Dies ist eine HTML Version eines Anhanges der Informationsfreiheitsanfrage 'Documents on the Ancillary Copyright law'.



 
Ref. Ares(2018)1833352 - 05/04/2018
EUROPEAN COMMISSION 
Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology 
 
Media Policy 
Copyright 
 
 
Brussels, 
CONNECT/I2/VD/lb (2018) 
 
Mr. Mathias Schindler,  
Bundestagsbüro Julia Reda, MdEP 
Unter den Linden 50 
11011 Berlin 
Germany 
 
by email: ask+request-5122-
xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx 

 
Subject: 
Your application for access to documents – Ref GestDem No 2018/0811 
 
Dear Mr. Schindler, 
I refer to your mail dated 05/02/2018 in which you make a request for access to 
documents, registered on 08/02/2018 under the above-mentioned reference number. I 
also refer to the holding reply sent on 28/02/2018 and to the calls you had with my 
colleagues on 27/02/2018 and on 27/03/2018.  
1. 
SCOPE OF YOUR APPLICATION 
You request access to:  
"Any document since 2015 that relates to an ancillary copyright ("Leistungsschutzrecht" 
für Presseverleger), both referring to existing or proposed laws in EU Member states as 
well as any information relating to the introduction of such right into EU legislation. For 
your assistance, the information sought for is sometimes called "publishers' right", 
"neighbouring right" or similar. 

In case documents are classified or cannot be released because of exceptions or special 
treatment, I am asking for the name and the reference number of this document. 

I am especially but not exclusively looking for information in the form of proposals, 
memos, studies, notes, meeting records, letters to Commissioner Oettinger and his 
successors and Cabinet staff members dealing with EU copyright and the protection of 
press publishers by application or amendment of EU copyright law. I do not consent to 
any narrowing of the scope or to the discarding of information if it is considered 
"unimportant" or has not yet been filed, archived or registered. This includes draft notes 
and internal correspondence. 

If information under the scope of regulation 1049/2001 is not held by DG CNECT but by 
the Commission, the Commissioner or another DG or Commission unit, I would like this 
information to be included in this request. 

Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË — Tel. +32 22991111 
CNECT I2, Telephone: +32 229-58842, xxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx 
 

In order to prevent duplication of work, the request refers to documents that were not 
released via the Access to Documents request 2016/4441
." 
 
2. 
DOCUMENTS FALLING WITHIN THE SCOPE OF THE REQUEST 
I consider your request to cover documents from 08.08.16 until the date of your application 
(i.e. 05/02/2018). 
As agreed with you, we send you today a first list of documents falling within the scope of 
your request contained in Annex I. You will do our best to send you the rest of the 
documents falling within the scope of your request by the end of April as agreed.  
Documents contained in Annex I 
Following an examination of these documents n° 1 to 18 and taking into account the 
consultation of third parties according to which they did not object to their disclosure, I have 
come to the conclusion that all these documents may be partially disclosed, only expunged 
from personal data. I enclose a copy of them in Annex I.  
Documents n° 1 to 12 are letters sent by the Commission to third parties. Documents n° 13 
to 18 are letters and documents sent by third parties to the Commission. Please note that the 
documents received by the Commission from third parties are disclosed for information 
only. They do not reflect the position of the Commission and cannot be quoted as such. 
Certain parts of these documents containing personal data of Commission officials or third 
persons have been expunged. Their disclosure would undermine the protection of privacy 
and the integrity of the individual, in particular in accordance with Union legislation 
regarding the protection of personal data (Article 4(1)(b) of Regulation 1049/2001). The 
applicable legislation in this field is Regulation 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of 
the Council of 18 December 2000 on the protection of individuals with regard to the 
processing of personal data by the Community institutions and bodies and on the free 
movement of such data (hereinafter "Regulation 45/2001")1. 
When access is requested to documents containing personal data, Regulation 45/2001 
becomes fully applicable2. According to Article 8(b) of Regulation 45/2001, personal data 
shall only be transferred to recipients if they establish the necessity of having the data 
transferred to them and if there is no reason to assume that the legitimate rights of the 
persons concerned might be prejudiced. 
I consider that, with the information available, the necessity of disclosing the 
aforementioned personal data to you has not been established and that it cannot be assumed 
that such disclosure would not prejudice the legitimate rights of the persons concerned.  
Therefore, we are disclosing a version of the above mentioned documents in which these 
personal data have been redacted. 
                                                 
1 Official Journal L 8 of 12.1.2001, p. 1 
2 Judgment of the Court of Justice of the EU of 29 June 2010 in case 28/08 P, Commission/The Bavarian 
Lager Co. Ltd, ECR 2010 I-06055. 


In case you would disagree with the assessment that the expunged data are personal data 
which can only be disclosed if such disclosure is legitimate under the rules of personal data 
protection, you are entitled, in accordance with Article 7(2) of Regulation 1049/2001, to 
make a confirmatory application (following the procedure specified at the bottom of this 
letter) requesting the Commission to review this position. 
Other publicly available documents  
In addition, I would like to inform you that the website of the Commission contains 
extensive information on the modernization of EU copyright rules (e.g. proposals adopted 
by the Commission, impact assessment accompanying the proposal, studies and public 
consultations). I invite you to consult these pages which are regularly updated (particularly 
the news section). 
Several parliamentary questions for which the Commission has provided an answer are also 
related to the object of your request. Please find below a table with their references as well 
as a link to the Commission’s answer.   
Reference MEP 
Question 
Answer 
Joint answer given by Vice-
Digital single market and tax  President Ansip on behalf of the 
E-007431-
on content 
Commission 
Giulia Moi 
16 
 
Written questions: E-007431/16 , 
E-008702/16 
E-008136-
Answer given by Mr Oettinger on 
Dubravka Šuica 
Free online information 
16 
behalf of the Commission 
E-005931-
Commission consultation on  Answer given by Mr Oettinger on 
Daniel Dalton 
16 
ancillary copyright 
behalf of the Commission 
Anneleen Van 
Answer given by Vice-President 
E-008707-
Directive 2001/29/EC 
and 
Bossuyt, Sander 
Ansip on behalf of the 
16 
payments to publishers 
Loones 
Commission 
Answer given by Vice-President 
E-008847-
Concerns about copyright fees 
Syed Kamall 
Ansip on behalf of the 
16 
in the Digital Single Market 
Commission 
Answer given by Vice-President 
E-000837-
Franz Obermayr 
EU copyright law 
Ansip on behalf of the 
17 
Commission 
Civil society's views on 
ancillary rights in response to  
Answer given by Vice-President 
E-003148-
Nessa Childers 
the public consultation on the  Ansip on behalf of the 
17 
role of publishers in the  Commission 
copyright value chain 
Neighbouring rights, media 
E-005439-
Joint answer given by Ms Gabriel 
Nessa Childers 
staff pay and journalistic 
17 
on behalf of the Commission 
investment 



3. 
CONFIRMATORY APPLICATION 
In accordance with Article 7(2) of Regulation 1049/2001, you are entitled to make a 
confirmatory application requesting the Commission to review the above positions. 
Such a confirmatory application should be addressed within 15 working days upon receipt 
of this letter to the Secretary-General of the Commission at the following address: 
European Commission 
Secretary-General 
Transparency unit SG-B-4 
BERL 5/327 
B-1049 Brussels 
or by email to: xxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx 
Yours faithfully, 
'e-signed' 
Marco GIORELLO 
Head of Unit 

Electronically signed on 05/04/2018 16:19 (UTC+02) in accordance with article 4.2 (Validity of electronic documents) of Commission Decision 2004/563

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