European Union – Environment. The General Court of the European Union dismissed an action brought by the applicants for the partial annulment of a decision by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) identifying certain chemicals, considered to cause breathing difficulties if inhaled, as substances of very high concern and including them in the list of candidate substances in accordance with art 59 of European Parliament and Council Regulation (EC) 1907/2006 (on the registration, evaluation, authorisation and restriction of chemicals). The Court held, among other things, that the wording of art 57(f) of the Regulation did not rule out the inclusion of respiratory sensitisers such as in the present case within scope of that provision and that the arguments put forward by the applicants did not show that the ECHA's assessment as to the irreversible nature of the effects on health was vitiated by a manifest error.