Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/823 of 25 May 2016 amending Regulation (EC) No 771/2008 laying down the rules of organisation and procedure of the Board of Appeal of the European Chemicals Agency (Text with EEA relevance)

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2006 concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH), establishing a European Chemicals Agency, amending Directive 1999/45/EC and repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No 793/93 and Commission Regulation (EC) No 1488/94 as well as Council Directive 76/769/EEC and Commission Directives 91/155/EEC, 93/67/EEC, 93/105/EC and 2000/21/EC (1), and in particular Articles 93(4) and 132 thereof,

Whereas:

(1) The review of Commission Regulation (EC) No 771/2008 (2) concluded that Regulation (EC) No 771/2008 should be amended in various respects.

(2) Regulation (EU) No 528/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council (3) empowers the Agency to take certain individual decisions and entrusts the Board of Appeal established under Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 with the competence to decide upon appeals brought against the decisions referred to in Article 77(1) of Regulation (EU) No 528/2012. It is therefore necessary to provide rules concerning the appeals brought against the decisions referred to in Article 77(1) of Regulation (EU) No 528/2012.

(3) Fees applicable for appeals against a decision by the Agency under Article 77 of Regulation (EU) No 528/2012 are established by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 564/2013 (4). It is therefore necessary to provide rules on the fees applicable for appeals against a decision by the Agency under Article 77 of Regulation (EU) No 528/2012.

(4) Since the Board of Appeal is currently established as a permanent structure within the Agency, it is necessary to ensure that appeals can be processed at a satisfactory rate. Therefore, the possibility to allocate appeals to additional or alternate members should be provided.

(5) Drawing on current practice, it is also appropriate to provide the possibility for the parties to find an amicable agreement between them. In order to increase transparency, a member of the Board of Appeal should be appointed to facilitate the amicable agreement. A summary of the amicable agreement should be publicly available on the Agency's website.

(6) In order to ensure the independence of the Board of Appeal, it is necessary that the Registrar should be appointed directly by the Chairman of the Board of Appeal.

(7) For reasons of legal certainty, it is also appropriate to clarify the existing provisions on the confidentiality requests, in particular that the elements requested in the announcement cannot be claimed confidential.

(8) To ensure an effective participation of the interveners, the intervention procedure should be streamlined to ensure further clarity and the deadline for submitting the application to intervene should be extended. In cases relating to Title VI Chapter 2 of Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006, the Member States application to intervene should be allowed without having to justify their interest in the result of the case.

(9) For reasons of legal certainty, it is appropriate to clarify the provisions on the costs in the sense that the parties bear their own costs.

(10) To ease access to justice and reduce costs, it is also appropriate to clarify that parties can be represented by any person with authority to act and not necessarily by a representative with power of attorney.

(11) The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee established under Article 133 of Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Regulation (EC) No 771/2008 is amended in accordance with the Annex to this Regulation.

Article 2

This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Brussels, 25 May 2016.

For the Commission The President Jean-Claude JUNCKER

(1) OJ L 396, 30.12.2006, p. 1.

(2) Commission Regulation (EC) No 771/2008 of 1 August 2008 laying down the rules of organisation and procedure of the Board of Appeal of the European Chemicals Agency (OJ L 206, 2.8.2008, p. 5).

(3) Regulation (EU) No 528/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2012 concerning the making available on the market and use of biocidal products (OJ L 167, 27.6.2012, p. 1).

(4) Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 564/2013 of 18 June 2013 on the fees and charges payable to the European Chemicals Agency pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 528/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the making available on the market and use of biocidal products (OJ L 167, 19.6.2013, p. 17).