Since several years, the EU authorities have been striving to improve the regulatory framework governing chemicals in order to gain a better knowledge of chemical substances used within the EU and to ensure a higher level of protection of human health and the environment. In this context, two main regulations have been adopted: The REACH […]
In a judgment dated September 2, 2010, the Investigating Chamber of the Toulouse Court of Appeals upheld the full dismissal rendered on January 30, 2009 by the investigating judge of Saint-Gaudens in the publicized so-called “bee case”. More than seven years have elapsed since Regent, a seed-coating product successively owned by Bayer CropScience and BASF […]
The European REACH Regulation[1] (originally made up of more than 850 pages!) dated December 18, 2006 entered into force on June 1, 2007. Pursuant to this Regulation, chemical substances as such, used in the preparation of a mixture, or contained in an article in quantities of 1 tonne or above per year must now be […]
The Conseil d’Etat (Highest Administrative Court) opportunely recalled quite recently that, in the absence of scientific certainty, the precautionary principle cannot be applied without taking into account the economic consequences associated with the withdrawal or the suspension of a market authorization. In the case at hand, the owner of the anti-inflammatory drug Ketum filed a […]
The precautionary principle burst into the media and the judicial world right after the incorporation of the Environmental Charter – in which this principle is mentioned – into the French Constitution in 2005. Environmental groups and associations have since then successively targeted several industries that are of vital importance for our economy. 2005, 2006 and […]
For the Law dated August 1, 2008 on the operator’s new environmental liability to come into force, the adoption of a Decree on preventing and remedying damage caused to the environment was necessary, which has recently been done (D. no. 2009-468 dated April 23, 2009, published in the Official Journal of April 26, 2009). With […]
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