Ref. Ares(2019)2561241 - 11/04/2019
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR ENERGY
The Director-General
Brussels,
ENER.A.1/PP/AV (2019)1919980
By registered letter
with acknowledgment of receipt
Mr Peter Teffer
EUobserver
Rue Montoyer 18B
1000 Brussels
Belgium
Advance copy by email:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx
Subject:
Your application for access to documents – Ref GestDem No 2018/6056
Dear Mr. Teffer,
I refer to your e-mail dated 08/11/2018 in which you make a request for access to
documents, registered on 19/11/2018 under the above-mentioned reference number in
which you request:
1. All documents related to the 6-11-2018 meeting between Helena Braun and European
Climate Foundation, including but not limited to minutes, (hand-written) notes, audio
recordings, verbatim reports, e-mails, and presentations
2. All documents related to the 4-9-2018 meeting between several Commission officials
and European Climate Foundation, including but not limited to minutes, (hand-written)
notes, audio recordings, verbatim reports, e-mails, and presentations
3. All documents related to the 3-9-2018 meeting between Director-General Dominique
Ristori and European Climate Foundation, including but not limited to minutes, (hand-
written) notes, audio recordings, verbatim reports, e-mails, and presentations
4. All documents related to the 26-6-2018 meeting between Commissioner Miguel Arias
Cañete and European Climate Foundation, including but not limited to minutes, (hand-
written) notes, audio recordings, verbatim reports, e-mails, and presentations.
Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË - Tel. +32 22991111
Office: DM24 08/084 - Tel. direct line +32 229-92460
Six documents were found that meet the points 1 and 3 of your request. No document were found
regarding the meetings mentioned on points 2 and 4.
Ares(2018)5535700 29/10/2018
Meeting with Helena Braun – Meeting request (email)
Ares(2018)5914057 19/11/2018
Meeting with Helena Braun – Follow-up documents (email)
Ares(2019)276965
17/01/2019
Meeting with Helena Braun – Presentation “Net Zero By
2050: From Whether To How”
Ares(2019)276965
17/01/2019
Meeting with Helena Braun – Presentation “Funding
Innovation to Deliver EU Competitive Climate Leadership”
Ares(2019)1670095
13/03/2019
Meeting with Director-General Dominique Ristori – Briefing
Ares(2019)276917
17/01/2019
Meeting with Director-General Dominique Ristori –
Presentation “2050 scenario analysis using the EU CTI 2050
Roadmap Tool”
We can give you full access to the two presentations registered under
Ares(2019)276965. We can
also give you partial access to the four other documents, which you find annexed to this letter. The
part to which we have to refuse access concerns names, signatures and other personal data, for the
following reasons:
Pursuant to Article 4(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, access to a document has to be refused
if its disclosure would undermine the protection of privacy and the integrity of the individual, in
particular in accordance with European Union legislation regarding the protection of personal data.
The applicable legislation in this field is Regulation (EC) No 2018/1725 of the European Parliament
and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the
processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and on the free
movement of such data, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 and Decision No
1247/2002/EC1 (‘Regulation 2018/1725’)
Article 3(1) of Regulation 2018/1725 provides that personal data ‘means any information relating to
an identified or identifiable natural person […]’. The Court of Justice has specified that any
information, which by reason of its content, purpose or effect, is linked to a particular person is to be
considered as personal data.2
In the present case, the documents mentioned above contain personal data, regarding third parties
and Commission staff.
Regarding personal data pertaining to Commission staff, please note that the names, signatures,
functions, telephone numbers and/or initials of an institution are considered personal data.3
In its judgment in Case C-28/08 P (Bavarian Lager)4, the Court of Justice ruled that when a request is
made for access to documents containing personal data, the Data Protection Regulation becomes
fully applicable5.
1 Official Journal L 205 of 21.11.2018, p. 39.
2 Judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union of 20 December 2017 in C
ase C-434/16, Peter
Nowak v Data Protection Commissioner, request for a preliminary ruling, paragraphs 33-35,
ECLI:EU:C:2017:994.
3 Judgment of the General Court of 19 September 2018 in cas
e T-39/17, Port de Brest v Commission,
paragraphs 43-44, ECLI:EU:T:2018:560.
2
Pursuant to Article 9(1)(b) of Regulation 2018/1725, ‘personal data shall only be transmitted to
recipients established in the Union other than Union institutions and bodies if ‘[t]he recipient
establishes that it is necessary to have the data transmitted for a specific purpose in the public interest
and the controller, where there is any reason to assume that the data subject’s legitimate interests
might be prejudiced, establishes that it is proportionate to transmit the personal data for that specific
purpose after having demonstrably weighed the various competing interests’.
Only if these conditions are fulfilled and the processing constitutes lawful processing in accordance
with the requirements of Article 5 of Regulation 2018/1725 can the transmission of personal data
occur.
Notwithstanding the above, please note that there are reasons to assume that the legitimate interests
of the data subjects concerned would be prejudiced by disclosure of the personal data reflected in the
documents, as there is a real and non-hypothetical risk that for instance such public disclosure would
harm their privacy and subject them to unsolicited external contacts.
Consequently, I conclude that, pursuant to Article 4(1)(b) of Regulation 1049/2001, access cannot be
granted to the personal data, 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.
As to the handwritten signatures, which are biometric data, there is a risk that their disclosure would
prejudice the legitimate interests of the persons concerned.
In case you would disagree with the assessment that the redacted data are personal data which can
only be disclosed if such disclosure is legitimate under the applicable rules on the protection of
personal data, you are entitled, in accordance with Article 7(2) of Regulation 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 5/282
B-1049 Bruxelles, or by email to:
xxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx
Yours sincerely,
(e-signed)
Dominique Ristori
Enclosures:
Documents Ares(2018)5535700, Ares(2018)5914057, Ares(2019)276965,
Ares(2019)1670095 and Ares(2019)276917
4 Judgment of 29 June 2010 in Case C-28/08 P,
European Commission v The Bavarian Lager Co. Ltd,
EU:C:2010:378, paragraph 59.
5 Whereas this judgment specifically related to Regulation (EC) No 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, the
principles set out therein are also applicable under the new data protection regime established by
Regulation 2018/1725.
3
Electronically signed on 10/04/2019 18:37 (UTC+02) in accordance with article 4.2 (Validity of electronic documents) of Commission Decision 2004/563