Ref. Ares(2017)841912 - 15/02/2017
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
DIRECTORATE-GENERAL
ENVIRONMENT
Directorate B - Circular Economy & Green Growth
ENV.B.2 - Sustainable Chemicals
Brussels,
ENV.B.2/CCN/np
By registered letter with acknowledgment of
receipt
Mr Vincent Harmsen
c/o Simon de Bergeyck
Rue au Bois 216
1150 Brussels
Belgium
Advance copy by email:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx
Dear Sir,
Subject: Your application for access to documents: Ref GestDem No 2017 – 0052
We refer to your e-mail dated 22/12/2016 in which you make a request for access to
documents registered under the above mentioned reference number and our holding reply
Ref. Ares(2017)353973 - 23/01/2017.
You requested access to:
"…-on the topic of endocrine disrupters (also spelled: disruptors), all correspondence
(including emails), agendas, phone logs, minutes of meetings or any other reports of such
meetings between officials of DG ENV and officials the US Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA), between October 2015 and December 22th 2016.
When 'officials' are mentioned in this request this includes the Commissioner and his
Cabinet members."
We have identified the following documents:
Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË - Tel. +32 22991111
Office: BU-9 05/147 - Tel. direct line +32 229-65015
xxxxx.xxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx
1. E-mail from ENV to US EPA, amongst others addressees, of 05/10/2015 on US-
EU workshop on EDs: updated agenda + link to the webinar to follow the
workshop remotely;
2. Attachment: Draft Agenda (provided already in our reply to you with number
GESTDEM 2016-709);
3. E-mail from US EPA to ENV of 11/04/2016 on Fwd: Proposed workshop on
Advancing 21st Century Risk Assessment.
Please note that documents originating from third parties are disclosed for information only
and cannot be re-used without the agreement of the originator, who holds a copyright on
them. They do not reflect the position of the Commission and cannot be quoted as such.
In addition, some of the documents to which you have requested access contain personal
data.
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 Community legislation regarding the
protection of personal data. 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 regard to the processing of personal data by the
Community institutions and bodies and on the free movement of such data .
When access is requested to documents containing personal data, Regulation (EC) No
45/2001 becomes fully applicable.
According to Article 8(b) of this Regulation, personal data shall only be transferred to
recipients if they establish the necessity of having the data transferred to them and if
there is no reason to assume that the legitimate rights of the persons concerned might be
prejudiced.
We consider that, with the information available, the necessity of disclosing the
aforementioned personal data to you has not been established and/or that it cannot be
assumed that such disclosure would not prejudice the legitimate rights of the persons
concerned. Therefore, we are disclosing the documents requested expunged from this
personal data.
In case you would disagree with the assessment that the expunged 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
2
BERL 5/282
B-1049 Bruxelles
or by em
ail to: xxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx
Yours faithfully,
Bjorn Hansen
Head of Unit
3
Electronically signed on 15/02/2017 16:46 (UTC+01) in accordance with article 4.2 (Validity of electronic documents) of Commission Decision 2004/563