Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber) of 20 April 2023 v European Parliament v European Commission.
The Judgment is an annulment of Implementing DecisionC(2020) 8797: Authorisation of certain uses of chromium trioxide.
The Court gives manufacturers and users (DU) 1 year to demonstrate that the socio-economic benefits outweigh the risk to human health or the environment of using the substance and that there are no suitable alternative substances or technologies. This is a very tight and unrealistic timeframe.
Specifically, if one fails to obtain authorisation, which may be the case, an absolute ban will take effect from 20/04/2024.
It is important to note that this option will result in a loss of business continuity as the authorisation will be submitted after the latest application date. Production will have to cease between 20 April 2024 and the European Commission's decision. This may take several years due to the potential of around 1,500 replacement applications.