DG GROW contacts with industry re. Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPCs) manufacturing waiver

The request was successful.

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:

(i) a list of meetings of DG GROW officials and/or representatives (including the Commissioner and her Cabinet) and representatives of individual companies and/or industry federations (such as, but not limited to, EFPIA and/or its member companies); consultancies or law firms acting for companies/industry groups; and/or, patients groups, at which a manufacturing waiver for Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPCs) was discussed (since June 2016);

(ii) minutes and other reports of these meetings;

(iii) all correspondence (including emails) between DG GROW officials and/or representatives (including the Commissioner and her Cabinet) and representatives of companies and/or industry associations (including consultancies/law firms acting on their behalf), or patients groups, in which a manufacturing waiver for Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPCs) was discussed (since June 2016).

I would be grateful if you could take into account the Code of Good Administrative Behaviour into account when considering (i) of this request.

Yours sincerely,

Rachel Tansey

Postal Address:
Corporate Europe Observatory
Rue d'Edimbourg 26
1050 Brussels
Belgium

Dear Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs,

I have yet to receive an acknowledgement of my access to documents request sent on 12th October 2018 concerning contacts between DG GROW and industry representatives around the proposed SPC manufacturing waiver. As this request was sent to you three weeks ago, I'd be very grateful if you could respond promptly, by email, to let me know when I can expect to receive the documents I requested.

Yours faithfully,

Rachel Tansey

Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs

Dear Ms Tansey,

Thank you for your e-mail dated 12/10/2018. We hereby acknowledge receipt of your application for access to documents, which was registered on 06/11/2018 under reference number GestDem 2018/5803.

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 27/11/2018. 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 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 AsktheEU.org website is responsible and accountable for the processing of your personal data via that website, and not the European Commission. For further information on your rights, please refer to the third party’s privacy policy.

We understand that the third party running that website usually publishes the content of applicants’ correspondence with the European Commission on that website. This includes the personal data that you may have communicated to the European 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 your correspondence with the European Commission to be published on the AsktheEU.org website, you can provide us with an alternative, private e-mail address for further correspondence. In that case, the European Commission will send all future electronic correspondence addressed to you only to that private address.

Yours sincerely

DG GROW – Access to documents team

European Commission
Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs
DG  GROW/03 – The Strategic planning and delivery Unit

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Dear Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs,

Further to your reply of 6 November 2018, stating that the time limit for a response to my access to documents request of 12 October 2018 (GestDem 2018/5803) would expire on 27/11/2018, I'd like to ask for an explanation for the lack of response to my request, and for the prompt response to this request to be treated as a matter of urgency.

Furthermore, I would note that in response to a separate request (GestDem 2018/5805) I made to DG Grow on the same date, via the asktheeu.org website, I received a response which explained that the "reply to your request could not be finalised today" on the 18 December 2018 (the extended deadline for that request), but though this response referred to my request in the singular, it appears to have had the subject "Re: Access to documents requests Gestdem No 2018/5802, 2018/5803 and 2018/5805". Was this reply intended to cover the three requests I made to DG Grow on 12 October? If so, I still do not appear to have received a initial notification of a time limit extension for GestDem 2018/5803 (though I did for the other two requests, GestDem 2018/5805, and GestDem 2018/5802). In the interests of clarity, I'd therefore ask DG Grow to please send replies or notifications of delay to each of my requests individually.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully,

Rachel Tansey

Dear Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs,

I'd like to draw your attention to my email of 8th January 2019 (copied below) , and once again, request your urgent attention to my request GestDem 2018/5803, which was made on 12 October 2018, and registered on 6th November 2018. With respect to this urgency, I'd furthermore like to draw your attention to the time-limits stipulated in Regulation 1049/2001, of a maximum of 30 working days (15 + 15 extension).

I look forward to your prompt response.

Yours faithfully,

Rachel Tansey

Sent: January 08, 2019
Dear Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs,

Further to your reply of 6 November 2018, stating that the time limit for a response to my access to documents request of 12 October 2018 (GestDem 2018/5803) would expire on 27/11/2018, I'd like to ask for an explanation for the lack of response to my request, and for the prompt response to this request to be treated as a matter of urgency.

Furthermore, I would note that in response to a separate request (GestDem 2018/5805) I made to DG Grow on the same date, via the asktheeu.org website, I received a response which explained that the "reply to your request could not be finalised today" on the 18 December 2018 (the extended deadline for that request), but though this response referred to my request in the singular, it appears to have had the subject "Re: Access to documents requests Gestdem No 2018/5802, 2018/5803 and 2018/5805". Was this reply intended to cover the three requests I made to DG Grow on 12 October? If so, I still do not appear to have received a initial notification of a time limit extension for GestDem 2018/5803 (though I did for the other two requests, GestDem 2018/5805, and GestDem 2018/5802). In the interests of clarity, I'd therefore ask DG Grow to please send replies or notifications of delay to each of my requests individually.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully,

Rachel Tansey

Dear Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs,

With regard to my emails of 8th and 24th January 2019 (copied below), requesting an urgent response regarding your long-delayed reply to my request GestDem 2018/5803, which was made on 12th October 2018, I hereby politely inform you that if I have not received a reply from you by the end of this working week (ie 1st February 2019), I will be making a complaint to the European Ombudsman.

The European Ombudsman, Emily O'Reilly, has stated that “Citizens need to try access documents while they are still relevant. Information delayed is information denied”. Therefore, the 'fast-track' complaint procedure for access to documents requests includes the provision for complaints to be made in face of delays by EU institutions in releasing documents, and when the institution in question has not replied.

Yours faithfully,

Rachel Tansey

Sent: 24 January 2019
Dear Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs,

I'd like to draw your attention to my email of 8th January 2019 (copied below) , and once again, request your urgent attention to my request GestDem 2018/5803, which was made on 12 October 2018, and registered on 6th November 2018. With respect to this urgency, I'd furthermore like to draw your attention to the time-limits stipulated in Regulation 1049/2001, of a maximum of 30 working days (15 + 15 extension).

I look forward to your prompt response.

Yours faithfully,

Rachel Tansey

Sent: January 08, 2019
Dear Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs,

Further to your reply of 6 November 2018, stating that the time limit for a response to my access to documents request of 12 October 2018 (GestDem 2018/5803) would expire on 27/11/2018, I'd like to ask for an explanation for the lack of response to my request, and for the prompt response to this request to be treated as a matter of urgency.

Furthermore, I would note that in response to a separate request (GestDem 2018/5805) I made to DG Grow on the same date, via the asktheeu.org website, I received a response which explained that the "reply to your request could not be finalised today" on the 18 December 2018 (the extended deadline for that request), but though this response referred to my request in the singular, it appears to have had the subject "Re: Access to documents requests Gestdem No 2018/5802, 2018/5803 and 2018/5805". Was this reply intended to cover the three requests I made to DG Grow on 12 October? If so, I still do not appear to have received a initial notification of a time limit extension for GestDem 2018/5803 (though I did for the other two requests, GestDem 2018/5805, and GestDem 2018/5802). In the interests of clarity, I'd therefore ask DG Grow to please send replies or notifications of delay to each of my requests individually.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully,

Rachel Tansey

Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs

1 Attachment

Dear Ms Tansey,

 

We refer to Gestdem 2018/5803 and Gestdem 2018/5805. We would like to
inform you that we are working in order to send to you our replies
shortly. We apology for our delay and the inconvenience it may cause.

 

We thank you for your understanding.

 

With best regards,

 

 

DG GROW – Access to documents team

 

[1]cid:479385507@17082012-2045

European Commission
Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and
SMEs
DG  GROW/03 – The Strategic planning and delivery Unit

 

 

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Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs

Dear Ms. Tansey,

First of all, allow me to apologize for the very late transmission of the documents you have asked for.
We have finally been able to process the documents you have asked for, and you will receive them once the internal approval process is fully cleared. I expect this to happen no later than Monday.

Yours sincerely,

Amaryllis Verhoeven

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Dear Amaryllis Verhoeven,

Thank you for your response, I look forward to receiving the documents today.

Yours faithfully,

Rachel Tansey

Dear Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs,

Thank you for your responses to my requests GestDem No 2018/5805 and GestDem 2018/5803.

Yours faithfully,

Rachel Tansey

Rachel Tansey left an annotation ()

The documents released in response to this request can be found here: https://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/dg_g...