EU Court of justice annuls the Commission Delegated Regulation on the harmonised classification and labelling of titanium dioxide as a carcinogenic substance by inhalation in certain powder forms

Judgment of the General Court in Joined Cases T-279/20, T-288/20 and T-283/20 | CWS Powder Coatings and Others v Commission

The General Court annuls the Commission Delegated Regulation of 2019 in so far as it concerns the harmonised classification and labelling of titanium dioxide as a carcinogenic substance by inhalation in certain powder forms

First, the Commission made a manifest error in its assessment of the reliability and acceptability of the study on which the classification was based and, second, it infringed the criterion according to which that classification can relate only to a substance that has the intrinsic property to cause cancer

Titanium dioxide is an inorganic chemical substance used, in particular in the form of a white pigment, for its colourant and covering properties in various products, ranging from paints to medicinal products and toys. In 2016, the competent French authority submitted to the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) a proposal to classify titanium dioxide as a carcinogenic substance. 1 The following year, ECHA’s Committee for Risk Assessment (‘the RAC’) adopted an opinion classifying titanium dioxide as a category 2 carcinogen, including the hazard statement ‘H 351 (inhalation)’.

On the basis of the RAC Opinion, the European Commission adopted Regulation 2020/217, 2 by which it proceeded with the harmonised classification and labelling of titanium dioxide, recognising that that substance was suspected of being carcinogenic to humans, by inhalation, in powder form containing 1% or more of particles of a diameter equal to or below 10 μm.

CONTINUE READING ON:  PRESS RELEASE No 190/22 - EU Court of Justice