Law Commons^™

The REACH Regulation is one of the most complex regulatory frameworks ever designed by the EU. The Regulation intends to comprehensively address, for the first time in history, the health and environmental risks posed by chemicals. It imposes certain registration, evaluation and authorization requirements for both imported and domestically produced chemical substances. On international level, the Regulation has been met with strong criticism coming from many of the EU’s trading partners. Although countries in general have acknowledged the legitimacy of the objectives sought by the EU, they have expressed numerous concerns regarding the necessity and proportionality of the new system. …

This chapter assesses the applicable standard of review in sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) disputes with complex factual issues. In particular, the chapter analyzes how the new deferential standard, set out by the Appellate Body (AB) in US/Canada - Continued Suspension of Obligations in the EC – Hormones Dispute, is actually applied in practice (determining reasonableness of risk assessment, not its correctness). To this end, the AB report in Australia – Measures Affecting the Importation of Apples from New Zealand is scrutinized. The conclusion is reached that although the applicable standard of review under the SPS Agreement (particularly under Articles 2.2 …