France wants to continue to defend the classification of titanium dioxide as a suspected carcinogen at European level. The government has just announced that it is appealing against the decision of the European Court of Justice, which annulled it last November.
On 23 November 2022, the European Court of Justice annulled Commission Delegated Regulation 2020/217 (18th ATP to CLP) with regard to the harmonised classification and labelling of titanium dioxide as an inhalation carcinogen in certain powder forms. According to the Court, the Commission had committed a manifest error in assessing the reliability and acceptability of the study on which the classification was based and, secondly, it had violated the criterion according to which such a classification can only refer to a substance intrinsically capable of causing cancer.
France is now contesting this decision of the Court of First Instance, considering that it exceeded the limits of its judicial review by making its own assessment and interpretation of the scientific data.
As the appeal has a suspensive effect on the Court’s judgment, the government’s communiqué welcomes the fact that the harmonised classification will continue to apply until the end of this new procedure.
Source
• La France continue de défendre la classification du dioxyde de titane comme cancérogène suspecté au niveau européen, French Government, Ministry of Ecological Transition and Territorial Cohesion, Press release, 13 February 2023
