Ref. Ares(2020)1062302 - 19/02/2020
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR DEFENCE INDUSTRY AND SPACE
The Director-General
Brussels,
GROW/03/LB
By registered letter with
acknowledgment of receipt:
Mr Bram Vranken
Vredesactie
Patriottenstraat 27, 2600 Berchem
Belgium
Advance copy by email:
ask+request-7412-
xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx
Subject:
Your application for access to documents – Ref GestDem No
2019/6093
Dear Mr Vranken,
I refer to your request for access to documents sent via the AsktheEU.org website on
25/10/2019, registered on 28/10/2019 under the above mentioned reference number.
1. Scope of your request
You requested access to:
“- All documents - including but not limited to e-mails, reports, minutes, etc. - relating to
meetings between DG Growth officials and/or representatives (including the
Commissioner and the Cabinet) and representatives of the company Atos SE.
- All correspondence (including emails) between DG Growth officials and/or
representatives (including the Commissioner and the Cabinet) and representatives of the
company Atos SE.” In your reply to our clarification request you indicate that you “
would like to receive all
documents dating back to 01 November 2014.”
Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË - Tel. +32 22991111
Office: BREY 14/110 - Tel. direct line +32 229 57995
In view of the above, we have identified the following documents as falling within the
scope of your request:
1) Briefing note, meeting between DG GROW and ATOS, 9 October 2015
(Ares(2015)4198265);
2) Flash report, meeting between DG GROW and ATOS, 13 October 2015
(Ares(2019)7214865);
3) Mission report, visit ATOS in Paris, 18 July 2016 (Ares(2019)7214865);
4) Minutes, meeting with ATOS on 20 October 2016 (Ares(2019)7214865);
5) Report publicly available published on 10 November 2016 (Ares(2016)6355842),
https://www.copernicus.eu/sites/default/files/2018-
10/Copernicus_SocioEconomic_Impact_October_2016_0.pdf
6) Report publicly available published on 29 November 2016 (Ares(2016)6672218)
https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.copernicus.eu/sites/default/files/2019-
02/PwC_Copernicus_Market_Report_2019_PDF_version.pdf__;!NW73rmyV52c
!VpV-
KoqlmoGyGaxTWK8BzYxqWwVZZ1MHbg51TrY6tnRUZIg1ddrqum7NGO5g
VvWr9oIGUiwI$
7) Briefing note, meeting between DG GROW and ATOS, 9 June 2017
(Ares(2017)2900049).
Please find enclosed the list of documents identified in Annex 1.
Having examined the documents referred above under the provisions of Regulation (EC)
No 1049/20011 regarding public access to documents, I have come to the conclusion that
documents indicated in points 1, 2, 3, 4 and 7 may be partially disclosed. Some parts of
those documents have been blanked out as their disclosure is prevented by exception
concerning protection of privacy and the integrity of an individual as laid down in Article
4(1)(b) of the Regulation No 1049/2001.
The documents indicated in points 5 and 6 above, are publicly available under the links
provided.
You may reuse the documents requested free of charge for non-commercial and
commercial purposes provided that the source is acknowledged, that you do not distort
the original meaning or message of the document. Please note that the Commission does
not assume liability stemming from the reuse.
2. Protection of privacy and the integrity of the individual
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
1 Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May
2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents (OJ
L 145, 31.5.2001, p. 43).
2
of the individual, in particular in accordance with European Union legislation regarding
the protection of personal data.
The applicable legislation in this field is Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European
Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the protection of natural persons
with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices
and agencies and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Regulation (EC) No
45/2001 and Decision No 1247/2002/EC2 (‘Regulation 2018/1725’).
The documents to which you request access contain personal data, in particular names,
signatures, functions and contacts of internal and external individuals.
Indeed, Article 3(1) of Regulation 2018/1725 provides that personal data ‘means any
information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person […]’. The Court of
Justice has specified that any information, which by reason of its content, purpose or
effect, is linked to a particular person is to be considered as personal data3.
Please note in this respect that the names, signatures, functions, telephone numbers
and/or initials pertaining to staff members of an institution are to be considered personal
data4.
In its judgment in Case C-28/08 P (
Bavarian Lager)5, the Court of Justice ruled that
when a request is made for access to documents containing personal data, the Data
Protection Regulation becomes fully applicable6.
Pursuant to Article 9(1)(b) of Regulation 2018/1725, ‘personal data shall only be
transmitted to recipients established in the Union other than Union institutions and bodies
if ‘[t]he recipient establishes that it is necessary to have the data transmitted for a
specific purpose in the public interest and the controller, where there is any reason to
assume that the data subject’s legitimate interests might be prejudiced, establishes that it
is proportionate to transmit the personal data for that specific purpose after having
demonstrably weighed the various competing interests’.
Only if these conditions are fulfilled and the processing constitutes lawful processing in
accordance with the requirements of Article 5 of Regulation 2018/1725, can the
transmission of personal data occur.
According to Article 9(1)(b) of Regulation 2018/1725, the European Commission has to
examine the further conditions for a lawful processing of personal data only if the first
2 Official Journal L 205 of 21.11.2018, p. 39.
3 Judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union of 20 December 2017 in C
ase C-434/16, Peter
Nowak v Data Protection Commissioner, request for a preliminary ruling, paragraphs 33-35,
ECLI:EU:C:2017:994.
4 Judgment of the General Court of 19 September 2018 in cas
e T-39/17, Port de Brest v Commission,
paragraphs 43-44
, ECLI:EU:T:2018:560.
5 Judgment of 29 June 2010 in Case C-28/08 P,
European Commission v The Bavarian Lager Co. Ltd,
EU:C:2010:378, paragraph 59.
6 Whereas this judgment specifically related to 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, the
principles set out therein are also applicable under the new data protection regime established by
Regulation 2018/1725
3
condition is fulfilled, namely if the recipient has established that it is necessary to have
the data transmitted for a specific purpose in the public interest. It is only in this case that
the European Commission has to examine whether there is a reason to assume that the
data subject’s legitimate interests might be prejudiced and, in the affirmative, establish
the proportionality of the transmission of the personal data for that specific purpose after
having demonstrably weighed the various competing interests.
In your request, you do not put forward any arguments to establish the necessity to have
the data transmitted for a specific purpose in the public interest. Therefore, the European
Commission does not have to examine whether there is a reason to assume that the data
subject’s legitimate interests might be prejudiced.
Notwithstanding the above, please note that there are reasons to assume that the
legitimate interests of the data subjects concerned would be prejudiced by disclosure of
the personal data reflected in the documents, as there is a real and non-hypothetical risk
that such public disclosure would harm their privacy and subject them to unsolicited
external contacts.
Consequently, I conclude that, pursuant to Article 4(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No
1049/2001, access cannot be granted to the personal data, as the need to obtain access
thereto for a purpose in the public interest has not been substantiated and there is no
reason to think that the legitimate interests of the individuals concerned would not be
prejudiced by disclosure of the personal data concerned.
As to the handwritten signatures, which are biometric data, there is a risk that their
disclosure would prejudice the legitimate interests of the persons concerned.
In accordance with Article 7(2) of Regulation (EC) No 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 Secretariat-General of the Commission at the following
address:
European Commission
Secretariat-General
Unit C.1. ‘Transparency, Document Management and Access to Documents’
BERL 7/076
B-1049 Bruxelles, or by email t
o: xxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx
Yours sincerely,
e-signed
Timo PESONEN
Enclosure: Annex 1 and 5 documents
4
Electronically signed on 19/02/2020 12:31 (UTC+01) in accordance with article 4.2 (Validity of electronic documents) of Commission Decision 2004/563