Code of Conduct Group on business taxation - minutes or equivalent documents
Dear Taxation and Customs Union,
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:
Any formal or informal notes, minutes or other written records from Commission representatives attending meetings of the Code of Conduct group on business taxation since its inception on 9.3.1998.
Please post documents electronically to my email address or physically to
Fabio De Masi
European Parliament
WIB 03M031
Rue Wiertz 60
1047 Bruxelles
Yours faithfully,
Fabio De Masi
DDear Mr Zourek,
I thank you and your services for your response under the reference number GestDem 2015/5101 dated 29 October 2015 to my request for access to documents from 29 September 2015 as posted here:
http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/code_...
In your letter, you quote my request as "Any informal notes, minutes or other written records from Commission representatives attending meetings of the Code of Conduct group on business taxation since its coming into existence (since 9.3.1998)." Before commenting on the substance of your assessment, I would like to point out two errors in the reflection of my initial request.
1. The passage you refer to actually reads "Any formal or informal notes, minutes or other written records from Commission representatives attending meetings of the Code of Conduct group on business taxation since its inception on 9.3.1998." and notably includes also the reference to formal notes. I understand your response (GestDEM 2015/5101), as it is phrased in the letter, as a clear restriction to my actual request.
2. The quoted passage stems from a second request for documents (to be found here: http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/code_...) to which you have not provided an answer yet. My text in this first request, to which you did provide the answer, reads as follows: "Any room document or other written input prepared by the Commission in the context of the work of the Code of Conduct Group on business taxation since its inception on 9.3.1998."
Since your answer somehow seems to refer to both of my initial request, I explicitly make this confirmatory application for both initial requests as well. The so far unanswered request would in any case have given rise to a confirmatory application according to Art 7 (4) of Regulation 1049/01 due to a non-respect of the set deadline to respond by 15 working days to my request.
Therefore my confirmatory application reads as follows: "Any formal and informal notes, minutes or other written records from the European Commission as well as any room document or other written input prepared by the Commission in the context of the work of the Code of Conduct Group on business taxation since its inception on 9.3.1998."
While I understand the inconveniences that arise from my request as regards work required by your department, I disagree with several of the conclusions you derive in your letter and which is why I submit the aforementioned confirmatory application of my request pursuant to Article 7 (2) of Regulation 1049/01.
Given the secretive nature of the Code of Conduct group, it is difficult to impossible to know about the content and the nature of subjects discussed. Hence your demand to tailor more specific requests for individual documents, although understandable from a purely administrative point of view, would entail a significant a priori limitation of my rights to document assess if the selection is based on the very incomplete picture as it emerges from the few already released documents.
Moreover, from a political and public interest point of view, I deem the substance and nature of the documents requested as extremely relevant given that they would potentially inform about political responsibilities for tax policy decisions which cost European citizens enormous amounts of money every year as a consequence of tax avoidance and other harmful practices. This overriding public interest has to be taken into account when balancing costs and benefits of public disclosure under the angle of proportionality that you stress.
I hope this explanation allows you to review the Commission’s position and that you will be in a position to support my call for more transparency in the interest of European citizens on this crucial matter.
In the case the Commission continues to refuse my request for access to documents regarding "Any formal and informal notes, minutes or other written records from the European Commission as well as any room document or other written input prepared by the Commission in the context of the work of the Code of Conduct Group on business taxation since its inception on 9.3.1998.",I alternatively request the following specific documents:
• A copy of the summary database produced by the European Commission on the basis of the work of the Code of Conduct Group and other fora covering corporate taxation which contains a list and/or assessment of all potentially harmful tax practices in European Union Member States.
• The European Commission's minutes of Code of Conduct Group meetings between 01/01/2010 and 15/11/2015. This should be far less than 100 documents in total and would not constitute a disproportionate burden.
• All room documents prepared by the European Commission for Code of Conduct Group meetings dealing with patent boxes as well as the use, application and exchange between administrations of tax rulings and/or advance pricing agreements.
Kind regards
Fabio De Masi