Contract & other documents for Page Protective Services in Palestine
Dear European External Action Service,
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:
The contract and all additional documents, especially reviews, reports, comments etc., concerning the provision of security to the EU delegation in Palestine by Page Protective Services Limited which led to a payment of 2.402.707,20€ in 2019.
Yours faithfully,
Maximilian Henning
Dear Mr Maximilian Henning,
This message is an acknowledgement of receipt for your request for access to document under Regulation 1049/2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents (which the EEAS is also respecting).
Your request for access to document have been registered under reference number: 2022/031. Please refer to this number in any further correspondence.
In accordance with the Regulation, you will receive a reply within 15 working days at the latest: 15/03/2022.
Yours sincerely,
EEAS ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS
[EEAS request email]
SG.2 – Parliamentary Affairs
_______________________________________
Dear Mr Henning,
Your application is currently being handled. However, we are not in a position to complete the handling of your application within the time limit of 15 working days.
We therefore, exceptionally, need to extend the deadline for reply by an additional 15 working days.
Thank you for your understanding,
Yours sincerely,
EEAS ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS
[EEAS request email]
SG.2 – Parliamentary Affairs
Dear Mr Henning,
On behalf of Mr Penalver Garcia please find attached the reply to your
request for access to documents.
Yours sincerely,
EEAS ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS (AD)
[1][EEAS request email]
SG.2 – Parliamentary Affairs
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[EEAS request email]
Dear European External Action Service,
Please pass this on to the person who reviews confirmatory applications.
I am filing the following confirmatory application with regards to my access to documents request ‘Contract & other documents for Page Protective Services in Palestine’.
On 22 February, I requested the following: “The contract and all additional documents, especially reviews, reports, comments etc., concerning the provision of security to the EU delegation in Palestine by Page Protective Services Limited which led to a payment of 2.402.707,20€ in 2019.”
On 1 April, you replied to my request, stating that you had identified a number of documents as related to my request. You forwarded several already published ones and stated that access to several other documents could not be granted. As a reason for your refusal, you cited Article 4(1)(a), first indent and Article 4(2), first indent of Regulation 1049/2001.
I would like to ask you to reconsider for the following reasons:
- According to Article 4(6) of Regulation 1049/2001, if only parts of a document are covered by an exception, the remaining parts shall be released
You stated that disclosure of the identified documents would make public potential security issues of the Office of the European Union Representative in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. You also stated that the documents contain sensitive commercial information whose disclosure would harm the legitimate commercial interests of the successful candidate.
According to Article 4(6) of Regulation 1049/2001, parts of a document not covered by an exception shall be released. It is usual practice to release a document partly redacted in order to disclose those parts of the document not affected by exceptions.
- There is an overriding public interest in the disclosure of the documents according to Article 4(2) of Regulation 1049/2001
You referred to Article 4(2) in your reasoning for the refusal of my request. According to Article 4(2), institutions shall refuse access to documents if they are affected by the mentioned exceptions unless there is an overriding interest in disclosure.
There is an overriding interest in disclosure due to the documents referring to contracts the European Commission has concluded with private security companies. The private security industry has been under public scrutiny for the last twenty years, including legislation passed last year by the European Parliament. There is therefore an overriding interest in accessing documents related to contracts between the European Commission and private security companies in order to enable an informed discussion on these contracts.
A full history of my request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/cont...
Yours faithfully,
Maximilian Henning
Dear Mr Henning,
This message is an acknowledgement of receipt for your confirmatory
application requesting for a review of our reply, dated 1 April 2022,
under Regulation 1049/2001 regarding public access to European Parliament,
Council and Commission documents (which the EEAS is also respecting).
Your confirmatory application has the same reference number 2022/031 as
the initial one. Please refer to this number in any further
correspondence.
In accordance with the Regulation, you will receive a reply within 15
working days: 28/4/2022.
Yours sincerely,
EEAS Access to Documents
[1][EEAS request email]
SG.AFFGEN.2 – Parliamentary Affairs
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[EEAS request email]