Ref. Ares(2022)1023735 - 11/02/2022
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR COMMUNICATIONS NETWORKS, CONTENT AND
TECHNOLOGY


The Director-General
Brussels
CNECT.R.4

Naomi Hirst
Global Witness
Rue Belliard 53
1000 Bruxelles
Belgique

Advance copy via email:
ask+request-10572-
xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx
Registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt
Subject:
Your request for access to documents - GestDem 2022/0545
Dear Ms Hirst,
We  refer  to  your  email  of  20  January  2022  in  which  you  make  a  request  for  access  to
documents pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of
the  Council  of  30  May  2001  regarding  public  access  to  European  Parliament,  Council
and  Commission  documents  (hereinafter  ‘Regulation  1049/2001’),  registered  on  24
January 2022 under the above-mentioned reference number.
1.
SCOPE OF YOUR APPLICATION
By  your  application  to  the  Directorate-General  for  Internal  Market,  Industry,
Entrepreneurship  and  SMEs  (DG  GROW)  which  was  attributed  to  the  Directorate-
General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (DG CONNECT), you
request access to the following:
‘[…] Referring to Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 on public access to EU documents
and  to  the  'Aarhus  Convention'  I  would  herewith  like  to  ask  for  access  to  the
following:
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
2022-01-11 between Filomena Chirico and Google. […]’

Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË - Tel. +32 22991111
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx

2.
DOCUMENTS FALLING WITHIN THE SCOPE OF THE REQUEST
The following documents have been identified as falling within the scope of your request:
  Back to Office Report (BTO) - Meeting between Google and Cabinet Breton - 11
January 2022, 17:00-17:30 – Ares(2022)740263 (Document 1)
  Email – Meeting request – 4 November 2021 – Ares(2021)6796540 (Document
2)
3.
ASSESSMENT UNDER REGULATION 1049/2001
Following an examination of the identified documents under the provisions of Regulation
1049/2001  we  have  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  partial  access  can  be  granted  to  both
documents  identified.  Full  disclosure  is  prevented  by  exceptions  to  the  right  of  access
laid down in Article 4 of Regulation 1049/2001. Please also note that parts of Document
2 have been redacted as falling outside the scope of the request.
(i) Protection of privacy and integrity of individuals
Full  disclosure  of  Documents  1  and  2  is  prevented  by  the  exception  concerning  the
protection of privacy and integrity of the individual outlined in Article 4(1)(b) Regulation
1049/2001, since they contain the following personal data:
  the  names/initials  and  contact  information  of  Commission  staff  members  not
pertaining to the senior management;
  Names, functions and contact information of other natural persons.
Article  9(1)(b)  of  the  Data  Protection  Regulation1  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 express any particular interest to have access to these personal data nor do you 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) Regulation 1049/2001, access
cannot be granted to the personal data contained in the requested document, 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.
(ii) Protection of the decision-making process
The first subparagraph of Article 4(3) of Regulation 1049/2001 provides that ‘[a]ccess to
a document, drawn up by an institution for internal use or received by the an institution,
which relates to a matter where the decision has not been taken by the institution, shall be

1 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 295, 21.11.2018, p. 39.
2

refused  if  disclosure  of  the  document  would  seriously  undermine  the  institution’s
decision-making process, unless there is an overriding public interest in disclosure.’
Parts  of  Document  1  contain  preliminary  views  and  reflections  of  the  Commission
services  and  other  actors  regarding  the  Digital  Services  Act  package.  Document  1  was
drawn up by the Commission for internal use and the abovementioned parts are subject to
ongoing  discussions  and  deliberations,  including  in  inter-institutional  negotiations.  The
Commission  services  must  be  free  to  explore  all  possible  options  in  the  run-up  to
ongoing legislative procedures. The risk of disclosing sensitive information regarding the
Commission  services’  preliminary  views  before  and  during  inter-institutional
negotiations  on  the  legislative  proposals  at  question  would  deter  the  Commission  from
freely  expressing  their  opinions  and  having  frank  discussions.  Speculations  and
misinterpretations of the public on the views and reflections put forward in the ongoing
decision-making  processes  would  affect  the  exploration  of  different  policy  options  and
unduly  restrict  the  Commission’s  internal  space  to  think,  exposing  the  Commission  to
external pressure before and during inter-institutional negotiations. The risk of disclosure
of  these  preliminary  views  and  reflections  would  therefore  seriously  undermine  the
ongoing  decision-making  processes.  This  risk  is  also  reasonably  foreseeable  and  not
purely hypothetical.
Consequently, the above-mentioned parts of Document 1 have been blanked out.
4.
OVERRIDING INTEREST IN DISCLOSURE
The exceptions laid down in Article 4(2) and Article 4(3) of Regulation 1049/2001 apply,
unless  there  is  an  overriding  public  interest  in  the  disclosure  of  documents.  Such  an
interest  must,  firstly,  be  a  public  interest  and,  secondly,  outweigh  the  harm  caused  by
disclosure. We have examined whether there could be an overriding public interest in the
disclosure of the aforementioned parts of the documents which are being withheld but we
have not been able to identify such an interest.
5.
REUSE OF DOCUMENTS
You may reuse public documents which have been produced by the European Commission
or  by  public  and  private  entities  on  its  behalf  based  on  the  Commission  Decision  on  the
reuse  of  Commission  documents.  You  may  reuse  the  disclosed  Document  1  originating
from  the  Commission  free  of  charge  and  for  non-commercial  and  commercial  purposes
provided that the source is acknowledged and that you do not distort the original meaning or
message  of  the  documents.  Please  note  that  the  Commission  does  not  assume  liability
stemming from the reuse.
Please note that Document 1 was drawn up for internal use under the responsibility of the
relevant  services  of  DG  CONNECT.  It  solely  reflect  the  services’  interpretation  of  the
interventions  made and do not  set out  any official  position of the third parties to  which
the  documents  refer.  It  does  not  reflect  the  position  of  the  Commission  and  cannot  be
quoted as such.
Document 2 originates from a third party. Please note that it is disclosed to you based on
Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001. However, this disclosure is without prejudice to the rules
on intellectual property, which may limit your right to reproduce or exploit the released
3

document without the agreement of the originator, who may hold an intellectual property
right on it. The European Commission does not assume any responsibility from its reuse.
6.
CONFIRMATORY APPLICATION
In  accordance  with  Article  7(2)  of  Regulation  (EC)  No  1049/2001,  you  are  entitled  to
make 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 (SG.C.1)
BERL 7/076
B-1049 Bruxelles

or by email to: xxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx

Yours sincerely,
Electronically signed
Roberto Viola
Enclosures:
(2)

4
Electronically signed on 11/02/2022 14:40 (UTC+01) in accordance with article 11 of Commission Decision C(2020) 4482

Document Outline