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Ref. Ares(2020)4849729 - 16/09/2020
EUROPEAN COMMISSION 
DIRECTORATE-GENERAL  
TAXATION AND CUSTOMS UNION 
 
  The Director-General 
 
Brussels, 
TAXUD.E2/Svdv – taxud.e.2(2020)4976884 
 
 
 
Mrs Vicky CANN 
 
CEO  
Rue d'Edimbourg 26   
BE - 1050 Brussels 
 
 
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx 
 
(by e-mail and registered mail) 
 
Dear Mrs Cann, 
Subject: Your application for access to documents – Ref GestDem No 2020/4014 
We refer to your e-mail dated 2 July 2020, in which you make a request for access to documents, 
registered under the above-mentioned reference number.  
You request access to the following documents:  
“a list of all lobby meetings (including phone calls, conference calls etc.) since 1 January 2019 
where the EU’s Digital Services Tax proposal, or the OECD’s negotiations on a similar tax, were 
discussed. The list should include the names of the individuals and organisations participating; the 
date; the agenda; and any minutes/notes produced. I would additionally like to receive any emails or 
other correspondence related to proposals for a Digital Services Tax received or sent since 1 
January 2019”. 
 
Following our e-mail exchange of 30-31July, we made a list (see  annex) of lobbying meetings held 
between 1 January 2019 and 1 July 2020 (your request was registered on 2 July 2020) with the 
(former) Commissioner, Members of his Cabinet and the Director-General of DG Taxation and 
Customs Union (TAXUD). Lobby meetings held with the staff of DG TAXUD are also included.   
 
Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË - Tel. +32 22991111 
Office: J79C (05/222) - Tel. direct line +32 22953046 
 
xxxxxxxxxx.xxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx 
 
The list with documents (24 in total) identified are in annex to this letter and are grouped per 
meeting. Be informed that not for all these meetings minutes are available. 
Your application has been dealt with in accordance with Regulation 1049/2001 on public access to 
Commission documents. The third parties were consulted as concerns the e-mails and letters 
originating from them (unless the letter was already publicly available). In particular, they have been 
consulted because personal data of their representatives and staff is mentioned in their documents.  
1)  Meeting Commissioner Gentiloni with Facebook Ireland Ltd on 24/01/2020 
 
Doc 1 - e-mail 16/1/2020: meeting with representatives of Facebook 
 
Following from Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 and based on the consultation with Facebook, we 
have come to the conclusion that the document may be disclosed. Some references to persons’ 
names and other personal data have been redacted (see below under Personal data). 
 
2)  Meeting Commissioner Gentiloni with Booking.com BV on 23/01/2020 
 
Doc 2 - e-mail dated 19/12/2020: meeting with representatives of Booking.com 
Doc 3 - letter of Booking.com dated 18/12/2020 
 
Following from Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 and based on the consultation with Booking.com, 
we have come to the conclusion that the documents may be disclosed.  Some references to 
persons’ names and other personal data have been redacted (see below under Personal data). 
 
 
3)  Meeting Commissioner Gentiloni with Apple Inc. on 23/01/2020 
 
Doc 4 - e-mail dated 13/12/2020: meeting with representatives of Apple Inc. 
Doc 5 - letter of Apple Inc. dated 6/2/2020 
Doc 6 - Letter of Commissioner Gentiloni dated 17/2/2020 
 
Following from Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 and based on the consultation with Apple Inc., 
we have come to the conclusion that the document may be partially disclosed. 
Apple Inc. did not object to the disclosure of the e-mail and the letter relating to the meeting with 
the Apple Inc. representatives, provided that indications about the travel schedule of the CEO 
were redacted in accordance with Article 4(1) (b) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001. All 
personally identifiable data have been redacted (see below under Personal data)  
 
4)  Meeting of Cabinet Gentiloni with Prosus on 05.06.2020 
 
Doc 7- Prosus e-mail exchange from 30 June 2020 
Doc 8 - Slides EC-Prosus Naspers business presentation in context of digital taxation; 
Doc 9 - Prosus views on taxing the digital economy 24 July 2020 
 
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Following from Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 and based on the consultation with Prosus, we 
have come to the conclusion that the document may be disclosed. Some references to persons’ 
names and other personal data have been redacted (see below under Personal data). 
 
5)  Meeting of Cabinet Gentiloni with Amazon Europe Core on 03.06.2020 
 
I regret to inform you that no documents are held of this teleconference. 
 
6)  Meeting of former Commissioner Moscovici with Booking.com BV on 23/01/2019 
  
Doc 10 - letter of Booking.com dated 3 April 2019  
Following from Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 and based on the consultation with Booking.com, 
we have come to the conclusion that the documents may be disclosed. Some references to 
personal data have been redacted (see below under Personal data). 
7)  Meeting of former Commissioner Moscovici with UNI Europe on 24/07/2019  
We regret to inform you that the historical archives did not identify any documents. 
8)  Meeting of Cabinet Moscovici with Allegro.pl on 24.01.2019 
 
9)  Meeting of Director General S. Quest with Allegro.pl on 24.01.2019 
 
Doc 11 - Report meeting DG TAXUD - Allegro (Digital and VAT e-commerce) 
Doc 12 - annex Allegro paper (presentation) 
Both meetings 8 and 9 were held on the same day and the minutes (doc 11) covers both meetings. 
Following from Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, and based on the consultation with Allegro, we 
have come to the conclusion that the document 11 and 12 may be partially disclosed. 
Allegro did not object to the partial disclosure of the presentation, provided that specific 
commercial information and the personal data were redacted (see below under Personal data). 
Accordingly, the commercial information in the minutes has also been redacted. 
Access to these parts of the documents cannot be granted in accordance with the exception laid 
down in the first indent of Article 4 (2) of Regulation 1049/2001, which stipulates that “the 
institutions shall refuse access to a document where disclosure would undermine the protection 
of the commercial interests of a natural or legal person, including intellectual property, (...) 
unless there is an overriding public interest in disclosure”. 
Please note further that there is no overriding public interest in disclosure of these parts of the 
documents which would outweigh the harm disclosure would cause to the interests protected by 
the invoked exceptions. It is considered that this risk is foreseeable and not purely hypothetical. 
10) Meetings 10 to 17:  Meetings with DG TAXUD officials (staff)  
 
The meetings 10 to 17 between DG TAXUD officials and lobbyists cover exchange of views on 
digital taxation. These meetings cover documents Doc 13 to 24. 
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For all these meetings there is a flash report/minutes. These minutes can be disclosed expunged 
from personal data.  
For some meetings the third party provided a position paper. Some papers are already publicly 
available on the respective websites of these organisations (EACA, ETNO-GSMA). For the 
papers which appeared not be publicly available the third parties were consulted (VDZ/BDZV). 
The latter could agree with the disclosure, provided that personal data would be redacted.   
Following from Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 and based on the consultation with the third 
parties, we have come to the conclusion that the documents may be disclosed. Some references to 
persons’ names and other personal data have been redacted (see below under Personal data). 
Personal data 
The documents to which you are granted access contain personal data. 
We consider that, with the information available, the necessity of disclosing the aforementioned 
personal data to you has not been established and that it cannot be assumed that such disclosure would 
not prejudice the legitimate rights of the persons concerned. Therefore, we are disclosing documents 1 
to 7, 9 to 13, 16 to 21, 23 and 24 expunged from these personal data (Commission/company staff 
names and functions, handwritten signatures, telephone numbers and office addresses). 
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 Community legislation regarding the protection of personal data. The applicable 
legislation in this field is Regulation (EC) No 2018/1725. 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  the 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’. 
Disclaimer 
 
In view of the nature of the documents, we would like to stress that Commission officials draft 
reports for internal use. These reports are usually of value only for a limited time. It solely reflects the 
services’ interpretation of the interventions made and does not set out any official position of the 
third parties to which the document refers, which was not consulted on its content. Therefore, they 
constitute a subjective view of the contents of the meetings covered and cannot in any way be 
regarded as official minutes of the meeting. It does not reflect the position of the Commission and 
cannot be quoted as such. 
 
Please note that documents originating from third parties are disclosed to you based on Regulation (EC) 
No 1049/2001. However, this disclosure is without prejudice to the rules on intellectual property, which 
may limit your right to reproduce or exploit the released documents without the agreement of the 
originator, who may hold an intellectual property right on them. The European Commission does not 
assume any responsibility from their reuse.  
 
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Confirmatory 
In case you would disagree with the overall assessment of the documents or with the assessment that the 
expunged 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 
Secretariat-General 
Transparency, Document Management & Access to Documents (SG.C.1)   
BERL 7/067 
B-1049 Brussels 
or by email to: xxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx 
Yours faithfully, 
 
 
 
 
  
 
Gerassimos 
THOMAS 
 
 
 
Annexes: as stated above 
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Electronically signed on 16/09/2020 11:33 (UTC+02) in accordance with article 4.2 (Validity of electronic documents) of Commission Decision 2004/563