sustainability criteria biomass RED period 1 CLIMA
From: Belen Balanya, Corporate Europe Observatory
Rue d’Edimbourg 26, 1050 Brussels.
19 December 2018
RE: Access to Documents related to biomass/RED
Dear sirs,
Referring to Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 on public access to EU documents and to the 'Aarhus Regulation' (see note) , I would herewith like to ask for access to the following:
- all correspondence (including email) between 1st June 2016 and 30th November 2016 between the Commissioner for Climate Action and/or his cabinet and/or officials and representatives of DG CLIMA on one hand and representatives from the Confederation of European Private Foresters, Drax, Enviva, EUBIA (the European Biomass Industry Association), IEA Bioenergy, REA (UK renewable energy association), Bioenergy Europe (formerly AEBIOM), Svebio (the Swedish Bioenergy Association), DI Bioenergi (the Danish Bioenergy Association), Bioenergia (the Bioenergy Association of Finland), EBA, (the Estonian Biomass Association), EREA (the Estonian Renewable Energy Association), LATbio (The Latvian biomass association), LAEF (Latvian Renewable Energy federation) and/or WBA (World Bioenergy Association) on the other, in which the issue of sustainability criteria for biomass within the revised Renewable Energy Directive was addressed.
- list of meetings between 1st June 2016 and 30th November 2016 between officials and representatives of DG CLIMA on one hand and representatives representatives from the Confederation of European Private Foresters, Drax, Enviva, EUBIA (the European Biomass Industry Association), IEA Bioenergy, REA (UK renewable energy association), Bioenergy Europe (formerly AEBIOM), Svebio (the Swedish Bioenergy Association), DI Bioenergi (the Danish Bioenergy Association), Bioenergia (the Bioenergy Association of Finland), EBA, (the Estonian Biomass Association), EREA (the Estonian Renewable Energy Association), LATbio (The Latvian biomass association), LAEF (Latvian Renewable Energy federation) and/or WBA (World Bioenergy Association) on the other, in which the issue of sustainability criteria for biomass within the revised Renewable Energy Directive was addressed.
- minutes of the meetings mentioned above
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.
To the extent possible, we prefer the documents in electronic format. Documents that cannot be sent in electronic format should be sent to Corporate Europe Observatory, Rue d’Edimbourg 26, 1050 Brussels.
Should my request be denied wholly or partially, please explain the denial or all deletions referring to specific exemptions in the regulation. Also I 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.
Thank you for your assistance.
Belen Balanya
Corporate Europe Observatory
Note: See Regulation (EC) n. 1367/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 September 2006 on the application of the provisions of the Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters to Community Institutions and bodies (hereinafter "Aarhus Regulation")
Dear Madam,
Thank you for your e-mail dated 19 December 2018. We hereby acknowledge receipt of your application for access to documents, which was registered on 20 December 2018 under reference number GestDem 2018/6920.
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 18 January 2019. 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 third-party 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.
Please note that the private third party running the AsktheEU.org website is responsible and accountable for the processing of your personal data via that website, and not the European Commission. For further information on your rights, please refer to the third party’s privacy policy.
We understand that the third party running that website usually publishes the content of applicants’ correspondence with the European Commission on that website. This includes the personal data that you may have communicated to the European Commission (e.g. your private postal address).
Similarly, the third party publishes on that website any reply that the Commission will send to the email address of the applicants generated by the AsktheEU.org website.
If you do not wish your correspondence with the European Commission to be published on the AsktheEU.org website, you can provide us with an alternative, private e-mail address for further correspondence. In that case, the European Commission will send all future electronic correspondence addressed to you only to that private address.
Your faithfully,
Access to Documents team
European Commission
Directorate-General for Climate Action
Av. de Beaulieu 24
1049 Brussels
Dear Ms Balanya,
We refer to your application dated 19/12/2018 in which you make a request
for access to documents, registered on the 20/12/2018 under the above
mentioned reference number.
An extended time limit is needed as in order to retrieve the documents
requested, large files have to be examined and different Services
consulted.
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 today.
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 12/02/2019.
We apologise for this delay and for any inconvenience this may cause.
Yours faithfully,
Access to Documents team
European Commission
Directorate-General for Climate Action
Av. de Beaulieu 24
1049 Brussels