Amendment to Regulation (EC) No 451/2000
Regulation (EC) No 451/2000 is amended as follows:
1. Article 8 is replaced by the following: "Article 8
Evaluation of dossiers by rapporteur Member States and the EFSA
1. The rapporteur Member State shall evaluate and report only on those active substances for which at least one dossier has been determined to be complete in accordance with Article 6(2) and (3). For such active substances it shall evaluate and report only on the complete dossiers and for the other dossiers it shall check the identity and impurities of the active substance. The rapporteur Member State shall take into consideration the information available on potentially dangerous effects in the other dossiers submitted by any notifier or by any third party in accordance with the provisions of Article 5(4)(d). It shall send a draft report of its assessment of the dossier to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) as quickly as possible, and at the latest 12 months after the dossier was determined to be complete. The draft assessment report shall be submitted in the format recommended in accordance with the procedure provided for in Article 19 of the Directive.
At the same time, the rapporteur Member State shall make a recommendation to the Commission either:
- to include the active substance in Annex I to the Directive, stating the conditions for inclusion, or
- not to include the active substance in Annex I to the Directive, stating the reasons for the non-inclusion.
The rapporteur Member State shall in particular include in the draft assessment report a reference to each test and study report, for each point of Annex II and Annex III to the Directive, relied on for the assessment. This reference shall be made in the form of a list of test and study reports including the title, the author(s), the date of the study or test report and the date of publication, the standard to which the test or study was conducted, the holder's name and, if any, the claim made by the holder or notifier for data protection. It shall also mention for the other notified sources of the active substances for which the dossier was considered not to be complete whether it can be concluded that such active substances are comparable within the meaning of Article 13(5) of the Directive.
2. Without prejudice to Article 7 of the Directive, submission of new studies shall not be accepted, except for the studies as referred to in Article 6(2)(c), third indent. The rapporteur Member State may request the notifiers to submit further data which are necessary to clarify the dossier. When doing so the rapporteur Member State shall set a time limit within which the information should be provided; this time limit shall not affect the time limit for the submission of the report referred to in paragraph 1.
The rapporteur Member State may, from the start of this examination, consult with experts from the EFSA and may request additional technical or scientific information from other Member States to assist the evaluation. The rapporteur Member State may perform the evaluation together with a co-rapporteur Member State.
The rapporteur Member State shall request the notifiers to submit an updated summary dossier to the EFSA, the other Member States and on request to the Commission at the same time as the rapporteur's draft assessment report is sent to the EFSA.
The Member States, the EFSA or the Commission may request through the rapporteur Member State that notifiers also send them the updated complete dossiers or parts thereof.
3. As soon as it becomes evident to a rapporteur Member State that it will be unable to comply with the time limit specified in paragraph 1 for the submission of the draft assessment report to the EFSA, it shall inform the Commission and the EFSA and give the reasons for the delay. All Member States shall provide to the Commission and the EFSA a report of their progress on the evaluation of the active substances for which they are rapporteur. Such report has to be made by 30 April 2003.
4. After receiving the updated summary dossier and the draft assessment report referred to in paragraph 1, the EFSA shall, within 30 days, acknowledge receipt of the report to the rapporteur Member State. In exceptional cases where the draft assessment report clearly does not fulfil the requirements concerning the format recommended by the Commission, the Commission shall agree with the EFSA and the rapporteur Member State on a period for resubmission of an amended report. This period shall not exceed four months.
5. The EFSA shall circulate the rapporteur's draft assessment report to the Member States and may organise a consultation of experts including the rapporteur Member State. The EFSA may consult some or all of the notifiers of active substances specified in Annex I on the report or parts of the report on the relevant active substance.
Without prejudice to Article 7 of the Directive, submission of new studies shall not be accepted. The rapporteur Member State, with the agreement of the EFSA, may request the notifiers to submit within specified periods further data considered by the rapporteur member state of the EFSA necessary to clarify the dossier.
6. The EFSA shall make available at specific request or keep available for consultation by any person the following:
(a) the information referred to in the last subparagraph of paragraph 1, except the elements thereof which have been accepted as confidential in accordance with Article 14 of the Directive;
(b) the name of the active substance;
(c) the content of the pure active substance in the manufactured material;
(d) the list of any data required for consideration of the possible inclusion of the active substance into Annex I to the Directive, first as contained in the rapporteur's report and secondly as finalised by the EFSA;
(e) the draft assessment report, except the elements thereof which have been accepted as confidential in accordance with Article 14 of the Directive.
7. The EFSA shall evaluate the rapporteur's draft assessment report and deliver its opinion on whether the active substance can be expected to meet the safety requirements of the Directive to the Commission at the latest one year after receipt of the rapporteur Member State draft assessment report. Where appropriate, the EFSA shall give its opinion on the available options claimed to meet the safety requirements. The Commission and the EFSA shall agree on a schedule for the delivery of the opinions in order to facilitate the planning of the work. The Commission and the EFSA shall agree on the format in which the opinion of the EFSA is submitted.
8. At the latest six months after receipt of the EFSA opinion referred to in paragraph 7, the Commission shall submit the draft review report. Without prejudice to any proposal it may submit with a view to amending the Annex to Directive 79/117/EEC, and on the basis of the finalised review report it shall submit to the Committee:
(a) a draft directive to include the active substance in Annex I to the Directive, setting out where appropriate the conditions, including the time limit, for such inclusion, or
(b) a draft decision addressed to the Member States to withdraw the authorisations of plant-protection products containing the active substance, pursuant to the fourth subparagraph of Article 8(2) of the Directive, whereby that active substance is not included in Annex I to the Directive, mentioning the reasons for the non-inclusion.
The directive or decision shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure provided for in Article 19 of the Directive.
9. Where the Commission submits a draft directive or a draft decision in accordance with paragraph 8, it shall at the same time submit the conclusions of the Committee's examination in the format of a finalised review report to be noted in the summary record of the meeting.
The finalised review report, excluding any parts which refer to confidential information contained in the dossiers and determined as such in accordance with Article 14 of the Directive, shall be made available for public consultation."
2. In Article 10(4), the first sentence is replaced by the following: "The time limit for the submission of a list of available studies shall be 23 May 2003. A full data package shall be available on 23 May 2003 at the latest."
3. In Article 11(2), the second sentence is replaced by the following: "Member States shall withdraw by 25 July 2003 authorisations of plant-protection products containing active substances for which no admissible notification has been submitted. Authorisations of plant-protection products containing active substances for which no list of available studies has been submitted or for which no full data package is available shall be withdrawn by the deadline referred to in the Decision on the non-inclusion of the active substance concerned."
4. In Annex I, part A, in relation to the active substance Tolclofos-methyl "The Netherlands" is replaced by "Sweden".