Forest Partnership
Dear Environment,
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 document - including, but not limited to, minutes, transcripts, decisions, reports, briefings - and/or any form of correspondence (emails, letters, etc) concerning the EU-Congo Forest Partnership from July 2023 to date.
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,
Matteo Civillini
Dear Sir or Madam,
We are writing to you concerning your request for access to documents sent
on 22/02/2024 and registered on 23/02/2024 under case number 2024/1048.
Since you have not indicated your postal address, we are not able to start
handling your request. The 15 working days to reply to your request will
start running only when you send us your postal address.
You can send your postal address by replying to this e-mail. If we do not
receive your reply we may close this case.
Please note that you can submit a request for access to Commission
documents via the portal [1]'Request a Commission document', which does
not require you to indicate your postal address.
Why do we need your personal postal address?
Since 1 April 2014, the submission of a postal address became a mandatory
feature when submitting an application for access to Commission documents
via an e-mail. We would like to explain why we need your postal address in
order to register and handle your application for access to documents when
submitted via e-mail:
• Firstly, to obtain legal certainty as regards the date you received
the European Commission reply to your application for public access to
documents. Article 297 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the
European Union (TFEU) states that '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.' In line with
this provision, if the Commission does not grant full access to the
requested documents, it notifies the reply to the applicant via
registered mail with acknowledgement of receipt or via delivery
service. This requires an indication of a valid postal address by the
applicant;
• Secondly, to apply correctly the [2]Data Protection Regulation (EU)
2018/1725. Knowing whether the applicant is an EU resident (or not) is
necessary for deciding which conditions shall apply for the
transmissions of personal data to applicants for access to documents.
These conditions are not the same for recipients established in the
Union and for recipients in third countries. As the vast majority of
the documents requested contain personal data, the Commission cannot
ensure the correct application of the data protection rules in the
absence of a postal address;
• Thirdly, to apply correctly [3]Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001. Article
4(1)(b) of that Regulation refers to the protection of the privacy and
integrity of the individual and has to be applied in line with the
Data Protection Regulation;
• Fourthly, to protect the interest of other citizens and safeguard the
principle of good administration. The Commission has to treat all
citizens equally by ensuring that the legal framework for public
access to documents is respected. For example, it has to verify
whether Article 6(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 is being evaded
by introducing several requests under different identities. Indeed, in
its Ryanair judgment ([4]EU:T:2010:511), the General Court confirmed
that Article 6(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 cannot be evaded by
splitting an application into several, seemingly separate, parts. In
addition, the Commission has to make sure that the legal framework is
respected and the right of access to documents is not abused by making
requests under an invented identity.
The considerations above show that the request for and the consequent
processing of the applicant's 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(1)(a) of Data Protection
Regulation, namely providing a smooth and effective access to documents.
Yours faithfully,
Directorate-General for Environment - Access to Documents
European Commission
References
Visible links
1. https://www.ec.europa.eu/transparency/do...
2. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
3. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
4. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
Dear Environment,
Thank you for your message.
My address is via Turchino 2/d, Briosco (Italy).
Yours faithfully,
Matteo Civillini
Dear Sir or Madam,
We hereby acknowledge the receipt of your request for access to documents
sent on 22/02/2024 and registered on 26/02/2024 under the case number
2024/1048.
We will handle your request within 15 working days as of the date of
registration. The time-limit expires on 18/03/2024. We will let you know
if we need to extend this time limit for additional 15 working days.
To find more information on how we process your personal data, please see
[1]the privacy statement.
Yours faithfully,
Directorate-General for Environment - Access to Documents
European Commission
References
Visible links
1. https://ec.europa.eu/info/principles-and...
Dear Mr Civillini,
We are writing concerning your request for access to Commission documents
registered on 26/02/2024 under case number 2024/1048.
We are currently working on your request. However, we have not yet been
able to gather all the elements necessary to carry out a full analysis of
your request. We will not be able to send you the reply within the
prescribed time limit expiring on 18/03/2024.
The reason for this delay is that the application concerns a large number
of documents, also held by different Services, that have to be examined.
We will do our best to respond to you as soon as possible.
Kind regards,
The INTPA F2 Team
Dear Mr Civillini,
We are writing concerning your request for access to Commission documents
registered on 26/02/2024 under case number 2024/1048;
We are currently working on your request. However, we will not be able to
send you the reply within the prescribed time limit expiring today 11/04.
The reason is that the application concerns documents held by different
Services that are being consulted. Also, part of the documents requested
originate from third parties, which have to be consulted.
Bearing in mind that we can no further prolong the deadline, we can assure
you that we are doing all that is necessary to respond to your request as
timely as possible.
We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause and we count on your
understanding.
Kind regards,
The INTPA F2 Team
Dear Environment,
The response to my request is long overdue.
I kindly ask to provide a response as soon as possible.
Yours faithfully,
Matteo Civillini
Dear Mr Civillini,
Thank you for your reminder. We apologise for the delay in responding to your request that as explained in our previous correspondence is among others due to the fact that different services have been involved to this exercise. Also, your request refers to quite a few documents that needed to be treated with care.
We can assure you that at the moment we are performing the last checks before we can share these documents with you, hopefully in the following days (please mind that the 9th and 10th of May are Commission holidays).
Have a good day,
The INTPA F2 Team
Dear Mr Civillini,
As promised, please find attached our reply to your request for access to
documents EASE 2024/1048.
May I ask you to confirm the reception of the documents?
Kind regards,
The INTPA F2 Team
Dear [email address],
Thank you. I confirm receipt of the documents.
Yours sincerely,
Matteo Civillini
Dear [email address],
Please note that that I am unable to open the files "reply 2024_1048" and "List of documents", presumably because the files are damaged or corrupted. I have tried with several different softwares but none works.
Could you please resend them? Otherwise I will not be able to see your response and the reasons behind disclosing/not disclosing certain documents.
Thank you.
Yours sincerely,
Matteo Civillini
Dear Mr Civillini,
Thank you for your feedback and apologies for not having been able to send the files promptly.
Of course, please find attached the two requested documents.
Have a good day,
The INTPA F2 Team