Ref. Ares(2021)1440644 - 23/02/2021
Mr. Nik Völker
MiningWatch Portugal
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx
Sent by email only
Ref: 5/2021
Subject:
Access to documents request – WinSmart RM project
Dear Mr. Nik Völker,
We refer to your email dated 12 January, our acknowledgement of receipt dated 22 January 2021 and our
email dated 2 February 2021 concerning the extension of the deadline.
In your application Ref. 05/2021, you request access to the following documents:
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informations elaborated within or defining the scope of the EIT financed project WinSmart RM;
especially lists of project deliverables, the projects Grant Agreement, final reports, and workshop
reports.
The EIT has carefully examined your request in line with Regulation (EC) 1049/2001 regarding public
access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents ('the Regulation'), as applicable to
the EIT pursuant to Article 13 of Regulation 294/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council
establishing the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, as amended by Regulation 1292/2013
of the European Parliament and of the Council (‘EIT Regulation’).
We would kindly like to inform you that the EIT does not hold documents specifically related to WinSmart
RM as an individual project. Under the 2019 Specific Grant Agreement between the EIT and EIT Raw
Materials,1 which was partially disclosed in response to your request Ref. 2/2021, WinSmart RM is a work
package of the InfoCenter KIC Added-value Activity (‘KAVA’). The definition of the activity, the objectives /
1 As explained in that context, as well as in our response to your request Ref 4/2021, Annexes 1 (Business Plans) and 2 (Estimated
Budgets) cannot not be disclosed as it would undermine the protection of commercial interests of EIT Raw Materials and its KIC
Partners. Indeed, the Business Plans and the Estimated Budgets are commercially sensitive documents, as they contain
information regarding projects and activities resulting in commercial products and services, including information on
methodologies, IP rights, investments and pricing strategies, which are part of the business strategy of the KIC. Disclosure of such
confidential information would result in serious negative consequences to the KIC’s business interests, including its KIC Partners’
business interests. Therefore, these documents fall under the exception established in Article 4(2), first indent of Regulation No
1049/2001.
1
deliverables, as well as the progress reports concern the entire KAVA and cannot be linked to individual
work packages.2 The EIT does not hold workshop reports concerning the WinSmart RM work package.
Please note that in line with Article 7(2) of the Regulation, you may, within 15 working days of receiving
this reply, make a confirmatory application asking the EIT to reconsider its position. Such a confirmatory
application should be addressed by post or electronically to the Head of Innovation Communities Unit at
the following address:
Electronically
: xxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxx.xxxxxx.xx
By post: Head of Innovation Communities Unit
European Institute of Innovation and Technologies
Infopark
1/E Neumann Janos utca
1117 Budapest, Hungary
Yours sincerely,
Dávid Tas
Acting Head of EIT Innovation Communities Unit
2 Furthermore, as indicated in our response to your request Ref. 4/2021, the EIT does not hold an existing document containing a
list of deliverables. Such a list could only be created with a substantial investment from the relevant EIT database, which would
go beyond the scope of Regulation No 1049/2001.
2
Electronically signed on 23/02/2021 18:32 (UTC+01) in accordance with article 11 of Commission Decision C(2020) 4482