Ref. Ares(2018)3600592 - 06/07/2018
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
DIRECTORATE-GENERAL JUSTICE and CONSUMERS
Unit 01: Communication and strategic planning
Brussels,
JUST.01/AC
By registered letter with
acknowledgment of receipt
Ms Margarida da Silva
CEO
Rue d' Edimbourg 26
BE - 1050 Brussels
Advance copy by email:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx
Subject:
Your application for access to documents – Ref GestDem No
2018/2420
Dear Ms Da Silva,
We refer to your e-mail dated 25/04/2018 in which you make a request for access to
documents, registered on 27/04/2018 under the above-mentioned reference number.
You request access to "
documents which contain the following information:
- a list of lobby meetings held by DG JUST with Facebook or its intermediaries. The list
should include: date, individuals attending + organisational affiliation, the issues
discussed;
- minutes and other reports of these meetings;
all correspondence (i.e. any emails, correspondence or telephone call notes) between DG
JUST (including the Commissioner and the Cabinet) and Facebook or any
intermediaries representing its interests."
You further clarified by your email of 18/05/2018 addressed to DG JUST that you are
interested in documents from 01/11/2014 onwards and that the research can be limited to
meetings with Facebook directly. Thereby, we consider your request to cover documents
held up to the date of your initial application.
Given that you submitted the same request to other Directorates-General of the
Commission as well, this reply relates only to the documents held by DG JUST. You
received or will receive the replies from the other respective Directorates-General in due
course.
I would also like to inform you that in order to identify the meetings falling under your
request I have used the definition of lobbying activities as described in the Commission
Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË - Tel. +32 22991111
Communication of 21 March 20071 as "
all activities carried out with the objective of
influencing the policy formulation and decision-making processes of the European
institutions", accepted also by the European Parliament in the EP resolution of Thursday
8 May 2008, concerning a "Framework for the activities of lobbyists in the EU
institutions2"
In accordance with the Code of Good Administrative Behavior, we wish to inform you
that the following lobby meetings have been held between DG JUST and Facebook in the
period concerned:
Date
Subject matter
Participants
29-Jun-15
Women and tech
Renate Nikolay
Věra Jourová, Daniel Braun,
Isabelle Perignon, Renate
02-Oct-15
Hate speech on-line
Nikolay
Věra Jourová, Kevin O'Connell,
04-Dec-15
Safe Harbour
Renate Nikolay
DSM agenda, hate speech online,
15-Feb-16
digital contracts
Eduard Hulicius
25-Apr-16
Hate speech online
Daniel Braun, Renate Nikolay
20-Apr-16
opening of Brussels premises
Eduard Hulicius
10-Jun-16
GDPR, EU –US Privacy Shield
Kevin O'Connell
Hate speech on the internet and
13-Jun-16
online platforms
Daniel Braun, Eduard Hulicius
29-Aug-16
Copyright reform
Eduard Hulicius
GDPR, Privacy Shield, Online
09-Nov-2019 speech, E-evidence, CPC
Renate Nikolay
23-Nov-16
Code of Conduct
Daniel Braun, Renate Nikolay
26-Jan-17
Online Hate Speech
Daniel Braun
Online hate speech, GDPR, Privacy
Věra Jourová, Daniel
02-Mar-17
Shield
Braun,Kevin O'Connell
24-Apr-17
Code of Conduct
Daniel Braun, Renate Nikolay
18-Sep-17
CPC Network
Eduard Hulicius
EU US Privacy Shield, GDPR,
Věra Jourová, Kevin O'Connell,
19-Sep-17
Online hate speech, e-evidence
Renate Nikolay, Wojtek Talko
Code of Conduct, Online Hate
04-Oct-17
Speech
Daniel Braun, Renate Nikolay
18-Sep-17
Social media CPC action
Eduard Hulicius
Věra Jourová, Daniel Braun,
Hate speech online, Data protection - Kevin O'Connell, Renate
23-Jan-18
GDPR, Privacy Shield, E-evidence
Nikolay
28-Feb-18
Code of Conduct
Daniel Braun, Renate Nikolay
26-Apr-18
GDPR
Wojtek Talko
1 Communication from the Commission of 21 March 2007 – Follow-up to the Green Paper ‘European
Transparency Initiative’
[COM(2007) 127 final, available at
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex:52007DC0127
2 The text of the resolution is available at:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&language=EN&reference=P6-TA-2008-197
2
These are the documents which correspond to your application:
1. Flash minutes of the meeting of 15/02/2016 - Ares(2018)3446723
2. Flash minutes of the meeting of 25/04/2016 - Ares(2018)3446846
3. Flash minutes of the meeting of 13/06/2016 - Ares(2018)3457004
4. Flash minutes of the meeting of 29/08/2016 - Ares(2018)3440402
5. Flash minutes of the meeting of 26/01/2017 - Ares(2018)3446917
6. Flash minutes of the meeting of 24/04/2017 - Ares(2018)3446570
7. Flash minutes of the meeting of 18/09/2017 - Ares(2018)3440257
8. Mission report: San Francisco & Silicon Valley (19-21 September 2017),
FACEBOOK - Ares(2018)3468375
9. Flash minutes of the meeting of 23/01/2018 - Ares(2018)3445228
10. Flash minutes of the meeting of 26/04/2018 - Ares(2018)3445141
11. e-mail exchange DG JUST / Facebook between 1 Nov. 2017 – 27 Nov. 2017
12. Letter to Sheryl Sandberg, Ares(2018)1669470
13. Reply from Ms Sheryl Sandberg, COO Facebook to the letter sent by Ms Jourova -
Ares(2018)1854626
You will find a copy of all these documents attached to the present letter, except documents
n. 11 and 13. Since these documents originate from a third party, the originator of the
documents has been consulted. We are waiting for the observations of the author of
documents and you will receive an additional reply by the 23rd of July 2018.
Furthermore, concerning documents 2 and 4, some sections have been redacted as they do
not refer to meetings with Facebook. These sections are therefore outside the scope of your
request and they redaction does not represent a refusal of access.
The documents to which you have requested access contain personal data, in particular
names and contact details of non-senior management staff.
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 data3.
When access is requested to documents containing personal data, Regulation (EC) No
45/2001 becomes fully applicable4.
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.
3 Official Journal L 8 of 12.1.2001, p. 1
4 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.
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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 a version of the documents requested in which
these personal data have been redacted.
Please note that some documents were received by the Commission from third parties. They
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.
Concerning the minutes or the summary record of meetings, please note that these
documents were drawn up for internal use under the responsibility of the relevant services
of DG JUST. They solely reflect the services’ interpretation of the interventions made and
do not set out any official position of the third parties to which the documents refer, which
were not consulted on its content. They do not reflect the position of the Commission and
cannot be quoted as such.
In case you would disagree with the assessment that the redacted data are personal data,
which can only be disclosed if such disclosure is legitimate under the applicable rules on the
protection of personal data, 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 5/288
B-1049 Bruxelles or by email to:
xxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx
Yours faithfully,
(e-signed)
Giles GOODALL
Head of Unit
Electronically signed on 06/07/2018 12:12 (UTC+02) in accordance with article 4.2 (Validity of electronic documents) of Commission Decision 2004/563
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