Ref. Ares(2021)7913347 - 21/12/2021
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR TRADE
Directorate R – Resources, Interinstitutional Relations, Communications and Civil Society
Transparency, Civil Society and Communication
Brussels
TRADE.R.3/
Mr Barnaby Pace
‘Global Witness’
Rue Belliard 53
1000 Brussels
By email only:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx
Subject:
Your application for access to documents – GestDem 2021/6052
Dear Mr Pace,
I refer to your e-mail dated 12 October 2021 in which you make a request for access to
documents in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1049/20011 (’Regulation 1049/2001’),
registered on 12 October 2021 under the above mentioned reference number.
Please accept our apologies for the delay in preparing the reply to your request, which is
mainly due to a high number of access to documents requests being processed at the same
time by DG Trade.
1.
SCOPE OF YOUR REQUEST
In your application, you request access to documents as follows:
‘All documents—including but not limited to correspondence, emails, minutes, notes (hand
written or electronic), audio or video recordings, verbatim reports, operational conclusions,
lines to take, briefings, and presentations—related to the meeting on October 6 between
Andrea Beltramello and Snam S.p.A. In consideration of the environment and the current
circumstances with the COVID pandemic I would prefer to receive documents
electronically.’
2.
ASSESSMENT AND CONCLUSIONS UNDER REGULATION 1049/2001
a)
Documents identified
With regard to this scope, we have identified
2 documents which are enclosed as annexes to
this reply:
1)
Ares(2021)6179875 – Request for a meeting;
2)
Ares(2021)6179929 – Minutes of the meeting with Snam.
1 Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2001
regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents, Official Journal
OJ L 145, 31.5.2001, p. 43.
Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË – Tel. +32 22991111
b)
Protection of privacy and integrity of the individual (personal data) in accordance
with Article 4(1)(b) of Regulation 1049/2001
I am pleased to inform you that nearly full access is given to the requested documents where
only personal data need to be withheld. Accordingly, all redactions made in the attached 2
documents are based on the application of the exception contained in Article 4(1)(b) of
Regulation 1049/2001.
This provision provides for the protection of privacy and the integrity of the individual and
prevents in the present case a full disclosure of the identified documents above, because the
documents contain the following personal data:
- the names/initials and contact information of Commission staff members not pertaining to
the senior management;
- the names/initials and contact details of other natural persons;
- other information relating to (an) identified or identifiable natural person(s), like the
functions the latter perform(s).
Pursuant to Article 4(1)(b) of Regulation 1049/2001, the Commission has to refuse access to
a document where its
‘disclosure would undermine the protection of […] privacy and the
integrity of the individual, in particular in accordance with [European Union] legislation
regarding the protection of personal data’.
Article 9(1)(b) of the Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2018/17252 does not allow the
transmission of these personal data, except if you prove that it is necessary to have the data
transmitted to you for a specific purpose in the public interest and where there is no reason to
assume that the legitimate interests of the data subject might be prejudiced.
In your request, you do not put forward any arguments to establish the necessity to have the data
transmitted for a specific purpose in the public interest. Consequently, I conclude that, pursuant
to Article 4(1)(b) of Regulation 1049/2001, access cannot be granted to the personal data in
question, as the need to obtain access thereto for a purpose in the public interest has not been
substantiated and there is no reason to think that the legitimate interests of the individuals
concerned would not be prejudiced by disclosure of the personal data concerned.
c)
Disclaimer(s)
You may reuse public documents, which have been produced by the European Commission or
by public and private entities on its behalf, based on
Commission Decision 2011/833/EU of
12 December 2011 on the re-use of Commission documents (OJ L 330, 14.12.2011, p. 39-
42). You may reuse the documents disclosed free of charge for non-commercial and
commercial purposes, provided that the source is acknowledged, that you do not distort the
original meaning or message of the documents. Please note that the Commission does not
assume any liability stemming from the reuse.
Moreover, if, as in the present case, documents (or parts of them) having a Commission
service as its originator (here: document ‘Annex II’ and the parts [emails] of document
‘Annex I’ having the Commission as its originator), those (parts of) documents were drawn
up under the responsibility of the relevant Commission services. More specifically, the
minutes of the meeting with Snam (document ‘Annex II’) solely reflect the service’s
interpretation of the interventions made and do not set out any official position of the 3rd
2 Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the
protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions,
bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Regulation (EC)
No 45/2001 and Decision No 1247/2002/EC, OJ L 205 of 21.11.2018, p. 39.
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party to which the document (or parts of) refer(s), which were not consulted on their content.
They do not necessarily reflect the position of the Commission and cannot be quoted as such.
Furthermore, please note that any documents originating from third parties (here: the parts
[emails] of document ‘Annex I’ having the 3rd party as its originator) are disclosed to you
based on Regulation 1049/2001. However, such disclosure is without prejudice to the rules
on intellectual property, which may limit your right to reproduce or exploit the released
document(s) without the agreement of the 3rd party originator, who may hold an intellectual
property right on such document(s). Here too, the European Commission does not assume
any responsibility from their reuse.
3.
POSSIBILITY OF CONFIRMATORY APPLICATION
In case you would disagree with this position, you are entitled, in accordance with Article 7(2)
of Regulation 1049/2001, to submit a confirmatory application requesting the Commission to
review this position.
Such a confirmatory application should be addressed within 15 working days upon receipt of
this letter to the Secretariat-General of the Commission at the following address:
European Commission
Secretariat-General
‘Transparency, Document Management & Access to Documents’ (Unit SG C.1)
Rue de la Loi 200/Wetstraat 200
BERL 7/76
1049 Brussels
or by email to:
xxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx.
Yours sincerely,
Michelangelo MARGHERITA
Head of Unit
Enclosure(s):
1) Ares(2021)6179875 – Request for a meeting (redacted);
2) Ares(2021)6179929 – Minutes of the meeting with Snam (redacted)
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Electronically signed on 21/12/2021 12:42 (UTC+01) in accordance with article 11 of Commission Decision C(2020) 4482
