Article 18

1.

Where its disclosure affects one or more of the items mentioned in Article 4(2) of Directive 2003/4/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 January 2003 on public access to environmental information8, the notifier may indicate the information in the notifications submitted pursuant to this Directive that should be treated as confidential. Verifiable justification must be given in such cases.

The competent authority shall decide, after consultation with the notifier, which information will be kept confidential and shall inform the notifier of its decision.

2.

In no case may the following information, when submitted pursuant to Articles 6, 8 or 9, be kept confidential:

(a)

the general characteristics of the GMMs, the name and address of the notifier, and the location of use;

(b)

the class of contained use and the containment measures;

(c)

the evaluation of foreseeable effects, in particular any harmful effects on human health and the environment.

3.

The Commission and the competent authorities shall not divulge to third parties any information deemed to be confidential according to the second subparagraph of paragraph 1 and notified or otherwise provided pursuant to this Directive, and shall protect intellectual property rights relating to the data received.

4.

If, for whatever reasons, the notifier withdraws the notification, the competent authority must respect the confidentiality of the information supplied.