Document 3.1
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology
Director-General
Brussels,
CONNECT/I2/
By registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt
Advance copy by email:
Subject:
Your application for access to documents – Ref GestDem No 2016/5265
Dear
,
I refer to the e-mail dated 19/09/2016, registered on XX/09/2016 under the above
mentioned reference number, whereby
made, on your behalf, a
request for access to "all Commission documents which include documents which include a
legal opinion on the drafting of Title IV, chapter 2 in particular on article 13, and recitals 37,
38, 39 and 40 of the Commission´s proposal for a directive on copyright in the digital single
market (COM(2016) 593 final - 2016/0280".
As you know, the Commission is responsible for the drawing up of legislative proposals. .
Any draft legislative proposal prepared by a Directorate General ('DG') is subject to internal
consultations of other relevant DGs, which may result in comments of a legal nature by
those consulted. In addition, in the context of the preparation of the proposal, legal opinions
may be delivered by the Legal Service of the Commission. is consulted and may issue
opinions . on the draft proposal. Request of access to the latter are dealt with directly by the
Legal Service.
Following your specific request, As a result, you will find attached in Annex a list of
documents that DG CNECT has we have identified as Commission documents of a legal
nature containing containing a legal an opinion on the draft proposal. Your request has also
been sent in parallel to the Legal Service for the reasons explained above, which will reply
separately. As you will see, these documents are internal to the Commission.
Based on Article 4 (3) of Regulation n°1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the
Council, I consider that giving access to some of these the documents listed in Annex
would undermine the protection of legal advice (article 4(2)) and that access to all these
Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË - Tel. +32 22991111
documents would seriously undermine the Commission's decision making process in the
context of the future negotiation of the legislative proposal in the European Parliament and
the Council (article 4(3))
These documents contain or refer to issues which may result in the adoption of a legislative
instrument and it is essential to preserve both the right of initiative of the Commission and
the right of the legislator to make amendments to the Commission's proposal.
While I have considered whether partial access could be granted to these documents, it
was concluded that this was not possible as the documents are covered by Article 4 in
their entirety.
The exceptions laid down in Article 4(2) and 4(3) of Regulation 1049/2001 appliesy unless
there is an overriding public interest in the disclosure of the documents. Having considered
this, I have concluded that the public interest in making the content of the documents
public does not outweigh the harm that their disclosure would cause to the interests
protected by the invoked exception. The Commission will remain open to any
discussions with the Members of the European Parliament and the Council and provide
the clarifications needed on the legal aspects of the draft proposal.
In accordance with Article 7(2) of Regulation 1049/2001, you are entitled to make 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 Secretary-General of the Commission at the following address:
European Commission
Secretary-General
Transparency unit SG-B-4
BERL 5/327
B-1049 Bruxelles
or by email t
o: xxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx
Yours faithfully,
Roberto Viola
Contact:
xxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx - +32 229-58842
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Annex:
List of documents:
1.
Note from the Director General of the Legal Service to the Head of Cabinet of the
Vice President Ansip
2.
Fast-track consultation ISC/2016/04250 on the second set of copyright
modernisation measures.
- Summary record document
Contribution from the Legal Service
- Contribution from DG EAC
- Contribution from DG GROW
-Contribution from DG JUST
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