EUROPEAN COMMISSION
DG Competition
The Director General
Brussels, 08/11/2022
COMP/A5/NR/kr
Samuel Stolton
Politico
Rue de La Loi 62
Brussels
xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xx
By e-mail
Subject: GESTDEM 2022/5867 – Your request of 13 October 2022 for access to
documents pursuant to Regulation (EC) No. 1049/2001 relating to EVP Vestager's
meeting with US Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan and the Assistant
Attorney General for Antitrust of the US Department of Justice Jonathan Kanter
on Thursday 13 October 2022.
Dear Sir,
Thank you for your application of 13 October 2022 concerning European Commission
Executive Vice President (“EVP”) Margrethe Vestager's meeting with US Federal Trade
Commission Chair Lina Khan and the Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust of the US
Department of Justice Jonathan Kanter on 13 October 2022, in which you request access to
documents in the Commission's file for this meeting, in accordance with Regulation (EC)
No. 1049/20011 ("Regulation 1049/2001").
1. DOCUMENTS CONCERNED
In your message you request access to the following documents which compose the
administrative file of the Directorate General for Competition on EVP Vestager's meeting
with US Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan and the Assistant Attorney General
for Antitrust of the US Department of Justice Jonathan Kanter on 13 October 2022:
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Regulation (EC) N° 1049/2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and
Commission documents, OJ L145 of 31.5.2001, p. 43
Commission européenne, B-1049 Bruxel es / Europese Commissie, B-1049 Brussel - Belgium
“All documentation (including but not limited to: general communications of any nature,
written material of any kind, email correspondences, attendance lists, agendas, background
papers, briefing papers, transcriptions of meetings, readouts of meetings, summaries of
meetings, briefings for meetings, etc).”
Please note that the press release of the meeting on 13 October (i.e. Second EU-US Joint
Technology Competition Policy Dialogue (“TCPD”)) is publicly available2.
With regards to other documentation, I have come to the conclusion that the documents you
have requested access to, fall under the exception of Article 4(1)(a), third indent of
Regulation 1049/2001. Therefore, access to these documents has to be refused with the
exception provided in Section 3 (Partial Access) hereunder. Please find below the detailed
assessment as regards the application of the exception of Article 4(1)(a), third indent of
Regulation 1049/2001.
2. APPLICABLE EXCEPTION
Article 4(1)(a), third indent, protection of the public interest as regards international
relations
Pursuant to Article 4(1)(a), third indent of Regulation 1049/2001, the Commission shall
refuse access to a document where its disclosure would undermine the protection of the
public interest as regards international relations.
In assessing whether disclosure to the public of a document would undermine the
interests protected by that provision the Commission has a wide discretion3.
The documents that fall under the scope of your request relate to the second high-level
meeting of the EU-US Joint Technology Competition Policy Dialogue among the heads
of the three competition authorities (the European Commission, the US Department of
Justice, and the US Federal Trade Commission). The meeting of 13 October followed the
launch of the TCPD in December 2021 with the aim to take stock on the progress made
by the European and US competition authorities’ cooperation efforts to ensure and
promote fair competition in the digital sector.
In particular, the briefings prepared for this event contain information about ongoing
competition law enforcement cases. They also formulate directions that the Commission
plans to pursue in the enforcement of competition rules in the technology sector and in
the TCPD. In addition, disclosing any reports from the meeting would negatively affect
the mutual trust between the EU and the US enforcement agencies and would risk
undermining the international relations between the EU and the US. The mutual trust
between the EU and the US in the field of competition enforcement has been built in
2
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_22_6167.
3
Judgment of the Court of Justice of 3 July 2014 in Case C-350/12 P Council v In 't Veld,
EU:C:2014:2039, paragraph 63, and judgment of the General Court of 25 November 2020 in case T-
166/19 Bronckers v European Commission, EU:T:2020:557, paragraph 62.
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more than 30 years of cooperation, and the Joint Dialogue aims to deepen that trustful
cooperation.
It shall be noted that the way in which the authorities of a third country perceive the
decisions taken by the European Union is an important component of the relations
established with that third country. The quality of our relations with third countries
depend on that perception.
Having the above in mind, I consider that public disclosure of the requested documents
would negatively affect both the ability of the European Commission to pursue efficient
and trust-based relations with the United States in the context of the EU-US Joint
Technology Competition Policy Dialogue, and to effectively promote the interests and
priorities of the EU in the context of the ongoing cooperation on competition
enforcement in technology sector. I consider that risk as reasonably foreseeable and non-
hypothetical, as by publicly disclosing the approaches and strategies as regards the future
enforcement of the competition rules in the technology sector on both sides of the
Atlantic would weaken the ability of the authorities to efficiently enforce those rules.
In view of the foregoing, the requested documents, with the exception of provided in
Section 3 (Partial Access), are covered by the exception related to the protection of the
public interest as regards international relations, set out in Article 4(1)(a), third indent of
Regulation 1049/2001.
3. PARTIAL ACCESS
Having carefully examined the requested documents, I note that partial access may be
granted.
You have requested access to the agenda and the attendance list for the meeting. We are
able to grant you partial access for these documents comprising a list of the participants
to the meeting from Director level upwards as well as the agenda of the meeting.
You will find copies of these documents in the annex to this letter.
4. MEANS OF REDRESS
If you want this position to be reviewed, you should write to the Commission's Secretary-
General at the address below, confirming your initial request. You have fifteen (15)
working days in which to do so from receipt of this letter, after which your initial request
will be deemed to have been withdrawn.
The Secretary-General will inform you of the result of this review within fifteen (15)
working days from the registration of your request, either granting you access to the
documents or confirming the refusal. In the latter case, you will be informed of how you
can take further action.
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All correspondence should be sent to the following address:
European Commission
Secretariat-General
Transparency, Document Management & Access to Documents (SG.C.1)
BERL 7/076
B-1049 Bruxelles
or by email to: xxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx.
Yours faithfully,
e-signed
Olivier GUERSENT
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