Ref. Ares(2016)6018372 - 19/10/2016
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
Directorate-General for Trade
Directorate A - Resources, Information and Policy Coordination
Information, Communication and Civil Society
Brussels,
trade.a.3.dir(2016)6218453
By registered letter with acknowledgment
of receipt
Mireia Crespo Castellano
Access Info Europe
Cava de San Miguel 8, 4C
28005 Madrid
Spain
Advance copy by email:
ask+request-3284-
xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx
Subject:
Your request for access to documents – Ref GestDem No 2016/4892
Dear Ms Crespo,
I refer to your email of 2 September 2016 in which you made a request for access to
documents under Regulation (EC) No 1049/20011 ("Regulation 1049/2001"), registered
on the same date under the above mentioned reference number.
1.
SCOPE OF YOUR REQUEST
You requested access to:
1. “Memos, guidance, guidelines, or training material (or any other document) for
DG staff on record creation and/or record keeping. You explained that you are
particularly interested in documents that refer to creation/keeping of: agendas
(diaries of public officials´ engagements), lists of meetings, minutes of meetings,
lists of participants in meetings, and documents justifying decisions.
2. Memos, guidance, guidelines, or training material (or any other document) for
DG staff on the processing of access to information requests.”
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, OJ L 145,
31.5.2001, p. 43.
Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË - Tel. +32 22991111
On 2 September, and according to article 6(2) of Regulation 1049/2001, DG Trade asked
you, by e-mail, to clarify the timeline of your request.
As we received no reply, we asked you again, on 8 September, to provide more detailed
information on the documents which you seek to obtain. On 9 September, you answered
that you would like to have access to
“all documents which have been produced in the
past three years and/or (if produced earlier) are currently being used by the DG’s staff”,
explaining that you are interested
“in all documents held by the DG, whether or not
created by it”.
Regarding the second part of your request, I would like to clarify that a distinction needs
to be made between requests for access to
documents and requests for access to
information. These two categories of requests are regulated by separate legal frameworks
and different deadlines apply thereto. Requests for access to
documents are regulated by
Regulation 1049/2001, while the Code of Good Administrative Behaviour2 applies to
requests for access to
information.
Please note that there are no documents (other than the above-mentioned Code)
addressed to the staff of DG Trade concerning the processing of requests for information.
I assume, however, that the second part of your request relates to "memos, guidance,
guidelines, or training material (or any other document) for DG staff on the processing of
access to
documents requests".
I note that you and your organisation, Access Info Europe (AIE), recently submitted
similar requests to the Secretariat-General of the Commission (requests with reference
GestDem 2016/4877 and 2016/4880).
In reply to those requests, the Secretariat-General released a series of internal guidelines
and guidance notes. We therefore interpret the scope of your request to DG Trade as
referring only to DG Trade-specific guidance on the topics listed in your request and
excluding those documents that were already released to on 14 and 16 September by the
Commission in these two above-mentioned requests.
We have identified the following documents falling under the scope of your request:
A note for the attention to all DG Trade staff enclosing the document "Guidelines
on the Registration of Documents" (Ares(2014)2052618) ("
document 1");
A note to the attention of all Heads of unit in DG Trade enclosing the document
"Indicative list of documents which should be registered and filed in ARES"
(Ares(2015)4043105) ("
document 2");
2
http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/code/index_en.htm
2
A document entitled "Indicative, non-exhaustive list of working files and other
documents that can be destroyed by the units" (Ares(2016)1351734) ("
document
3");
A note for the attention of all Heads of unit in DG Trade entitled "Personal data
protection – Service provided by Unit A3 to all DG TRADE units: Global
'notification' to the Data Protection Officer (DPO) of the Commission, covering
all future DG Trade meetings, workshops, seminars, events, conferences…
including lists and mailing lists" (Ares(2015)4095799) ("
document 4"), which
includes five attached documents registered under the same ARES number:
o "Notification DPO-3050.5 – TRADE: DG Trade – Meetings, workshops,
seminars, conferences, events, including mailing-lists and contact lists"
("
document 4.1");
o "Model Privacy Statement (Meeting) for on-line registration" ("
document
4.2");
o "Model Privacy Statement (Invitation) to be used for invitations by letter
or e-mail" ("
document 4.3");
o "Model Privacy Statement (Mailing List) to be used for mailing lists"
("
document 4.4");
o "Model Privacy Statement (Contact List) to be used for contact lists"
("
document 4.5");
Vademecum on Access to Documents (Ares(2016)5752766) ("
document 5");
Access to Documents Toolkit (Ares(2016)5752522) ("
document 6").
2.
ASSESSMENT AND CONCLUSIONS UNDER REGULATION 1049/2001
Having carefully examined the documents identified above in light of the applicable legal
framework,
we are pleased to inform you that full access can be granted to the content
of these documents. Copies of the documents are enclosed.
However, some personal data have been withheld in the documents
1,
2, 4 and
6 in
accordance with Article 4.1(b) of Regulation 1049/2001, which 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". Please note that
names of the senior management of the Commission starting from the Director level have
been disclosed.
The applicable legislation in this field is Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European
Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2000 on the protection of individuals with
3
regard to the processing of personal data by the Community institutions and bodies and
on the free movement of such data.3
The Court of Justice has ruled that
"where an application based on Regulation 1049/2001
seeks to obtain access to documents containing personal data" "the provisions of
Regulation 45/2001, of which Articles 8(b) and 18 constitute essential provisions, become
applicable in their entirety".4
Article 2(a) of Regulation 45/2001 provides that
"'personal data' shall mean any
information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person […]". The Court of
Justice has confirmed that
"there is no reason of principle to justify excluding activities of a
professional […] nature from the notion of 'private life'"5 and that
"surnames and
forenames may be regarded as personal data,"6
including names of the staff of the
institutions.7
In accordance with Article 8(b) of this Regulation, personal data shall only be transferred to
recipients if they establish
"the necessity of having the data transferred" and additionally
"if there is no reason to assume that the legitimate interests of the data subjects might be
prejudiced". The Court of Justice has clarified that
"it is for the person applying for access
to establish the necessity of transferring that data".8
I consider that you have not established the necessity of having the aforementioned
personal data transferred to you. Moreover, it cannot be assumed on the basis of the
information available, that disclosure of such personal data would not prejudice the
legitimate interests of the persons concerned. Therefore, these personal data shall remain
undisclosed in order to ensure the protection of the privacy and integrity of the
individuals concerned.
***
You may reuse the documents 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. The Commission does not assume liability stemming from the reuse.
***
3 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 the free movement of such data, OJ L 8, 12.1.2001, p. 1.
4 Judgment in
Guido Strack v Commission, C-127/13 P,
EU:C:2014:2250, paragraph 101; see also
judgment in
Commission v Bavarian Lager, C-28/08 P, EU:C:2010:378, paragraphs 63 and 64.
5 Judgment in
Rechnungshof v Rundfunk and Others, Joined cases C-465/00, C-138/01 and C-139/01,
EU:C:2003:294, paragraph 73.
6 Judgment in
Commission v Bavarian Lager, C-28/08 P, EU:C:2010:378, paragraph 68.
7 Judgment in
Guido Strack v Commission, C-127/13 P,
EU:C:2014:2250, paragraph 111.
8
Id., paragraph 107; see also judgment in C-28/08 P
Commission v Bavarian Lager, EU:C:2010:378,
paragraph 77.
4
In case you would disagree with the assessment that the withheld data are personal data
which can only be disclosed if such disclosure is legitimate under the rules of personal
data protection, you are entitled, in accordance with Article 7(2) of Regulation 1049/2001,
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 Secretary-General of the Commission at the following address:
European Commission
Secretary-General
Transparency unit SG-B-4
BERL 5/282
B-1049 Bruxelles
or by email to:
xxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx
Yours sincerely,
[e-signed]
Lutz Güllner
Head of Unit
5
Electronically signed on 19/10/2016 16:48 (UTC+02) in accordance with article 4.2 (Validity of electronic documents) of Commission Decision 2004/563
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