Ref. Ares(2020)4381931 - 24/08/2020
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR HEALTH AND FOOD SAFETY
Directorate E – Food and Feed Safety, Innovation
E2 – Food processing technologies and novel foods
Brussels,
DG SANTE/E2/JB/amf (2020)
Vicky Cann
CEO
Rue d'Edimbourg 26
1050 Brussels
Advance copy by email:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx
Dear Ms Cann,
Subject:
Your application for access to documents – GESTDEM 2020/4359
We refer to your e-mail dated 16 July 2020 in which you make a request for access to
documents on the basis of Regulation (EC) No 1049/20011, registered on the same date under
the above-mentioned reference number.
We also refer to our letter of 04 August 2020 extending the time limit to respond to your
request according to Article 7(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001.
1. Scope of your request
In your application, you request access to:
“a list of all lobby meetings (including face to face, phone calls, conference calls etc) held
since 29 January 2020 where the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability was discussed. The
list should include the names of the individuals and organisations participating; the date; the
agenda; and any minutes / notes produced”. You additionally requested access to
“any
emails or other correspondence from lobby groups related to the Chemicals Strategy for
Sustainability received or sent since 29 January 2020.”
We consider your request to cover documents held up to the date of your initial application, i.e.
16 July 2020
.
This reply relates only to the documents held by Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety.
We understand that you have made the same request to other Directorates-General2, and you will
receive the replies from the other Directorates-General in due course.
1 Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission
documents (OJ L 145, 31.5.2001, p. 43).
Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË - Tel. +32 22991111
You may reuse public documents, which have been produced by the European Commission or
by public and private entities on its behalf based on
the Commission Decision on the reuse of
Commission documents. You may reuse the documents disclosed free of charge and for non-
commercial and commercial purposes 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.
Please note that the 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.
Please also note that some of the documents were drawn up for internal use under the
responsibility of the relevant directorate in the Directorate-General for Health and Food
Safety. It solely reflects the service’s 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. It does not reflect the position of the Commission and cannot be
quoted as such.
2. Identification and assessment of the documents
We have identified 21 documents as falling under the scope of your request.
You will find attached a table listing the identified documents and summarising the outcome of
the assessment carried out on the basis of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001
Having examined all the documents under the provisions of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 and
considered the opinion of the third party, we have come to following conclusion, which is further
explained below:
Full access can be granted to documents No 3 to 7 and document No 9;
Partial access can be granted to documents No 1, 2, 8 and 10 to 21, as their full disclosure
is prevented by one exception to the right of access laid down in Article 4 of the
Regulation).
3. Reason for partial access
Protection of the privacy and integrity of the individual, in particular in accordance with
Community legislation regarding the protection of personal data - Article 4(1)(b) of Regulation
(EC) No 1049/2001
A complete disclosure of the identified documents No 1, 2, 8 and 10 to 21 is prevented by the
exception concerning the protection of privacy and the integrity of the individual outlined in
Article 4(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, because they contain the following personal
data:
- the names/initials and contact information of Commission staff members not pertaining to the
senior management;
Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË - Tel. +32 22991111
- the names/initials and contact details of other natural persons;
- handwritten signatures/abbreviated signatures of natural persons;
- other information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person such as office and
phone numbers.
Article 9(1)(b) of the Data Protection Regulation does not allow the transmission of these
personal data, except if you prove that it is necessary to have the data transmitted to you for a
specific purpose in the public interest and where there is no reason to assume that the legitimate
interests of the data subject might be prejudiced. In your request, you do not express any
particular interest to have access to these personal data nor do you put forward any arguments to
establish the necessity to have the data transmitted for a specific purpose in the public interest.
Consequently, we conclude that, pursuant to Article 4(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001,
access cannot be granted to the personal data contained in the requested documents mentioned
above, 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.
Therefore, partial access is granted to the above mentioned documents, expunged of personal
data.
4. Means of redress
In accordance with Article 7(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, you are entitled 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 Secretariat-General of the Commission at the following address:
European Commission
Secretariat-General
Transparency, Document Management & Access to Documents (SG.C.1)
BERL 7/076
B-1049 Brussels
or by email to:
xxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx
Yours faithfully,
Bruno Gautrais
Head of Unit
Annexes: List of 21 documents falling within the scope of the request with the assessment and
21 fully or partially disclosed documents
Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË - Tel. +32 22991111
Electronically signed on 21/08/2020 08:05 (UTC+02) in accordance with article 4.2 (Validity of electronic documents) of Commission Decision 2004/563