Ref. Ares(2020)318072 - 17/01/2020
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR HEALTH AND FOOD SAFETY
Health systems, medical products and innovation
Cross-border health care and tobacco control
Brussels
SANTE.DDG1.B.2/SLO/mnd (2019)371471
Mr HOEDEMAN Olivier
Corporate Europe Observatory
Rue d’Edimbourg 26
1050 Brussels
Belgium
By email only to:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx
Subject:
Your application for access to documents – Ref GestDem No 2019/7290
Dear Mr Hoedeman,
We refer to your e-mail dated 13 December 2019 in which you make a request for access
to documents, registered on 17 December 2019 under the above-mentioned reference
number.
On the basis of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, you requested access to the following:
‘- all reports (and other notes) from meetings between the European Commission and
representatives of the tobacco industry (producers, distributors, importers etc, as well as
organisations and individuals that are funded by and/or work to further the interests of
the tobacco industry), during 2019.
- all correspondence (including emails) between the European Commission and
representatives of the tobacco industry (producers, distributors, importers etc. as well as
organisations and individuals that are funded by and/or work to further the interests of
the tobacco industry), during 2019
- a list of all the above-mentioned documents (including dates, names of
participants/senders/recipients and their affiliation, subject of meeting/correspondence).’
Your application concerns a very large number of documents, which need to be assessed
individually. Such a detailed analysis, together with the need to consult the third parties
concerned in accordance with Article 4(4) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, cannot be
Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË - Tel. +32 22991111
expected to be completed within the normal time limits set out in Article 7 of Regulation
(EC) No 1049/2001.
However, the Regulation also provides for a possibility to confer with applicants in order
to find a fair solution when an application relates to a very long document or concerns a
very large number of documents. Article 6(3) provides that
in the event of an application
relating to a very long document or to very large number of documents, the institution
concerned may confer with the applicant informally, with a view to finding a fair
solution.
In accordance with the case law of the EU Courts, such a solution can only concern the
content or the number of documents applied for, not the deadline for replying.1 This
means that the scope of the request must be reduced in a way that would enable its
treatment within the extended deadline of 15 + 15 working days.
Based on the above-mentioned provision, we would kindly ask you to specify the objective
of your request and your specific interest in the documents requested2, and whether you
could narrow down the scope of your request (i.e. the subject matter(s) and/or timeframe
covered), so as to reduce it to a more manageable amount of documents.
At this stage, we would like to suggest you to consider narrowing down in particular the
material scope of your request by, for example, referring specifically to some companies
involved in the manufacture and distribution of tobacco products which you would be more
interested. Given your principal interest in tobacco lobbying, we would suggest that you
consider focusing your request on the four big international tobacco companies: PMI, JTI,
BAT and Imperial Brands.
In order to help you to narrow down your request, please note that the following categories
of documents have been identified as falling under the scope of your request:
-
reports and summary records from meetings and events to which stakeholders took
part;
-
documents and correspondence related to data storage contracts;
-
Commission decisions relating to the approval of certain data storage providers.
According to our first estimates, taking into account other applications for access to
documents and other tasks that the staff concerned are likely to have to deal with during
the same period, the handling of your request would take 43 working days, broken down
as follows:
- identification of the documents falling under your request: 8 working days;
- retrieval and establishment of a complete list of the documents identified: 4
working days;
- scanning of the documents: 2 working days;
- assessment of the content of the documents in light of the exceptions of Article 4
of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001: 5 working days:
- third-party/Member State consultations under Article 4(4) and/or 4(5) of
Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001: 8 working days;
1 Judgment of the Court of Justice of 2 October 2014 in case C-127/13,
Guido Strack v Commission,
paragraphs 26-28.
2 Ibid, paragraph 28; Judgment of the General Court (then 'Court of First Instance') of 22 May 2012 in case
T-344/08,
EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg v Commission, paragraph 105.
2
- final assessment of the documents in light of the comments received: 4 working
days;
- drafting of the reply: 1 working days;
- redaction of those parts of the documents to which one or several exceptions
apply(ies): 5 working days;
- internal approval of the draft decision on your request: 5 working days;
- preparation of the reply and the documents for dispatch (scanning of the redacted
versions, administrative treatment,…): 1 working days.
It follows that, according to our first estimates, a maximum of 50 documents could
possibly be dealt with within the extended deadline of 30 working days counting from
the date of registration of you application on 17 December 2019.
In order to enable us to respect the time-limits of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, we would
ask you for a swift reply to our invitation to propose a fair solution, within five working
days at the latest:
by email to
: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx
If you have any questions concerning the invitation, you can contact us at the same address.
In the absence of a reply within five working days, we will unilaterally restrict the scope of
your application to those parts that can be dealt with within the extended deadline of 30
working days, counting from the registration of your application on 17 December 2019.
Thank you in advance for your understanding.
Yours sincerely,
(e-signed)
Thea EMMERLING
Head of Unit
3
Electronically signed on 17/01/2020 15:05 (UTC+01) in accordance with article 4.2 (Validity of electronic documents) of Commission Decision 2004/563