DG GROW contacts with industry re. Health Technology Assessment (HTA)
Dear Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs,
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:
(i) a list of meetings of DG GROW officials and/or representatives (including the Commissioner and her Cabinet) and representatives of individual companies and/or industry federations (such as, but not limited to, EFPIA and/or its member companies); consultancies or law firms acting for companies/industry groups; and/or, patients groups, at which the plans for an EU regulation on Health Technology Assessment (HTA) were discussed (since January 2017);
(ii) minutes and other reports of these meetings;
(iii) all correspondence (including emails) between DG GROW officials and/or representatives (including the Commissioner and her Cabinet) and representatives of companies and/or industry associations (including consultancies/law firms acting on their behalf), or patients groups, in which the plans for an EU regulation on Health Technology Assessment were discussed (since January 2017).
I would be grateful if you could take into account the Code of Good Administrative Behaviour into account when considering (i) of this request.
Yours sincerely,
Rachel Tansey
Postal Address:
Corporate Europe Observatory
Rue d'Edimbourg 26
1050 Brussels
Belgium
Dear Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs,
I have yet to receive an acknowledgement of my access to documents request sent on 12th October 2018 concerning contacts between DG GROW and industry representatives around the HTA file. As this request was sent to you three weeks ago, I'd be very grateful if you could respond promptly, by email, to let me know when I can expect to receive the documents I requested.
Yours faithfully,
Rachel Tansey
Dear Madam,
Thank you for your e-mail dated 12/10/2018. We hereby acknowledge receipt of your application for access to documents, which was registered on 06/11/2018 under reference number GestDem 2018/5802.
In accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents, your application will be handled within 15 working days. The time limit will expire on 27/11/2018. In case this time limit needs to be extended, you will be informed in due course.
You have lodged your application via the AsktheEU.org website. Please note that this is a private third-party website which has no link with any institution of the European Union. Therefore, the European Commission cannot be held accountable for any technical issues or problems linked to the use of this system.
Please note that the private third party running the AsktheEU.org website is responsible and accountable for the processing of your personal data via that website, and not the European Commission. For further information on your rights, please refer to the third party’s privacy policy.
We understand that the third party running that website usually publishes the content of applicants’ correspondence with the European Commission on that website. This includes the personal data that you may have communicated to the European Commission (e.g. your private postal address).
Similarly, the third party publishes on that website any reply that the Commission will send to the email address of the applicants generated by the AsktheEU.org website.
If you do not wish your correspondence with the European Commission to be published on the AsktheEU.org website, you can provide us with an alternative, private e-mail address for further correspondence. In that case, the European Commission will send all future electronic correspondence addressed to you only to that private address.
Yours faithfully,
DG GROW – Access to documents team
European Commission
Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs
DG GROW/03 – The Strategic planning and delivery Unit
Dear Ms Tansey,
We refer to your e-mail dated 12/10/2018 in which you make a request for
access to documents, registered on 06/11/2018 under the above mentioned
reference number.
Your application is currently being handled. However, we will not be in a
position to complete the handling of your application within the time
limit of 15 working days, which expires on 27/11/2018.
An extended time limit is needed as your application concerns documents
held by different Services which must be consulted.
Therefore, we have to extend the time limit with 15 working days in
accordance with Article 7(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 regarding
public access to documents. The new time limit expires on 18/12/2018.
We apologise for this delay and for any inconvenience this may cause.
Yours sincerely,
DG GROW – Access to documents team
European Commission
Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and
SMEs
DG GROW/03 – Strategic Planning and Delivery Unit
Dear Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs,
Further to your reply of 27 November 2018, extending the time limit for handling my application for access to documents (GestDem 2018/5802) to 18 December 2018, I'd like to ask for an explanation for the delay in your response, as the extended time limit (as permitted by Article 7(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001regulation ) expired three weeks ago. Given that my original request was made on 12 October 2018, nearly three months ago, and I have not received any communication from you since the extended deadline passed, I'd kindly ask you to consider the prompt reply to my access to documents request as a matter of some urgency.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours faithfully,
Rachel Tansey
Dear Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs,
I'd like to draw your attention to my email of 8th January 2019 (copied below) , and once again, request your urgent attention to my request GestDem 2018/5802, which was made on 12 October 2018, and was registered on 6th November 2018. With respect to this urgency, I'd furthermore like to draw your attention to the time-limits stipulated in Regulation 1049/2001, of a maximum of 30 working days (15 + 15 extension).
I look forward to your prompt response.
Yours faithfully,
Rachel Tansey
Sent: 08 January 2019
Dear Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs,
Further to your reply of 27 November 2018, extending the time limit for handling my application for access to documents (GestDem 2018/5802) to 18 December 2018, I'd like to ask for an explanation for the delay in your response, as the extended time limit (as permitted by Article 7(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001regulation ) expired three weeks ago. Given that my original request was made on 12 October 2018, nearly three months ago, and I have not received any communication from you since the extended deadline passed, I'd kindly ask you to consider the prompt reply to my access to documents request as a matter of some urgency.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours faithfully,
Rachel Tansey
Dear Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs,
With regard to my emails of 8th and 24th January 2019 (copied below), requesting an urgent response regarding your long-delayed reply to my request GestDem 2018/5802, which was made on 12th October 2018, I hereby politely inform you that if I have not received a reply from you by the end of this working week (ie 1st February 2019), I will be making a complaint to the European Ombudsman.
The European Ombudsman, Emily O'Reilly, has stated that “Citizens need to try access documents while they are still relevant. Information delayed is information denied”. Therefore, the 'fast-track' complaint procedure for access to documents requests includes the provision for complaints to be made in face of delays by EU institutions in releasing documents, and when the institution in question has not replied.
Yours faithfully,
Rachel Tansey
Sent: January 24, 2019
Dear Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs,
I'd like to draw your attention to my email of 8th January 2019 (copied below) , and once again, request your urgent attention to my request GestDem 2018/5802, which was made on 12 October 2018, and was registered on 6th November 2018. With respect to this urgency, I'd furthermore like to draw your attention to the time-limits stipulated in Regulation 1049/2001, of a maximum of 30 working days (15 + 15 extension).
I look forward to your prompt response.
Yours faithfully,
Rachel Tansey
Sent: 08 January 2019
Dear Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs,
Further to your reply of 27 November 2018, extending the time limit for handling my application for access to documents (GestDem 2018/5802) to 18 December 2018, I'd like to ask for an explanation for the delay in your response, as the extended time limit (as permitted by Article 7(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001regulation ) expired three weeks ago. Given that my original request was made on 12 October 2018, nearly three months ago, and I have not received any communication from you since the extended deadline passed, I'd kindly ask you to consider the prompt reply to my access to documents request as a matter of some urgency.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours faithfully,
Rachel Tansey
Dear Ms Tansey,
Please find enclosed the reply to your application for access to documents
– GESTDEM 2018/5802.
Kind regards,
Secretariat GROW.D4
[1]cid:image001.png@01D11270.EE62E230
European Commission
DG for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs
Health Technology and Cosmetics
Unit GROW D.4
B-1049 Brussels/Belgium
e-mail: [2][email address]
References
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2. mailto:[email address]
Dear Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs,
Thank you for your reply and for sending the documents corresponding to my request GESTDEM 2018/5802.
Yours faithfully,
Rachel Tansey