Ref. Ares(2019)3350627 - 22/05/2019
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR ENERGY
Directorate A – Energy Policy
A1 - Energy Policy Coordination
Brussels,
ENER.A1/PP/av (2019) 3652320
Álvaro Merino
Calle Ricardo Ortiz 61, 1B.
28017 Madrid
Spain
By registered letter with acknowledgment of
receipt
Advance copy by email:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx
Dear Mr Merino,
Subject:
Your application for access to documents – Ref GestDem No 2019/1559
We refer to your e-mail dated 14/03/2019 in which you make a request for access to documents,
registered on 15/03/2019 under the above-mentioned reference number.
You request access to the following documents:
A list of all lobby meetings held by the commissioner in charge of Energy, Miguel Arias Cañete,
or any other member of its Cabinet with any organisations representing churches and/or
religious communities since 2014 onwards, including all emails, minutes, reports or any other
briefing papers related to all those meetings.
Your application concerns the following documents:
Format
Author
Date
Subject/Reference
1
Email
COMECE
13 July 2018
Ares(2018)3738271
2
Attachment
COMECE
13 July 2018
Ares(2018)3738271
3
Email
European Commission
14 August 2015
Ares(2015)3392415
Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË - Tel. +32 22991111
Office: DM24 08/153 - Tel. direct line +32 229-20815
xxxxx.xxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx
4
Email
European Commission
13 August 2015
Ares(2015)3263640
5
Letter
Italian and Luxembourg 12 August 2015
Ares(2015)3263640
Environment Ministries
6
Email
European Commission
4 August 2015
Ares(2015)3263640
The Commission has received the requested documents from third parties. In accordance with
Article 4(4) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, my service has consulted those third parties
concerning the disclosure of the requested documents emanating from them.
Please find the documents enclosed with this letter. However, I regret to inform you that I cannot
give you access to some parts of the documents.
Pursuant to Article 4(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 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 European Union legislation regarding the protection of
personal data.
The applicable legislation in this field is Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament
and of the Council 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, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 and Decision No 1247/2002/EC1
(‘Regulation 2018/1725’).
Some documents to which you request access contain personal data, in particular names, signatures,
emails and telephone numbers. This personal data has been redacted from the disclosed documents.
Indeed, Article 3(1) of Regulation 2018/1725 provides that personal data ‘means any information
relating to an identified or identifiable natural person […]’. The Court of Justice has specified that
any information, which by reason of its content, purpose or effect, is linked to a particular person is
to be considered as personal data.2
Please note in this respect that the names, signatures, functions, telephone numbers and/or initials
pertaining to staff members of an institution are to be considered personal data.3
In its judgment in Case C-28/08 P (
Bavarian Lager)4, the Court of Justice ruled that when a request
is made for access to documents containing personal data, the Data Protection Regulation becomes
fully applicable5
1 Official Journal L 205 of 21.11.2018, p. 39.
2 Judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union of 20 December 2017 in Ca
se C-434/16, Peter
Nowak v Data Protection Commissioner, request for a preliminary ruling, paragraphs 33-35,
ECLI:EU:C:2017:994.
3 Judgment of the General Court of 19 September 2018 in ca
se T-39/17, Port de Brest v Commission,
paragraphs 43-44,
ECLI:EU:T:2018:560.
4 Judgment of 29 June 2010 in Case C-28/08 P,
European Commission v The Bavarian Lager Co. Ltd,
EU:C:2010:378, paragraph 59.
5 Whereas this judgment specifically related to 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, the
principles set out therein are also applicable under the new data protection regime established by
Regulation 2018/1725.
2
Pursuant to Article 9(1)(b) of Regulation 2018/1725, ‘personal data shall only be transmitted to
recipients established in the Union other than Union institutions and bodies if ‘[t]he recipient
establishes that it is necessary to have the data transmitted for a specific purpose in the public interest
and the controller, where there is any reason to assume that the data subject’s legitimate interests
might be prejudiced, establishes that it is proportionate to transmit the personal data for that specific
purpose after having demonstrably weighed the various competing interests’.
Only if these conditions are fulfilled and the processing constitutes lawful processing in accordance
with the requirements of Article 5 of Regulation 2018/1725, can the transmission of personal data
occur.
According to Article 9(1)(b) of Regulation 2018/1725, the European Commission has to examine the
further conditions for a lawful processing of personal data only if the first condition is fulfilled,
namely if the recipient has established that it is necessary to have the data transmitted for a specific
purpose in the public interest. It is only in this case that the European Commission has to examine
whether there is a reason to assume that the data subject’s legitimate interests might be prejudiced
and, in the affirmative, establish the proportionality of the transmission of the personal data for that
specific purpose after having demonstrably weighed the various competing interests.
In your request, you do not put forward any arguments to establish the necessity to have the data
transmitted for a specific purpose in the public interest. Therefore, the European Commission does
not have to examine whether there is a reason to assume that the data subject’s legitimate interests
might be prejudiced.
Notwithstanding the above, please note that there are reasons to assume that the legitimate interests
of the data subjects concerned would be prejudiced by disclosure of the personal data reflected in the
documents, as there is a real and non-hypothetical risk that such public disclosure would harm their
privacy and subject them to unsolicited external contacts.
Consequently, I conclude that, pursuant to Article 4(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, access
cannot be granted to the personal data, as the need to obtain access thereto for a purpose in the public
interest has not been substantiated and there is no reason to think that the legitimate interests of the
individuals concerned would not be prejudiced by disclosure of the personal data concerned.
Please note that the Commission does not hold list of “lobby meetings” held by Commissioner in
charge of Energy, Miguel Arias Cañete. Notwithstanding, information on the meetings with the
participation of the Commissioner or his Cabinet is available in the public domain:
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/commissioners/2014-2019/arias-canete_en#calendar
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 applicable rules on the protection of
personal data, you are entitled, in accordance with Article 7(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, to
submit a confirmatory application requesting the Commission to review this position.
3
Such a confirmatory application should be addressed within 15 working days upon receipt of this
letter to the Secretariat-General of the Commission at the following address:
European Commission
Secretariat-General
Unit C.1. ‘Transparency, Document Management and Access to Documents’
BERL 7/076
B-1049 Bruxelles, or by email to: s
xxxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx
Yours sincerely,
(e-signed)
Paula Pinho
Head of Unit
4
Electronically signed on 22/05/2019 11:26 (UTC+02) in accordance with article 4.2 (Validity of electronic documents) of Commission Decision 2004/563