Ref. Ares(2016)5557955 - 26/09/2016
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR RESEARCH & INNOVATION
Directorate J – Common Support Centre
J.1 – Common Legal Support Service
Brussels,
By registered letter with acknowledgment
of receipt to:
Mireia CRESPO CASTELLANO
Access Info Europe
Cava de San Miguel 8, 4C
28005 Madrid
Spain
Advance copy by email: ask+request-3277-
xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx
Subject:
Your application for access to documents – GestDem Ref No 2016/4955
Dear Madam,
We refer to your email of 2 September 2016 wherein you submit an application for
public access to documents. It was registered on 5 September 2016 under the above
mentioned reference number.
1. SCOPE OF YOUR APPLICATION
Your application concerns access to
documents which contain the following information:
1. Memos, guidance, guidelines, or training material (or any other document) for
DG staff on record creation and/or record keeping, in particular documents that refer to
the creation/keeping of agendas (diaries of public officials´ engagements), lists of
meetings, minutes of meetings, lists of participants in meetings, and documents justifying
decisions.
2. Memos, guidance, guidelines, or training material (or any other document) for
DG staff on the processing of access to information requests.
First of all, we would like to clarify that
access to information requests you mention in
point 2 of your application are handled under the
Code of Good Administrative
Behaviour. Please note that DG RTD has no specific documents addressed to its staff
concerning the processing of access to information requests under this
Code.
Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË - Tel. +32 22991111
The
access to documents requests, on the other hand, are handled under
Regulation 1049/20011. Following the general guidance of Secretariat-General, we
consider that point 2 of your application refers to the
Memos, guidance, guidelines, or
training material (or any other document) for DG staff on the processing of access to
documents requests.
2. EXAMINATION UNDER REGULATION 1049/2001
We have identified 6 documents corresponding to your request. These documents are as
follows:
DG RTD specific documents on document management (i.e.
record creation and/or
record keeping):
1. File index 17_Meetings and conferences_not comitology,
2. File index 48_Internal Management_meetings,
3. File index 49_Internal Management_general,
4. ARES information sheet 21_ARES_and_MIPS,
5. ARES information sheet 22_Webdor_and_ARES; and
DG RTD specific document on
access to documents:
6. RTD intranet webpage on Public access to documents.
In respect of trainings in ARES and
document management, there are no DG RTD
specific documents. The content of ARES training materials is provided by DG DIGIT.
The content of document management training materials is based on the eDomec legal
documents, the relevant official documents and procedures established by the Secretariat-
General, as well as the corporate training material provided by the Secretariat-General.
As regards memos, guidance, guidelines or training materials in
access to documents,
please note that DG RTD adheres to the relevant official documents drawn up and
procedures established by the Secretariat-General. To DG RTD staff we provide the
information on DG RTD intranet webpage (document 6). As regards training materials in
access to documents, we would like to inform you that DG RTD does not organise any
specific trainings on access to documents for DG RTD staff, hence we do not have any
such training materials.
Having examined the documents requested under the provisions of
Regulation 1049/2001, we are pleased to inform you that we provide full access to
documents 1-4 and wide partial access to documents 5 and 6. Only a small amount of
personal data contained in documents 5 and 6 cannot be disclosed in line with
Article 4(1)(b) of this
Regulation.
1 Regulation (EC) No1049/2001 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 ‘
Regulation 1049/2001’.
2
2.1 Protection of privacy and integrity of the individual
Pursuant to the Article 4(1)(b) of
Regulation 1049/2001, access to a document has to be
refused if its
"disclosure would undermine the protection of privacy and the integrity of
the individual, in particular in accordance with the [EU] legislation regarding the
protection of personal data". The applicable legislation in this field is
Regulation 45/20012.
When access is requested to documents containing personal data,
Regulation 45/2001 becomes fully applicable3.
2 of the requested documents (documents 5 and 6)
contain the names and phone numbers
of the Commission non-senior staff. This information is not in the public domain and
undoubtedly constitutes personal data in the meaning of Article 2(a) of
Regulation 45/2001. The EU Court of Justice case-law
4 confirms that
"there is no reason
of principle to justify excluding activities of a professional [...] nature from the notion of
'private life'".
Public disclosure of the above-mentioned personal data would constitute processing
(transfer) of personal data within the meaning of Article 8(b) of
Regulation 45/2001.
According to Article 8(b) of this
Regulation, personal data shall only be transferred to
recipients if they establish the necessity of having the data transferred and if there is no
reason to assume that the legitimate rights of the data subjects concerned might be
prejudiced.
We consider that, with the information available, the necessity of disclosing the personal
data of non-senior Commission staff has not been established and that it cannot be
assumed that such disclosure would not prejudice their legitimate rights. For this
purpose, we redacted the personal data of non-senior Commission staff in the requested
documents, as described above.
2.2 Non-existence of an overriding public interest
I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the invoked exception laid down in
Article 4(1)(b) of
Regulation 1049/2001 is an absolute exception that does not have to be
balanced against the public interest in disclosure.
2.3 Legal notice
You may reuse the disclosed content of the requested Commission documents provided that
the source is acknowledged and that you do not distort the original meaning or message of
the documents. Please note that the Commission does not assume liability stemming from
the reuse of the disclosed content.
2 Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2000 on the
protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the Community institutions and
bodies and on the free movement of such data (OJ L 8 of 12.1.2001, p. 1).
3 Judgment of the Court of Justice of the EU of 29 June 2010 in case 28/08 P,
Commission v. The Bavarian
Lager Co. Ltd, ECR 2010 I-06055.
4 Judgment of the Court of 20 May 2003 in joined cases C-465/00, C-138/01 and C-139/01, preliminary
rulings in proceedings between
Rechnungshof and Österreichischer Rundfunk, paragraph 73.
3
3. MEANS OF REDRESS
In case you would disagree with the assessment that the redacted data are personal data
which can only be disclosed if such disclosure is legitimate under the rules of personal data
protection, you are entitled, in accordance with Article 7(2) of
Regulation 1049/2001, 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
Transparency unit SG-B-4
BERL 5/282
B-1049 Bruxelles
or by email to: xxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx.
Yours faithfully,
Liliane DE WOLF
Head of Unit
4
Electronically signed on 26/09/2016 13:37 (UTC+02) in accordance with article 4.2 (Validity of electronic documents) of Commission Decision 2004/563