Meetings with coal industry

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Dear Energy,

Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as developed in Regulation 1049/2001, I am requesting a list of all meetings held by Aleksandra Tomczak with the coal industry and / or its lobbyists, since February 2015. I would additionally like to receive all meeting notes and reports from these meetings, and any further correspondence/ emails between Ms Tomczak and the coal industry.

Yours faithfully,

Vicky Cann
CEO
Rue d'Edimbourg 26
1050 Brx

Dear Ms. Cann,

Thank you for your e-mail dated 17/11/2015. We hereby acknowledge receipt of your application for access to documents, which was registered on 17/11/2015 under reference number GestDem 2015/6020.

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 08/12/2015. In case this time limit needs to be extended, you will be informed in due course.

Best regards,

Team Access to Documents
European Commission
Secretariat General
Unit B4 - Transparency

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Dear Ms Cann,

Your application for access to documents, registered under the above mentioned reference numbers, is currently being handled. However, we will not be in a position to complete the handling of your application within the time limit of 15 working days, which expires on 8/12/2015.

An extended time limit is needed for detailed analysis as to the availability of the documents requested.

Therefore, we have to extend the time limit with 15 working days in accordance with Article 7(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 regarding public access to documents. The new time limit expires on 7/01/2015.

We apologise for this delay and for any inconvenience this may cause.

Yours faithfully

ENER ACCES DOCUMENTS Team

European Commission
DG ENER
Unit A.1

DM24 08/046
B-1049 Brussels/Belgium
+32 2 298 17 47

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Vicky Cann left an annotation ()

DG Energy has replied off this website. The answer is posted below for information:

Dear Mrs Cann

I refer to your e-mail dated 17th November 2015 October 2015 by which you make a request for access to documents under the above mentioned reference number. Your request refers to "a list of all meetings held by Aleksandra Tomczak with the coal industry and / or its lobbyists, since February 2015 (…) as well as all meeting notes and reports from these meetings, and any further correspondence/ emails between Ms Tomczak and the coal industry."

I note that in our response to your previous application for access to documents (GestDem No 2015/5713) we have already informed you that given Ms Tomczak's previous employment at the World Coal Association the European Commission took concrete measures to mitigate any risk of conflict of interest. These included a strict rule that for the first six months after entry into service Ms Tomczak would not be involved in any meeting with members of WCA or industry representatives from the coal sector without the prior agreement of her Head of Unit. In case of an authorisation to participate in such meetings she would always be accompanied by another colleague from the Commission. During that same period, Ms Tomczak would not be involved in files concerning decisions related to individual coal companies or national coal sectors. These rules were closely followed. In fact, Ms Tomczak's job is to monitor, analyse and report on the developments in the coal industry, providing input where appropriate to coal-related policy processes of the European Commission. Ms Tomczak is therefore not in a decision-making position.

Given the above, we can confirm that during the first six months of her employment at the European Commission Ms Tomczak did not hold on her own any meetings with coal industry stakeholders. Where she attended meetings in the presence of other Commission officials, these primarily concerned the preparation of the European Commission – EURACOAL Dialogue which took place on 7th of July. In addition to the above, Ms Tomczak attended a meeting with the representatives of Carbunion, where they presented their views on the situation of the Spanish coal industry.

After the six month period, Ms Tomczak held three meetings with the coal industry stakeholders: on 28/10/2015 with Polish Electricity Association (PKEE), to discuss PKEE's position paper on LCP BREF, on 5/11/2015 with RWE, regarding their views on the German Government regulations on coal-fired power plants as announced by the German Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy, and on 3/12/2015 with DTEK, Ukrainian coal producing company, in the presence of Commission hierarchy. All these meetings were of a fact gathering nature and therefore did not result in any follow up correspondence or internal Commission notes or documents recorded in the Commission document registration system. Emails exchanged for organisational purposes with the above-mentioned stakeholder to discuss and finalise the logistical arrangements were of temporary nature and therefore have not been entered in the Commission document registration system.

Please apologize for late reply to your request.

Yours faithfully

ENER ACCES DOCUMENTS Team
European Commission
DG ENER