Lobbying on siloxanes
Dear Environment,
Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as developed in Regulation 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents, as well as Regulation (EC) No 1367/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 September 2006 on the application of the provisions of the Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters to Community institutions and bodies, I would like to request access to all documents relating to lobbying on the assessment of:
- Octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (D4);
- Decamethylcyclopentasiloxane (D5);
- Dodecamethylcyclohexasiloxane (D6);
(hereinafter siloxanes) as persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and the subsequent regulatory actions in the EU and under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, by the US chemical company Dow, its affiliates and/or any of its lobby intermediaries (currently declared as Fipra, Euromediations, EU Focus, bcw - Burson Cohn Wolfe, FB & Associati, and Teneo).
These documents include:
1. A list of all meetings / discussions since 1 September 2020.
2. Any records, minutes, or notes of these meetings/discussions.
3. All correspondence or submissions since 20 September 2020.
In addition, I would like to receive all documents relating to any interservice consultation on siloxanes, including circulated drafts, received comments, and the dates of any consultation periods.
To the extent possible, my strong preference is to receive documents in electronic format.
I would also be grateful to receive the documents in batches, as soon as they are identified and available to send.
Please note that I am tabling this request separately to DG Grow, DG Environment, DG Sante, the Secretariat-General of the Commission, and ECHA, and I look forward to receiving the respective documents accordingly.
Yours faithfully,
Vicky Cann
CEO
Rue d'Edimbourg 26
1050 Brx
and
Vito Buonsante
IPEN Gothenburg SE-40235 - 7256
SWEDEN
Dear Sir or Madam,
We hereby acknowledge the receipt of your request for access to documents
sent on 15/02/2024 and registered on 15/02/2024 under the case number
2024/0890.
We will handle your request within 15 working days as of the date of
registration. The time-limit expires on 07/03/2024. 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 Environment - Access to Documents
European Commission
References
Visible links
1. https://ec.europa.eu/info/principles-and...
Dear Ms Cann,
We are writing concerning your request for access to Commission documents
registered under case number 2024-0890.
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 07/03/2024 as we have to consult
different Services and third parties.
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 02/04.2024.
We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
Kind regards,
Safe and Sustainable Chemicals unit
DG-Environment
European Commission
References
Visible links
1. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
Dear Environment,
Do you know when you will reply to this please? It is now substantially overdue.
Thank you in advance.
Yours faithfully,
Vicky Cann
Dear Ms Cann,
Please accept our apologies for the delay in the handling of your application. We are consulting a 3rd party and waiting their reply any moment.
Rest assured that we are handling your application with priority and we will do our utmost to provide you with the final reply in the coming days.
Once again, please accept our sincerest apologies for any inconvenience caused by this delay.
Yours sincerely,
European Commission
DG-Environment
Unit B.2 – Safe and Sustainable Chemicals
Dear Ms Cann,
Please find attached a message concerning your request for access to
Commission documents registered under the above case number 2024/0890.
Please acknowledge the receipt of this message by return email.
Kind regards,
Unit B.2 "Safe and Sustainable Chemicals"
DG-Environment
European Commission
Dear Environment,
Thank you for the documents for 2024/0890.
Please note that the table (doc EASE 2024 0890 ENV Documents register.pdf) which listed the documents appeared to be empty. I would be grateful if you could resend it.
In addition I would ike to make a confirmatory application on several points:
- I would like to appeal the refusal to provide documents 2 and 5, especially as the third party concerned "despite several reminders ... did not inform the Commission about their views". I would have thought that these non-answers should have encouraged the Commission to release the documents, and I would urge you to reconsider this. There is also the option of releasing redacted versions, although of course full versions would be much better.
- I have not received a list of documents relating to the part of my request concerning ISC/2023/11089. But as one of the released documents notes, "CEFIC and Dow are undertaking an intense lobby campaign" on the substances under review, and I would consider it clearly to be in the public interest to know how DG positions are being impacted by this lobby campaign.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours faithfully,
Vicky Cann
Dear Sir or Madam,
We hereby acknowledge the receipt of your confirmatory request for case
2024/0890, sent on 01/07/2024 and registered on 02/07/2024.
We will handle your confirmatory request within 15 working days as of the
date of registration. The time-limit expires on 23/07/2024. 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
Dear Ms Cann,
Please see the document register for the case 2024/0890.
Kind regards,
Unit B.2 “Safe and Sustainable Chemicals”
DG-ENV
Dear [email address],
Thank you for the document table. I'll wait to hear about the conf app.
Yours sincerely,
Vicky Cann
Dear Ms Cann,
We are writing concerning your confirmatory request for access to
Commission documents for case EASE 2024/0890 registered on 02/07/2024.
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. Due to the need to conduct internal
consultations, we will not be able to send you the reply within the
prescribed time limit expiring on 23/07/2024.
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 13/08/2024.
We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
Kind regards,
SG C.1 - Access to documents team
References
Visible links
1. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
Dear CANN, Vicky,
Please find attached the electronic version of European Commission
Decision C(2024)6954 as adopted by the European Commission on 29/09/2024
concerning the request 2024/0890.
In accordance with the Terms and Conditions of this portal, please note
that this decision is being formally notified pursuant to article 297 TFEU
through this electronic platform only.
Yours sincerely,