendation 2003/361—Account taken of national law applicable to the undertaking at issue—Not included

(European Parliament and Commission Regulation No 1907/2006, Art. 3, point 36; Commission Regulation No 340/2008, ninth recital and Art. 2; Commission recommendation 2003/361, Annex, Art. 2(1))

(see paras 34, 40, 44)

  1. EU law—Principles—Protection of legitimate expectations—Claim against an EU regulation—Conditions—Requirement for an EU institution to have created a situation capable of giving rise to a legitimate expectation—Attribution of conduct giving rise to that expectation to a national authority—No legitimate expectations

(see paras 46, 47)

  1. Approximation of laws—Registration, evaluation, authorisation and restriction of chemicals—REACH Regulation—Fees due to the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA)—Calculation—Account taken of costs borne by ECHA by reason of incorrect information provided by the registrant undertaking—Lawfulness—Requirement for the ECHA to show the existence of an intention by the applicant to mislead it as to its size—None

(Commission Regulation No 340/2008, eleventh recital and Art. 13(3) and (4)

(see paras 66, 71-73)

  1. Approximation of laws—Registration, evaluation, authorisation and restriction of chemicals—REACH Regulation—Fees due to the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA)—Calculation—Fixing an incorrect amount of the fee following the communication by the applicant undertaking of false information as to its size—Imposition of an administrative charge corresponding to 2.5 times the gain acquired—Breach of principle of proportionality—None

(Commission Regulation No 340/2008, Art. 13(4))

(see paras 91, 92, 95-98)

  1. Approximation of laws—Registration, evaluation, authorisation and restriction of chemicals—REACH Regulation—Fees due to the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA)—Calculation—Account taken of costs borne by ECHA by reason of incorrect information provided by the registrant undertaking—ECHA’s power to set the calculation method—Limits—Requirement of an exact correlation between the amount of the administrative charge imposed and the costs incurred by the ECHA—None

(Commission Regulation No 340/2008, eleventh recital and Art. 11(5))

(see paras 121-124, 129, 132)

  1. Approximation of laws—Registration, evaluation, authorisation and restriction of chemicals—REACH Regulation—Fees due to the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA)—Calculation—Account taken of costs borne by ECHA by reason of incorrect information provided by the registrant undertaking—Fixing the amount of the administrative charge on the basis of the provisional costs relating to all of the checking procedures—Lawfulness

(Commission Regulation No 340/2008, eleventh recital and Art. 11(5))

(see paras 136-138)

  1. European Ombudsman—Code of Good Behaviour—Binding effect—None

(Art. 228 TFEU)

(see para. 142)

  1. Approximation of laws—Registration, evaluation, authorisation and restriction of chemicals—REACH Regulation—Fees due to the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA)—Reduction in the fee granted to small and medium-sized undertakings—Infringement of the principle of equal treatment as regards large corporations—None

(European Parliament and Council Regulation No 1907/2006, eighth recital and Art. 74(3); Commission Regulation No 340/2008, ninth recital and Art. 2)

(see paras 144-147)

Re:

APPLICATION under Article 263 TFEU, seeking first, the annulment of Decision SME(2015) 4950 of the ECHA of 3 November 2015 which states that the applicant does not fulfil the conditions to receive a reduction of the fee for small enterprises and imposing an administrative charge on it and, second, the annulment of invoice No 10054011 issued by the ECHA following the adoption of Decision SME(2015) 4950.

Operative part

The General Court:

  1. Dismisses the action;

  2. Orders EDF Toruń S.A. to pay the costs.

Approximation of laws , Public health