Import data
Dear Health and Food Safety,
Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as developed in Regulation 1049/2001, I am requesting documents which contain the following information:
A list of all Consignors and/or Exporters of commodities identified by the HS code "151800" shipped to Spain and the Netherlands between 1/10/2023 and the most recent data available at the time of your response.
For each Consignor/Exporter please indicate the following information:
- Consignee /Importer Name
- Date of arrival at entry point
- Weight
I would prefer to receive the documents on a rolling basis, in case the Commission’s search for, or deliberations concerning, certain documents delay their individual release.
To the extent that it is possible, I prefer to receive documents in electronic format.
Should my request be denied wholly or partially, I kindly request to explain the denial or all redactions referring to specific exemptions in the regulation. Also I would expect the partial release of documents, in case of partial exemption according to article 4.6.
Please confirm receipt of this application. I look forward to receiving your reply within 15 business days, as established by the regulation.
Yours faithfully,
Matteo Civillini
via Turchino 2d
Briosco (Italy)
Dear Sir or Madam,
We hereby acknowledge the receipt of your request for access to documents
sent on 08/07/2024 and registered on 08/07/2024 under the case number
2024/3682.
We will handle your request within 15 working days as of the date of
registration. The time-limit expires on 29/07/2024. 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 Mr Civillini,
Please find attached a message concerning your request for access to
Commission documents registered under the above case number 2024/3682.
Kind regards,
European Commission
Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety
Dear Mr Civillini,
We acknowledge that the time limit expires today and apologise in advance
for the delay.
The preparation of the documents falling within the scope of your request
required more time due to holidays period.
We would like to inform you that your request is being handled and the
reply will be sent to you as soon as it is signed at the appropriate
level.
Please be reassured that we are doing our utmost to provide you with the
required documents as soon as possible.
Thank you very much for your understanding.
With kind regards,
G4: Official controls
European Commission
Directorate General for Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE)
Directorate G- Crisis preparedness in food, animals and plants
Unit G4: Official controls
Email: [1][email address]
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
Dear Mr Civillini,
Please find attached a message concerning your request for access to
Commission documents registered under the above case number 2024/3682.
Please acknowledge the receipt of this message by return email.
With kind regards,
European Commission
Directorate General for Health and Food Safety
Unit G-4: Official Controls
Dear Health and Food Safety,
Please pass this on to the person who reviews confirmatory applications.
I am filing the following confirmatory application with regards to my access to documents request 'Import data'.
In your response you redacted both the company names of suppliers and recipients and the weights of commodities imported on the grounds of “commercial sensitivity”.
I argue that the exceptions to right of access must be waived and full access to the information must be granted. That is both on a point of precedent and as a result of an overriding public interest in disclosing the requested information.
On the first point, I note that the body had previously granted full disclosure of documents in response to similar requests pertaining to information contained in Ched-D or Ched-P forms without claiming any “commercial sensitivity”. For your courtesy, I point to two examples of such requests:
https://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/food...
https://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/chin...
I believe your body should treat this request in a similar manner.
Secondly, there is an overriding public interest in the disclosure of the information given the nature of the commodities concerned by the request.
As you may be aware, shipments of commodities under HS code “151800” include used cooking oil (UCO), which is a feedstock used in the manufacturing of biofuels. Numerous reports, in addition to questions raised in the EU Parliament itself, have highlighted the risk of large-scale fraud in the used cooking oil sector. Imports of fraudulent material pose a serious threat to European producers and jeopardise the EU’s greenhouse gas emission reduction targets. As a result, this runs the serious risk of misleading and damaging the European public at large.
Both EPPO and OLAF have conducted investigations into fraudelent imports of UCO used in the production of biofuels, highlighting the severity of the situation.
Moreover, the European Commission has publicly underlined on several occasions that the transparency and traceability of feedstock supply chain are key to mitigate the risk of irregularities and fraud in the biofuels manufacturing process. (https://energy.ec.europa.eu/topics/renew...)
The decision to withhold the company names of suppliers and recipients and the weights of commodities imported runs contrary to the transparency drive invoked by the Commission itself. Only if the public has full access to supply chain information transparency and traceability can be guaranteed.
Therefore, I strongly believe the is an overriding public interest in disclosing the information requested and identified by your body in full.
I remain available for any further clarification needed.
Thank you.
A full history of my request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/impo...
Yours faithfully,
Matteo Civillini
Dear Sir or Madam,
We hereby acknowledge the receipt of your confirmatory request for case
2024/3682, sent on 02/09/2024 and registered on 03/09/2024.
We will handle your confirmatory request within 15 working days as of the
date of registration. The time-limit expires on 24/09/2024. We will let
you know if we need to extend this time limit for additional 15 working
days.
Yours faithfully,
Secretariat-General - Access to Documents
European Commission
Hello,
We are writing concerning your confirmatory request for access to
Commission documents for case 2024/3682 registered on 3/09/2024.
We are currently working on your confirmatory 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 24/09/2024.
Therefore, in line with Article 8(2) 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 15/10/2024.
We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
Kind regards,
SG.C1/Access to Documents Team
References
Visible links
1. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
Dear Health and Food Safety,
I should have received a response by now given the 15 working days extension has expired.
I kindly ask you to provide a response as soon as possible in adherence with the relevant EU regulations.
Yours faithfully,
Matteo Civillini
Dear Mr Civillini,
Thank you for your email of 15 October 2024 asking about the state of play
of your request.
We can inform you that the internal consultations are fully ongoing for
the purpose of handling your request.
While we are unfortunately unable to provide you with a specific timeline,
we would like to reassure you that we are doing our utmost in order to
ensure the swiftest processing of your application as possible.
We would like to apologise once again for this delay and thank you in
advance for your very kind understanding and patience.
Secretariat-General
SG.C1 Access-to-Documents Team
Dear Health and Food Safety,
A response to my request for a confirmatory application is more than 30 days overdue.
As you are aware, that is in breach of the relevant regulations.
I kindly request to provide a substantive response as soon as possible or, failing that, a clear timeline for when you will be in a position to respond.
Yours faithfully,
Matteo Civillini
Dear Mr Civillini,
Thank you for your emails regarding the state of play of the handling of
your confirmatory application registered under the above-mentioned
reference.
We refer to our email of 17 October 2024, whereby we informed you that the
internal consultations required in the framework of the confirmatory
review of the initial reply of the Directorate-General for Health and Food
Safety have not yet been finalized.
Whereas the Secretariat-General strives to handle as promptly as possible
all incoming confirmatory applications, the time required depends on the
number and complexity of such requests at a given time.
When assessing a confirmatory application for access to documents
submitted pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, the
Secretariat-General conducts an independent review of the reply given by
the Directorate-General concerned at initial stage. In this context, the
Secretariat-General is focusing on ensuring that the documents
corresponding to your request are individually and specifically assessed
against the exceptions provided under Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No
1049/2001, which must be interpreted and applied strictly, as per settled
case-law of the Court of Justice.
In light of the above, whereas we are unfortunately unable to provide you
with a specific timeline, we would like to reassure you that we are doing
our utmost in order to ensure the swiftest processing of your application
as possible.
We thank you in advance for your kind understanding and patience.
SG.C1 Access-to-Documents Team