Ref. Ares(2021)6525392 - 22/10/2021
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR RESEARCH & INNOVATION
The Director-General
H1/RS/JCV/MS rtd.h1.002(2021)7272737
Völker Nik
MiningWatch Portugal
Rua da Capela 64
6290-071 Figueiró da Serra (Gouveia)
Portugal
E-mail address:
xxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xx
Subject: Your application for public access to documents – GestDem Ref No
2021/5421
Dear Mr Völker,
We refer to your message dated 02 September 2021 in which you submitted an
application for access to documents within the framework of Regulation (EC)
1049/20011.
1. SCOPE OF YOUR REQUEST
You requested access to the
- Grant Agreement Annex 1 "Description of the Action" (all parts, A, B, etc.) of the
project concluded under Horizon H2020-Euratom-1 having the ID 945098 and the name
PRE-DISposal management of radioactive waste, hereinafter PREDIS;
As well as
- documents that outline the configuration of the management and guidance entities of
the project (e.g. steering group, advisory board).
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, 31.5.2001, p. 43) ,
hereinafter referred to as ‘Regulation (EC) 1049/2001’.
Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË - Tel. +32 22991111
Email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx
We have identified one document falling under the scope of your request (hereinafter the
'requested document') that includes the Description of Action as well as the configuration
of the management of the project, both included in Annex 1 of the Grant Agreement.
2. EXAMINATION UNDER REGULATION (EC) NO 1049/2001
We regret to inform you that access cannot be granted to the document, as explained
below.
2.1 Protection of commercial interests of a legal person
Article 4(2), first indent, of Regulation (EC) 1049/2001 provides that
"[t]he institutions
shall refuse access to a document where disclosure would undermine the protection of
[...] commercial interests of a natural or legal person, including intellectual property,
unless there is an overriding public interest in disclosure".
The document requested contains information related to the business activity of the
participants to the project PREDIS and the intellectual property generated during the
project. The public disclosure of this information might undermine the commercial
interests of the participants to the project.
Article 4(2), first indent, of Regulation (EC) 1049/2001 (protection of commercial
interests) applies unless there is an overriding public interest in disclosure of the
document requested. In order for such an overriding public interest to exist, this interest,
firstly, has to be public and, secondly, overriding, i.e. it must outweigh the interest
protected under Article 4(2), first indent. In the present case, we consider that there are
no elements generating an overriding public interest in disclosure of the refused
document that would outweigh the protection of the commercial interests.
However, in this particular case, where the owner of the requested document is the
consortium of the project, please note that, in accordance with the consortium agreement
concluded among the 47 participants to the project PREDIS, a voting procedure has
started, having the purpose to decide on the publication of this document.
It is therefore possible that at the end of the voting procedure the Consortium may
decide to change the decision of not disclosing the whole version of Annex 1 of the grant
agreement. Therefore, we would invite you to submit a new request for the document
after a period of minimum 30 days from receiving this reply.
2.2. No meaningful partial access to the requested document
In accordance with Article 4(6) of Regulation 1049/2001, we have considered the
possibility of granting partial access to the requested document.
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However, we concluded that no meaningful partial access could be granted without
undermining the interests described above.
3. MEANS OF REDRESS
In accordance with Article 7(2) of Regulation (EC) 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 Secretary-General of the Commission at the following address:
European Commission
Secretary-General
Unit SG C.1 – Transparency, document management & access to documents
BERL 7/076
B-1049 Brussels
or by email t
o: xxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx
Yours sincerely,
Jean-Eric Paquet
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Electronically signed on 22/10/2021 14:43 (UTC+02) in accordance with article 11 of Commission Decision C(2020) 4482
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