Case C‑472/14

Canadian Oil Company Sweden AB and Anders Rantén

v

Riksåklagaren

(Request for a preliminary ruling from the Högsta domstolen)

‛Reference for a preliminary ruling — Registration, evaluation and authorisation of chemicals — Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 (REACH Regulation) — Extent of harmonised field — Registration of chemical substances with the European Chemicals Agency before placing them on the market — Article 5 — National chemical product register — Notification requirement for registration purposes — Compatibility with the REACH Regulation — Articles 34 TFEU and 36 TFEU — Quantitative restriction on imports’

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber), 17 March 2016

1. Approximation of laws — Registration, evaluation and authorisation of chemicals — REACH Regulation — Obligation to register with the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) — National legislation which provides for a parallel obligation to register chemicals manufactured in or imported into a Member State in the course of a business — Whether permissible — Conditions

   (European Parliament and Council Regulation No 1907/2006, as amended by Regulation No 552/2009)

2. Free movement of goods — Quantitative restrictions — Measures having equivalent effect — National legislation which provides for an obligation to register chemicals manufactured in or imported into the Member State concerned in the course of a business — Not permissible — Justification — Protection of human health and the environment — Compatibility with the REACH Regulation — Whether permissible

   (Arts 34 TFEU and 36 TFEU; European Parliament and Council Regulation No 1907/2006, as amended by Regulation No 552/2009)

1.  Regulation No 1907/2006 concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH), as amended by Regulation No 552/2009, must be interpreted as not precluding national legislation which requires an importer of chemical products to register those products with the competent national authority when that importer is already under an obligation under that regulation to register those same products with the European Chemicals Agency, provided that that registration with the competent national authority does not constitute a pre-condition to the placing of those products on the market, it concerns information different from that required by that regulation and contributes to the achievement of the objectives pursued by that regulation, in particular those of ensuring a high level of protection of human health and the environment and the free movement of such substances in the internal market, in particular by the implementation of a system of controls of the safe management of such products in the Member State concerned and the evaluation of that management, which it is for the referring court to ascertain.

   The harmonisation carried out by the provisions of Regulation No 1907/2006 in respect of the notification and registration requirement for chemical substances, however far-reaching it may be in order to establish an integrated system of control of those substances on EU territory enabling their safe management, is not such as to exclude another registration, such as that which seeks, in essence, to enable the national authorities to hold a database necessary for the monitoring of chemical products in the territory of the Member State concerned, and which contributes, in particular, to the implementation of a system of controls of that management in the Member State concerned and the evaluation of that management in order, particularly, to propose any useful improvements thereto at EU level.

   (see paras 34, 38, 41, operative part 1)

2.  The combined provisions of Articles 34 TFEU and 36 TFEU must be interpreted as not precluding a notification and registration requirement for chemical products, provided for in national legislation, which requires information relating mainly to the quantities of the substances and preparations present on the territory of the Member State concerned, their location on that territory, their specific areas of use and the operators concerned.

   Although the mandatory nature of the registration of the import of chemical products with the national authority constitutes a measure having an effect equivalent to a quantitative restriction within the meaning of Article 34 TFEU, registration which pursues an objective linked to that of Regulation No 1907/2006 concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH), which seeks to ensure a high level of protection of human health and the environment, is capable of justifying any hindrance to the free movement of goods. The same is true where the registration required by the national legislation seeks to obtain data which, on the one hand, are essentially complementary to those falling within the scope of Regulation No 1907/2006 and which, on the other, contribute, particularly, to the implementation of a control system for safe management of the chemical products covered by that regulation and to the evaluation of that management in order, in particular, to propose any useful improvements to it at EU level.

   (see paras 37, 44, 46, 48, operative part 2)