Afton Chemical Limited v Secretary of State for Transport (C-343/09)

Judgment of 8 Jul 2010

law://eu/cjeu/2009/c-343-09/para_28@2026-11-12

28First, the point must be made that, in an area of evolving and complex technology such as that in the case in the main proceedings, the European Union legislature has a broad discretion, in particular as to the assessment of highly complex scientific and technical facts in order to determine the nature and scope of the measures which it adopts, whereas review by the Community judicature has to be limited to verifying whether the exercise of such powers has been vitiated by a manifest error of appraisal or a misuse of powers, or whether the legislature has manifestly exceeded the limits of its discretion. In such a context, the Community judicature cannot substitute its assessment of scientific and technical facts for that of the legislature on which the Treaty has placed that task (see to that effect Case C-425/08 Enviro Tech (Europe) [2009] ECR I-10035, paragraph 47 and case-law there cited).

Afton Chemical Limited v Secretary of State for Transport (C-343/09)

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