Court clarifies rules for pesticides: Case T–75/06, Bayer CropScience AG and Others v. Commission

Abstract: The European Court of First Instance ('CFI' or 'Court') reached its long–awaited judgment in the endosulfan case on 9 September 2008, one of the first of a series of judgments expected in a number of similar cases pending before the CFI. The Court rejected the application to annul the European Commission’s decision not to include endosulfan in Annex I to Directive 91/414 on the placing of plant protection products on the market. Whilst the CFI’s judgment is very specific to the particular facts of the case, a number of points of general interest can be drawn from it. In particular, the judgment makes it clear that, while the exercise by the Commission of its discretion is not without check, the standard of proof required to overturn a Commission decision in an area where the Commission has a wide discretion is very high.