EUROPEAN COMMISSION
DIRECTORATE-GENERAL
ENVIRONMENT
Directorate B - Circular Economy & Green Growth
ENV.B.3 - Waste Management & Secondary Materials
Brussels,
MM/JN env.b.3(2017)4325632
Mr Francis CARRIÈRE
PLTV/2ème étage gauche
10 Rue Nicolas Appert
75011 Paris
FRANCE
e-mail:
ask+request-4387-
xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx
Subject: Your application for access to documents - GestDem No 2017/3603
Dear Mr Carrière,
I refer to your e-mail dated 12 June in which you make a request for access to
documents, registered by the Commission under the abovementioned reference number
and to my letter of 6 July informing you of the extension of the deadline for reply
because of the need to consult and ask the third party authors of a number of documents
to agree on their disclosure.
This extended time limit expired on 27 July.
However, as your request covers a period of more than 4 ½ years and several
organisations and/or persons, we have now identified over 100 documents, including
over 60 documents originating from third parties, falling within the scope of your
request.
For each individual document a decision has to be taken whether or not it can be
released under the applicable rules on access to documents. And for each document
originating from third parties, the Commission has to ask the third party author of the
document for agreement to its release.
Under these circumstances, it is clear that no decision regarding your application can be
taken within the time limit set out in Article 7 of Regulation 1049/2001, even after the
extension with 15 working days.
I would therefore like to propose a fair solution in the meaning of Article 6(3) of
Regulation 1049/200 1, which provides that
“in the event of an application relating to a
very long document or to a very large number of documents, the institution concerned
may confer with the applicant informally, with a view to finding a fair solution".
Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË - Tel. +32 22991111
There are basically two options for handling your request: either its scope may be
narrowed down to a manageable amount of documents or the Commission services
proceed with the review of all relevant documents they have identified, but without
setting a deadline for the final reply. The handling of the request could be staggered
according to an order of priority.
In case you choose to narrow down the scope of your request, the desk officers in the
relevant Directorates-General could assist you in clarifying your request and identifying
concrete documents matching your interest. A time limit could be agreed for each reply.
If, however, you prefer a comprehensive search of all documents that might be relevant
to your request, each Commission service holding relevant documents will identify and
retrieve the documents and provide you with a separate reply with regard to the
documents in its possession. In this case, taking into account the large number of
documents concerned, no fixed deadline can be set for this very resource-consuming
exercise, as we are unable to evaluate the exact time needed for carrying out the harm
test on all the documents contained in the files.
I hope this approach is acceptable to you and I would be grateful if you would be so
kind as to confirm your preferred option by e-mail t
o xxxxxxxx.xxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx.
I thank you for your understanding.
Yours sincerely,
Sarah NELEN
Head of Unit
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