Commercial and promotional events held at the European Parliament
Dear European Parliament,
Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as developed in Regulation 1049/2001, I am requesting documents which contain the following information:
Bureau minutes dated 23.10.2019 "heard the President refer to a number of cases, in which private companies used Parliament’s premises to organise commercial and promotional events with the participation of Members, claiming, in some instances, that the events were co-organised between the companies and the Parliament, noting that this practice seriously undermined Parliament’s dignity,that while private organisations could be invited to participate,only Parliament’s Members and its bodies could take the initiative to organise events in Parliament,and that any commercial nature of such events should be prohibited; suggest to invite the Secretary-General to examine whether it was possible to introduce provisions which clearly prohibited the aforementioned practices, and to revert to the matter at the next meeting."
I am seeking any documents or emails that provide insights and details into cases, dates of the events, in which building they took place, the names of the private of companies, the titles of the commercial and promotional events, the names of the MEPs who participated and which events were "co-organised between the companies and the Parliament".
Kind regards,
Nikolaj Nielsen
EUobserver
Avenue d'Auderghem / Oudergemlaan 150
1040 Brussels
Belgium
Our reference: A(2020)258
Dear Mr Nielsen,
The European Parliament hereby acknowledges receipt of your application
for public access to documents, which was registered on 10/01/2020.
All requests for public access to documents are treated in compliance with
Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to
European Parliament, Council and Commission documents.
In accordance with the above-mentioned Regulation, your application will
be handled within 15 working days upon registration of your request.
Your personal data will be processed in accordance with Regulation (EU)
2018/1725 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.
The European Parliament reserves the right to ask for additional
information regarding your identity in order to verify compliance with
Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 and the European Parliament’s implementing
measures.
Your attention is drawn to the fact that you have lodged your application
via the AsktheEU.org website, which is a private website not officially
related to the European Parliament. Therefore, the European Parliament
cannot be held accountable for any technical issues or problems linked to
the use of this system.
In addition, please note that any personal data that you provide by using
AsktheEU.org website may be disclosed to the general public and visible on
this private website. The European Parliament cannot be held responsible
for such disclosure. Should you need to communicate directly to Parliament
any personal data and would like to avoid public disclosure, you may do so
from your private email address by using the following functional mailbox
address: AccesDocs(at)europarl.europa.eu
Kind regards,
TRANSPARENCY UNIT
European Parliament
Directorate-General for the Presidency
Directorate for Interinstitutional Affairs and Legislative Coordination
[1][European Parliament request email]
[2]www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[European Parliament request email]
2. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb
Our reference: A(2020)258
Dear Mr Nielsen,
Further to your application requesting access to documents containing
various categories of information on commercial and promotional events
held within Parliament premises with the participation of Members,
Parliament is hereby replying to you under Article 6(2) of Regulation (EC)
No 1049/2001, which states that: "If an application is not sufficiently
precise, the institution shall ask the applicant to clarify the
application and shall assist the applicant in doing so, for example, by
providing information on the use of the public registers of documents".
The relevant service has been internally consulted and Parliament informs
you that the events that take place in Parliament premises produce an
estimate of 20.000 (twenty thousand) documents per year. As your
application is drafted in a way that is limitless as far as time and
subject are concerned (all events, all buildings, all companies, all years
combined, etc.), Parliament considers your application as not being
sufficiently precise. In addition, it would mean in practice to check
every single document from those estimated 20.000 documents produced by
year (all years combined...) in order to see which ones match the
categories of information that you mention in your application.
Unfortunately, Parliament does not have the resources to do this.
Therefore, pursuant to Article 6(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001,
Parliament requests clarification so your application states in a
sufficiently precise manner the documents requested in order to allow
Parliament to identify them, if any.
On this basis, until reception of your clarification, the statutory
deadlines set by Article 7(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 cannot run.
This is due to the fact that at present Parliament is unable to process
and assess your application in the light of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001.
If Parliament has not received your clarification within 20 working days
from the date of this email, Parliament will consider your application as
withdrawn and the file closed.
Kind regards,
TRANSPARENCY UNIT
European Parliament
Directorate-General for the Presidency
Directorate for Interinstitutional Affairs and Legislative Coordination
[1][European Parliament request email]
[2]www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[European Parliament request email]
2. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb
Dear AccesDocs,
I understand. I would like to limit the scope to 2019.
Yours sincerely,
Nikolaj Nielsen
Our reference: A(2020)258
Dear Mr Nielsen,
The deadline for replying to your application concerning public access to
documents under Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 registered on 10/01/2020
expires tomorrow, on 31/01/2020.
However, due to the fact that the internal consultation process for
identifying the relevant documents and that the detailed analysis of all
legal aspects linked to the possible disclosure of these documents are
still ongoing, in order to reply to your application Parliament
exceptionally needs to extend the time-limit provided for in Article 7(1)
of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 by a further 15 working days, in
accordance with Article 7(3) of the same regulation.
Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience. We thank you for your
understanding.
Kind regards,
TRANSPARENCY UNIT
European Parliament
Directorate-General for the Presidency
Directorate for Interinstitutional Affairs and Legislative Coordination
[1][European Parliament request email]
[2]www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[European Parliament request email]
2. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb