Notification of German Ancillary Copyright law

The request was partially 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:

* all information (including but not limited to letters, emails, email drafts, documents, notes, memoranda, studies, remarks, copies, data, files, facsimiles, drafts and records) about the notification under Directive 98/34/EC related to the German Presseverlegerleistungsschutzrecht (Achtes Gesetz zur Änderung des Urheberrechtsgesetzes dated May 7, 2013 (BGBl 2013 I Nr. 23 ,pg 1161)

* any information (see above) related to the interpretation of Directive 98/34/EC with regards to the notification requirements in the field of copyright.

* any information within the Commission, including Commissioner Günther Oettinger and his staff regarding the ancillary copyright law ("Leistungsschutzrecht für Presseverleger")

Please note that a similar request was filed in 2015. Any document that was fully released in the request GESTEM 2015/3352 should be excluded from this request. If a document covered by GESTEM 2015/3352 was not or only partially released, I am seeking the full release of said document as the reasons for nondisclosure back in 2015 are now gone.

Out of abundance of caution, I would like to give the following guidance to define the scope of this requestion: Please note that Commissioner Bieńkowska replied to a written question to MEP Reda in 2015 ( E-005574/2015) on the same matter. I want all information (as defined above) related to the answer of this question included in the request.

If the request covers information that has been previously fully released in another access to documents request, a link to said release is sufficient in order to avoid duplicate effort.

If information under the scope of this request cannot be fully released, I kindly ask for a list of these documents as well as the identifier for said document, for example ARES numbers.

Yours faithfully,

Mathias Schindler

Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs

Dear Sir,

Thank you for your e-mail dated 08/02/2017. We hereby acknowledge receipt of your application for access to documents, which was registered on 13/02/2017 under reference number GestDem 2017/0859.

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 06/03/2017. 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 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.

Yours faithfully,
DG GROW - Access to documents

show quoted sections

Dear Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs,

Thank you for your email.

My request for documents was sent on February 8. On February 9, I called your Unit to confirm that my request has been received. Your unit confirmed that the email had been received on February 8 and the assignment of handling it had been done already.

Please rectify the date of registration of this access to documents request to February 8 (or February 9 at the latest) and adjust the time limit for a response accordingly. The time limit for this access to documents request will expire on March 3, 2017.

Yours faithfully,

Mathias Schindler

Mathias Schindler

Dear Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs,

Please pass this on to the person who reviews confirmatory applications.

I am filing the following confirmatory application with regards to my access to documents request 'Notification of German Ancillary Copyright law'.

My request for documents was sent on February 8. On February 9, I called your Unit to confirm that my request has been received. Your unit confirmed that the email had been received on February 8 and the assignment of handling it had been done already.

The time limit for this access to documents request expired on March 3, 2017. No extension of the deadline was invoked.

A full history of my request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/noti...

Yours faithfully,

Mathias Schindler

Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs

Dear Mr Schindler,

Thank you for your e-mail dated 03/03/2017. With reference to your e-mail dated 08/02/2017, in which you make a request for access to documents, please allow us to recall you that your request has been registered on 13/02/2017 under the above mentioned reference number. You have been informed about the date of registration of your request by means of acknowledgment of receipt, dated 13/02/2017. According to Regulation 1049/2001, Article 7(1), the time limit to handle your application started from the day of its registration.

Your application 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 06/03/2017.
An extended time limit is needed as your application concerns documents held by different Services which must be consulted.

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 27/03/2017.

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

Yours faithfully,
DG GROW - Access to document team

show quoted sections

Mathias Schindler

Dear Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs,

thank you for your email. Your statement " your request has been registered on 13/02/2017 under the above mentioned reference number." is incorrect. It is correct that

a) you received my access to documents request on February 8, 2017.
b) assigned a case officer on this request on February 9, 2017
c) sent an email to me stating that the registration happened on February 13.

On February 13, I informed you that the statement in c) must be mistaken and requested a rectification of the statement to which there was no reply.

To put it bluntly, your action seem to indicate that you are trying to extend the deadlines for handling access to information requests outside of the legal requirements of Regulation 1049/2001 and I am unwilling to let this happen.

In your email today, you are trying to invoke an extension of a deadline (that has already passed) by another 15 days. Basically every single condition set by Article 7(3) that would allow such an extension is not met. Even if the deadline hadn't passed already, you haven't met these requirements for an extension:

a) you did not demonstrate that this is an exceptional case.
b) you did not provide detailed reasons
c) (as said already) you did not notify me in advance.

I maintain my request for an internal review persuant to Article 7 (4) of Regulation 1049/2001.

Yours faithfully,

Mathias Schindler

Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Schindler,
 
We take note of your e-mail of 03/03/2017 regarding GESTDEM no 2017/0859.
 
Please be informed that we cannot register a confirmatory application at
this stage. The Commission is still handling your initial application and
will provide an explicit reply to him you in the extended time limit which
expires on 27/03/2017. Your right to contest the Commission initial reply
remains untouched.
 
Best regards,
 
BLURIOT-PUEBLA Madeleine
Cellule 'Accès aux documents'
 
European Commission
SG/B/4 - Transparence

BERL 05/315
B-1049 Brussels/Belgium
+32 2 296 09 97
[1][email address]
 
 

show quoted sections

Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Schindler,

 

We refer to your e-mail dated 08/02/2017 in which you make a request for
access to documents, registered on 13/02/2017 under the above mentioned
reference number.

 

The reply to your request is ready for signature by the hierarchy but
could not be signed today. Therefore, we are not in a position to complete
the handling of your application within the extended time limit of 15
working days, which expires today (27/03/2017).

 

The reply will be sent to you as soon as it is signed by the hierarchy. We
apologise for this additional delay and for any inconvenience this may
cause.

 

Kind regards,

 

DG GROW – Access to Documents team

 

 

[1]cid:479385507@17082012-2045

European Commission
DG  GROW
A1 – Access to documents team

 

 

References

Visible links

Mathias Schindler

Liebe DG Grow, Liebes Generalsekretariat,

hiermit stelle ich den Zweitantrag nach Verordnung 1049/2001.

Der Antrag auf Zugang zu Dokumenten wurde am 8. Februar gestellt. Die DG hat diesen Antrag erst am 13. Februar registriert und die Frist zur Beantwortung nicht vom Tag der Antragsstellung oder dem Tag der Kenntnisnahme (bestätigt ab spätestens 8. Februar) errechnet, sondern vom 13. Februar.

Am 6. März, also nach Ablauf der 15-Tage-Frist erklärte die DG, die Frist um weitere 15 Werktage zu verlängern. Dies tat sie, ohne dass die für eine Verlängerung nötigen Voraussetzungen vorlagen. Selbst wenn man all dies ignorierte - die verspätete Registrierung, die verspätet angesetzte Frist und die unzulässige Fristverlängerung - sind alle Voraussetzungen für den Zweitantrag erfüllt. Die vage Aussicht, zu einem beliebigen späteren Zeitpunkt irgendeine Antwort zu erhalten, kann dies nicht verhindern.

Bitte informieren Sie mich umgehend über die erfolgte Registrierung des Zweitantrages.

A full history of my request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/noti...

Yours faithfully,

Mathias Schindler

Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs

15 Attachments

Dear Mr Schindler,

 

Please find enclosed the reply to your request for access to documents
registered under number GESTDEM 2017/859.

 

Best regards,

 

 

Watch our promotional videos:

Directive (EU) 2015/1535  | [1]http://youtu.be/ziuAklsNKdI

TBT Agreement   | [2]http://youtu.be/czClLU3pdqk

 

[3]cid:image001.png@01CDAE10.C9F663D0

European Commission
DG for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SME's

Unit B2 | Prevention of Technical Barriers

Follow us on

Facebook:                 [4]EU Growth

Twitter:                      [5]@EU_Growth

Our Websites:         [6]ec.europa.eu/growth

                                      [7]ec.europa.eu/bienkowska

 

 

 

 

 

References

Visible links
1. http://youtu.be/ziuAklsNKdI
2. http://youtu.be/czClLU3pdqk
4. http://www.facebook.com/EU.growth
5. http://twitter.com/EU_growth
6. http://ec.europa.eu/growth/index_en.htm
7. http://ec.europa.eu/bienkowska

Mathias Schindler

Dear Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs,

vielen Dank für Ihre Antwort. Ich halte an meinem Zweitantrag fest.

Yours faithfully,

Mathias Schindler

Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs

Dear Sir,

Thank you for your email dated 29/03/2017, by which you request, pursuant to Regulation No 1049/2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents, a review of the position taken by DG GROW in reply to your initial application GESTDEM 2017/859.

We hereby acknowledge receipt of your confirmatory application for access to documents which was registered on 29/03/2017 (Ares(2017)1688337).

Your application will be handled within 15 working days (24/04/2017). In case this time limit needs to be extended, you will be informed in due course.

Please be informed that the answer to your confirmatory application is a formal Commission decision that will be notified to you by express delivery.

We kindly offer you the possibility to provide us a contact phone number (by email to [email address]), so that the external delivery service can contact you in case of absence.

Please note that the Commission will not use your phone number for any other purpose than for informing the delivery service, and that it will delete it immediately thereafter.

Yours faithfully,

Carlos Remis
SG.B.4
Transparence
Berl. 05/315

show quoted sections

Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs

2 Attachments

Dear Mr Schindler,

 

Please find attached a letter concerning your application for access to
documents under Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 - Gestdem 2017/859

 

Yours sincerely,

 

TEAM ACCESS DOCUMENTS
[1]cid:image001.gif@01D10B5D.0CD08030
European Commission
Secretariat General

Unit B4 - Transparency

 

 

 

 

References

Visible links

Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Schindler,
 
Would it be acceptable to you to receive the reply to your confirmatory
application GESTDEM 2017/859 in English?
 
Many thanks in advance for your reply!
 
Best regards,
 
Carlos Remis
SG.B.4
Transparence
Berl. 05/315
 
 

show quoted sections

Mathias Schindler

Dear Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs,
Dear Carlos Remis,

given the fact that the time limit is about to expire today, I don't see how a "no" would allow you to keep your self-imposed deadline today, assuming that you have an English draft letter now.

Feel free to send me the English reply as soon as you have it and feel free to send me replies or translations in German afterwards.

Yours faithfully,

Mathias Schindler

Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs

2 Attachments

Dear Mr Schindler,
Please find attached a letter concerning your confirmatory applications
for access to documents under Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 - GESTDEM
2017/859
Yours sincerely,
ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS TEAM
European Commission
Secretariat General
Unit B4 - Transparency
 

Mathias Schindler

Dear Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs,

bitte informieren Sie mich über den Stand dieses Zweitantrages, dessen verlängerte Deadline bereits am 17. Mai abgelaufen ist.

Yours faithfully,

Mathias Schindler

Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs

Dear Mr Schindler,

Unfortunately, we have not yet been able to finalise our internal consultations, as the consultations with the Spanish authorities on requested documents that originate from them are still ongoing.

I can assure you that we are doing our utmost to provide you with a final reply as soon as possible. I regret this additional delay and sincerely apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

Best regards,

Carlos Remis
SG.B.4
Transparence
Berl. 05/315

show quoted sections

Mathias Schindler

Dear Mr. Remis,

thank you for your response in this matter. It is unfortunate that you fail to indicate when this delay for an answer will end, how you intend to resolve this issue and how "consultations" at this stage with the Spanish authorities are actually required to perform the access to documents request.

a) which documents are subject to these consultations?
b) which documents are not subject to ongoing consultations? What is keeping you from finalising these documents now and proceed with the other documents in a second step?
c) when did you learn about the delay?

Yours faithfully,

Mathias Schindler

Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs

Dear Mr Schindler,

Thank you for your e-mail. As you know, some of the documents identified in your previous confirmatory application Gestdem 2015/3352 originate from the Spanish authorities.

These documents were refused in the confirmatory decision 2015/3352. With the view of giving the Spanish authorities the opportunity to take into account the fact that access to these documents is requested now again in the context of your confirmatory application 2017/859, the Secretariat-General launched a new consultation of the Spanish authorities.

The confirmatory decision, which reviews the initial decision regarding all identified documents is not yet finalised. We are very sorry for this delay. I can assure you that we are doing our utmost to provide you with a final reply as soon as possible. I regret this additional delay and sincerely apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

Best regards,

Carlos Remis
SG.B.4
Transparence
Berl. 05/315

show quoted sections

Mathias Schindler

Dear Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs,
Dear Mr. Remis,

as a new month approaches, I was wondering if you could explain to me the kind of work that happened in the last four weeks to get this access to documents case solved and by when you expect the answer to be ready.

Yours faithfully,

Mathias Schindler

Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Schindler,
 
Due to the current holiday period, we regret only to be able to give you
an update as from beginning of September.
 
Thank you for your understanding.
 
Best regards,
 
BLURIOT-PUEBLA Madeleine
Cellule 'Accès aux documents'
 
European Commission
SG/B/4 - Transparence

BERL 05/315
B-1049 Brussels/Belgium
+32 2 296 09 97
[1][email address]
 

show quoted sections

Mathias Schindler

Dear Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs,
Dear Madeleine BLURIOT-PUEBLA,

thank you for your email. Please note that my question was focused more on getting to know what kind of work was done before the holiday season and especially in the last four weeks.

Yours faithfully,

Mathias Schindler

Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Schindler,
 
My unit is currently dealing with a high number of pending confirmatory
applications. The responsible case-handler for your file is currently on
holiday and will return by the end of the month.
 
Please rest assured that your application is being managed as quickly as
possible in line with the available resources. Regarding your questions on
the work carried out on your file over the last weeks, I would like to
clarify that it does not correspond to the Commission's administrative
practice to provide an ad hoc listing of the various steps carried out in
the handling of a particular file, nor would the Commission be under a
legal obligation to do so.
 
Compiling such information would, as a matter of fact, result in binding
further additional resources which then would not be available any longer
for the actual case-handling.
 
I hope you find these explanations useful.
 
Yours sincerely,
Martin KRÖGER
Head of Unit
 
European Commission
Secretariat-General
Unit B4: Transparency

BERL 5/325
+32 2 29 99559
B-1049 Brussels
[1][email address]
 
 

show quoted sections

Mathias Schindler

Dear Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs,
Sehr geehrter Herr Kröger,

vielen Dank für ihre Antwort auf meine Nachfrage, ob es denn in den letzten Monaten irgendwelche Aktivitäten gegeben hat, meinen Zweitantrag vom 3. März 2017 zu bearbeiten.

Yours faithfully,

Mathias Schindler

Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs

11 Attachments

Dear Mr Schindler,
 
Please find attached an advance information copy of the confirmatory
decision taken on your requests for access to documents registered under
reference GESTDEM 2017/859 (C(2017)6448 final).
German translation (courtesy copy) :
Annexes :
 
Please note that the Secretariat General of the European Commission will
proceed with the formal notification of the decision in the coming days.
 
This advance copy is solely sent for your information and is not the
formal notification of the confirmatory decision.
 
Yours sincerely,
 
BLURIOT-PUEBLA Madeleine
Cellule 'Accès aux documents'
 
European Commission
SG/B/4 - Transparence

BERL 05/315
B-1049 Brussels/Belgium
+32 2 296 09 97
[1][email address]

show quoted sections

Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs

7 Attachments

Dear Mr Schindler,
 
Please find attached a letter concerning your confirmatory application for
access to documents under Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 - GESTDEM 2017/859.
 
Yours sincerely,
 
BLURIOT-PUEBLA Madeleine
Cellule 'Accès aux documents'
 
European Commission
SG/B/4 - Transparence

BERL 05/315
B-1049 Brussels/Belgium
+32 2 296 09 97
[1][email address]
 
 
 

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]