ECJ confirms annulment of classification of titanium dioxide
Titanium dioxide is used as a white pigment in various products, including paints, medicines, foodstuffs and toys.
In 2016, the Agence nationale de sécurité sanitaire de l'alimentation, de l'environnement et du travail (National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety) (ANSES, France) submitted a proposal to the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) to classify titanium dioxide as a carcinogenic substance when inhaled. The following year, the ECHA's Committee for Risk Assessment (RAC) issued an opinion in favour of classifying this substance.
On the basis of this opinion, the Commission adopted a regulation on the classification and labelling of titanium dioxide in 2019. In it, it stated that the substance is suspected of having a carcinogenic effect in humans when inhaled in powder form with at least one per cent of particles with an aerodynamic diameter of 10 μm or less.
Various manufacturers, importers, downstream users and suppliers of titanium dioxide challenged this classification and labelling before the Court of Justice of the European Union. In its judgment of 23 November 2022, the Court declared the contested classification and labelling to be invalid. In particular, it found that the Commission had committed a manifest error in assessing the recognition and reliability of a scientific study on which the classification was based.
France and the Commission appealed against this judgment of the General Court to the Court of Justice. In its current judgment, the Court of Justice dismisses the appeals and thus confirms the judgment of the General Court and the annulment of the disputed classification of titanium dioxide as carcinogenic. The Court of Justice states that, although the General Court exceeded the limits of its review, the annulment of the contested classification and labelling is nevertheless justified. The General Court correctly held that the RAC had not taken into account all the factors relevant to the assessment of the scientific study in question.
The ECJ's decision is immediately enforceable. This means that the classification is revoked and the previous labelling requirements no longer apply. The entry for titanium dioxide will be deleted from Annex VI of the CLP Regulation (EC) 1272/2008.