Article 16 Staff Regulations - Gayle Kimberley

The request was refused by European Council.

Dear European Council,

Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as developed in Regulation 1049/2001, I am requesting all documentation relating to decisions made, under Article 16 of the Staff Regulations, concerning Ms. Gayle Kimberley.

Specifically, I would like to receive a note of all Ms. Kimberley's
job titles whilst at the European Council's legal service between 2004 and 2011, including dates held, copies of any application(s) that Ms Kimberley made under Article 16 of the Staff Regulations to undertake a new professional activity, and all correspondence, including emails, relating to the authorisation of the role or roles.

Yours faithfully,

Rachel Tansey

Postmaster Consilium, European Council

Your message has been received by the Transparency and Access to Documents Unit of the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union. All requests for access to documents are treated on the basis of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to
European Parliament, Council and Commission documents. The General Secretariat will reply to your request within 15 working days upon registration of your request. Requests received before 5 PM on a working day are registered on the same day. Requests received after 5 PM are registered on the first following working day.

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Dear Postmaster Consilium,

I have not yet received any response from you regarding my request of 26 March 'Article 16 Staff Regulations - Gayle Kimberley'.

By law, you should have responded promptly and within 15 working days - from the date of my request, this expired yesterday, 16 April 2013.

I await your prompt response and for an explanation of the unjustified delay.

Yours sincerely,

Rachel Tansey

SECRETARIAT DGF Access, European Council

1 Attachment

Please find attached a letter from the General Secretariat of the Council
concerning your request for access under Regulation 1049/2001.

Yours sincerely,

General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union

Transparency Service - Access to documents

Dear SECRETARIAT DGF Access,

I hereby submit a confirmatory application for my request of 26 March 2013, and request the Council to review its decision to reject my 26 March request.

You denied access to the requested documents on the following grounds:

"The documents and information you have requested contain personal data. Disclosure of this information would undermine the protection of privacy and the integrity of the individual in question, in particular in accordance with Community legislation regarding the protection of personal data. Accordingly, pursuant to Article 4(1)(b) of the Regulation (protection of privacy and the integrity of the individual), the General Secretariat is unable to accede to your request."

I was very surprised by this response of the European Council invoking protection of personal data, as there have been many successful access to documents requests regarding the screening for potential conflicts of interest when employing new officials or when officials apply for permission for post-employment activities, in accordance with Article 11, 11a and Article 16 of the Staff regulations, respectively. Cases where relevant documents were made
available, if necessary with sensitive personal data having been expunged. This would be in full accordance with the intention of my request. Recent examples where this practice has been applied are
requests 2012/2311, 2012/2690 and 2012/5259 (see post script).

As a result, I do not understand why, in this particular case, the documents cannot be released to me, at least in part. Various Commission DGs have not considered that there was a problem to disclose the equivalent documents, and as the Council is bound by the same laws - and exemptions to those laws - I see no reason why the Council's approach should be more restrictive.

I should also point out that I am not requesting private data such as personal email addresses or telephone numbers, but documents which concern Ms Kimberley in her professional capacity as an
official employed by the European Council. I therefore would like to make a confirmatory application to the European Council that this response is re-evaluated.

I look forward to hearing from you and I hope to receive the documents requested as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely,

Rachel Tansey

Postscript.

Petra Erler: 2012/2690, http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/staff...
Full access to some documents (especially on the internal decision making process of the DG) has been granted and partial access to documents containing personal data. This approach would be fully in accordance with my request. DG Human Resources wrote: "The undisclosed parts in documents (...) containing certain personal data such as the personal address and
phone number, have to be refused on the basis of Article 4(1)(b) of the Regulation".

The same procedure has been used in these cases:

Jörgen Holmquist: 2012/5259,
http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/staff...

Fabio Colasanti: 2012/2311,
http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/staff...

DGF Secretariat Council Transparency, European Council

1 Attachment

Dear Ms Tansey,

 

Please find attached a letter from the General Secretariat of the Council
extending the time limit for the Council to reply to your confirmatory
application for public access under Regulation 1049/2001.

Yours sincerely,

General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union

Transparency Service - Access to documents

SECRETARIAT DGF Access, European Council

Dear Ms Tansey,

The General Secretariat of the Council would like to inform you that the
reply to your confirmatory application has already been finalised. It will
be sent to you as soon as it is officially adopted by the Council. We
apologise for the time taken in responding to your confirmatory
application.

Yours sincerely,

For the General Secretariat of the Council Transparency Team - Access to
documents Tel. +32-2-281 6710

 
 

DGF Secretariat Council Transparency, European Council

1 Attachment

Dear Ms Tansey,

Please find enclosed the reply from the Council to your confirmatory application dated 19 April 2013.

Kind regards

Shelley Tester

Transparency Team
Tel. +32-2-281 1230