25The applicants submit that the Commission infringed Article 58(2) of Regulation No 1907/2006 in not exempting the use of chromium trioxide at issue from the authorisation requirement. In their view, the risk stemming from that use is properly controlled. They claim that specific Community legislation does exist which imposes minimum measures that must be taken by employers to control the risks arising from the use of chromium trioxide, in particular Council Directive 98/24/EC of 7 April 1998 on the protection of the health and safety of workers from the risks related to chemical agents at work (fourteenth individual Directive within the meaning of Article 16(1) of Directive 89/391/EEC) (OJ 1998 L 131, p. 11) and Directive 2004/37/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on the protection of workers from the risks related to exposure to carcinogens or mutagens at work (sixth individual Directive within the meaning of Article 16(1) of Council Directive 89/391/EEC) (OJ 2004 L 158, p. 50). Those directives are ‘specific’ even in respect of substances which they do not expressly mention, to the extent to which those substances fall within one of the categories of substances referred to in those directives. The fact that those directives do not include occupational exposure limit values for chromium trioxide does not, they submit, preclude them from being sufficiently ‘specific’ and from laying down ‘minimum requirements’ within the meaning of Article 58(2) of Regulation No 1907/2006. Requiring exposure limit values is tantamount to laying down maximum requirements, which would go beyond the scope of Article 58(2) of Regulation No 1907/2006, which refers only to minimum requirements. In its communication on the results of the risk evaluation and the risk reduction strategies for the substances: chromium trioxide, ammonium dichromate, potassium dichromate (OJ 2008 C 152, p. 1), the Commission also took the view that the risk reduction measures already being applied were sufficient. In a ‘Roadmap on Substances of Very High Concern’, published by the Commission in February 2013, the Commission acknowledged that risks may be managed even ‘outside’ Regulation No 1907/2006. In addition, the applicants submit, no specific cancer risk is caused by the electroplating industry, due to the effectiveness of the risk reduction measures adopted by employers. Furthermore, chromium trioxide users are subject to other legal provisions aimed at protecting health and the environment, such as Directive 2012/18/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 July 2012 on the control of major-accident hazards involving dangerous substances, amending and subsequently repealing Council Directive 96/82/EC (OJ 2012 L 197, p. 1), Directive 2010/75/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 November 2010 on industrial emissions (integrated pollution prevention and control) (OJ 2010 L 334, p. 17), and provisions in a number of national laws. The risks related to the uses of chromium trioxide at issue are also adequately controlled by means of a whole series of national rules and adequate control may also be achieved through the voluntary application of occupational exposure limit values. Lastly, under Article 58(2) of Regulation No 1907/2006, they contend, the obligation to assess the possibility for exemption and the related burden of proof lie with the Commission and not with economic operators.
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