Ref. Ares(2021)7732293 - 14/12/2021
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
Secretariat-General
Directorate C – Transparency, Efficiency and Resources
SG.C.1-Transparency, Document Management and Access to Documents
Brussels,
SG.C.1/
By registered letter with AR
Ms Esther Bijl
25 avenue Molière,
B-1190 Brussels
Belgium
Copy by email: ask+request-9795-
xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx
Subject:
Your confirmatory application for access to documents under
Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 - GESTDEM 2021/6265
Dear Ms Bijl,
I refer to your e-mail of 17 October 2021, registered on 20 October 2021, in which you
submit a confirmatory application in accordance with Article 7(4) of Regulation (EC) No
1049/2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission
documents1 (hereafter ‘Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001’).
Your confirmatory application was submitted in relation to your initial application of
22 July 2021 in which you requested public access to, I quote, ‘documents which contain
the following information:
- ‘A list of all meetings of DG HOME officials with United Arab Emirates
representatives, including with UAE government officials (or their
representatives), with employees of the UAE Embassy to the EU (incl. the
Ambassador, incl. their representatives), as well as with employees and/or
consultants working for lobby and/or consultancy and/or PR firms where the
UAE is a client, that took place between 1 January 2012 and 31 December 2015;
- [a]gendas, minutes, reports and other documentation of these meetings;
1 OJ L 145 of 31.5.2001, p. 43.
Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË - Tel. +32 22991111
- [a]ll correspondence that took place between 1 January 2012 and 31 December
2015 between DG HOME officials and UAE representatives, including UAE
government officials (or their representatives), employees of the UAE Embassy to
the EU (incl. the Ambassador, incl. their representatives), as well as employees
and/or consultants working for lobby and/or consultancy and/or PR firms where
the UAE is a client. This could include but is not limited to, e-mails, text
messages, basis documents, memos or drafts’.
You clarified that your request should cover, I quote, ‘any information that the
Commission holds in relation any of the above points, including information that may
have been deemed short-lived or unimportant’.
As explained to you in an e-mail dated 18 November 2021, your initial request of 22 July
2021 was unfortunately not registered in due time as a result of a clerical mistake at the
initial stage. Your request was registered on 20 October 2021. As the European
Commission’s Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs was dealing with
your request and would provide you with a reply to your application, the Secretariat-
General requested your agreement to close your confirmatory application.
The Secretariat-General did not receive a response to the clarification request of 18
November 2021.
In the meantime, however, the initial reply of the Directorate-General for Migration and
Home Affairs was sent to you on 14 December 2021. The reply in question was
registered under reference Ares(2021)7711516.
Against this background, the Secretariat-General will close your confirmatory application
concerning the lack of reply to your request, which has become devoid of purpose in
light of the fact that you have in the meantime received an initial reply from the
Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs.
Nevertheless, you remain entitled to submit a new confirmatory application in
accordance with Article 7(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, should you wish to
request a review of the initial reply of 14 December 2021.
Yours sincerely,
María Oliván Avilés
Head of Unit
2
Electronically signed on 14/12/2021 17:12 (UTC+01) in accordance with article 11 of Commission Decision C(2020) 4482