OCEAN2020 deliverables
Dear European Defence Agency,
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 project deliverables (reports, analysis, videos, slides, etc.) related to the OCEAN2020 project which has received funding from the European Union's Preparatory Action on Defence Research under grant agreement No 801697
Yours faithfully,
Riccardo Coluccini
Dear Sir,
We hereby acknowledge receipt of your application for access to documents,
which was registered by EDA on 31 August 2021.
In accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 regarding public access to
European Parliament, Council and Commission documents, applicable to EDA
in accordance with Article 30 of Council Decision 2015/1835 of 12 October
2015, your application will be handled within 15 working days. The time
limit will expire on 21 September 2021. In case this time limit needs to
be extended, you will be informed in due course.
Yours sincerely,
EDA Access to Documents
FOLLOW US ON [1][EDA request email]
Rue des Drapiers 17-23, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
[2]www.eda.europa.eu
Dear Sir,
We refer to your email of 31 August 2021 by which you request access to:
“all project deliverables (reports, analysis, videos, slides, etc.)
related to the OCEAN2020 project which has received funding from the
European Union's Preparatory Action on Defence Research under grant
agreement No 801697”.
We have identified a number of documents falling within the scope of your
request, which fall under two categories :
(1) periodical reports, administrative documents and
(2) project deliverables, which are then sub-divided into (a) public
deliverables and (b) restricted deliverables.
In this second category, the documents contained under category 2 (b) are,
in some instances, classified in accordance with the provisions of
[1]Commission Decision (EU, Euratom) 2015/444 of 13 March 2015 on the
security rules for protecting EU classified information.
Having carefully examined the documents identified as falling under the
scope of your request in light of the provisions of [2]Regulation (EC) No
1049/2001 regarding public access to documents, applicable to the EDA in
accordance with Article 30 of the EDA Council Decision, we regret to
inform you that access to the documents identified cannot be granted, as
disclosure is prevented by exceptions to the right of access laid down in
Article 4 of this Regulation, notably Article 4(1)(a) second indent and
Article 4(2) first indent.
In particular, documents identified as falling under type 1 and type 2 (b)
cannot be disclosed to the public as they fall under the exception(s) set
out under Article 4 of Regulation 1049/2001, notably 4(1)(a), second
indent. Access to these documents is restricted as they relate to an
on-going project in the Maritime Defence domain touching on the strategic
defence interests of participating Member States and disclosure of those
documents “(...) would undermine the protection of the public interest as
regards defence and military matters”, as provided by the Regulation. It
should be further noted that the exceptions foreseen in Article 4(1) are
absolute exceptions, not balanced by an overriding public interest in
disclosure.
Moreover, documents under category 2 (b) cannot be disclosed to the public
as they fall under the exception(s) set out under Article 4 of Regulation
1049/2001, notably 4(2), first indent, access to these documents is
restricted as they relate to commercial interests of members of the
OCEAN2020 consortium. Pursuant to Article 4(2), first indent, “the
institutions shall refuse access to a document where disclosure would
undermine the protection of commercial interests of a natural or legal
person including intellectual property”. The assessment has concluded that
the documents identified contain information of a commercial nature, the
disclosure of which could undermine and impact negatively the business
activities and commercial interests of members of the OCEAN2020
consortium.
Pursuant to Article 4(2) of Regulation 1049/2001, we have also examined to
which extent the exception laid down in Article 4(2) of Regulation
1049/2001 may be waived in case of an overriding public interest in
disclosure. Such an interest must firstly be a public interest and
secondly outweigh the harm caused by the disclosure. Having analysed your
request, we have not found any elements which could justify the existence
of an overriding public interest in the sense of the Regulation, which
would outweigh the exceptions stipulated in Article 4(2) mentioned above.
As a result, access to these documents on the basis of overriding public
interest cannot be justified.
In accordance with Article 4(6) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, we have
considered whether partial access could be granted to the documents
requested. Having examined the documents requested in light of the
exceptions above and with regard to the provisions of Regulation (EC) No
1049/200, we have come to the conclusion that no partial access of a
meaningful nature could be granted in light of the sensitive nature of the
documents.
The last category of documents assessed, category 2 (a), identified as
falling within the scope of your request are those which are publicly
available, and to which full access is of course granted. We would
therefore invite you to consult the public information available regarding
the OCEAN2020 project at [3]Ocean2020 - Open Cooperation for European
mAritime awareNess, which contains public deliverables and information
corresponding to the scope of your request.
Means of redress
In accordance with Article 7(2) of Regulation 1049/2001, you are entitled
to make a confirmatory application requesting EDA to review its position.
Such a confirmatory application should be addressed within 15 working days
upon receipt of this email to the Chief Executive of EDA to the following
email: [4][EDA request email]
Yours sincerely,
EDA Access to Documents
FOLLOW US ON [5][EDA request email]
Rue des Drapiers 17-23, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
[6]www.eda.europa.eu
_____________________________________________
From: ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS
Sent: Tuesday, 31 August 2021 15:14
To: Riccardo Coluccini <[FOI #9902 email]>
Subject: RE: access to documents request - OCEAN2020 deliverables
Dear Sir,
We hereby acknowledge receipt of your application for access to documents,
which was registered by EDA on 31 August 2021.
In accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 regarding public access to
European Parliament, Council and Commission documents, applicable to EDA
in accordance with Article 30 of Council Decision 2015/1835 of 12 October
2015, your application will be handled within 15 working days. The time
limit will expire on 21 September 2021. In case this time limit needs to
be extended, you will be informed in due course.
Yours sincerely,
EDA Access to Documents
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