Ref. Ares(2019)2223463 - 28/03/2019
To:
Ms. Kirsten
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx
Riga, 27th March 2019
Ref. Ares(2019)903046 – 14/02/2019
Subject: Reply to your request of 14 February 2019
Dear Madam,
I refer to your email of 14 February 2019, registered on 14 February 2019, by which you
submitted an application for access to document in accordance with Regulation (EC) No
1049/2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission
documents ("Regulation 1049/2001").
1. Regarding your request referring to “all communication sent to and received from
Members States and their National Regulatory Authorities to prepare the
implementation report of the Regulation (EU) 2015/2120 (Open Internet Regulation)
which is due on 30 April 2019”, BEREC would like to clarify that the Report on the
implementation of Regulation (EU) 2015/2120 and BEREC Net Neutrality Guidelines
is referring to the period from 1st May 2018 to 30th April 2019 and is thus being
drafted. This report will be published in October 2019 according to the BEREC work
program 2019 (BoR (18) 240).
As the drafting process is ongoing, BEREC refuses access to the related documents
in compliance with:
Article 4(2) first indent of Regulation 1049/2001 as “disclosure would undermine
the protection of commercial interests of a natural or legal person, including
intellectual property”;
Article 4(3) first paragraph of Regulation 1049/2001 as “disclosure of these
opinions would seriously undermine BEREC’s decision-making process”.
However, BEREC can refer you to the following documents which are publicly
available:
BoR (17) 240 – BEREC Report on the implementation of Regulation (EU)
2015/2120
and
BEREC
Net
Neutrality
Guidelines:
https://berec.europa.eu/eng/document_register/subject_matter/berec/reports/7529
A g e n c y f o r S u p p o r t f o r B E R E C ( B E R E C O f f i c e )
Zigfrida Annas Meierovica boulevard № 14 | LV-1050 Riga, Latvia
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Tel. +371 6000 7600 | +371 6000 7602 |
berec.europa.eu
-berec-report-on-the-implementation-of-regulation-eu-20152120-and-berec-net-
neutrality-guidelines
BoR (18) 170 – Report on the implementation of Regulation (EU) 2015/2120 and
BEREC
Net
Neutrality
Guidelines:
https://berec.europa.eu/eng/document_register/subject_matter/berec/reports/8256
-report-on-the-implementation-of-regulation-eu-20152120-and-berec-net-
neutrality-guidelines
2. Regarding your request referring to “all communication sent to and received from
Member States and National Regulatory Authorities to follow upon annual reporting
obligations under the Regulation (EU) 2015/2120 (Open Internet Regulation)”,
BEREC would like to provide you with the following information:
The BoR (17) 240 document states that “BEREC has gathered information from
30 NRAs via an internal questionnaire. NRAs also published in national reports on
the first year of application of the Regulation. To this information, descriptions of
publicly known net neutrality cases or investigations have been added. These
cases arose between April 2016 and October 2017. Therefore, this report does
not constitute an exhaustive account of the current actions in the field of net
neutrality, as several ongoing cases and actions cannot be mentioned due to the
confidentiality issues.”
The BoR (18) 170 document states that “[t]his report reflects the second year of
the application of the Regulation, covering the period from 1 May 2017 to 30 April
2018. BEREC has gathered information from 29 NRAs via an internal
questionnaire. NRAs also published in national reports on the second year of
application of the Regulation. To this information, descriptions of publicly known
net neutrality cases or investigations have been added. These cases arose
throughout the 12-month reporting period. However, this report does not
constitute an exhaustive description of the current actions in the field of net
neutrality.”
The final reports (BoR (17) 240 and BoR (18) 170) contain all the non-confidential
results of the questionnaire supplemented by many publicly available information
regarding net neutrality country cases and national reports. Based on the two
different types of information the reports give a good overview of the progress of the
implementation of the Regulation (EU) 2015/2120 and BEREC Net Neutrality
Guidelines.
Therefore, in accordance with Article 4(2) first indent of Regulation 1049/2001, no
access is granted to the internal questionnaire as the disclosure of this document
would undermine the protection of commercial interests of natural and legal persons.
3. Regarding your request referring to “communications with external stakeholders
participating in or invited to internal net neutrality working group meetings, specifically
those preparing the review of the BEREC guidelines BoR (16) 127”, BEREC did not
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organise such events in 2018 and could hence not provide you with the relevant
documents.
However, a public consultation related to the review of the BEREC Guidelines
BoR (16) 127 had been organised in 2018. Please see below for the relevant
documents:
BoR (18) 245 – BEREC Report on the outcome of the consultation on the
evaluation of the application of Regulation (EU) 2015/2120 and the BEREC Net
Neutrality
Guidelines:
https://berec.europa.eu/eng/document_register/subject_matter/berec/reports/8318
-berec-report-on-the-outcome-of-the-consultation-on-the-evaluation-of-the-
application-of-regulation-eu-20152120-and-the-berec-net-neutrality-guidelines
BoR PC01 (18) 01 – BoR PC01 (18) 52: please note that some of the documents
are not disclosed on BEREC’s website due to confidentiality reasons. Therefore,
BEREC refuses access to these documents in compliance with Article 4(2) first
indent of Regulation 1049/2001 as “disclosure would undermine the protection of
commercial interests of a natural or legal person, including intellectual property”.
BoR (18) 244 – BEREC Opinion for the evaluation of the application of Regulation
(EU)
2015/2120
and
the
BEREC
Net
Neutrality
Guidelines:
https://berec.europa.eu/eng/document_register/subject_matter/berec/opinions/83
17-berec-opinion-for-the-evaluation-of-the-application-of-regulation-eu-20152120-
and-the-berec-net-neutrality-guidelines
4. Regarding the information from internal net neutrality working group meetings
discussing the review of the BEREC Guidelines BoR (16) 127, you will find attached
the documents we can provide you with, namely:
minutes of the NN Implementation & Evaluation Drafters’ meetings: 04/01/2018,
01/03/2018, 04/04/2018, 02-03/05/2018, 30/05/2018, 27-28/06/2018, 23/08/2018,
30/08/2018, 11/10/2018 and 25/10/2018;
minutes of the NN Members’ meetings: 16/01/2018, 15/05/2018, 29/08/2018 and
24/10/2018;
minutes of the OI Guidelines & Implementation Drafters’ meetings in 2019:
09/01/2019, 30/01/2019, 21/02/2019, 14/03/2019 and 22/03/2019;
minutes of the OI Members’ meeting: 20/02/2019.
Please note that some passages of the documents disclosed provided have been
redacted for the following reasons:
First, the full version of the documents requested contain some personal data.
Therefore, some passages have been redacted in compliance with Article 4(1) point
(b) of Regulation 1049/2001 as disclosure of the personal data would have otherwise
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undermined the protection of privacy and the integrity of the individual, in particular in
accordance with the EU legislation regarding the protection of personal data.
Second, the full version of some of the documents requested contain opinions for
internal use as part of deliberations and preliminary consultations.
Therefore, some passages have been redacted in compliance with Article 4(3)
second indent of Regulation 1049/2001 as disclosure of these opinions would have
otherwise seriously undermined BEREC’s decision-making process."
The present reply constitutes the final decision to your initial application. Please note that you
may, within 15 working days, make a confirmatory application asking the BEREC Office to
reconsider its position.
I look forward to hearing from you and I remain at your disposal for providing you with any
additional information, if needed.
Regards,
László IGNÉCZI
Director
BEREC Office
Encl.: meeting minutes as stated above
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Electronically signed on 28/03/2019 14:46 (UTC+01) in accordance with article 4.2 (Validity of electronic documents) of Commission Decision 2004/563