Request for Documents in Multiple CJEU Cases
Dear European Parliament,
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:
I request all documents on the CJEU's registry for the following cases:
Case C-293/12
Case C-594/12
Case C-362/14
Case C-582/14
Case C-213/15
Opinion 1/15
In addition, I request transcripts and oral pleadings on these cases held by the European Parliament.
Please note that due to the recent court ruling in Breyer v. Commission C-213/15, the European Parliament must release all of the documents it has on these cases.
I request a waiver of all fees for this request. I am a member of the news media, and the release of these documents is in the public interest.
If any part of this request is denied, I request to know the reason in writing for each withholding. I also request to be informed on how to appeal.
Yours faithfully,
Rachael Tackett
Dear Mrs Tackett,
Parliament acknowledges receipt of your application concerning all
documents held in connexion with CJEU's cases C-293/12, C-594/12,
C-362/14, C-582/14, C-213/15 and Opinion 1/15.
In this context Parliament would like to stress that, contrary to your
assertion in the application, ruling Breyer v Commision C-213/15 does not
impose on the Institutions the obligation to automatically release
documents (mainly pleadings and written observations) produced or received
in proceedings before the Court of Justice.
The Court has confirmed that Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 applies to
judicial documents, and the Institutions are thus in the obligation to
examine any application for such documents in the same way as other
applications, i.e. on a case by case basis. Assessment of the documents at
stake in any request does not prejudge on whether access to the documents
can be granted or not under Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001.
Yours sincerely,
OUR REF. A(2017)9451
Dear Mrs Tackett,
Parliament acknowledges receipt of your application concerning all
documents held in connexion with CJEU's cases C-293/12, C-594/12,
C-362/14, C-582/14, C-213/15 and Opinion 1/15.
In this context Parliament would like to stress that, contrary to your
assertion in the application, ruling Breyer v Commision C-213/15 does not
impose on the Institutions the obligation to automatically release
documents (mainly pleadings and written observations) produced or received
in proceedings before the Court of Justice.
The Court has confirmed that Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 applies to
judicial documents, and the Institutions are thus in the obligation to
examine any application for such documents in the same way as other
applications, i.e. on a case by case basis. Assessment of the documents at
stake in any request does not prejudge on whether access to the documents
can be granted or not under Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001.
Yours sincerely,
[1]EP-logo-EN TRANSPARENCY – ACCESS TO
DOCUMENTS
PRES | Directorate
General for the
Presidency
Directorate for
Interinstitutional
Affairs and Legislative
Coordination
[2]Public Register
Webpage
[3][email address]
References
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3. mailto:[email address]
OUR REF: A(2017)9451
Dear Ms Tackett,
You recently sent to the European Parliament, under Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, an exceptionally large request for access to documents referenced A(2016)9451, concerning judicial documents held by Parliament. The number of pages involved is estimated at around 1500. As you know Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 requires and individual screening of the documents prior to any decision on public release.
Additionally, for this particular application the documents' originator is in most cases not the European Parliament as they consist of observations lodged by different parties in the court proceeding referred to in your request. The Court has clarified in its judgement of 18 July 2017 (C-213/15) that Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 applies to judicial documents, and the Institutions are thus in the obligation to assess each application for such documents in light of the Regulation.
Under Article 4(4) of that Regulation, Parliament is bound to consult the originators of the documents with a view to assessing whether an exception in Article 4(1) and (2) of the same Regulation is applicable. Given the nature of the documents at stake, Parliament would need to launch consultations with no less than 15 different parties in order to obtain the necessary elements for the assessment. This consultation could take at present longer than usual as relevant experts in the Members States/other third parties are absent due to the summer break. Moreover, even in case of disclosure, any personal data contained in the documents needs to be redacted prior to public release.
Article 6(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 provides that 'in the event of an application relating to a very long document or a very large number of documents, the institution concerned may confer with the applicant informally with a view to finding a fair solution'.
In this respect, and taking into consideration that according to case law deadlines cannot be negotiated, we are contacting you in order to propose to narrow down your request in a reasonable way so as to allow Parliament to proceed with the screening within the 15 working days statutory deadline.
The agreement would not curtail your right to access documents under Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001. You would remain free, and welcome, to send new requests for access to the documents excluded from request A(2017)9451, and any other documents you would wish to access. The agreement would give Parliament the possibility to carry out the necessary consultations and to assess each document within the statutory deadlines. It does not prejudge on whether access to the documents can be granted or not under Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001.
Would you agree to narrow down request A(2017)9451 to the following documents :
- For C-293/12, C-594/12, C-582/14, C-213/15 and Opinion 1/15, the documents originating at the European Parliament, the European Commission, the Council or the Court of Justice. Indeed the main institutions have established a system for swift consultation in case of requests received by one institution for documents originating in another. Parliament could thus launch the consultation under the system and assess the documents within the statutory deadlines without jeopardizing the work of Parliament's services.
- For C-362/14, all document held by Parliament in this case. Parliament is completing the assessment of the relevant documents, which were the subject of a previous request from your side.
Until reception of your reply under 6(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, the statutory deadline cannot run. In the absence of any answer within 20 working days, your application will be considered withdrawn and the file closed.
We look forward to reading from you,
Best regards,
TRANSPARENCY – ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS
PRES | Directorate General for the Presidency
Directorate for Interinstitutional Affairs and Legislative Coordination
Dear AccesDocs,
I will not narrow my request A(2016)9451. I want all the public documents which I requested as soon as each one becomes available. You can send the public documents to me in batches as you review and release documents.
I understand that you will be able to review and release documents more quickly for those that originate from the European Union institutions. Please give a date by which the EU Parliament will release all of the previously mentioned documents.
I also understand that you will have to confer with third parties for the other public documents. Please give me a date by which the EU Parliament will release all the previously mentioned documents.
Please inform me if there is anything further I must do in order to have my request processed for access to public documents.
Yours sincerely,
Rachael Tackett
Dear AccesDocs,
In the previous email, I gave the wrong reference number. In my previous email, I meant A(2017)9451, not A(2016)9451.
I would like to confirm that the public documents for A(2017)9451 will be made available to me in digital format as .pdf files.
Please confirm by replying to this email.
Yours sincerely,
Rachael Tackett
OUR REF: A(2017)9451
Dear Ms Tackett,
Unfortunately, the strict deadlines imposed by Regulation (EC) No
1049/2001 oblige the Institutions to imperatively reply to each
application within 15 working days (in exceptional cases, 15 additional
working days). Furthermore, as already mentioned to you the Court has
ruled that such time-limits cannot be modified by the parties (see
C-127/13 P, in particular par 24-28).
While Article 6(3) of the Regulation allows the Institution concerned to
find a fair solution with an applicant seeking access to a large number of
documents, the Court has ruled that "that solution can concern only the
content or the number of documents applied for", not the time-limit.
Therefore, Parliament cannot extend the examination of your application as
a whole beyond the given time limits, as you would suggest.
It is Parliament's understanding from your message that you did not accept
the proposal to narrow down your application to the documents Parliament
is able to asses within the statutory time-limits.
You maintain thus the request received by Parliament on 27 July (Ref:
A(2017)9451) for the documents held in connection with proceedings in
cases C-293/12, C-594/12, C-532/14, C-213/15P and Opinion 1/15. Documents
in proceedings C-362/14 are subject to a previous request of yours (Ref:
A(2017)8793), with deadline 3 August 2017.
On this basis Parliament's formal decision regarding your request with Ref
A(2017)9451, will be taken within 15 working days, i.e. by 18 August 2017.
Yours sincerely,
[1]EP-logo-EN TRANSPARENCY – ACCESS TO
DOCUMENTS
PRES | Directorate
General for the
Presidency
Directorate for
Interinstitutional
Affairs and Legislative
Coordination
[2]Public Register
Webpage
[3][email address]
References
Visible links
2. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegWeb/app...
3. mailto:[email address]
OUR REF A(2017)9451
Dear Ms Tackett
The European Parliament is dealing with your application of 27 July. Given
the large number of documents at stake in your application and the fact
that consultations with different parties/screening of the relevant
documents is still ongoing, Parliament needs to extend the time-limit for
replying your application by a further 15 working days (i.e. till 8
September 2017), in accordance with Article 7(3) of Regulation (EC) No
1049/2001.
We thank you for your understanding.
Kind regards,
[1]cid:image001.png@01D30C6B.2A8FAF90 Transparency Unit
European Parliament
Directorate-General for the Presidency
Directorate for Inter-institutional Affairs
and Legislative Coordination
[2]http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb/
References
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2. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb/
Our ref.: A(2017)9451
Dear Ms Tackett,
This mail concerns your request for public access to all documents on the
CJEU's registry for the cases C-293/12, C-594/12, C-362/14, C-582/14,
C-213/15 and Opinion 1/15, as well as the transcripts and oral pleadings
on these cases held by the European Parliament (the request).
The decision regarding the request has now been adopted and is to be
notified to you. However, your postal address is required to proceed with
the notification.
Article 297 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union
provides 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 the present case, the notification of the decision will trigger the
possibility of an administrative redress under Regulation (EC) No
1049/2001. The notification will indeed mark the start of the
15-working-day time limit to apply for Parliament to reconsider its
position under Article 7(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001.
The only way available to Parliament to establish with legal certainty
that the decision notification has taken place, as well as its date, is to
notify the decision to you via registered mail. Your sending us of your
postal address is therefore necessary to follow the procedure set out in
Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001.
Hence, with a view to permitting Parliament to duly notify this decision
to you, you are kindly invited to send us your postal address, as is also
provided for by Article 8(3) of the Bureau Decision of 28 November 2001
(OJ C 216, 22.7.2011, p. 19).
As is stated on the European Parliament’s webpage on access to documents,
the information will be processed in accordance with Regulation (EC) No
45/2001 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of
personal data by the Community institutions and bodies.
Your postal address may be sent confidentially to the following address:
AccesDocs[at]ep.europa.eu or via Parliament’s dedicated public register
webpage:
[1]https://www.secure.europarl.europa.eu/Re....
Until reception of this information, Parliament is not in a position to
further process request A(2016)9451. Such processing requires your due
collaboration. The administrative procedure is therefore suspended for the
time being. In the absence of any answer within 20 working days, your
application will be considered withdrawn and the file closed.
We look forward to reading from you.
Sincerely,
TRANSPARENCY UNIT
European Parliament
Directorate-General for the Presidency
Public Register Webpage: [2]http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb/
Accesdocs(at)ep.europa.eu
References
Visible links
1. https://www.secure.europarl.europa.eu/Re...
2. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb/