All the meetings and discussions regarding the automotive sector
Dear Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs,
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:
For the period between 1 October 2017 to date:
- a list of all lobby and industry meetings and/or calls held by the Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, including any Cabinet Members and/or officials, during which “hydrogen vehicles” and/or “electric vehicles ” and/or “batteries” and/or “hydrogen” were discussed.
The list should include: date, individuals attending and organisational affiliation, as well as the issues discussed;
- all minutes and other reports of these meetings and/or calls;
- all documents prepared for the purpose of the meetings issued both in preparation and after the meetings took place.
- all correspondence, including attachments (i.e. any emails, mail correspondence or telephone call notes) between the Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, including any Cabinet Members and/or officials, and any lobby group and/or industry representative discussing “hydrogen vehicles” and/or “electric vehicles ” and/or “batteries” and/or “hydrogen”.
To the extent possible, I prefer the documents in electronic format.
Should my request be denied wholly or partially, I kindly request to explain the denial or all redactions referring to specific exemptions in the regulation. Also I would expect the partial release of documents, in case of partial exemption according to article 4.6.
Please confirm receipt of this application. I look forward to receiving your reply within 15 business days, as established by the regulation.
Yours faithfully,
Carlotta Indiano
Investigative Reporting Project Italy
Viale Giulio Cesare, 92 - 00192 ROMA
Dear Ms Indiano,
Many thanks for your email. We hereby acknowledge receipt of your application for access to documents which has been registered on 11/10/2021 under the reference GESTDEM 2021/5993.
We note that you have filed another request on 7 October from the AsktheEU website (ref. [FOI #10012 email]) for which will not proceed with registration and handling as the request is identical in scope to GESTDEM 2021/5993.
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 03/11/2021. In case this time limit needs to be extended, you will be informed in due course.
You have lodged your application via a private third-party 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.
Please note that the private third party running the website is responsible and accountable for the processing of your personal data via that website, and not the Commission. For further information on your rights, please refer to the third party’s privacy policy.
We understand that the third party running the AsktheEU.org website usually publishes the content of applicants’ correspondence with the Commission on that website. This includes the personal data that you may have communicated to the Commission (e.g. your private postal address).
Similarly, the third party publishes on that website any reply that the Commission will send to the email address of the applicants generated by the AsktheEU.org website.
If you do not wish that your correspondence with the Commission is published on a private third-party website such as AsktheEU.org, you can provide us with an alternative, private e-mail address for further correspondence. In that case, the Commission will send all future electronic correspondence addressed to you only to that private address, and it will use only that private address to reply to your request. You should still remain responsible to inform the private third-party website about this change of how you wish to communicate with, and receive a reply from, the Commission.
For information on how we process your personal data visit our page Privacy statement – access to documents.
Yours faithfully,
Access to Documents Team
Dear Madam,
On 07/10/2021 you made a request for access to documents concerning
"industry meetings and/or calls held by the Directorate-General for
Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, including any
Cabinet Members and/or officials, during which “hydrogen vehicles” and/or
“electric vehicles ” and/or “batteries” and/or “hydrogen".
Further to that on 11/10/2021 you filed a second request for access to
documents concerning “meeting and/or calls between The European Automobile
Manufacturers’ Association and the Directorate-General for Internal
Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, including any Cabinet Members
and/or officials, during which “hydrogen vehicles” and/or “electric
vehicles ” and/or “batteries” and/or “hydrogen”.
We informed you that the latter request dated 11/10/2021 has been
registered under GESTDEM 2021/5993 and that, given that the scope was
overlapping with the request made on 07/10/2021 we would not proceed to
registration of the such request.
Could you please confirm that you are interested in documents related to
meetings with The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association only? If
not, please let us know and we would be grateful if you could specify your
request with regards of which stakeholders you would be interested in.
Thank you in advance for your understanding.
Kind regards,
DG GROW – Access to documents team
European Commission
Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and
SMEs
DG GROW/B1 – Planning and Briefings
Dear [email address],
I confirm that I am interested in documents related to meetings with The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association though it is not the only stakeholder I am interested in.
On 07/10/2021 I made a first general request for access to documents concerning "a list of all lobby and industry meetings and/or calls held by the Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, including any Cabinet Members and/or officials, during which “hydrogen vehicles” and/or “electric vehicles ” and/or “batteries” and/or “hydrogen” were discussed.
Then I specifically asked for the meetings related to The European Battery Alliance and The European Automobile Manufacturers' Association with the Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs on the same topic.
I remain at your disposal for further clarification
Thank you very much
Yours sincerely,
Carlotta Indiano
Dear Ms Indiano,
Many thanks for your reply. We will proceed with the registration of your request.
Please note that the handling of your general request involves the assessment of a large number of documents originating from third parties. With a view to clarify and streamline your general request we would kindly ask you to specify which stakeholders you are interested in.
Kind regards,
GROW ACCESS DOCUMENTS
Dear Madam,
Thank you for your e-mail of 07/10/2021. We hereby acknowledge receipt of your application for access to documents, which was registered on 18/10/2021 under reference number GESTDEM 2021/6221.
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 10/11/2021. In case this time limit needs to be extended, you will be informed in due course.
You have lodged your application via a private third-party 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.
Please note that the private third party running the website is responsible and accountable for the processing of your personal data via that website, and not the Commission. For further information on your rights, please refer to the third party’s privacy policy.
We understand that the third party running the AsktheEU.org website usually publishes the content of applicants’ correspondence with the Commission on that website. This includes the personal data that you may have communicated to the Commission (e.g. your private postal address).
Similarly, the third party publishes on that website any reply that the Commission will send to the email address of the applicants generated by the AsktheEU.org website.
If you do not wish that your correspondence with the Commission is published on a private third-party website such as AsktheEU.org, you can provide us with an alternative, private e-mail address for further correspondence. In that case, the Commission will send all future electronic correspondence addressed to you only to that private address, and it will use only that private address to reply to your request. You should still remain responsible to inform the private third-party website about this change of how you wish to communicate with, and receive a reply from, the Commission.
For information on how we process your personal data visit our page Privacy statement – access to documents.
Yours faithfully,
Access to Documents Team
Dear Ms Indiano,
We refer to your request for access to documents, registered on 18/10/2021
under the above-mentioned reference number.
The description given in your application does not enable us to identify
concrete documents which would correspond to your request. We therefore
invite you, pursuant to Article 6(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001
regarding public access to documents, to provide us with more detailed
information on the documents that you seek to obtain. In particular, we
would be grateful if you could specify which stakeholders you are
interested in in order to allow us to define a concrete number of
documents.
Please note that you can look at the transparency register of meetings
held with stakeholders by Commissioner Breton and Director-General Kerstin
Jorna at the following links:
Commissioner Breton - [1]Meetings with organisations and self-employed
individuals (europa.eu)
Members of Cabinet - [2]Meetings with organisations and self-employed
individuals (europa.eu)
Director General - [3]Meetings with organisations and self-employed
individuals (europa.eu)
If you need assistance in clarifying or specifying your application,
please let us know.
In accordance with Article 2, third paragraph of the Implementing Rules to
Regulation 1049/2001[1], the 15 working days time limit for handling your
application will start running when we receive the requested
clarifications.
Thank you in advance for your understanding.
Kind regards,
References
Visible links
1. http://ec.europa.eu/transparencyinitiati...
2. http://ec.europa.eu/transparencyinitiati...
3. https://ec.europa.eu/transparencyinitiat...
Dear [email address],
Thank you for your answer, I will surely loot at the transparency register. In the meantime I will try to clarify my requesto for you.
I am requesting documents which contain the following information:
For the period between 1 October 2017 to date:
- a list of all meetings and/or calls between the Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs with the following stakeholder: the European Battery Alliance, The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, during which “hydrogen vehicles” and/or “electric vehicles ” and/or “batteries” and/or “hydrogen” were discussed.
For the period between 1 of July 2021 to date:
- a list of all meetings and/or calls between the Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs with Vulcan Energie Ressourcen during which “hydrogen vehicles” and/or “electric vehicles ” and/or “batteries” and/or “hydrogen” and/or “lithium” were discussed.
For the period between 1 of February 2021 to date:
- a list of all meetings and/or calls between Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs with Stellantis during which “hydrogen vehicles” and/or “electric vehicles ” and/or “batteries” and/or “hydrogen” and/or “lithium” were discussed.
For the period between 1 of January 2018 to date:
- a list of all meetings and/or calls between Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs Solvay SA during which “hydrogen vehicles” and/or “electric vehicles ” and/or “batteries” and/or “hydrogen” and/or “lithium” were discussed.
I hope I have been helpful
I remain at your disposal for further clarification
Yours sincerely,
Carlotta Indiano
Dear Ms Indiano,
Many thanks for your reply to our clarification request.
We would be grateful if you could clarify whether you are requesting only a list of meetings or also documents related to the meetings (e.g. - all minutes and other reports of these meetings and/or calls;
- all documents prepared for the purpose of the meetings issued both in preparation and after the meetings took place; - all correspondence, including attachments).
It is important for us to exactly assess the number of documents that might fall within the scope of your request.
Please note that this is a second clarification request in accordance with Article 2, third paragraph of the Implementing Rules to Regulation 1049/2001[1], therefore the 15 working days time limit for handling your application will start running when we receive the requested clarifications.
Thank you in advance for your understanding.
Many thanks
Dear [email address],
Thank you for your answer.
My request does not just include a list of meetings but also documents related to the meetings:
- date, individuals attending and organisational affiliation, as well as the issues discussed;
- all minutes and other reports of these meetings and/or calls;
- all documents prepared for the purpose of the meetings issued both in preparation and after the meetings took place.
- all correspondence, including attachments (i.e. any emails, mail correspondence or telephone call notes) discussing “hydrogen vehicles” and/or “electric vehicles ” and/or “batteries” and/or “hydrogen”.
Thank you
Yours sincerely,
Carlotta Indiano
Dear Ms Indiano,
thank you for your reply to the second clarification request. In order to make sure we identify the correct documents, there is one more clarification we would like to request. Your application states:
"a list of all meetings and/or calls between the Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs with the following stakeholder: the European Battery Alliance, The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, during which “hydrogen vehicles” and/or “electric vehicles ” and/or “batteries” and/or “hydrogen” were discussed."
We would like to clarify whether this covers also meetings OF the European Battery Alliance. For further information on the European Battery Alliance (which was launched in 2017 by the European Commission) please see https://ec.europa.eu/growth/industry/pol...
Best regards,
Dear [email address],
Thank you for your answer.
My request should also cover meetings of the European Battery Alliance between 1 October 2017 to date.
Yours sincerely,
Carlotta Indiano
Dear Madam,
We refer to your request for access to documents, registered on under the
above mentioned reference number.
Your application is currently being handled. However, we will not be in a
position to complete the handling of your application within the time
limit of 15 working days, which expires on 10/11/2021.
An extended time limit is needed (part of) the documents requested
originate from third parties which have been consulted.
Therefore, we have to extend the time limit with 15 working days in
accordance with Article 7(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 regarding
public access to documents. The new time limit expires on 01/12/2021.
We apologize for this delay and for any inconvenience this may cause.
Yours sincerely,
DG GROW – Access to documents team
[1]cid:479385507@17082012-2045
European Commission
Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and
SMEs
DG GROW/B1 – Planning and Briefings
References
Visible links
Dear Ms Indiano,
referring to your access to documents request below, please find enclosed
the reply letter and document register.
Due to the large size of the documents, they cannot be sent by e-mail.
Instead, they have been uploaded to a public CIRCABC group at
[1]https://circabc.europa.eu/w/browse/1338e....
Access to the group is open to all with no need to register with the
CIRCABC system. Please let us know if you encounter any problems accessing
the documents.
Best regards,
SATU PORSTI-RONNBERG
Administrative assistant
European Commission
Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and
SMEs
Mobility
BREY 10/39
B-1049 Brussels/Belgium
+32 229 61195
[2][email address]