Dear Marcello Rossi,

Thank you for your below message dated 21 October 2024.

We hereby acknowledge receipt of your application for access to documents
under Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, which has been registered on 22
October 2024 under reference ATD-126-2024.

Best regards,

ECHA Access to documents team

European Chemicals Agency

echa.europa.eu
P.O. Box 400, FI-00121 Helsinki, Finland
EMAS Registered  

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Dear Mr Rossi,

We refer to your application for access to documents registered on 22
October 2024 under the reference number ATD/126/2024.

In your request, you seek access to:

“- All export notifications issued from January 2023 to the present for
pesticide products containing active substances banned within the EU,
exported to South Africa for agricultural use.

- A list of CropLife Europe members who hold positions within the European
Food Safety Authority and the European Chemicals Agency.

- A list of CropLife Europe members registered as lobbyists with European
Parliament (EP) accreditation.

- Details and minutes of any meetings held between CropLife members and
European Commissioner for the Environment Virginijus Sinkevičius and his
cabinet members.”

As regards the part of your request on PIC export notifications, we would
like to clarify a few aspects before we can proceed with processing your
request.

 1. First, we understand that your request concerns export notifications
with the export date between 1 January 2023 and 21 October 2024.
Please confirm that this is the correct understanding.
 2. Furthermore, could you please clarify whether by “pesticide products”
you mean PIC substances listed in Annex I of PIC Regulation and the
mixtures containing those substances?
 3. Additionally, we would like to clarify which elements of an export
notification are of your interest. 

For your information, in the context of previous ATD requests, ECHA has
already made publicly available certain information contained in four
export notification falling within the scope of your request. Please find
this information attached to this message. The requested data elements in
the previous ATD requests were the following:

• Importing party (i.e. importing non-EU country)
• Substance identity, i.e.: 

• Annex I chemical name (i.e. common name, Section 1.1);
• CAS number (Section 1.3.1);
• In addition, if exported as a mixture:

o   mixture name/trade name (Section 2.1);

◦ its (their) concentration(s) (%) in the mixture (Section 2.5)

• Expected date of export (Section 3.1)
• Expected yearly amount of the exported substance or mixture (kg/l per
year) (section 3.2)
• Foreseen category and foreseen use in the importing country (section
3.3)
• Exporter name and address (section 3.5).

Could you please inform us if the above-mentioned elements would fit to
your needs? If not, please specify the specific data elements that you are
seeking access to.

 4. Finally, we would like to know if you accept to receive the
information in a structured table format (i.e. Excel file instead of
separate PDF documents)?  Please note that processing individual PDF
documents may take longer than a spreadsheet with data.

Please also note that Article 6(3) of the ATD Regulation provides that in
the event of an application relating to a very long document or to a very
large number of documents, the institution concerned may confer with the
applicant informally, with a view to finding a fair solution.

Please note that, as set out in the Management Board decision on the
implementation of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 in ECHA ([1]MB/12/2008
final), the deadline for replying to your request will run only from the
time we have received your clarification.

We would appreciate receiving the clarification of your application by 14
November 2024.

If we do not hear from you within the above timeframe, your request will
be closed, and it will not be further processed. 

Thank you for your cooperation.

Best regards,

Access to documents team

European Chemicals Agency

This e-mail, including any files, is intended for the use of the
individual to whom it is addressed. If you have received this message in
error, please notify the author as soon as possible and delete the
message.

From: ECHA ATD <[ECHA request email]>
Sent: Tuesday, October 22, 2024 2:43 PM
To: [FOI #15123 email]
Cc: ECHA ATD <[ECHA request email]>
Subject: Acknowledgement of receipt – ATD-126-2024

Dear Marcello Rossi,

Thank you for your below message dated 21 October 2024.

We hereby acknowledge receipt of your application for access to documents
under Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, which has been registered on 22
October 2024 under reference ATD-126-2024.

Best regards,

ECHA Access to documents team

European Chemicals Agency

echa.europa.eu
P.O. Box 400, FI-00121 Helsinki, Finland
EMAS Registered  

  [2][IMG][3][IMG][4][IMG][5][IMG]
 
ISO 9001:2015 certified

ISO 14001:2015 certified
This e-mail, including any files, is intended for the use of the
individual to whom it is addressed. If you have received this message in
error, please notify the author as soon as possible and delete the  
message.

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Dear Mr. Rossi,
Thank you for your email of 7 November 2024 in which you clarify the scope of your request for access to documents with reference ATD/126/2024.

Please find below the summary of the scope of point 1) of your request and our proposal for a fair solution in accordance with Article 6(3) of the Regulation (EC) 1049/2001 (the “ATD Regulation”).

Scope of the request

We understand the scope of your request concerns export notifications as follows:

• PIC chemicals that are banned or severely restricted in category “Pesticide”(p);
• Expected date of first export: between 1 January 2023 to 21 October 2024;
• Importing party: South Africa;
• Excluding:
o Export notifications with clearly non-agricultural uses as indicated by the exporter in section 3.3 of the export notification.

Specific information requested

The request covers the following elements from the export notifications:

- Importing party (i.e. importing non-EU country)
- Substance identity:
• Annex I chemical name (i.e. common name, Section 1.1)
• CAS number (Section 1.3.1)
- If exported as a mixture:
• Mixture name/trade name (section 2.1);
• Concentration(s) of the Annex I chemical(s) in the mixture (section 2.5);
- Expected date of first export (Section 3.1)
- Expected yearly amount of exported substance or mixture (kg/l per year) (Section 3.2)
- Foreseen category and foreseen use of the substance or mixture in the importing country (Section 3.3.)
- Exporter name and address (Section 3.5)

Format of the document

In order to facilitate the processing of your application, you agree to limit your request to a single document containing the requested information from the export notifications directly extracted from the ePIC database.

Proposal for a fair solution regarding point 1) of your request

We would like to inform you that, based on the above-mentioned criteria, ECHA as identified a large number of documents falling within the scope of point 1) of your request, i.e. 135 export notifications.

As regards 29 export notifications, the requested information has already been disclosed or partially disclosed in the context of previous requests for access to documents. Therefore, ECHA can collect these documents and transmit them to you in due time.

However, the remaining 106 export notifications, need to be assessed individually in light of the provisions of the ATD Regulation.

ECHA is committed to treat requests under the ATD Regulation within the shortest timeframe possible. However, such a detailed analysis, together with the need to consult 25 third parties concerned in accordance with Article 4(4) of the ATD Regulation, cannot be carried out within the normal time limits set out in Article 7 of the ATD Regulation (15 + 15 working days).

Article 6(3) of the ATD Regulation provides that in the event of an application relating to a very long document or to very large number of documents, the institution concerned may confer with the applicant informally, with a view to finding a fair solution.

Based on this provision, we would kindly ask you whether you could narrow down the scope of point 1) of your request, so as to reduce it to a more manageable number of documents and/or third party consultations to be carried out.

For this purpose, we would propose that you select, for example, specific substances of your interest and/or specific exporting Member States and/or a narrower exporting period.

Based on your selection, we will reassess the volume of documents falling within the scope of the request. Depending on this, your application could be handled in successive batches, based on the order of priority to be established by you.

We hope that our proposal regarding the refinement of the scope of the request meets your needs. If this is not the case, and if you maintain your request for access to all documents concerned by your application, we anticipate that the estimated processing time to complete your request would be approximately eight months . This timeline takes also into account the ‘end of the year’ closure of ECHA’s office and the heavy ongoing workload affecting the team processing your request (i.e. processing of end-of-year peak of submission of export notifications and other pending requests for access to documents).

You are kindly requested to inform us whether you agree to the above-mentioned proposal and to provide your feedback on the proposed selection as soon as possible and no later than within 5 working days, i.e. 22 November 2024.

We are available to organize a phone call, in case you consider it would facilitate the discussion on the possible solution.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

Kind regards,
Access to documents team
European Chemicals Agency

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Dear Mr. Rossi,

Thank you for your reply of 19 November.

We would still like to clarify a few matters in relation to your access to documents request. We would like to discuss this further with you during a short teleconference during one of the following time slots:

- Monday 25 November: 10.00-11.00 Helsinki time (EET)
- Monday 25 November: 15.00-16.00 Helsinki time (EET)
- Tuesday 26 November: 15.00-16.00 Helsinki time (EET)
- Wednesday 27 November: 10.00-11.00 Helsinki time (EET)
- Wednesday 27 November: 16.00-17.00 Helsinki time (EET)
-Thursday 28 November: 11.00-12.00 Helsinki time (EET)

Please let us know if any of the above timeslots would suit you, we will then send you a Teams meeting invitation.

Best regards,
Access to documents team
European Chemicals Agency

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Dear Mr Rossi,

Thank you for your swift reply.
Please find below a link to join our meeting Monday 25 from 10.00 to 11.00 Helsinki time (EET).
In case you have trouble connecting to the meeting please call the following number: +358-9-6861 8210 and ask for Agathe Chaperon.

We are looking forward to discussing with you.
Best regards,
Access to documents team
European Chemicals Agency

Microsoft Teams

Need help? https://aka.ms/JoinTeamsMeeting?omkt=en-US

Join the meeting now: https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-joi...

Meeting ID: 355 432 433 043
Passcode: hu7Bh2wf

Privacy and security: https://echa.europa.eu/legal-notice

_____________________________________________
From: Marcello Rossi <[FOI #15123 email]>
Sent: Wednesday, November 20, 2024 11:44 AM
To: ECHA ATD <[ECHA request email]>
Subject: RE: Clarification message – ATD/126/2024

CAUTION: This email originated from outside ECHA. Do not click links or open attachments unless you know the content is safe.

Check the email address of the sender. It is possible that the name of the sender is known to you (e.g. a colleague), but the actual sender is someone else.

Dear ECHA ATD,

Thanks for your quick reply. Monday 25 November: 10.00-11.00 Helsinki time (EET) would work for me.

Yours sincerely,

Marcello Rossi

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Dear Mr Rossi,

Please find attached a reply to your ATD request (Ref. ATD/126/2024)
signed by Ms Audrey Anne Anastasi, Head of Submission and Processing Unit.

This communication is sent to you by email only. Could you please confirm
the receipt of this email and the document attached to it?

Kind regards,

Valeria Yilmaz

PIC Operations Team

Unit A3 – Submission and Processing

European Chemicals Agency

P.O. Box 400, FI-00121 Helsinki, Finland

[1][email address]

[2]http://echa.europa.eu/ 

FAX: +358 9 6861 8127

[3]http://echanet.echa.europa.local/support...

The above represents the opinion of the author and is not an official
position of the European Chemicals Agency. This email, including any files
attached to it, is intended for the use of the individual to whom it is
addressed. If you have received this message in error, please notify the
author as soon as possible and delete the message.

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Dear Mr. Rossi,
Thank you for participating in the teleconference on 25 November 2024 in relation to your request for access to documents with reference ATD/126/2024.

As discussed, please find below the summary of the scope of your request and our proposal for a fair solution in accordance with Article 6(3) of the Regulation (EC) 1049/2001 (the “ATD Regulation”).

Scope of the request

We understand the scope of your request concerns export notifications as follows:

• PIC chemicals: Cyanamide, 1,3-dichloropropene, Epoxiconazole, Thiamethoxam, Atrazine, Chlorothalonil, Diquat, including diquat dibromide, Propiconazole, Thiram, Imidacloprid, Propineb (polymeric zinc propylenebis(dithiocarbamate)), Chloropicrin, Glufosinate, including glufosinate-ammonium, Carbendazim, Malathion, Clothianidin, Picoxystrobin, Beta-cyfluthrin, Fipronil, Thiophanate-methyl, Propargite, Fenamidone, Quinoxyfen, Propisochlor, Permethrin, Thiacloprid, Bromoxynil, Pymetrozine, Triasulfuron, Chlorpropham;
• Expected date of first export: between 1 January 2023 to 21 October 2024;
• Importing party: South Africa;
• Exporters: the ten legal entities who notified planned exports of the highest volumes of the substances/mixtures containing the substances listed above.

Based on the above-mentioned criteria ECHA has identified 70 export notifications falling in scope of your request.

Specific information requested

The request covers the following elements from the export notifications:

- Importing party (i.e. importing non-EU country)
- Substance identity:
• Annex I chemical name (i.e. common name, Section 1.1)
• CAS number (Section 1.3.1)
- If exported as a mixture:
• Mixture name/trade name (section 2.1);
• Concentration(s) of the Annex I chemical(s) in the mixture (section 2.5);
- Expected date of first export (Section 3.1)
- Expected yearly amount of exported substance or mixture (kg/l per year) (Section 3.2)
- Foreseen category and foreseen use of the substance or mixture in the importing country (Section 3.3.)
- Exporter name and address (Section 3.5)

Format of the document

In order to facilitate the processing of your application, you agree to limit your request to a single document containing the requested information from the export notifications directly extracted from the ePIC database.

Proposal for a fair solution (batches and timeline)

Given the high number of export notifications at issue and the number of third parties (10), which will need to be consulted in accordance with Article 4(4) of the ATD Regulation the estimated processing time of your request is 4 months
Furthermore, as mentioned in our teleconference, we propose to process your request in 2 separate batches, taking into account the order of priority indicated by you, as follows:

1. The first batch will contain the documents which have been disclosed or partially disclosed in the context of previous requests for access to documents related to information from approximately 24 export notifications concerning the same substances.

We aim to process this first batch a by end of December 2024 approximately.

2. The second batch will concern the remaining export notifications falling within the above-mentioned scope and it will be processed by end of March 2025.

Please inform us as soon as possible whether you agree with the above-mentioned proposal.

Kind regards,
Access to document team
European Chemicals Agency

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Dear Mr. Rossi,

Thank you for your message.

We have taken note of your request to withdraw your application for access to documents registered under reference ATD/126/2024. Accordingly, this case has been closed.

Best regards,

Access to documents team
European Chemicals Agency

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