Ref. Ares(2022)2603698 - 06/04/2022
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR MOBILITY AND TRANSPORT
Directorate B - Investment, Innovative & Sustainable Transport
B.4 - Sustainable & Intelligent Transport
MOVE.DDG1.B.4/
MOVE.DDG1.B.4(2022)2728756
Mr. Vivek PAREKH
Long Ln, 1
London SE1 4PG
United Kingdom
By registered email with
acknowledgment of receipt:
ask+request-10850-
xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx
Dear Mr Parekh,
Subject:
Your application for access to documents – GESTDEM 2022/1565
We refer to your e-mail dated 17 March 2022 in which you make a request for access to
documents, registered on the same date under the above mentioned reference number.
You request access to the following documents:
“
All documentation (including but not limited to all email correspondence, attendance
lists, agendas, background papers, transcripts, recordings and minutes/notes) relating to
the meetings listed below:
- Between BP and Walter Goetz, Filip Alexandru, and Negreanu Arboreanu,
Cabinet members of Commissioner Adina-Ioana Vălean on 31st January
2022;
- Between ExxonMobil Petroleum & Chemical (EMPC) and Filip
Alexandru, and Negreanu Arboreanu, Cabinet members of Commissioner
Adina-Ioana Vălean on 16th March 2022”.
We consider your request to cover documents held up to the date of your initial application,
i.e. 17 March 2022.
We have identified the following documents as falling within the scope of your application:
-
Annex 1: e-mail exchange between representatives of BP and members
of the Cabinet of Commissioner Vălean, dated between 17 and 24
January 2022, regarding a request for a meeting (registered under the
Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË - Tel. +32 22991111
reference number Ares(2022)2092433) which includes the following
annex:
o
Annex 1.1: table sheet indicating BP visitors for the meeting held
on 31 January 2022;
-
Annex 2: e-mail from a representative of BP to members of the
Cabinet of Commissioner Vălean, dated 9 February 2022, with the
subject matter “progress update on our strategy”, registered under the
reference number Ares(2022)2092433;
-
Annex 3: minutes of the meeting held between BP and members of the
Cabinet of Commissioner Vălean, dated 31 January 2022
Please note that the Commission does not hold any documents concerning the meeting held
between ExxonMobil Petroleum & Chemical and members of the Cabinet of Commissioner
Vălean on 16 March 2022. The reason for this is that there were no documents exchanged
prior or during this meeting.
Concerning all documents listed above,
we have come to the conclusion that they may be
partially disclosed. A complete disclosure of the identified documents is prevented by the
exception concerning the protection of privacy and the integrity of the individual outlined in
Article 4(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 regarding public access to European
Parliament, Council and Commission documents1 (hereinafter ‘Regulation (EC) No
1049/2001’), because they 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 identified or identifiable natural persons, in particular
references to their functions, to the extent that these would enable their identification.
Pursuant to Article 4(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, access to a document has
to be refused if 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.
The applicable legislation in this field is 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/EC2 (hereinafter ‘Regulation (EU) 2018/1725’, or
‘Data Protection Regulation’).
1 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, OJ L 145, 31.05.2001, p. 43.
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
(OC L 205 of 21.11.2018, p. 39).
2
In particular, Article 3(1) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 provides that personal data
‘means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person […]’. The
Court of Justice has specified that any information, which by reason of its content,
purpose or effect, is linked to a particular person is to be considered as personal data3.
In its judgment in Case C-28/08 P (Bavarian Lager)4, the Court of Justice ruled that when
a request is made for access to documents containing personal data, the Data Protection
Regulation becomes fully applicable5.
In your application, you indicate that your address is in United Kingdom. Transfers of
personal data from the Commission to countries that are not members of the European
Economic Area (EEA) are regulated under Chapter V of the Data Protection Regulation.
According to Article 47(1) of this Regulation, a transfer of personal data to a third
country or to an international organisation may take place where the Commission has
decided that the third country, a territory or one or more specified sectors within that
country, or the international organisation in question, ensures an adequate level of
protection, and where the personal data are transferred solely to allow tasks within the
competence of the controller to be carried out.
Based on the information available, the country of your residence is recognised by the
Commission as ensuring an adequate level of protection. However, we would further like
to inform you that, pursuant to Article 9(1)(b) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725, ‘personal
data shall only be transmitted to recipients established in the Union other than Union
institutions and bodies if ‘[t]he recipient establishes that it is necessary to have the data
transmitted for a specific purpose in the public interest and the controller, where there is
any reason to assume that the data subject’s legitimate interests might be prejudiced,
establishes that it is proportionate to transmit the personal data for that specific purpose
after having demonstrably weighed the various competing interests’.
Only if these conditions are fulfilled and the processing constitutes lawful handling, in
accordance with the requirements of Article 5 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725, can the
transmission of personal data occur.
According to Article 9(1)(b) of the Regulation (EU) 2018/1725, the European
Commission has to examine the further conditions for a lawful processing of personal
data only if the first condition is fulfilled, namely if the recipient has established that it is
necessary to have the data transmitted for a specific purpose in the public interest. It is
only in this case that the European Commission has to examine whether there is a reason
to assume that the data subject’s legitimate interests might be prejudiced and, in the
affirmative, establish the proportionality of the transmission of the personal data for that
specific purpose after having demonstrably weighed the various competing interests.
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
3 Judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union of 20 December 2017 in Case C-434/16,
Peter Nowak v Data
Protection Commissioner, ECLI:EU:C:2017:994, paragraphs 33-35.
4 Judgment of 29 June 2010 in Case C-28/08 P,
Commission v Bavarian Lager, ECLI:EU:C:2010:378, paragraph 63.
5 Whereas this judgment specifically related to Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council
of 18 December 2000 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the Community
institutions and bodies and on the free movement of such data, the principles set out therein are also applicable under the
new data protection regime established by Regulation (EU) 2018/1725.
3
data transmitted for a specific purpose in the public interest. Therefore, the European
Commission does not have to examine whether there is a reason to assume that the data
subject’s legitimate interests might be prejudiced.
Notwithstanding the above, please note that there are reasons to assume that the
legitimate interests of the data subjects concerned would be prejudiced by disclosure of
the personal data reflected in the documents, as there is a real and non-hypothetical risk
that such public disclosure would harm their privacy and subject them to unsolicited
external contacts.
Consequently, I conclude that, pursuant to Article 4(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No
1049/2001, access cannot be granted to the personal data contained in the requested
documents, as the need to obtain access therefore 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.
Please note that the documents originating from third parties are 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 documents without the agreement of the originator, who may hold an intellectual
property right on it. The European Commission does not assume any responsibility from
their reuse.
Please also note that the disclosed minutes were drawn up for internal use under the
responsibility of the relevant officials of the Directorate-General for Mobility and
Transport. They solely reflect the author’s interpretations of the interventions made and
do not set out any official position of the third parties to which the documents refer,
which were not consulted on their content. They also do not reflect the position of the
Commission and cannot be quoted as such.
In accordance with Article 7(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, you are entitled 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
Unit C.1. ‘Transparency, Document Management and Access to Documents’
BERL 7/076
B-1049 Brussels, or by email to:
xxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx
The COVID-19 outbreak undoubtedly has an impact on the process of handling access to
documents requests under Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001. Given the large-scale
teleworking of the Commission services, all replies, which should normally be sent via
registered post, currently are sent only by e-mail. In this regard, we kindly ask you to
confirm receipt of this email.
Yours faithfully,
4
Kristian HEDBERG
Head of Unit
Enclosure: 4 annexes.
5
Electronically signed on 06/04/2022 10:47 (UTC+02) in accordance with Article 11 of Commission Decision (EU) 2021/2121
