Ref. Ares(2019)5397957 - 26/08/2019
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR MIGRATION AND HOME AFFAIRS
The Director-General
Brussels,
HOME/
Registered letter with
acknowledgment of receipt
Joerg Stahl
Praça Ilha do Faial 7
1º Dto. 1000-168
Lisboa
Portugal
Advance copy per e-mail:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx
Subject: Your application for access to documents - GestDem ref. 2019/3575
Dear Sir,
We refer to your application for access to documents dated 17/06/2019 and registered on
20/06/2019 under the above-mentioned reference number.
You have requested access to all documents related to a number of meetings with
Commissioner Avramopoulos as follows:
–
“All documents related to the 03-03-2015 meeting between Commissioner
Dimitris Avramopoulos and Google, including but not limited to minutes,
(hand-written) notes, audio recordings, verbatim reports, e-mails, and
presentations
–
All documents related to the 19-01-2016 meeting between Commissioner Dimitris
Avramopoulos and Microsoft Corporation, including but not limited to minutes,
(hand-written) notes, audio recordings, verbatim reports, e-mails, and
presentations
–
All documents related to the 08-12-2016 meeting between Commissioner Dimitris
Avramopoulos and Google, including but not limited to minutes, (hand-written)
notes, audio recordings, verbatim reports, e-mails, and presentations
–
All documents related to the 08-12-2016 meeting between Commissioner Dimitris
Avramopoulos and Microsoft Corporation, including but not limited to minutes,
(hand-written) notes, audio recordings, verbatim reports, e-mails, and
presentations
–
All documents related to the 08-12-2016 meeting between Commissioner Dimitris
Avramopoulos and Facebook Ireland Limited, 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
–
All documents related to the 08-12-2016 meeting between Commissioner Dimitris
Avramopoulos and Twitter International Company, including but not limited to
minutes, (hand-written) notes, audio recordings, verbatim reports, e-mails, and
presentations
–
All documents related to the 06-12-2017 meeting between Commissioner Dimitris
Avramopoulos and Google, including but not limited to minutes, (hand-written)
notes, audio recordings, verbatim reports, e-mails, and presentations
–
All documents related to the 06-12-2017 meeting between Commissioner Dimitris
Avramopoulos and Facebook Ireland Limited, including but not limited to
minutes, (hand-written) notes, audio recordings, verbatim reports, e-mails, and
presentations
–
All documents related to the 06-12-2017 meeting between Commissioner Dimitris
Avramopoulos and Twitter International Company, including but not limited to
minutes, (hand-written) notes, audio recordings, verbatim reports, e-mails, and
presentations
–
All documents related to the 23-01-2018 meeting between Commissioner Dimitris
Avramopoulos and Facebook Ireland Limited, including but not limited to
minutes, (hand-written) notes, audio recordings, verbatim reports, e-mails, and
presentations”.
We have identified one document for the
meeting dated 23/01/2018: Report meeting
with Facebook 08/02/2018 – ref. Ares(2018)4317801) with personal data redacted
(see below point 3). Please see the document enclosed.
We would like to inform you that
all other meetings you refer to were short courtesy
meetings. No report or minutes were drafted for these meetings.
The European Commission therefore does not hold any document that would correspond
to your request as far as these meetings are concerned. As specified in Article 2(3) of
Regulation 1049/2001, the right of access applies only to existing documents in
the possession of the institution.
Given that no such document, corresponding to the description given in your application,
are held by the Commission, the Commission is not in a position to fulfil your request.
In accordance with Article 7(2) of Regulation (EC) n°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 Secretariat-General of the Commission at 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
The report which we release in Annex to the present letter and to which you have
requested access contain personal data, in particular names of Commission staff members
which are not in a management position.
2
Pursuant to Article 4(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) n°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 (EU) 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)
n°45/2001 and Decision n°1247/2002/EC1 (‘Regulation 2018/1725’).
Indeed, 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 its judgment in Case C-28/08 P (Bavarian Lager)3, the Court of Justice ruled that when
a request is made for access to documents containing personal data, the Data Protection
Regulation becomes fully applicable4.
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.
According to Article 9(1)(b) of Regulation 2018/1725, the European Commission has to
examine the further conditions for a lawful processing of personal data only if the first
condition is fulfilled, namely if the recipient has established that it is necessary to have the
data transmitted for a specific purpose in the public interest. It is only in this case that the
European Commission has to examine whether there is a reason to assume that the data
subject’s legitimate interests might be prejudiced and, in the affirmative, establish the
proportionality of the transmission of the personal data for that specific purpose after having
demonstrably weighed the various competing interests.
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 Cas
e 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 29 June 2010 in Case C-28/08 P,
European Commission v The Bavarian Lager Co. Ltd,
EU:C:2010:378, paragraph 59.
4 Whereas this judgment specifically related to Regulation (EC) n°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
In your request, you do not put forward any arguments to establish the necessity to have the
data transmitted for a specific purpose in the public interest. Therefore, the European
Commission does not have to examine whether there is a reason to assume that the data
subject’s legitimate interests might be prejudiced.
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 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 (EC) n°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.
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 (EC) n°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 Bruxelles, or by email to:
xxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx
Yours faithfully,
Paraskevi MICHOU
[e-signed by delegation by
Simon MORDUE]
4
Electronically signed on 23/08/2019 17:39 (UTC+02) in accordance with article 4.2 (Validity of electronic documents) of Commission Decision 2004/563