Meetings regarding US-EU Collaboration Platform on Agriculture (CPA)

Michaela Herrmann made this access to documents request to Agriculture and Rural Development

Automatic anti-spam measures are in place for this older request. Please let us know if a further response is expected or if you are having trouble responding.

The request was successful.

Dear Agriculture and Rural Development,

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:

This request regards meetings held as part of the US-EU Collaboration Platform on Agriculture (CPA).

Information requested: Names of attendees at all meetings; or invited parties and RSVPs for meetings that have not yet taken place; names of organizations they represent(ed); agendas for the meetings; minutes of meetings; details of the locations of meetings; presentation slides used, and any other materials shared or used (e.g. briefings, leaflets), including in preparation and after the meetings took place; names and organizations of any speakers or external guests for the following:

3 May, 2022 - webinar on Agricultural Productivity Growth
28 June, 2022 - webinar on soil health
18 July, 2022 - webinar on food security
September 2022 - webinar and US field visits on methane emissions reduction
November 2022 - webinar on validating sustainability claims
6-7 December, 2022 - Brussels meeting on future challenges for agriculture
8-9 December, 2022 - Brussels meeting on EU Agriculture Outlook Forum
9-12 December, 2022 - Brussels meeting on 2022 stocktaking and 2023 planning
A list of meetings with EU Stakeholders regarding the CPA

I would like to receive this information electronically.

I would like to make clear I prefer you produce the documents on a rolling basis. At no point should the Commission's search for—or deliberations concerning—certain documents delay the production of others that the Commission has already retrieved and elected to produce.

Should my request be denied wholly or partially, please explain the denial or all deletions 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. I reserve the right to appeal.
Please confirm having received this application. I look forward to your reply within 15 business days, according to the regulation.

If anything is unclear or would benefit from further discussion please do not hesitate to contact me.

With thanks,
Michaela Herrmann

AGRI-ACCESS-DOCUMENTS@ec.europa.eu,

Dear Sir or Madam,

We are writing to you concerning your request for access to documents sent
on 01/10/2022 and registered on 03/10/2022 under case number 2022/5615.

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 Agriculture and Rural Development - 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/...

Michaela Herrmann

Dear [email address],

My apologies - here is a postal address for this request:

[ADDRESS REDACTED]

Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

Michaela Herrmann

Mail Delivery System,

2 Attachments

This message was created automatically by mail delivery software.

A message that you sent could not be delivered to one or more of its
recipients. This is a permanent error. The following address(es) failed:

[email address]
host mxa-00244802.gslb.pphosted.com [185.132.180.112]
SMTP error from remote mail server after end of data:
550 5.7.1 Delivery not authorized. To contact the Commission, please send an email to:
[email address]

Dear Agriculture and Rural Development,

My apologies - here is a postal address for this request:

[ADDRESS REDACTED]

Thank you.

Yours faithfully,

Michaela Herrmann

AGRI-ACCESS-DOCUMENTS@ec.europa.eu,

Dear Sir or Madam,

We hereby acknowledge the receipt of your request for access to documents
sent on 01/10/2022 and registered on 04/10/2022 under the case number
2022/5615.

We will handle your request within 15 working days as of the date of
registration. The time-limit expires on 25/10/2022. 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 Agriculture and Rural Development - Access to
Documents
European Commission

References

Visible links
1. https://ec.europa.eu/info/principles-and...

AGRI-ACCESS-DOCUMENTS@ec.europa.eu,

1 Attachment

Dear Ms Herrmann,

Please find attached a message concerning your request for access to
Commission documents registered under the above case number 2022/5615.

Kind regards,

AGRI ACCESS DOCUMENTS Team

Michaela Herrmann

Dear [email address],

I would like to provide some clarification on the documents I requested, as requested in your last message.

Your assumptions about the 13 July 2022 and 19 October 2022 events are correct.

Regarding the EU Agriculture Outlook Conference, that is the correct event as well.

My apologies for the confusion; I took event names and dates from this link, which does not appear to have been wholly accurate. https://www.fas.usda.gov/2022-cpa-events...

I really appreciate the clarifying questions, and please let me know if you have any further requests.

Yours sincerely,

Michaela Herrmann

Mail Delivery System,

2 Attachments

This message was created automatically by mail delivery software.

A message that you sent could not be delivered to one or more of its
recipients. This is a permanent error. The following address(es) failed:

[email address]
host mxa-00244802.gslb.pphosted.com [185.183.28.74]
SMTP error from remote mail server after end of data:
550 5.7.1 Delivery not authorized. To contact the Commission, please send an email to:
[email address]

Dear [email address],

I would like to provide some clarification on the documents I requested, as requested in your last message.

Your assumptions about the 13 July 2022 and 19 October 2022 events are correct.

Regarding the EU Agriculture Outlook Conference, that is the correct event as well.

My apologies for the confusion; I took event names and dates from this link, which does not appear to have been wholly accurate. https://www.fas.usda.gov/2022-cpa-events...

I really appreciate the clarifying questions, and please let me know if you have any further requests.

My apologies if you have received this message twice; I received a delivery error on a previous attempt.

Yours sincerely,

Michaela Herrmann

AGRI-ACCESS-DOCUMENTS@ec.europa.eu,

1 Attachment

AGRI-ACCESS-DOCUMENTS@ec.europa.eu,

9 Attachments

Dear Ms Hermann,

Please find attached a message concerning your request for access to
Commission documents registered under the above case number 2022/5615.

Kind regards,

AGRI ATD team