A29WP Data Protection Impact Assessment request for opinions

The request was successful.

Dear Justice and Consumers,

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:

- Received comments on the data protection impact assessment guidelines.

As detailed on the following website
http://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/just/item-d...
the Article 29 Working Party requested comments on the recently published draft Guidelines on Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) and determining whether processing is “likely to result in a high risk” for the purposes of Regulation 2016/679, wp248

These documents were sent to [email address] and [email address], although may have been sent through other means.

I would like copies of each of the documents sent as part of this consultation, which closed on 23 May 2017. This is a similar request to GESTDEM 2017/1375, where the comments on data portability guidelines were released by DG JUST.

Yours faithfully,

Michael Veale

Justice and Consumers

Dear Mr. Veale
Thank you for your request for access to documents.
Unfortunately you have not indicated your postal address that is required for registering and handling your request in line with the procedural requirements. Please send us your full postal address at your earliest convenience. Pending your reply, we reserve the right to refuse the registration of your request.
You may, of course, use directly the electronic form for entering your request:
http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regdoc/...

Best regards,
JUST ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS TEAM

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Dear Justice and Consumers,

My postal address is

UCL STEaPP
36–38 Fitzroy Square
London
W1T 6EY United Kingdom

Yours faithfully,

Michael Veale

Dear Justice and Consumers,

According to Regulation 1049/2001 the applicant simply has to make a written request in any form, including electronic form. There is no further requirement to give any personal details nor to state reasons for the request. Article 6.1 of the Regulation says "Applications for access to a document shall be made in any written form, including electronic form, in one of the languages referred to in Article 314 of the EC Treaty and in a sufficiently precise manner to enable the institution to identify the document. The applicant is not obliged to state reasons for the application."

Yours faithfully,

Michael Veale

Justice and Consumers

Dear Mr Veale

Thanks you for providing your postal address.

With respect to your questions regarding the provision of a postal address, please find our explanations below.

On 1 April 2014, the postal address became a mandatory feature for the purpose of introducing a request for access to documents.

The decision to ask for a postal address from applicants for access to documents was triggered by the following considerations:

• The need to obtain legal certainty as regards the date of receipt of the reply by the applicant under Regulation 1049/2001. Indeed, as foreseen by Article 297 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), […] decisions which specify to whom they are addressed, shall be notified to those to whom they are addressed and shall take effect upon such notification. Replies triggering the possibility for administrative or judicial redress are therefore transmitted via registered mail with acknowledgement of receipt. This requires an indication of a valid postal address by the applicant;

• The need to direct the Commission's scarce resources first of all to those requests which have been filed by "real" applicants. With only a compulsory indication of an e-mail address, applicants can easily introduce requests under an invented identity or under the identity of a third person. Asking for a postal address helps the Commission to protect the administration, as well as other citizens and legal persons, from abuse;

• For similar reasons, asking for a compulsory indication of a postal address enables the Commission services to verify whether Article 6(3) of the Regulation, on voluminous requests, is being evaded by introducing several requests under different identities. Indeed, in its Ryanair judgment, the General Court confirmed that Article 6(3) cannot be evaded by splitting the application into a number of applications. The Commission would like to point out that, in 2012/2013, it received some 57 confirmatory requests from what it suspects to be one single applicant operating under 13 different identities;

• Knowing whether the applicant is an EU resident in the sense of Article 2(1) of Regulation 1049/2001 is a precondition for the purpose of correctly applying the exception in Article 4(1)(b) of Regulation 1049/2001 (protection of the privacy and integrity of the individual), which has to be interpreted in accordance with Data Protection Regulation 45/2001. Article 9 of Regulation 45/2001 requires the adequacy of the level of protection afforded by the third country or international organisation when transmitting personal data to third-country residents or legal persons. It follows that, in case of requests for documents which include personal data, the correct application of the data protection rules cannot be ensured in the absence of a postal address enabling the Commission to ascertain that the minimum data protection standards will be respected.

All of these considerations show that the request for and the consequent processing of a postal address is not only appropriate but also strictly necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest within the meaning of Article 5 (a) of Data Protection Regulation 45/2001, namely providing a smooth and effective access to documents.


Kind regards,

JUST ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS TEAM

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Justice and Consumers

Dear Sir,

Thank you for your e-mail dated 13/07/2017. We hereby acknowledge receipt of your applications for access to documents registered on 17/07/2017 under reference number GestDem 2017/4208.

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 08/08/2017.
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 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.

Yours faithfully,
JUST Access to documents team

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Justice and Consumers

2 Attachments

Dear Sir,

 

Please find an advance copy of our reply attached. The original letter and
annexes will be sent by registered mail.

 

With kind regards,

 

European Commission

DG Justice and Consumers

Unit JUST/C3 - Data Protection

1049 Brussels/Belgium