Ref. Ares(2023)774576 - 02/02/2023
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
DIRECTORATE-GENERAL
ENVIRONMENT
Directorate D – Biodiversity
ENV.D.1 – Land Use & Management
Brussels
ENV. D.1
Mr. Tony Lowes
Sent by email only:
ask+request-12282-
xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx
Subject:
Your application for access to documents – EASE 2022/7067
Dear Sir,
We refer to your email of 6 December 2022 in which you make a request for access to
documents.
Your request concerns
“correspondence from (DG ENV) from 1 January 2022 to date about
forestry to the Irish government or its authorities and to any other Commission services
(DGs) or parties.”
We have identified the following document of DG ENV which falls under your request:
Ares(2022)8055229_20221118 Letter Irish afforestation
A complete disclosure of the identified document 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 it contains the following personal data: 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 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 document, as the need to
Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË - Tel. +32 22991111
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.
Should you 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 faithfully,
Ion CODESCU
Head of Unit
Enclosure: 1 document.
2
Electronically signed on 02/02/2023 14:47 (UTC+01) in accordance with Article 11 of Commission Decision (EU) 2021/2121