Information regarding maximum levels for certain contaminants in foodstuffs
Dear Health and Food Safety
Under the right of access to documents in the EU Treaties, as developed in Regulation 1049/2001, I request any document for the period from 1 January 2016 to date, which contains the following information:
- Any information regarding meetings of the DG Health's panel/workshop/working group/expert committee/meeting of experts that relates to the revision/amendment of Regulation 1881/2006, including those of the Industrial and Environmental Contaminants Group. These documents may include in particular the dates of the meetings, their agendas, minutes, reports, evaluations, all documents prepared for the purpose of the meetings issued both in preparation and after the meetings took place, the list of observers to these meetings, lists of participants as well as their affiliations, and their respective declarations of interest.
- Any correspondence between companies/lobbies/NGOs and the Directorate General for Health and Food Safety, including cabinet members and/or officials, in which "1881/2006" and/or "mercury" was discussed. This list may include all relevant documents, e-mails, letters, memos (including all attachments), all documents prepared for the meetings, issued both in preparation for and after the meetings, evaluations, meeting minutes, lists of participants, briefings and analyses, etc.
- All PAFF Committee voting sheets regarding Regulation 1881/2006.
Please note that I prefer to receive the requested documents in digital format rather than physical mail.
Yours faithfully,
Claire Nouvian
BLOOM Association
16 rue Martel
75010 Paris
France
Dear Sir or Madam,
We hereby acknowledge the receipt of your request for access to documents
sent on 12/04/2023 and registered on 13/04/2023 under the case number
2023/2198.
We will handle your request within 15 working days as of the date of
registration. The time-limit expires on 05/05/2023. We will let you know
if we need to extend this time limit for additional 15 working days.
To find more information on how we process your personal data, please see
[1]the privacy statement.
Yours faithfully,
Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety - Access to Documents
European Commission
References
Visible links
1. https://ec.europa.eu/info/principles-and...
Dear Ms Nouvian,
Please find attached a letter from Mr. Bruno Gautrais, Head of Unit E2 –
DG Health and food Safety, as a proposal to your EASE request 2023/2198
Kind regards,
European Commission
DG Health and Food Safety
SANTE E2 - Food processing technologies and novel foods
Dear Ms Nouvian,
please see attached deadline extension letter. New deadline is 31.5.2023
Kind regards,
European Commission
DG Health and Food Safety
SANTE E2 - Food processing technologies and novel foods
Dear Health and Food Safety,
I hereby acknowledge receipt of your fair solution proposal EASE 2023 2198 received on 3 May 2023. I understand the workload generated by my request and therefore I consent to reduce its scope in a way that would enable it to be processed within the extended deadline of 15+15 working days.
You have identified three categories of documents falling under the scope of my request, containing 190, 4 and 14 documents respectively, and have proposed to narrow it to 49 documents that could be handled within the next 15 working days. I propose to reduce the scope of my request generating the most documents -while keeping the timeframe from 1 January 2016 to date-, and therefore request the documents containing the following information:
- Any information regarding meetings of the various working and expert groups that relates to the revision/amendment of Regulation 1881/2006, in which “mercury” or “methylmercury” or “Hg” are discussed. These documents may include in particular the dates of the meetings, their agendas, minutes, reports, evaluations, all documents prepared for the purpose of the meetings issued both in preparation and after the meetings took place, the list of observers to these meetings, lists of participants as well as their affiliations, and their respective declarations of interest.
Concerning the two other parts of my request, for which you identified respectively 4 and 14 documents, I would like to keep it as originally requested, i.e.:
I request any document for the period from 1 January 2016 to date, which contains the following information :
- Any correspondence between companies/lobbies/NGOs and the Directorate General for Health and Food Safety, including cabinet members and/or officials, in which "1881/2006" and/or "mercury" was discussed. This list may include all relevant documents, e-mails, letters, memos (including all attachments), all documents prepared for the meetings, issued both in preparation for and after the meetings, evaluations, meeting minutes, lists of participants, briefings and analyses, etc.
- All PAFF Committee voting sheets regarding Regulation 1881/2006.
This refinement of my application should reduce it down to a number of documents that can be processed within the extended deadline of 15+15 working days.
Yours faithfully,
Claire Nouvian
BLOOM Association
16 rue Martel
75010 Paris
France
Dear DG Health and Food Safety,
45 working days ago I submitted 2023/2198, the extended deadline passed 15 working days ago and I have as yet received no documents. I understand the workload generated by my request, and I trust that you will nonetheless reply as soon as possible. Therefore, if you already have documents that can be disclosed, even a partial disclosure would be greatly appreciated. It will allow us to start examining them pending full disclosure.
Thank you in advance.
Yours faithfully,
Claire Nouvian
Dear Ms Nouvian,
Thank you for your email regarding your request for access to documents.
We acknowledge that the time limit expired on 31 May 2023 and apologize
for the delay.
The assessment/consultation of the documents falling within the scope of
your request required more time due to the fact that the application
concerns documents held by different Services which must be consulted.
We would like to inform you that your request is being handled.
Please be reassured that we are doing our utmost to provide you with the
reply as soon as possible.
Thank you very much for your understanding.
Best regards,
SANTE ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS
European Commission
Health and Food Safety
Dear Ms Nouvian,
please find attached a reply to your access to documents request and
requested documents.
With best regards,
European Commission
DG Health and Food Safety
SANTE E2 - Food processing technologies and novel foods
Dear Ms Nouvian,
please find attached a reply to your access to documents request and
requested documents.
With best regards,
European Commission
DG Health and Food Safety
SANTE E2 - Food processing technologies and novel foods
Dear Ms Nouvian,
please find attached a reply to your access to documents request and
requested documents.
With best regards,
European Commission
DG Health and Food Safety
SANTE E2 - Food processing technologies and novel foods
Dear Ms Nouvian,
please find attached a reply to your access to documents request and
requested documents.
With best regards,
European Commission
DG Health and Food Safety
SANTE E2 - Food processing technologies and novel foods
Dear DG Health and Food Safety,
Thank you very much for your response to our request. We are very pleased with the documents you have provided.
However, we have identified three documents which we believe fall within the scope of our request but which have not been identified by your services. These documents are mentioned in the redacted documents of the EU institutions, as follows:
- In the Summary Report of the Standing COmmittee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed held in Brussels on 20 February 2018 - Section Novel Food and Toxicological Safety of the Food Chain (sante.ddg2.g.5(2018)1519793), in point A.04 "Update on contaminants from discussions in the Expert Committee » : a "discussion paper and a new version of the draft for MLs for mercury were circulated as a preparation for further discussions in the Expert Committee Meeting on Industrial and Environmental Contaminants » are mentioned.
If the discussion paper and the draft for MLs mentioned exist, we would like to access them .
- In the Summary Report of the Standing COmmittee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed held in Brussels on 17 April 2018 - Section Novel Food and Toxicological Safety of the Food Chain (sante.ddg2.g.5(2018)2312983), in point A.02 "Feedback from the Working group on Industrial and Environmental contaminants », there is a mention of an "update on the discussions, which took place in the working Group Meeting on Industrial and Environmental contaminants of 27 March". If there is a written version of this update or a summary of it or if it is contained in an existing document, for example, in the discussions at the Working Group Meeting on Industrial and Environmental Contaminants of 27 March, we would like to access it.
Thank you for your continued efforts,
Sincerely yours,
Claire NOUVIANDear DG Health and Food Safety,
Thank you very much for your response to our request. We are very pleased with the documents you have provided.
However, we have identified three documents which we believe fall within the scope of our request but which have not been identified by your services. These documents are mentioned in the redacted documents of the EU institutions, as follows:
- In the Summary Report of the Standing COmmittee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed held in Brussels on 20 February 2018 - Section Novel Food and Toxicological Safety of the Food Chain (sante.ddg2.g.5(2018)1519793), in point A.04 "Update on contaminants from discussions in the Expert Committee » : a "discussion paper and a new version of the draft for MLs for mercury were circulated as a preparation for further discussions in the Expert Committee Meeting on Industrial and Environmental Contaminants » are mentioned.
If the discussion paper and the draft for MLs mentioned exist, we would like to access them .
- In the Summary Report of the Standing COmmittee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed held in Brussels on 17 April 2018 - Section Novel Food and Toxicological Safety of the Food Chain (sante.ddg2.g.5(2018)2312983), in point A.02 "Feedback from the Working group on Industrial and Environmental contaminants », there is a mention of an "update on the discussions, which took place in the working Group Meeting on Industrial and Environmental contaminants of 27 March". If there is a written version of this update or a summary of it or if it is contained in an existing document, for example, in the discussions at the Working Group Meeting on Industrial and Environmental Contaminants of 27 March, we would like to access it.
Thank you for your continued efforts,
Sincerely yours,
Claire NOUVIAN
Dear Sir or Madam,
We are writing to you concerning your request for access to documents sent
on 17/07/2023 and registered on 18/07/2023 under case number 2023/4272.
Since you have not indicated your postal address, we are not able to start
handling your request. The 15 working days to reply to your request will
start running only when you send us your postal address.
You can send your postal address by replying to this e-mail. If we do not
receive your reply we may close this case.
Please note that you can submit a request for access to Commission
documents via the portal [1]'Request a Commission document', which does
not require you to indicate your postal address.
Why do we need your personal postal address?
Since 1 April 2014, the submission of a postal address became a mandatory
feature when submitting an application for access to Commission documents
via an e-mail. We would like to explain why we need your postal address in
order to register and handle your application for access to documents when
submitted via e-mail:
• Firstly, to obtain legal certainty as regards the date you received
the European Commission reply to your application for public access to
documents. Article 297 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the
European Union (TFEU) states that 'decisions which specify to whom
they are addressed, shall be notified to those to whom they are
addressed and shall take effect upon such notification.' In line with
this provision, if the Commission does not grant full access to the
requested documents, it notifies the reply to the applicant via
registered mail with acknowledgement of receipt or via delivery
service. This requires an indication of a valid postal address by the
applicant;
• Secondly, to apply correctly the [2]Data Protection Regulation (EU)
2018/1725. Knowing whether the applicant is an EU resident (or not) is
necessary for deciding which conditions shall apply for the
transmissions of personal data to applicants for access to documents.
These conditions are not the same for recipients established in the
Union and for recipients in third countries. As the vast majority of
the documents requested contain personal data, the Commission cannot
ensure the correct application of the data protection rules in the
absence of a postal address;
• Thirdly, to apply correctly [3]Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001. Article
4(1)(b) of that Regulation refers to the protection of the privacy and
integrity of the individual and has to be applied in line with the
Data Protection Regulation;
• Fourthly, to protect the interest of other citizens and safeguard the
principle of good administration. The Commission has to treat all
citizens equally by ensuring that the legal framework for public
access to documents is respected. For example, it has to verify
whether Article 6(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 is being evaded
by introducing several requests under different identities. Indeed, in
its Ryanair judgment ([4]EU:T:2010:511), the General Court confirmed
that Article 6(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 cannot be evaded by
splitting an application into several, seemingly separate, parts. In
addition, the Commission has to make sure that the legal framework is
respected and the right of access to documents is not abused by making
requests under an invented identity.
The considerations above show that the request for and the consequent
processing of the applicant's postal address is not only appropriate, but
also strictly necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the
public interest within the meaning of Article 5(1)(a) of Data Protection
Regulation, namely providing a smooth and effective access to documents.
Yours faithfully,
Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety - Access to Documents
European Commission
References
Visible links
1. https://www.ec.europa.eu/transparency/do...
2. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
3. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
4. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
Dear DG Health and Food Safety,
My postal address is :
16 rue Martel,
75010 Paris, France
Yours sincerely,
Claire Nouvian
Dear Sir or Madam,
We hereby acknowledge the receipt of your request for access to documents
sent on 17/07/2023 and registered on 21/07/2023 under the case number
2023/4272.
We will handle your request within 15 working days as of the date of
registration. The time-limit expires on 11/08/2023. We will let you know
if we need to extend this time limit for additional 15 working days.
To find more information on how we process your personal data, please see
[1]the privacy statement.
Yours faithfully,
Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety - Access to Documents
European Commission
References
Visible links
1. https://ec.europa.eu/info/principles-and...
Message to Ms Claire Nouvian :
Dear Madam,
We are writing concerning your request for access to Commission documents
registered on 21 July 2023 under case number 2023/4272.
We are currently working on your request. However, we have not yet been
able to gather all the elements necessary to carry out a full analysis of
your request. We will not be able to send you the reply within the
prescribed time limit expiring on 11 August 2023.
An extended time limit is needed due to a thorough analysis of your
request.
Therefore, in line with Article 7(3) of [1]Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001,
we need to extend this time limit by 15 additional working days. The new
time limit expires on 4 September 2023.
We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
Kind regards,
European Commission
DG SANTE
Unit E2: Food Processing Technologies and Novel Foods
References
Visible links
1. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
Hello,
Please find attached a message concerning your request for access to
Commission documents registered under the above case number 2023/4272.
Please acknowledge the receipt of this message by return email.
Kind regards,
Dear Health and Food Safety,
Thank you for your response to our request. You provided all the documents we were interested in.
Best regards,
Claire Nouvian