Negotiating documents of the "sustainable food systems chapters" in EU trade agreements
Dear Trade,
Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as developed in Regulation 1049/2001, I am requesting access to the negotiating documents and all versions of the draft texts (past and present) of the "sustainable food systems" chapters in the following trade agreements (some of them concluded, others still under negotiation): (i) Free Trade Agreement between the European Union and New Zealand; (ii) Interim Agreement on Trade between the European Union and the Republic of Chile; (iii) EU-Indonesia Free Trade Agreement; (iv) EU-India Free Trade Agreement; (v) EU-Thailand Free Trade Agreement; (vi) EU-Philippines Free Trade Agreement.
If "sustainable food systems" chapters are currently being negotiated also in other trade agreements, please provide access also to the negotiating documents and draft texts for those agreements.
By “negotiating documents”, I refer to all documents that have been exchanged, circulated, or produced for the purpose of shaping and advancing the negotiation of the "sustainable food systems" chapters. This includes, but is not limited to: (i) draft texts of the chapters tabled by the EU at any stage of the negotiations; (ii) drafts submitted or proposed by the EU’s negotiating partners; (iii) consolidated drafts; (iv) non-papers, textual proposals, or annotated drafts shared with the negotiating partners or discussed internally within EU institutions; (v) minutes, summaries, briefings, or aide-memoires from negotiation rounds.
Yours faithfully,
Giovanni Dall'Agnola
Dear Sir or Madam,
We are writing to you concerning your request for access to documents sent
on 20/05/2025 and registered on 21/05/2025 under case number 2025/2771.
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 Trade and Economic Security - 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 Trade,
Please find below my postal address:
Via Verona 63
37011 Calmasino (VR)
Italy
Yours faithfully,
Giovanni Dall'Agnola
Dear Sir or Madam,
We hereby acknowledge the receipt of your request for access to documents
sent on 20/05/2025 and registered on 21/05/2025 under the case number
2025/2771.
We will handle your request within 15 working days as of the date of
registration. The time-limit expires on 13/06/2025. 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 Trade and Economic Security - Access to Documents
European Commission
References
Visible links
1. https://ec.europa.eu/info/principles-and...
Dear Trade,
Please kindly note that I am awaiting a response to my request. Since the time limit has expired, I would greatly appreciate any updates you may have.
Yours faithfully,
Giovanni Dall'Agnola
Dear Mr Dall’Agnola,
We refer to your applications for public access to documents of 20 and 25 May 2025, registered under the EASE reference number 2025/2771 and 2025/2855.
Please note that the two requests have been reattributed to DG SANTE, who is now in the lead.
DG SANTE colleagues, here in cc, will be better placed to update you on the status of the requests.
Yours sincerely,
DG TRADE Access to Documents Team
European Commission
Directorate General for Trade
Unit R3 – Transparency, Civil Society and Communications
CHAR
1049 Brussels
Belgium
Dear Mr Dall'Agnola,
We are writing concerning your request for access to Commission documents
registered on 21 May 2025 under case number 2025/2771.
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 13 June 2025.
The application concerns documents held by different Services, which must
be consulted.
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 3 July 2025.
We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
Kind regards,
SANTE ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS
References
Visible links
1. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
Dear Sante/Trade,
Please kindly note that I am awaiting a response to my request. Since the already extended time limit has once again expired, I would greatly appreciate updates as soon as possible.
Yours faithfully,
Giovanni Dall'Agnola
Dear Mr Dall’Agnola,
We refer to your applications for public access to documents of 20 and 25
May 2025, registered under the EASE reference number 2025/2771 and
2025/2855. We acknowledge that the time limit has expired and apologise in
advance for the delay.
We would like to inform you that your request is being handled and the
reply will be sent to you as soon as all the documents requested are
ready. The consultation of the documents falling within the scope of your
request required more time due to the number of different third countries
referred to in it.
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.
Kind regards,
SANTE A5
European Commission
Directorate-General for Health & Food Safety
A5 Bilateral international relations
Dear [email address],
Since the response to my request is long overdue, I would greatly appreciate if you could provide me with a date by which I will receive the documents requested.
Thank you.
Yours sincerely,
Giovanni Dall'Agnola
Dear Trade/SANTE,
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 'Negotiating documents of the "sustainable food systems chapters" in EU trade agreements'.
Please note that the documents and information requested have not been provided yet. No estimate of the additional time needed has been provided.
A full history of my request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.asktheeu.org/request/negotia...
Yours faithfully,
Giovanni Dall'Agnola
Hello,
Please find attached a message concerning your request for access to
Commission documents registered under the above case number 2025/2771.
Please acknowledge the receipt of this message by return email.
Kind regards,
Dear Sante/Trade,
Thank you for your reply.
Please note that your response does not fulfil my request, and that I am aware of the documents that are already publicly available on the official EU websites.
As specified in my original request, I am requesting access to all negotiating documents of the "sustainable food systems chapters" in the EU's trade agreements. As originally specified, by “negotiating documents”, I refer to all documents that have been exchanged, circulated, or produced for the purpose of shaping and advancing the negotiation of the "sustainable food systems" chapters. This includes, but is not limited to: (i) draft texts of the chapters tabled by the EU at any stage of the negotiations (not just the initial stage); (ii) drafts submitted or proposed by the EU’s negotiating partners; (iii) consolidated drafts; (iv) non-papers, textual proposals, or annotated drafts shared with the negotiating partners or discussed internally within EU institutions; (v) minutes, summaries, briefings, or aide-memoires from negotiation rounds.
The documents to which you pointed out, and that are already publicly available, are limited to (i) the initial draft of the chapters proposed by the EU, (ii) very general and short minutes of the negotiation rounds, and (iii) for New Zealand and Chile, the final text on which the parties have agreed.
Please review my request again and kindly provide the documents requested.
Yours faithfully,
Giovanni Dall'Agnola