Article 13 Conclusion by the Authority

The Authority shall establish a conclusion in the light of current scientific and technical knowledge using guidance documents applicable at the date of the submission of the application for renewal and in the light of the opinion of the Committee for Risk Assessment on whether the active substance can be expected to meet the approval criteria provided for in Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009. The Authority shall, where appropriate, organise a consultation of experts, including experts from the rapporteur Member State and co-rapporteur Member State.

The Authority shall draft the conclusion provided for in the first subparagraph within five months from the expiry of the period referred to in Article 12(3) of this Regulation, or within two weeks from the adoption of the opinion of the Committee for Risk Assessment referred to in Article 37(4) of Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008, if any adopted, whichever occurs later.

Where appropriate, the Authority shall address in its draft conclusion the risk mitigation options identified in the draft renewal assessment report or during the peer review.

The Commission may inform the Authority without delay after the period referred to in Article 12(3) has expired that a conclusion is not necessary.

Where the Authority considers that additional information from the applicant is necessary, it shall, in consultation with the rapporteur Member State, set a period not exceeding one month for the applicant to supply such information to the Member States, the Commission and the Authority. The rapporteur Member State shall, within 60 days from the date of receipt of the additional information evaluate the information received and send its evaluation to the Authority.

Where the first subparagraph applies, the period referred to in paragraph 1 shall be extended by the two periods referred to in that subparagraph.

The Authority may ask the Commission to consult a European Union reference laboratory designated, pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2017/625 of the European Parliament and of the Council^f1 for the purposes of verifying whether the analytical method for the determination of the residues proposed by the applicant is satisfactory and complies with the requirements provided for in point (g) of Article 29(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009. The applicant shall, if requested by the European Union reference laboratory, provide samples and analytical standards.

The Authority shall communicate the draft conclusion to the applicant, the Member States and the Commission and give the applicant a possibility to submit comments within a period of two weeks.

Where in its draft conclusion the Authority identifies critical issues and/or critical data gaps such that it is expected that there is no representative use of at least one plant protection product containing the active substance for which the approval criteria provided for in Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 would be fulfilled, and which the applicant could not have known about at the time of submission of the application and did not have the possibility to address following a request for additional information in accordance with Article 13(2), the applicant may also submit additional information on those issues to the Member States, the Commission and the Authority within the two-week period.

Comments and new information shall be considered by the Authority in cooperation with the rapporteur Member State and the co-rapporteur Member State. The Authority shall finalise the conclusion within 75 days from the expiry of the two-week period referred to in the first subparagraph.

In cases where the Authority drafted the conclusion before the expiry of the five months period referred to in the first paragraph of this Article the remaining time may be added to the 75 days mentioned in the previous subparagraph.

The Authority shall communicate its final conclusion to the applicant, the Member States and the Commission.

After giving the applicant two weeks to request certain information in the conclusion originating from its application to be kept confidential, pursuant to Article 63 of Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009, and in accordance with Article 6(7) of this Regulation, the Authority shall make its conclusion available to the public, excluding any information in respect of which confidentiality has been granted by the Authority.

Information submitted by the applicant without having been requested, or provided after the expiry of the period set for its submission in accordance with the first subparagraph of paragraph 2 and the second subparagraph of paragraph 4 of this Article shall not be taken into account, unless it is submitted in accordance with Article 56 of Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009.