Transatlantic cooperation on car emissions standards and regulations

The request was successful.

Dear Climate Action,

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 concerning regulatory cooperation between the EU and the US on standards and regulations concerning car emissions (since January 2003):

1) minutes and other reports of meetings between European Commission officials and/or representatives (including the Commissioner and the Cabinet) with their United States counterparts on standards and regulations concerning car emissions (since January 2003).

2) all correspondence (including emails, letters) of European Commission officials and/or representatives (including the Commissioner and the Cabinet) with their United States counterparts on standards and regulations concerning car emissions (since January 2003).

3) minutes and other reports of meetings between European Commission officials and/or representatives (including the Commissioner and the Cabinet) and representatives of companies and business associations on transatlantic regulatory cooperation on car emissions standards and regulations (since January 2003).

Yours faithfully,

Hans Diels

University of Antwerp

Yours faithfully,

Hans Diels

Climate Action

Dear Mr. Diels

Thank you for your request for access to documents.

Unfortunately you have not indicated your postal address that is required for registering and handling your request in line with the procedural requirements. Please send us your full postal address at your earliest convenience. Pending your reply, we reserve the right to refuse the registration of your request.

You may, of course, use directly the electronic form for entering your request:
http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regdoc/...

Best regards,

Access to Documents team

European Commission
Directorate-General for Climate Action
Av. de Beaulieu 24
1049 Brussels

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Dear Climate Action,

I would prefer to receive information in electronic form as is possible under Regulation 1049/2001.

Yours faithfully,

Hans Diels

Climate Action

Dear Mr Diels,

On 1 April 2014, the postal address became a mandatory feature for the purpose of introducing a request for access to documents. This requirement is needed despite the fact that you wish to receive only electronic copies of the documents.

We therefore kindly reiterate our request to you to provide a full postal address, so we can duly register and handle your request. Please note that, once we receive your postal address, we will register your request for access as an initial application for access to documents in the meaning of Article 6(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001. The deadline for handling your initial request shall run as from the moment of registration of your request following the submission of your postal address.

Thank you in advance.

Kind regards,

Access to Documents team

European Commission
Directorate-General for Climate Action
Av. de Beaulieu 24
1049 Brussels

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Dear Climate Action,

Can you provide me an email address to send my postal address to?

Yours faithfully,

Hans Diels

Climate Action

Dear Mr Diels,

You can provide your postal address to:

[email address]

You may, of course, use directly the electronic form for entering your original request (which will require your postal address during registration):
http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regdoc/...

Many thanks for your cooperation.

Best regards,

Access to Documents team

European Commission
Directorate-General for Climate Action
Av. de Beaulieu 24
1049 Brussels

show quoted sections

Climate Action

1 Attachment

Dear Sir,

 

Thank you for your e-mail dated 07/02/2020. We hereby acknowledge receipt
of your application for access to documents, which was registered on
18/02/2020 under reference number GestDem 2020/0949.

 

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
10/03/2020. 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.

 

Please note also that the European Commission is not responsible for any
possible processing of personal data by the private organisation running
the AsktheEU.org website, through which you have channelled your request.
Please refer to their privacy policy.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

Access to Documents team

 

    

European Commission

Directorate-General for Climate Action

Av. de Beaulieu 24

1049 Brussels

 

 

 

 

Climate Action

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Diels,

 

We refer to your e-mail dated 7 February 2020 in which you make a request
for access to documents, registered on 18 February 2020 under reference
Gestdem 2020/0949.

 

Pursuant to Article 6(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 regarding public
access to documents, we kindly ask you to provide us with more detailed
information on the documents which you seek to obtain, in particular
regarding the exact nature of the documents. We would like to know if your
request refers to CO2 emissions standards and regulations, or to air
pollutant emission standards and regulations.

 

If you need assistance in clarifying or specifying your application, you
can contact us:

 

·         by email to: [1][email address]

·         by telephone at: (+32) (0) 22 981061

 

In accordance with Article 2, third paragraph of the Implementing Rules to
Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, the 15 working days time limit for handling
your application will start running when we receive the requested
clarifications.

 

Thank you in advance for your understanding.

Yours faithfully,

Access to Documents team

 

    

European Commission

Directorate-General for Climate Action

Av. de Beaulieu 24

1049 Brussels

 

 

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]

Dear Climate Action,

My question concerns air pollutant emission standards and regulations.

Yours faithfully,

Hans Diels

Climate Action

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Diels,

 

We refer to your e-mail dated 7/02/2020 in which you make a request for
access to documents, registered on 18/02/2020 under the above-mentioned
reference number.

 

The descriptions given in point 3 of your application does not enable us
to identify concrete documents which would correspond to your request. Our
document management systems do not allow us to use the search terms you
have specified.

 

We therefore invite you, pursuant to Article 6(2) of Regulation (EC) No
1049/2001 regarding public access to documents, to provide us with more
detailed information on the documents which you seek to obtain, in
particular the following:

 

- a list of companies and business associations falling under the scope of
your request.

 

Due to the wide scope of your request, namely from a temporal point of
view (2003-2020), its handling would involve the search and assessment of
many old documents which have been already transferred to the central
archives. The work needed to deal with your application would cover the
following steps:

 

- Multiple searches for the identification of the documents which fall
within the scope of the request in several document management systems,

- Retrieval and establishment of a complete list of the documents falling
under the scope of your requests,

- Scanning of the documents which are not in pdf format,

- Preliminary individual Assessment of the content of the documents in
light of the exceptions contained in Article 4 of Regulation 1049/2001,

- Third party consultations under Article 4(4) and / or 4(5) of Regulation
1049/2001,

- Final assessment of the documents in light of the comments received,

- Redaction of those parts of the documents to which one or several
exceptions apply,

- Preparation of the draft reply,

- Finalisation of the reply at administrative level and formal approval of
the draft decision

- Preparation of the reply and the documents for dispatch.

 

As the request relates to correspondence, minutes and other reports of
meetings held between 2003 and 2020, the work needed for the treatment of
your requests cannot be expected to be completed within the normal time
limits set out in Article 7 of Regulation 1049/2001.

 

Article 6(3) of the Regulation 1049/2001 provides that, in the event of an
application relating to very large number of documents, the institution
concerned may confer with the applicant informally with a view to finding
a fair solution. In accordance with the case law of the Union Courts, the
proposal for a fair solution aims to balance the interest of the applicant
against the workload resulting from the processing of the application in
order to safeguard the interests of good administration (Judgments of 6
December 2001, Council v Hautala, Case C 353/99 P, EU:C:2001: 661, para.
30, and of 2 October 2014, Strack v Commission, Case C 127/13 P,
EU:C:2014:2250, para.27). Such solution can only concern the content or
the number of documents applied for, not the deadline for replying
(Judgment of the Court of Justice of 2 October 2014 in case C- 127/13,
Guido Strack v Commission, paragraphs 26-28). This means that the scope of
the request must be reduced in a way that would enable its treatment
within the extended deadline of 15 + 15 working days. This also excludes
the provision of documents on a rolling basis.

 

Based on the above, we would kindly ask you to narrow down the scope of
your request (namely the timeframe covered) so as to reduce it to a
manageable number of documents.

 

Thank you in advance for your understanding.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

DG GROW – Access to documents team

[1]cid:479385507@17082012-2045

European Commission
Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and
SMEs
DG  GROW/01 – Coordination and Planning

 

References

Visible links

Climate Action

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Diels,

 

Following our request for clarification sent on 03/03/2020, we would like
to kindly ask you to provide us with more detailed information on the
documents that you seek to obtain in order to proceed with your request.

 

In accordance with Article 2, third paragraph of the Implementing Rules to
Regulation 1049/2001[1], the 15 working day time limit for handling your
application will start running when we receive the requested
clarification.

 

In case we will not receive any reply from your side until 13 March, we
reserve the right to refuse the registration of your request.

 

Many thanks for your understanding.

 

Kind regards,

 

DG GROW – Access to documents team

 

[1]cid:479385507@17082012-2045

European Commission
Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and
SMEs
DG GROW/01 – Coordination and Planning

 

From: GROW ACCES DOCUMENTS <[email address]>
Sent: Tuesday, March 3, 2020 11:50 AM
To: [FOI #7647 email]
Cc: GROW ACCES DOCUMENTS <[email address]>
Subject: Your application for access to documents – Ref GestDem No
2020/0949

 

Dear Mr Diels,

 

We refer to your e-mail dated 7/02/2020 in which you make a request for
access to documents, registered on 18/02/2020 under the above-mentioned
reference number.

 

The descriptions given in point 3 of your application does not enable us
to identify concrete documents which would correspond to your request. Our
document management systems do not allow us to use the search terms you
have specified.

 

We therefore invite you, pursuant to Article 6(2) of Regulation (EC) No
1049/2001 regarding public access to documents, to provide us with more
detailed information on the documents which you seek to obtain, in
particular the following:

 

- a list of companies and business associations falling under the scope of
your request.

 

Due to the wide scope of your request, namely from a temporal point of
view (2003-2020), its handling would involve the search and assessment of
many old documents which have been already transferred to the central
archives. The work needed to deal with your application would cover the
following steps:

 

- Multiple searches for the identification of the documents which fall
within the scope of the request in several document management systems,

- Retrieval and establishment of a complete list of the documents falling
under the scope of your requests,

- Scanning of the documents which are not in pdf format,

- Preliminary individual Assessment of the content of the documents in
light of the exceptions contained in Article 4 of Regulation 1049/2001,

- Third party consultations under Article 4(4) and / or 4(5) of Regulation
1049/2001,

- Final assessment of the documents in light of the comments received,

- Redaction of those parts of the documents to which one or several
exceptions apply,

- Preparation of the draft reply,

- Finalisation of the reply at administrative level and formal approval of
the draft decision

- Preparation of the reply and the documents for dispatch.

 

As the request relates to correspondence, minutes and other reports of
meetings held between 2003 and 2020, the work needed for the treatment of
your requests cannot be expected to be completed within the normal time
limits set out in Article 7 of Regulation 1049/2001.

 

Article 6(3) of the Regulation 1049/2001 provides that, in the event of an
application relating to very large number of documents, the institution
concerned may confer with the applicant informally with a view to finding
a fair solution. In accordance with the case law of the Union Courts, the
proposal for a fair solution aims to balance the interest of the applicant
against the workload resulting from the processing of the application in
order to safeguard the interests of good administration (Judgments of 6
December 2001, Council v Hautala, Case C 353/99 P, EU:C:2001: 661, para.
30, and of 2 October 2014, Strack v Commission, Case C 127/13 P,
EU:C:2014:2250, para.27). Such solution can only concern the content or
the number of documents applied for, not the deadline for replying
(Judgment of the Court of Justice of 2 October 2014 in case C- 127/13,
Guido Strack v Commission, paragraphs 26-28). This means that the scope of
the request must be reduced in a way that would enable its treatment
within the extended deadline of 15 + 15 working days. This also excludes
the provision of documents on a rolling basis.

 

Based on the above, we would kindly ask you to narrow down the scope of
your request (namely the timeframe covered) so as to reduce it to a
manageable number of documents.

 

Thank you in advance for your understanding.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

DG GROW – Access to documents team

[2]cid:479385507@17082012-2045

European Commission
Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and
SMEs
DG  GROW/01 – Coordination and Planning

 

References

Visible links

Dear Climate Action,

In response to your request to narrow down the scope of my request. I propose to limit the time frame to 2013-2020 instead of 2003-2020.

Yours faithfully,

Hans Diels

Climate Action

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Diels,
 
We refer to your e-mail dated 7/02/2020 in which you make a request for
access to documents, registered on 18/02/2020 under the above-mentioned
reference number.
 
Many thanks for your reply to our clarification request.
However, we would like to kindly ask you to clarify the point 3 of your
request as it does not enable us to identify concrete documents which
would correspond to your request.
 
We therefore invite you, pursuant to Article 6(2) of Regulation (EC) No
1049/2001 regarding public access to documents, to provide us with more
detailed information on the documents which you seek to obtain, in
particular the following:
- a list of companies and business associations falling under the scope of
your request.
 
In accordance with Article 2, third paragraph of the Implementing Rules to
Regulation 1049/2001, the 15 working days time limit for handling your
application will start running again when we receive the requested
clarifications.
 
In addition, we would like to inform you that the request is now handled
by DG GROW as we are dealing with air pollutant emissions. Please address
your answer to the following mailbox:
[1][email address].
 
Thank you in advance for your understanding.
 
Yours sincerely,
 
DG GROW – Access to documents team
 
European Commission
Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and
SMEs
DG  GROW/01 – Coordination and Planning
 

show quoted sections

Climate Action

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Diels,

 

We refer to your e-mail dated 07/02/2020 in which you make a request for
access to documents, registered on 18/02/2020 under the above mentioned
reference number.

 

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 (02/04/2020).

 

An extended time limit is needed in order to retrieve 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 28/04/2020.

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

 

Yours sincerely,

 

DG GROW – Access to documents team

European Commission
Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and
SMEs
DG GROW/01 – Coordination and Planning

 

 

Climate Action

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Diels,

We refer to your e-mail dated 07/02/2020 in which you make a request for
access to documents, registered on 18/02/2020 under the above mentioned
reference number.

The reply to your request could not be finalised 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 (28/04/2020).
Please be reassured that we are doing our best to be able to send you the
reply as soon as possible.

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

Kind regards,

DG GROW – Access to documents team

 

European Commission
Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and
SMEs
DG  GROW/01 – Coordination and Planning

 

 

Climate Action

4 Attachments

Dear Mr Diels,

Please find attached the reply to your request for access to documents
registered under the reference GestDem 2020/0949, along with its
attachments. We apologise for the delay in replying and for any
inconvenience this may have caused.

According to our standard operational procedure, the reply would normally
be sent to you also by registered mail. Please note, however, that due to
the extraordinary health and security measures currently in force during
to the COVID-19 pandemic, which include the requirement for all Commission
non-critical staff to telework, we are unfortunately not in a position to
follow this procedure until further notice.

We would therefore appreciate it if you could confirm receipt of the
present e-mail by replying to [1][email address].

Best regards,

 

European Commission
Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and
SMEs
Automotive and Mobility Industries

 

 

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]

Dear Climate Action,

Thanks for the documents!

Yours faithfully,

Hans Diels