Access to documents discussed in CETA's committees

[k...@umweltinstitut.org]

Dear allies,

on monday, we started a law case against the Commission, because they refuse to give us access to documents used in the meetings of committees and fora created by or integrated in CETA.

Since the agreement is provisionally applied, 19 committees and fora had their first meetings during this year. The Commission publishes all the agendas and some short reports here: http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/press/index.cfm?id=1811

The issues discussed in those meetings are relevant to many of us, I think. Just to take one example which is interesting to us here in Munich: Already two meetings, the SPS-Committee in March and the Agricultural Committee in September, discussed the issue of "Hazard-based cut-off and the impact on import tolerances". Accordung to EU rules (regulations on MRLs and pesticides), there may not be higher maximum residue levels for an active substance of a pesticide, if it may not be used in the EU because it is carcinogenic, teratogenic or mutagenic. In one of the meetings, the Commission "reconfirmed that their intent was that while applying the hazard-based criteria to pesticides, import tolerances will be evaluated when requested on the basis of a risk assessment carried out by the European Food Safety Authority.", i.e. to divert from the hazard based approach to make a higher pesticide use possible in foreign countries.

In April, refering to my rights for access to documents in regulation 1049/2001, I asked the Commission for "the agenda, minutes and list of attendees of the meeting of the  CETA-SPS-Joint Management Committee, which took place the 26th and 27th of March 2018 in Ottawa, and all documents and presentations, which were discussed during this meeting." After half a year, we got a final letter from Secretary General Selmayr (president Juncker's right hand) saying they will not give us anything which is not already public on DG Trade's website. Selmayr argues:
"Public disclosure of the above-mentioned technical details would jeopardise the progress and affect the process of implementing the Agreement. Its successful implementation depends to a large extent on the cooperation of the parties and mutual trust is needed in addressing different aspects of the Agreement. As mentioned above, the discussions in the Committee are held at technical level and therefore the information included in the document in question is also of a technical character. If publicly disclosed, it could be subject to misinterpretation or misuse. That in turn, would put the EU and Canada in a difficult position, as a result of which the possibility to gain progress in the discussions within the Committee would be negatively affected." (http://www.umweltinstitut.org/fileadmin/Mediapool/Downloads/01_Themen/03_Verbraucherschutz/Freihandelsabkommen/CETA/FOI_Klage_zum_SPS-Ausschuss/20181003_Final_desicion_der_COM_zu_SPS_Committee.pdf)

Well, I really want to know those technical details, which are so toxic and explosive that me knowing them would jeopardise the implementation of CETA. Aiming lower, I would like the Commission's stands in those meetings to be subject to public debate. And it could indeed be toxic if our government wants us to eat food containing more toxic substances to ease trade with Canada...

If you know german, you find more information and all documents relevant for the upcoming court case on our homepage: http://www.umweltinstitut.org/aktuelle-meldungen/meldungen/2018/ceta-wir-klagen-gegen-geheimniskraemerei.html
Some of the documents are in english language.

Kind regards,
Karl

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Karl Bär
Advisor on Agriculture and Trade

Umweltinstitut München e.V.
Landwehrstr. 64a, 80336 München
Tel.: +49 (0)89 307749-34
Mail: k...@umweltinstitut.org

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