Ref. Ares(2022)7050158 - 12/10/2022
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
Directorate-General for Trade
Directorate R - Resources, Inter-Institutional Relations, Communications and Civil Society
R.3 Transparency, Civil Society and Communications
The Head of Unit
Brussels,
R3/AG/JT (2022)7821299
Ms Palstra Nienke
Rue Belliard 53
1000 Bruxelles
Belgium
By email only with request of
acknowledgement of receipt: ask+request-11712-
xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx
Subject: Your application for access to documents – Ref GestDem 2022/4919
Dear Ms Palstra,
I refer to your application dated 11 August 2022, in which you make a request for access
to documents under Regulation (EC) No 1049/20011 (‘Regulation 1049/2001’),
registered on 1 September 2022 under the above mentioned reference number.
1. SCOPE OF YOUR REQUEST
In your request, you asked for access to:
“All documents—including but not limited to correspondence, emails, minutes, notes (hand
written or electronic), audio or video recordings, verbatim reports, operational conclusions,
lines to take, briefings, and presentations—related to the meeting on 2022-05-18 between Zaneta
Vegnere and DIGITALEUROPE.”
2. ASSESSMENT AND CONCLUSIONS UNDER REGULATION 1049/2001
1 Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2001
regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents (OJ L 145,
31.5.2001, p. 43).
Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË - Tel. +32 22991111
In accordance with settled case law2, when an institution is asked to disclose a document,
it must assess, in each individual case, whether that document falls within the exceptions
to the right of public access to documents set out in Article 4 of Regulation 1049/2001.
Such assessment is carried out in a multi-step approach:
- first, the institution must satisfy itself that the document relates to one of the
exceptions, and if so, decide which parts of it are covered by that exception;
- second, it must examine whether disclosure of the parts of the document in
question poses a ’
reasonably foreseeable and not purely hypothetical’ risk of
undermining the protection of the interest covered by the exception;
- third, if it takes the view that disclosure would undermine the protection of any of
the interests defined under Article 4(2) and Article 4(3) of Regulation 1049/2001,
the institution is required ’
to ascertain whether there is any overriding public
interest justifying disclosure’ 3.
In view of the objectives pursued by Regulation 1049/2001, notably to give the public the
widest possible right of access to documents4, ‘
the exceptions to that right […] must be
interpreted and applied strictly’ 5.
In reply to your request, I can inform you that we have identified
two documents that fall
within the scope of your request:
- Communication from DigitalEurope 29 March 2022.
- Meeting with DigitalEurope minutes 18 May 2022.
Having examined the requested documents under the applicable legal framework, I am
pleased to grant you partial access to both documents. Copies of the accessible
documents are enclosed to this letter.
A complete disclosure of the documents is prevented by the exception concerning the
protection of privacy and the integrity of the individual outlined in Article 4(1)(b) of
Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, because they contain personal data, such as the
names/initials and contact information of Commission staff members not pertaining to the
senior management as well as the names/initials and contact details of other natural persons.
Article 9(1)(b) of the Data Protection Regulation does not allow the transmission of these
personal data, except if you prove that it is necessary to have the data transmitted to you
for a specific purpose in the public interest and where there is no reason to assume that
the legitimate interests of the data subject might be prejudiced. In your request, you do not
express any particular interest to have access to these personal data nor do you put forward
2 Judgment in
Sweden and Maurizio Turco v Council, Joined cases C-39/05 P and C-52/05 P,
EU:C:2008:374, paragraph 35.
3
Id., paragraphs 37-43. See also judgment in
Council v Sophie in ‘t Veld, C-350/12 P, EU:C:2014:2039,
paragraphs 52-64.
4 See Regulation 1049/2001, recital (4).
5 Judgment in
Sweden v Commission, C-64/05 P, EU:C:2007:802, paragraph 66.
2
any arguments to establish the necessity to have the data transmitted for a specific purpose
in the public interest.
Consequently, I conclude that, pursuant to Article 4(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No
1049/2001, access cannot be granted to the personal data contained in the requested
documents, as the need to obtain access thereto for a purpose in the public interest has not
been substantiated and there is no reason to think that the legitimate interests of the
individuals concerned would not be prejudiced by disclosure of the personal data
concerned.
Document 2 was drawn up for internal use under the responsibility of the relevant
officials of the Cabinet of EVP Dombrovskis. It solely reflects the authors’ interpretation
of the interventions made and does not set out any official position of the third party to
which the document refers, which was not consulted on its content. It does not reflect the
position of the Commission and cannot be quoted as such.
3. MEANS OF REDRESS
In case you would disagree with this position, you are entitled, in accordance with Article
7(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, to submit a confirmatory application requesting the
Commission to review this position.
Such a confirmatory application should be addressed within 15 working days upon receipt
of this letter to the Secretariat-General of the Commission at the following address:
European Commission
Secretariat-General
Unit C.1. ‘Transparency, Document Management and Access to Documents’
BERL 7/076
B-1049 Brussels, or by email to:
xxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx.
Yours sincerely,
Maud Labat
Encl.:
Two documents (partially released)
3
Electronically signed on 12/10/2022 09:32 (UTC+02) in accordance with Article 11 of Commission Decision (EU) 2021/2121
