Documents Human Rights Working Group (COHOM) in relation to business and MNCs

The request was successful.

Sehr geehrte / Sehr geehrter Europäischer Auswärtiger Dienst,

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:

all documents drawn up by the Human Rights Working Group (COHOM)or any other committee of the EU's external action service, relating to business, multinational corporations or transnational corporations and human rights, including meeting reports, correspondence between members of the working group, results of commissioned studies and reports, consultations of corporations in relation to human rights or briefing notes.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen,

Christoph Kühn

EEAS ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS, European External Action Service

Dear Sir,

Thank you for your e-mail dated 29/01/2014, requesting access to documents under Regulation No 1049/2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents (that the EEAS is also respecting).

Your request is too broad and lacked sufficient details. We would be grateful if you could supply us with further information.

We would like to ask you more precisions on the documents you are seeking, the subject is indeed rather broad. Could you be more precise on subject and the committee? Please let us know also what period, you are interested in.

Yours faithfully,

EEAS ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS
[EEAS request email]
SG1 - Corporate Board Secretariat (AD)

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Sehr geehrte / Sehr geehrter EEAS ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS,

You asked me to specify my request, as you consider it as too broad. I will attempt to specify my request. Firstly I would like to explain on which reasoning I am basing this request, which might make it more clear already:
The mandate of the Human Rights Working Group (COHOM)states explicitly that is tasked with:
- Discussion and submission of recommendations to the Political Committee on general guidelines
for common reactions to actual or predictable violations of human rights [...]
- Collection and evaluation of information on current violations of human rights in various parts
of the world and actions undertaken by the Twelve in cases of such violations.
- Discussion and, where appropriate, submission of recommendations to the Political Committee
on i.a. the general aspects of human rights questions as well as on the general aspects of the
implementation of the Twelve's human rights policy, including examination of the general balance
of the interventions of the Twelve in the field of human rights.

Furthermore the annual report on human rights of the EU, which is created by this working group, according to their mandate, mentions various policies, which have been developed by the EU Commission in order to address business and human rights issues. There is, however, no mentioning of the actual recommendations and assessments by the Working Group. It might be assumed that those are incorporated into these policies, but this cannot be seen.

I therefore would like to access any documents drawn up by the Human Rights Working Group, which clearly state the assessments and recommendations by this working group in relation to human rights and business or multinational/transnational corporations. Within their mandate the Working Group have clearly identified,as it is made clear in the EU annual human rights report, the human rights in the business context as a new and important area of actual human rights violations. However, it is not clear which recommendation they have given, what is their assessment of the extent of the violation of human rights by businesses or what they have discussed, even without submitting it to the Council or Commission, about the necessary measures that have to be undertaken to respond effectively to the human rights violations by businesses.

In summary, I therefore request any documents, including meeting reports,correspondence between members of the working group, results of commissioned studies and reports, consultations of corporations in
relation to human rights or briefing notes, which give recommendations to the other institutions of the EU regarding the violations of human rights by businesses, assess the extend of human rights violations by businesses or discuss, without submitting it, necessary measures to respond to human rights violations by businesses, as well as any assessments of current human rights policies in regard to businesses, which have been introduced by the Commission.

I realize that this request might entail a large number of documents. However, at the same time these information seem not to be accessible, although they clearly must exist in accordance with the mandate of the Working Group.

In regard to the period I am interested in, I would like to request any relating documents since the set-up of the Human Rights Working Group in 1987, because only documents from the whole period since the Working Group has been set up will give a clear picture of the activities, i.e. the recommendations and assessments and the lack of those information clearly makes it necessary to ask for all the documents from the first actions of the Working Group onwards.

Thank you very much.

Kind regards,

Christoph Kühn

EEAS ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS, European External Action Service

Dear Sir,

Your requests for access to documents have been registered. This message is an acknowledgement of receipt. In accordance with Regulation 1049/2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents (that the EEAS is also respecting), you will receive a reply within 15 working days.

Yours faithfully,

EEAS ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS
[EEAS request email]
SG1 - Corporate Board Secretariat (AD)

EEAS ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS, European External Action Service

Dear Mr Kühn,

Our services are still examining your very broad request for access to documents.
Considering the fact that this implies searching the archives from 1987 on, we will not be able to meet the 15 working days deadline and ask for more time to examine your request.
We will come back to you at the earliest possible moment.

Thank you for your understanding,
Yours faithfully

EEAS ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS
[email address]
SG1 - Corporate Board Secretariat (CC)

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Dear EEAS ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS,

thank you for the notice.
Does your statement imply that you will also not be able to provide any documents within the extended period of 30 working days? If so, please do provide me with a timeline of when I can expect any results, even if I will receive them in several stages.

Yours sincerely,

Christoph Kühn

EEAS ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS, European External Action Service

Dear Sir,

We will make every effort to process your request as quickly as possible. The time-limit necessary to process your request will depend on the number of documents identified and therefore to be examined. We will do our best and we will come back to you at the earliest possible moment, even if you will receive the document in several stages.

Thank you for your understanding,
Yours faithfully

EEAS ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS
SG1 - Corporate Board Secretariat (AD)

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EEAS ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS, European External Action Service

Dear Sir,

Your request will be examined by the EEAS, together with the General Secretariat of the Council of the EU, on the basis of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents[1] (hereafter the "Regulation") and specific provisions of the Council's Rules of Procedure[2].

We will make every effort to process your request as quickly as possible. We wish, however, to draw your attention to Article 6(3) of the above Regulation, which provides that "In the event of an application relating to a very long document or to a very large number of documents, the institution concerned may confer with the applicant informally, with a view to finding a fair solution."

In order to process properly your request and in view of the very large number of documents likely to be covered by your application and the need to perform a thorough research to identify the documents incumbent upon the institution, we are unable to process your request within the time-limit laid down in Article 7(1) and (3) of Regulation No 1049/2001. Under these circumstances, we hope that you will be able to accept that your request will be processed as quickly as possible. The time-limit necessary to process your request will depend on the number of documents identified and therefore to be examined.

Yours sincerely,

EEAS ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS
[EEAS request email]
SG1 - Corporate Board Secretariat (AD)

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[1] Official Journal L 145, 31.5.2001, p. 43.
[2] Annex II to the Council's Rules of Procedure – Council Decision No 2009/937/EU; Official Journal L 325, 11.12.2009, p. 35.

Dear EEAS ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS,

I understand that you will need more than 30 working days to process my request and you ask me to trust you that my request will be handled as quickly as possible.

While I appreciate that this request potentially involves a rather large number of documents. You will, however, also understand that you asking me to wait for an indefinite period of time defeats the purpose of article 7(1),(3) and Article 6(3) of Regulation No 1049/2001.

In the spirit of Article 6(3) of the above mentioned regualation with regard to "finding a fair solution" I would therefore propose that you provide me every 15 working days with an update on my case, which obviously should be more detailed than just stating that you will need more time. I do not consider it a fair solution that I am left without any idea of when I can expect an answer.

Since you have already exceeded the 30 day time-limit I ask you to provide me with the first update on my request until 28th March at the latest.

Yours sincerely,

Christoph Kühn

EEAS ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS, European External Action Service

Dear Sir,

Please find below the update on your case which we have received from responsible division.

The topic of business and human rights has only emerged in recent years in discussions in COHOM, most particularly after the adoption of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights in 2011.
Since then, the topic has been quite regularly discussed in the course of the years 2011, 2012, 2013 and more recently 2014. Ongoing research is taking place to map more in detail the discussions which took place on this topic. We hope to complete this process soon as well as identify the relevant information which could be released.

Yours sincerely,

EEAS ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS
SG1 - Corporate Board Secretariat (AD)

EEAS ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS, European External Action Service

Dear Sir,

Following the holding reply, we would like to complete the information as follows:

The topic of business and human rights has been discussed during the following meetings of the Council Working Party on Human Rights (COHOM):

- meeting of 10-11/5/11 SEC/0383/11 COR1
- meeting of 8-9/11/11 SEC/0875/11
- meeting of 13-14/3/12 SEC/0224/12 COR1
- meeting of 12-13/6/12 SEC/0462/12 COR 1
- meeting of 13-14/11/12 SEC/0864/12 COR 1
- meeting of 17/7/13 SEC/0567/13
- meeting of 4-5/2/14 SEC/0110/14 COR 1

The relevant parts of those reports related to business and human rights will be released.
Now we have to declassify the relevant part and process declassification has just started.

We will provide the documents as soon as possible.
Yours sincerely,

EEAS ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS
SG1 - Corporate Board Secretariat (AD)

Dear EEAS ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS,

thank you for the update.

I would appreciate, if you could provide each report as soon as it has been declassified and not wait until all reports have been declassified. I think this would be a fair solution, considering this request has been pending for quite a while now. Thank you very much.

Yours sincerely,

Christoph Kühn

Christoph Kühn

Dear EEAS ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS,

I was just wondering why you haven't replied to me within 15 working days with an update on my case as per our agreement.
I would appreciate if you could do so immediately.

Yours sincerely,

Christoph Kühn

EEAS ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS, European External Action Service

Dear Mr Kühn,

We are still waiting for the documents to be declassified in the Council of the European Union.
As soon as we receive more information from the SG of the Council we will provide an update on your case.

We regret this additional delay and sincerely apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

Thank you for your understanding,
Yours faithfully

EEAS ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS
[email address]
SG1 - Corporate Board Secretariat (AD)

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EEAS ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS, European External Action Service

Dear Mr Kühn,

We have received the information from the Council of the European Union that the documents will be ready at the beginning of next week.
Yours faithfully

EEAS ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS
[email address]
SG1 - Corporate Board Secretariat (AD)

EEAS ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS, European External Action Service

7 Attachments

Dear Sir,

Thank you for your e-mail dated 29/1/2014, registered on 29/1/2014, requesting access to documents under Regulation No 1049/2001 [1] regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents (that the EEAS is also respecting).

The topic of business and human rights has been discussed during the following meetings of the Council Working Party on Human Rights (COHOM):

- meeting of 10-11/5/11 SEC/0383/11
- meeting of 8-9/11/11 SEC/0875/11
- meeting of 13-14/3/12 SEC/0224/12
- meeting of 12-13/6/12 SEC/0462/12
- meeting of 13-14/11/12 SEC/0864/12
- meeting of 17/7/13 SEC/0567/13
- meeting of 4-5/2/14 SEC/0110/14

We enclose a copy of the documents which we hope will meet your needs. I must however, remind you that they cannot be reproduced or disseminated for commercial purposes unless the European External Action Service has first been consulted. [2]

Yours faithfully,

EEAS ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS
[EEAS request email]
SG1 - Corporate Board Secretariat (AD)

________________________________________
[1] OJ L145, 31.05.2001, page 43

[2] In the case of a study, please use the following disclaimer" I would point out that this study has been carried out by independent experts and does not necessarily represent the European External Action Service's views. I would draw your attention to the fact that it can in no way be reproduced or disseminated for commercial purposes unless we have first been consulted."