Dear Mr Poola,

 

We refer to your e-mails dated 14/09/2017 and 18/09/2017 in which you make a request for access to documents, registered on 19/09/2017 under the above mentioned reference number.

 

Your application is currently being handled. However, we will not be in a position to complete the handling of your application within the time limit of 15 working days, which expires on 10/10/2017.

 

An extended time limit is needed as your application concerns a large number of documents and in order to retrieve the documents requested, large files have to be examined. Please note that we are doing our utmost to identify all the documents covered by the scope of your request. However, If there are any specific aspects of particular importance for you (e.g. any particular contaminants or interlocutors), we invite you to let us know, in order to make sure that we do not miss any documents of interest for you.

 

Because of the large number of documents to be examined, we have to extend the time limit with 15 working days in accordance with Article 7(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 regarding public access to documents. The new time limit expires on 31/10/2017.

 

We apologise for this delay and for any inconvenience this may cause.

 

In the meantime, we would like to draw your attention to three particularly interesting sources of information on this topic, which are already public, or accessible to anyone following simple registration.

 

The first is a collaborative workspace recording, i.a., all the technical discussions that took place in the Commission's Fertilisers Working Group in 2012 which founded the basis for our proposed contaminant limit values. It is available via the link https://circabc.europa.eu/w/browse/0e57b92c-bfd2-4dff-aa84-745d61ee540c , but only subject to prior registration. If you wish to register and get access to all the documents in the workspace, then please send us your e-mail address so that we can register you.

 

The second is a publicly available collaborative workspace which you find via this link: https://circabc.europa.eu/w/browse/b8e01334-4d39-445d-bf4e-589356d55b1f .

 

The third is a study report of January 2012, which explains much of the rationale for the limit values chosen, in particular giving an overview of limit values applied nationally in the various EU Member States. You will find the study and the Annexes here: https://publications.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/cd71a3b5-ddf3-4896-bd79-d3a91108a5dd ; https://www.google.be/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0ahUKEwjEyo7qgOTWAhVMXBoKHSfUDAMQFggqMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fec.europa.eu%2FDocsRoom%2Fdocuments%2F13325%2Fattachments%2F1%2Ftranslations%2Fen%2Frenditions%2Fpdf&usg=AOvVaw27VBQWpni-B1WV3tZxYdcy  .

 

You may also be interested to consult the feedback we received following the publication of our proposal, http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regdoc/?fuseaction=feedbackreport&docId=3092157 , or the reactions received from national Parliaments, http://www.ipex.eu/IPEXL-WEB/search.do#_e=dHlwZT1BTEwmZmFjZXRlZD10cnVlJnN0YXJ0PTEwJnJvd3M9MTAmdGV4dD0mc2xhbmc9JmRvY3VtZW50Q29kZT1DT00mZG9jdW1lbnRZZWFyPTIwMTYmZG9jdW1lbnROdW1iZXI9MTU3Jl9kZWFkTGluZVByZXNlbnQ9ZmFsc2UmZnJvbURhdGU9JnRvRGF0ZT0mbnBDYXJkPU5vbmUmc2NydXRpbnlDaGFtYmVyPSZzY3J1dGlueVN0YXR1cz0mX3JlYXNvbmVkT3Bpbmlvbj1mYWxzZSZfZWNSZXBsaWVzPWZhbHNlJl92ZXRvPWZhbHNlJnRyYW5zbWl0dGVkQnlOUEZyb21EYXRlPSZ0cmFuc21pdHRlZEJ5TlBUb0RhdGU9Jl9pbXBvcnRhbnRJbmZvPWZhbHNlJl9hZG9wdGVkTGVnaXNsYXRpb249ZmFsc2U_&_rnd=294068732084.

 

As you can see, all these databases contain large numbers of documents. Should you wish assistance in navigating towards the parts which are most relevant for the topic of your interest, we invite you to communicate a telephone number on which we can contact you to seek to guide you orally.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

 

DG GROW – Access to documents team

 

European Commission
Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs
DG GROW/A1 – Communication, Access to Documents and Document Management