Ref. Ares(2018)954824 - 19/02/2018
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
DIRECTORATE-GENERAL JUSTICE and CONSUMERS
Director-General
Brussels,
DG JUST/E3/CS/mv
By registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt
Mr Peter Teffer
EUobserver
Rue Montoyer 18B
1000 Brussels
Belgium
Advance copy by email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx
Dear Mr Teffer,
Subject:
Your application for access to documents – Ref GestDem No 2018/0148
We refer to your e-mail dated 8 January in which you make a request for access to documents,
registered on 8 January 2018 under the above mentioned reference number in which you requested
the following documents:
All documents sent to the European Commission by Member States since 1 January 2017,
including but not limited to e-mails and their attachments, regarding the issue of 'dual food
quality'
All documents sent by the European Commission to Member States since 1 January 2017,
including but not limited to e-mails and their attachments, regarding the issue of 'dual food
quality'
All minutes of meetings with the European Commission since 1 January 2017 regarding the
issue of 'dual food quality'
All other European Commission documents since 1 January 2017, including but not limited to
'lines to take', intra-Commission e-mails and their attachments, regarding the issue of 'dual food
quality'
Due to the large volume of documents concerned, on 29 January 2018 you were asked to narrow
down the scope of your request. On 31 January 2018 you accepted our proposal for a fair solution,
and consequently narrowed down your request to the following categories of documents:
Overview of national studies
Internal communication regarding the harmonized testing approach and Commission notice of
26 September on dual quality of food
Letters & emails received and replied by the Commission from Member States
Minutes of meetings and workshops
The full list of the concerned documents can be found in the annexes to this reply.
Since some of the documents concerned originate from third parties, the originators of the documents
have been consulted.
Having examined the documents requested under the provisions of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001
regarding public access to documents, and having consulted the relevant third parties I have come to
the conclusion that they may be partially disclosed. The extent to which documents are given access
can be summarised as follows:
Annex I contains the list of document to which you have been granted full access.
Annex II compounds the list of documents to which you have been given partial access.
Annex III contains the list of documents to which you have been refused access.
As regards documents in Annex II, some parts of the documents found therein have been blanked out
as their disclosure is prevented by exceptions to the right of access laid down in Article 4 of this
Regulation. The redacted parts of documents relate to the protection of personal data, the refusal by
third parties to disclose information which concerns them, and to ongoing investigations.
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 data1.
When access is requested to documents containing personal data, Regulation (EC) No 45/2001
becomes fully applicable2.
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 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 (Annex II, documents (items) 1-35).
Further, in the case of document (item) 4 of Annex II, a part of page 3 was blanked out as requested by
the third party concerned on the basis of the protection of its commercial interests as provided by
Article 4(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001. In document (item) 15 of Annex II, a section of page 3
was redacted due to the fact that it contained confidential information related to an ongoing
investigation regarding a possible infringement of EU law (DG COMP, case reference number
8T.40134). Moreover, in the case of document (item) 36 of Annex II, a part of page 2 was redacted
1 Official Journal L 8 of 12.1.2001, p. 1
2 Judgment of the Court of Justice of the EU of 29 June 2010 in case 28/08 P, Commission/The Bavarian Lager Co. Ltd,
ECR 2010 I-06055.
2
following the Kingdom of Belgium’s refusal to disclosure in line with Article 4(1)(a) indent 3, and
Article 4(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 as it would undermine the protection of international
relations and the purpose of ongoing investigations.
As regards documents found in Annex III the authors have objected to their disclosure. The two
documents concerned are the excerpts of the minutes of the Consumer Protection Cooperation (CPC)
Committee meetings of 16 March and 15 June 2017. The excerpts of both documents covered the issue
of dual quality of food, whereas the remainder of both documents covered other topics falling outside
the scope of your request. Following consultations with the member states, the Kingdom of Belgium
refused to grant you access to the excerpts of both meetings on the basis of Article 4(1) and 4(2) of
Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001. Due account must be taken that CPC Committee meetings are meant
for the discussion by EU member states of ongoing investigations, as well as CPC enforcement
priorities, which could be jeopardised if made public at this stage.
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 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,
(eSigned)
Tiina ASTOLA
Cc:
E. Hulicius (CAB),
F. Fonseca Morillo, M-P. Benassi, T. Garcia, C.Schubert, J. Gonzalez Mellizo (JUST)
3
Annex 1: Documents subject to full disclosure to the applicant
File
Author
Addressee
Date
Title
Ares no.
no.
1
Slovak authorities Attendees of the 13.10.2017
Consumer Summit Report
Ares(2018)729355
Summit
2
Commission
Commission
10.2017
Updated Overview on
Ares(2018)730274
national studies in the area
of Dual Quality Food
3
Commission
Commission
29.10.2017
Conclusions of the
Ares(2018)883112
brainstorming meeting
regarding the harmonised
testing approach -
29/09/17
4
German
Commission
11.2017
Position statement of
Ares(2018)728153
authorities
Germany regarding
Commission notice of 26
September 2017.
4
Annex 2: Documents subject to partial disclosure to the applicant
File
Author
Addressee
Date
Title
Ares no.
no.
1. Commission
Commission 29.03.2017 Dual quality food - minutes of Ares(2017)1679563
coordination meeting 24.03.2016
2. Commission
Commission 05.04.2017 Flash report - meeting with AIM
Ares(2018)728909
on dual quality of foodstuffs
04042017
3. Commission
Commission 01.06.2017 Meeting of Commissioner with
Ares(2018)728652
MEP Borzan01062017
4. Commission
Commission 03.08.2017 Meeting with the industry 3
Ares(2018)728543
August 2017
5. Commission
Commission 28.09.2017 DQF CPC workshop 28 Sept
Ares(2018)729186
6. Commission
Commission 03.10.2017 DQF flash report High Level
Ares(2018)729125
Forum 3 October
7. Commission
Commission 15.11.2017 Dual Quality - Joint workshop -
Ares(2018)729052
CPC Food Authorities - 13
November - Flash Report
8. Commission
Commission 08.09.2017 Request for agreement to launch
Ares(2017)4400649
the Inter Service Consultation
concerning the European
Commission's Interpretative
Notice on the application of EU
food and consumer law to identify
eventual unfair practices in relation
to dual quality of food
9. Commission
Commission 12.09.2017 Agreement to launch the Inter
Ares(2017)4451019
Service Consultation concerning
the European Commission's
Interpretative Notice on the
application of EU food and
consumer law to identify eventual
unfair practices in relation to dual
quality of food
10. Commission
Commission 14.09.2017 Reply to ISC from JRC
Ares(2018)913332
11. Commission
Commission 14.09.2017 Reply to ISC from SANTE
Ares(2017)4507853
5
12. Commission
Commission 14.09.2017 Reply to ISC from SG
Ares(2018)913332
13. Commission
Commission 14.09.2017 Reply to ISC from GROW
Ares(2018)913332
14. Commission
Commission 14.09.2017 Reply to ISC from MARE
Ares(2018)913332
15. Commission
Commission 18.09.2017 Reply to ISC from COMP
Ares(2018)913390
16. Commission
Commission 06.10.2017 Development and implementation
Ares(2017)4893255
of a common approach for testing
quality related characteristics of
branded food products
17. Commission
Commission 16.10.2017 Note to DG Sucha by DG Astola
Ares(2017)4893255
18. Commission
Commission 24.10.2014 PR COM SI2.765699 - AA n°-
Ares(2017)5189868
JUST/2017/CONS/AA/CO03/0078 &
- Administrative Arrangement DG
Ares(2017)5042369
JUST 34933 - Dual Quality Food
19. Commission
Commission 21.12.2017 JUST comments on GROW paper Ares(2018)883272
20. Romanian
Commission 18.04.2017 Letter from Romanian Minister for
authorities
Agriculture to Cssr Jourova on the
Ares(2017)1992857
subject of Dual Quality of
Foodstuffs in Romania [Letter no.
2558/13.04.2017]
21. Lithuanian
Commission 28.04.2017 Letter from the Lithuanian
Ares(2017)2208707
authorities
authorities - 2D-1507.pdf.pdf
22. Slovak authorities Commission 15.6.2017
Letter from the Minister of
Ares(2017)3007396
Agriculture and Rural
Development of the Slovak
Republic regarding the
phenomenon of Dual Quality of
food products on European market
23. Polish authorities
Commission 26.6.2017
Reply of Polish Minister of
Ares(2017)3192973
Agriculture, Mr Krzysztof Jurgiel
on dual quality of foodstuffs
24. Romanian
Commission 26.07.2017 Letter from the Romanian Ministry Ares(2017)3780746
authorities
of Agriculture of 26 July 2017
25. Bulgarian
Commission 03.10.2017 Letter to President JC Juncker Ares(2017)5897865
authorities
sending the common position in &
support of the request for EU Ares(2017)4813359
legislation
against
double
standards in food quality in
Bulgaria
+
Letter
from
Commissioner Jourová to Bulgarian
6
Ombudsman
26. Hungarian
Commission 16.10.2017 Reply from HU Minister Fazekas
Ares(2017)5107202
authorities
Sandor to the letter from the
Commission informing about the
short term activities with regards
to dual quality of food
27. Czech authorities
Commission 18.10.2017 Letter to President JC Juncker
Ares(2017)5094374
from Minister of CZ Agriculture
&
Marian JURECKA on dual quality
Ares(2017)6342590
of foodstuffs in the EU single
market and inclusion of legislative
measures to guarantee that a
product could have same
packaging and composition (same
letter sent to Cssr Andriukaitis,
Bienkowska and Jourova) + Reply
28. Austrian
Commission 10.11.2017 Exchange with Austria Workshop
Ares(2018)701343
authorities
Food Composition
29. Latvian authorities Commission 24/11/2016 LV comments on Commission
Ares(2018)728258
notice on Dual Quality food
30. European
Commission 10.04.2017 Letter from the EU Ombudsman Ares(2017)2702094
Ombudsman
and Reply from Commissioner
Jourová to EU ombudsman
31. Commission
Member
04.04.2017 Letter signed by Commissioners Ares(2017)1801827
States
Jourova,
Bienkowska
and
Andriukaitis
to
Ministers
of
AGRIFISH Council of 6 March
2017 regarding dual quality of food
32. Commission
Member
14.06.2017 R/Follow-up letter to Ministers of
Ares(2017)2990885
States
AGRIFISH regarding dual quality
of food (in line with the
conclusions of the European
Council of 9 March 2017) signed
by Commissioners Jourova,
Bienkowska and Andriukaitis
33. Commission
Member
28.7.2017
Follow-up letter to Ministers of
Ares(2017)3806995
States
AGRIFISH regarding dual quality
of food signed by Commissioners
Jourova, Bienkowska and
Andriukaitis (sent to all 28 MS)
34. Commission
Commission 2017
Summary of studies on dual
Ares(2018)730274
quality food
35. Czech authorities
Commission 2017
Final Report of Product Quality
Ares(2018)883826
Comparison in the CR and FRG
36. Member States
Commission 2017
Questionnaire to Member States
Ares(2018)940930
7
Annex 3: Documents subject to an access denial
File
Author
Addressee
Date
Title
Ares no.
no
1
CPC Committee Commission
16.03.2017 Minutes CPC Committee 16 Ares(2018)730480
March 2017
2
CPC Committee Commission
15.06.2017 Minutes CPC Committee 15 Ares(2018)730437
June 2017
8
Electronically signed on 19/02/2018 18:40 (UTC+01) in accordance with article 4.2 (Validity of electronic documents) of Commission Decision 2004/563