Travel expenses for Commissioner Thyssen, May & Jun 2016

Response to this request is long overdue. By law, under all circumstances, Secretariat General of the European Commission should have responded by now (details). You can complain by requesting an internal review.

Dear Secretariat General,

Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as developed in Regulation 1049/2001, and under the same circumstances and with the same arguments put forward in requests GESTDEM 2016/5975, 2016/6006, 2016/6010, 2016/6050, I hereby request the following documents:

The travel expenses of Commissioner Thyssen, for the period 1 May to 30 June 2016, as contained in the relevant mission summary fiches/settlement of mission expenses.

Yours faithfully

Gemma Humphrys
[postal address]

Secretariat General of the European Commission

Dear Madam,

Thank you for your e-mail dated 25/01/2017. We hereby acknowledge receipt of your application for access to documents, which was registered on 25/01/2017 under reference number GestDem 2017/446.

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 15/02/2017.

In case this time limit needs to be extended, you will be informed in due course.

Yours faithfully,

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

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Dear Secretariat General of the European Commission,

By law, EU institutions have the obligation to answer requests within 15 working days. My request still has not received a response after 16 working days. I would appreciate being informed of why there has been a delay, and look forward to receiving the information I requested soon.

Many thanks.

Yours faithfully,

Gemma Humphrys

Dear Secretariat General of the European Commission,

Following my request for access to EU documents registered with GESTDEM reference number 2017/446, I am hereby submitting a confirmatory application under Article 7(4) of EU Regulation 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents (“the Regulation”). [1]

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

On Wednesday 25 January 2017, I requested “the travel expenses of Commissioner Thyssen, for the period 1 May to 30 June 2016, as contained in the relevant mission summary fiches/settlement of mission expenses” via the AsktheEU.org website.

On the same day, the Commission acknowledged receipt of the application and registered it with GESTDEM reference number 2017/446.

Since registering my request, the Commission has failed to communicate with me at all regarding my request, violating Articles 7(1) and 7(3) of the Regulation. [2]

ASSESSMENT

The Commission has violated Articles 7(1) and 7(3) of the Regulation.

The Commission has failed to comply with its obligations in Articles 7(1) of the Regulation to answer my request for access to EU documents within the prescribed time limit of 15 working days. I have not received any communication from the Commission since my request was registered.

If it is the case that an extension has been applied as per Article 7(2) [3] of the Regulation, then the Commission has failed to inform me about such an extension, something that is required by Article 7(3) of the Regulation. Even if an extension has been applied, the overall time limit for answering (15 working days plus a 15 working day extension) has also expired.

I therefore ask that the Commission inform me immediately and at most within 10 working days about the status of my request.

Yours faithfully

Gemma Humphrys

NOTES

[1] “Article 7(4) Failure by the institution to reply within the prescribed time-limit shall entitle the applicant to make a confirmatory application.”

[2] “Article 7(1) An application for access to a document shall be handled promptly. An acknowledgement of receipt shall be sent to the applicant. Within 15 working days from registration of the application, the institution shall either grant access to the document requested and provide access in accordance with Article 10 within that period or, in a written reply, state the reasons for the total or partial refusal and inform the applicant of his or her right to make a confirmatory application in accordance with paragraph 2 of this Article.
(3) In exceptional cases, for example in the event of an application relating to a very long document or to a very large number of documents, the time-limit provided for in paragraph 1 may be extended by 15 working days, provided that the applicant is notified in advance and that detailed reasons are given.”

[3] “Article 7(2) In the event of a total or partial refusal, the applicant may, within 15 working days of receiving the institution's reply, make a confirmatory application asking the institution to reconsider its position.”