Ref. Ares(2020)4809608 - 15/09/2020
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR MOBILITY AND TRANSPORT
Directorate E - Aviation
E.4 - Aviation safety
Brussels
MOVE.DDG2.E.4
Dear Mr Magill,
Subject:
Your application for access to documents – Ref GestDem No 2020/4745
We refer to your application dated 05/08/2020 in which you make a request for access to
documents, registered on 06/08/2020 under the above mentioned reference number.
The documents requested are the following ones:
“
All documentation (including but not limited to all email correspondence, attendance lists,
agendas, background papers, transcripts, recordings and minutes/notes) relating to the
meeting listed below:
1. Between representatives of the International Air Transport Association(IATA) and
Commissioner Adina-Ioana Vălean on 20/07/20
2. Between representatives of the International Air Transport Association(IATA) and
Commissioner Adina-Ioana Vălean on 02/07/2020
3. Between representatives of Airlines for Europe(A4E) and Commissioner Adina-Ioana
Vălean on 20/07/20.”
Having examined your request, please find attached documents defined as corresponding to
your request. In particular, the concerned documents relates to meetings that took place on
2nd and 20th July 2020 that were of an informative nature. There are no known
communications with other DGs or other entities.
These documents were drawn up for internal use under the responsibility of the relevant
services of the Directorate-General for Transport and Mobility. They solely reflect the
services’ interpretation of the interventions made and does not set out any official
position of the third parties to which the document refers, which was not consulted on its
content. It does not reflect the position of the Commission and cannot be quoted as such.
Having examined the attached documents requested under the provisions of Regulation
(EC) No 1049/2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and
InfluenceMap, 40 Bermondsey Steet London
E-mail: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx
Commission documents1 (hereinafter ‘Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001’), I have come to
the conclusion that they may be disclosed.
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 Community 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) No
45/2001 and Decision No 1247/2002/EC2 (‘Regulation 2018/1725’).
Some of the documents to which you request access contain personal data, in particular
the names, signatures, contact details (email, telephone numbers) online identifiers
pertaining to Commission staff members and other individuals. 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 ‘the 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 handling in
accordance with the requirements of Article 5 of Regulation 2018/1725, can the
transmission of personal data occur.
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) No
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
1 Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2001 regarding public
access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents, OJ L 145, 31.05.2001, p. 43.
2 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) No 45/2001 and Decision No 1247/2002/EC,
OC L 205 of 21.11.2018, p. 39.
2
protection of personal data, you are entitled, in accordance with Article 7(2) of Regulation
1049/2001, 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
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 sincerely,
E-signed
Joachim LUECKING
Head of Unit
Enclosure:
Mail exchange between IATA and A4E and Commissioner Vălean's
cabinet, Report of the meeting
3
Electronically signed on 15/09/2020 09:24 (UTC+02) in accordance with article 4.2 (Validity of electronic documents) of Commission Decision 2004/563