Correspondence request
Dear Secretariat General of the European Commission,
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:
Correspondence (including emails), which refer to the issue of Brexit, between Commission officials or representatives and any of the following individuals: John Major; Mark Malloch-Brown; James McGrory; Jolyon/Jo Maugham; or Martin Donnelly, during the year 2016.
Correspondence (including emails), which refer to the issue of Brexit, between Commission officials or representatives and any of the following individuals: John Major; Mark Malloch-Brown; James McGrory; Jolyon/Jo Maugham; or Martin Donnelly, during the year 2017.
Yours sincerely,
Louis Thompson
The Nova Building
79 Buckingham Palace Road
London
SW1J 0AJ
Dear Sir,
Thank you for your e-mail dated 28/02/2018. We hereby acknowledge receipt of your application for access to documents, which was registered on 28/02/2018 under reference number GestDem 2018/1255.
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 21/03/2018.
In case this time limit needs to be extended, you will be informed in due course.
Yours faithfully,
Carlos Remis
SG.B.4
Transparence
Berl. 05/315
Dear Mr Thomson, Ares save : tf50(2018)1317969
Further to your initial application for access to documents introduced on 10 November 2017, we sent you the reply also by registered mail, but the letter was returned with the comment "not known at this address" (see the scan on the letter attached).
We therefore regret to inform you that your new application (introduced on 28 February 2018) cannot be handled pending the submission of a valid, real and personal postal address.
Indeed, on 1 April 2014, the submission of a 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 real and personal 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.
We therefore kindly urge you to please provide a real and valid postal address, so as to enable us to duly register and deal with your initial application for access to documents in the meaning of Article 6(1) of Regulation 1049/2001. The deadline for handling your initial request shall run as from the moment of the registration of your request following the submission of a real, personal and valid postal address.
Yours sincerely,
European Commission
Task Force for the Preparation and Conduct of the Negotiations with the United Kingdom under Article 50 TEU (TF50)
B-1049 Brussels/Belgium
Dear Secretariat General of the European Commission,
Please accept my apologies for the mix up.
Please use this address instead:
47 Highlands Heath
Portsmouth Road
Putney
London
SW15 3TX
Yours faithfully,
Louis Thompson
Dear Secretariat General of the European Commission,
Please accept my apologies for the confusion. Here is my home address:
47 Highlands Heath
Portsmouth Road
Putney
London
SW15 3TX
Thank you.
Yours faithfully,
Louis Thompson
Dear Secretariat General of the European Commission,
Please could you update me on the progress of this request, following the provision of my home address.
Thank you.
Yours faithfully,
Louis Thompson
Dear Sir,
Thank you for your e-mail dated 05/03/2018 indicating your correct postal
address - Gestdem 2018/1255.
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. Please be informed that the new
time limit will expire on 26/03/2018.
In case this time limit needs to be extended, you will be informed in due
course.
Yours faithfully,
Carlos Remis
SG.B.4
Transparence
Berl. 05/315
Dear Mr Thompson,
Further to your email on the above mentioned request for access to
documents, please find enclosed a letter from the Task Force for the
Preparation and Conduct of the Negotiations with the United Kingdom under
Article 50 TEU (TF50).
Yours sincerely,
European Commission
Task Force for the Preparation and Conduct of the Negotiations with the
United Kingdom under Article 50 TEU (TF50)
B-1049 Brussels/Belgium (EM)
Dear Secretariat General of the European Commission,
Thank you for your response.
Please could I amend my request as follows (I am happy for this to be treated as a new request if necessary):
Correspondence (including emails), which refer to Brexit/Britain’s membership of the EU internal market or customs union, between Commission officials or representatives and any official or representative (elected or otherwise) of the UK Labour Party, since July 2016.
I hope this is acceptable - thank you very much for your kind assistance.
Yours faithfully,
Louis Thompson
Dear Sir,
Thank you for your e-mail dated 28/03/2018. We hereby acknowledge receipt of your application for access to documents, which was registered on 28/03/2018 under reference number GestDem 2018/1847.
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 23/04/2018.
In case this time limit needs to be extended, you will be informed in due course.
Yours faithfully,
Carlos Remis
SG.B.4
Transparence
Berl. 05/315
Dear Mr Thompson,
Further to your email on the above mentioned request for access to
documents, please find enclosed a letter and annex from the Task Force for
the Preparation and Conduct of the Negotiations with the United Kingdom
under Article 50 TEU (TF50).
The letter has been sent also by registered post.
Yours sincerely,
European Commission
Task Force for the Preparation and Conduct of the Negotiations with the
United Kingdom under Article 50 TEU (TF50)
B-1049 Brussels/Belgium (EM)
Dear Mr Thompson,
Further to your email on the above mentioned request for access to documents, please find enclosed a letter from the Task Force for the Preparation and Conduct of the Negotiations with the United Kingdom under Article 50 TEU (TF50).
Yours sincerely,
European Commission
Task Force for the Preparation and Conduct of the Negotiations with the United Kingdom under Article 50 TEU (TF50)
B-1049 Brussels/Belgium (EM)