Ref. Ares(2023)5427735 - 04/08/2023
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR TRADE
Directorate R – Resources, Interinstitutional Relations, Communications and Civil Society
Transparency, Civil Society and Communication
Brussels,
TRADE.R.3/(2023)8344640
Ms Lora Verheecke
Rue du Bronze 9
1070 Brussels
By email only – with request for explicit
acknowledgment of receipt by email reply:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx (EASE 2023/2982) xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx
(EASE 2023/2983)
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx
(EASE 2023/3003) xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx
(EASE 2023/3004)
Subject:
Your applications for public access to documents – EASE 2023/2983,
EASE 2023/2983, EASE 2023/3003 and EASE 2023/3004
Dear Ms Verheecke,
I refer to your applications dated 23 May 2023, registered on the same date under the
above mentioned EASE reference numbers EASE 2023/2982 and EASE 2023/2984
respectively, and to your applications dated 24 May 2023, registered on the same date
under the above mentioned EASE reference numbers EASE 2023/3003 and
EASE 2023/3004 respectively, in which you make requests for access to documents
under Regulation (EC) No 1049/20011 (‘Regulation 1049/2001’). Kindly accept our
apologies for the delayed reply to your requests.
1.
SCOPE OF YOUR REQUEST
You have been requesting public access as follows:
‘All documentation (including but not limited to all email correspondence, attendance
lists, agendas, background papers, transcripts and recordings) AND the meeting
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
minutes/notes relating to the meeting between Valdis Dombrovskis and TotalEnergies on
16th February 2023’ (EASE 2023/2982);
‘All documentation (including but not limited to all email correspondence, attendance
lists, agendas, background papers, transcripts and recordings) AND the meeting
minutes/notes relating to the meeting between Valdis Dombrovskis and VERBOND VAN
BELGISCHE ONDERNEMINGEN / FEDERATION DES ENTREPRISES DE
BELGIQUE on 16th February 2023’ (EASE 2023/2983);
‘All documentation (including but not limited to all email correspondence, attendance
lists, agendas, background papers, transcripts and recordings) AND the meeting
minutes/notes relating to the meeting between Valdis Dombrovskis and Safran on
16th February 2023’ (EASE 2023/3003)
‘All documentation (including but not limited to all email correspondence, attendance
lists, agendas, background papers, transcripts and recordings) AND the meeting
minutes/notes relating to the meeting between Valdis Dombrovskis and MEDEF on 16th
February 2023’ (EASE 2023/3004).
Please note that all your four applications relate to one and the same single event, i.e. a
(one!) round table meeting involving the different entities you have indicated separately
in your four requests.
We have accordingly identified
two documents falling within the scope of your four
requests:
01 – Ares(2023)1224824 – Minutes from Round table on Critical Raw Materials package
16-02-2023;
02 – Ares(2023)1224824 – Round table on Critical Raw Materials package 16-02-2023 –
Speech.
For details and numbering kindly refer to the enclosed document ‘Annex – List of
identified documents and type of disclosure’.
2.
ASSESSMENT AND CONCLUSIONS UNDER REGULATION 1049/2001
Having examined the requested documents under the applicable legal framework, I am
pleased to grant you partial access to
document 01, with only personal data redacted, and
full access to
document 02.
A complete disclosure of
document 1 is prevented by the exception concerning the
protection of privacy and the integrity of the individual outlined in Article 4(1)(b) of
Regulation 1049/2001.
Copies of the accessible documents (
document 1 in its redacted version) are enclosed to
the present letter.
2
2.1. PROTECTION OF PRIVACY AND THE INTEGRITY OF THE INDIVIDUAL (HERE:
PERSONAL DATA) – ARTICLE 4(1)(B) OF REGULATION 1049/2001 (DOCUMENT 01)
2.1.1. ‘Personal data’
Article 4(1)(b) of Regulation 1049/2001 provides that
‘[t]he institutions shall refuse
access to a document where disclosure would undermine the protection of: […] privacy
and the integrity of the individual, in particular in accordance with Community
legislation regarding the protection of personal data’.
The applicable legislation in this field is Regulation (EU) No 2018/17252 (hereafter
‘Regulation 2018/1725’ or ‘Data Protection Regulation’).
Article 3(1) of Regulation 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 data. Please note in this respect that the
names, signatures, functions, email addresses, telephone numbers etc., and/or initials
pertaining to staff members of an institution are to be considered personal data3, as well
as those of individuals belonging to third parties.
We disclose the identified
document 1 only partially
, as it contains certain personal data,
which must be redacted in accordance with Article 4(1)(b) of Regulation 1049/2001,
namely:
– the names/initials and contact information of Commission staff members not pertaining
to the senior management.
2.1.2. Question of ‘transfer’ of personal data and conclusion
Article 9(1)(b) of Regulation 2018/1725 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) of Regulation 1049/2001, access
cannot be granted to the personal data, 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.
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 295, 21.11.2018, p. 39.
3 Judgment in
Peter Novak v Data Protection Commissioner, case C-434/16, ECLI:EU:T:2018:560,
points 33-35.
3
2.2. DISCLAIMER(S)
Please kindly pay attention to the following: 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 documents4. You may reuse the documents disclosed free of charge 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 any liability stemming from the reuse.
Furthermore,
document 1 was drawn up under the responsibility of the relevant
Commission official. It solely reflects the author's interpretation of the interventions
made and does not set out any official position of any third party to which the document
may refer, which was/were not consulted on its content. It does not necessarily reflect the
position of the Commission and, therefore, cannot be quoted as such. Similarly,
document 2 can also not
be seen
as necessarily being reflecting the Commission position,
because, as you may be aware, in the occasion and context of this document and the related
event it is ultimately the spoken word (which may differ in the detail from the prepared draft
text of speaking points and key messages).
3.
POSSIBILITY OF CONFIRMATORY APPLICATION
In accordance with Article 7(2) of Regulation 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, either by
asking for a review via your portal5 account (available only for initial requests
submitted via the portal account),
or
email to xxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx, or
letter post to the following address:
European Commission
Secretariat-General
‘Transparency, Document Management & Access to Documents’ (unit SG C.1)
BERL 7/76
Rue de la Loi 200/Wetstraat 200
1049 Brussels.
Yours sincerely,
[Electronically signed]
Maud LABAT
Head of Unit
f.f. Didier BLOCH
4 OJ L 330, 14.12.2011, p. 39.
5
https://www.ec.europa.eu/transparency/documents-request
4
Enclosure(s): (3) Annex ‘List of identified documents and types of disclosure’,
2 documents
(1 partially redacted).
5
Electronically signed on 04/08/2023 18:40 (UTC+02) in accordance with Article 11 of Commission Decision (EU) 2021/2121
Document Outline