? ? The General Court of Europe has made a ruling on the European Commission's decision in 2020 not to renew Mancozeb's approval under Regulation (EC) 1107/2009 and its accompanying regulations (Implementing Regulation 2020/1987). The case was filed by UPL Europe Ltd and Indofil Industries (Netherlands) BV.
? ? The court dismissed all of the plaintiff's (UPL/Indofil) claims in the judgment. That is to say, the court refuses to revoke the decision of the committee not to renew.
? ? The plaintiff argues that the committee relied solely on the "opinion" of the Risk Assessment Committee (RAC) under the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) - classifying Mancozeb as "highly toxic to reproduction" (reproductive toxicity category 1B) - without incorporating other scientific data (such as metabolites/new experiments/latest assessment reports); And it was pointed out that the classification did not have legal binding force at that time, and the formal classification was still category 2.
? ? The court acknowledges that this approach - relying solely on non binding recommendations without citing additional, independent, and updated scientific evidence - does constitute an "error of assessment" (paragraph 52).
? ? However, the court held that the 'error' was not sufficient to overturn the entire decision of the committee. In other words, even if the committee may make mistakes at this specific point, it does not change the conclusion of non renewal resulting from its comprehensive assessment (especially other security concerns). The court therefore rejected the original claim.
? ? Because the court rejected all of the plaintiff's claims, the non renewal decision remains valid. Mancozeb continues to be removed from the list of agricultural fungicides allowed for use in the European Union.
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