Ref. Ares(2020)959944 - 14/02/2020
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR HEALTH AND FOOD SAFETY
Health systems, medical products and innovation
Cross-border health care and tobacco control
Brussels
SANTE.DDG1.B.2/SLO/kms (2020)1089593
Mr HOEDEMAN Olivier
Corporate Europe Observatory
Rue d’Edimbourg 26
1050 Brussels
Belgium
By email only to:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx
Subject:
Your application for access to documents – Ref GestDem No 2019/7290
Dear Mr Hoedeman,
We refer to your e-mail dated 13 December 2019 in which you make a request for access
to documents, registered on 17 December 2019 under the above-mentioned reference
number.
We also refer to our letter of 17 January 2019 and to your reply of 3 February 2020
conferring with you with a view to finding a fair solution in accordance with Article 6(3)
of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001.
1.
Scope of your request
On the basis of Regulation (EC) No 1049/20011, you requested access to:
‘- all reports (and other notes) from meetings between the European Commission and
representatives of the tobacco industry (producers, distributors, importers etc., as well
as organisations and individuals that are funded by and/or work to further the
interests of the tobacco industry), during 2019.
- all correspondence (including emails) between the European Commission and
representatives of the tobacco industry (producers, distributors, importers etc. as well
1 Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and
Commission documents (OJ L 145, 31.5.2001, p. 43).
Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË - Tel. +32 22991111
as organisations and individuals that are funded by and/or work to further the
interests of the tobacco industry), during 2019.
- a list of all the above-mentioned documents (including dates, names of
participants/senders/recipients
and
their
affiliation,
subject
of
meeting/correspondence).’
Please note that due to the wide scope of your request, covering also areas falling under the
responsibility of other Directorates-General, parts of your request have been attributed to
other Directorates-General2. This reply relates only to the documents held by DG SANTE.
You received or will receive the replies from the other concerned Directorates-General in
due course.
Article 6(3) of Regulation (EC) 1049/2001 provides that
in the event of an application
relating to a very long document or to very large number of documents, the institution
concerned may confer with the applicant informally, with a view to finding a fair
solution. In our fair solution proposal sent to you the 17 January 2019, we proposed a
reduction in material scope of your request.
In your subsequent reply to our fair solution proposal, you proposed to narrow down the
scope to the following:
- identification of the documents falling under your request;
- retrieval and establishment of a complete list of the documents identified.
This approach would allow you to submit follow-up requests for specific documents.
We therefore understand that your interest as expressed in your reply of 3 February 2020
would be satisfied by the information provided in the next section and in the attached
document.
2.
Request for information
After conferring with you and in light of the high workload entailed by the individual
assessment of the documents falling under the scope of your request, we have created an
ad-hoc document, listing existing documents that would fall under the scope of your
initial request.
The document details the titles of the 178 identified documents, their date and the names
of organisations, which sent or received the documents.
This list is disclosed for information purposes only, in order to allow you to better
identify the particular documents of your interest. It does not contain and cannot be
construed to imply any assessment on whether the listed documents can be fully or
partially disclosed to the public.
You may reuse this list 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 GROW GESTDEM 2019/7292; AGRI GESTDEM 2019/7294; SG.D3 GESTDEM 2019/7295; TAXUD
GESTDEM 2019/7296; TRADE GESTDEM 2019/7297; COMP GESTDEM 2019/7298; ECFIN
GESTDEM 2019/7299
2
3.
Next requests
We therefore invite you to submit new requests providing more detailed information on the
documents, which you seek to obtain, such as references, titles, senders or recipients by
email to:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx
Yours sincerely,
(e-signed)
Thea EMMERLING
Head of Unit
Enclosure:
List of identified documents as specified under Section 2 of this
letter (by email only)
3
Electronically signed on 13/02/2020 17:32 (UTC+01) in accordance with article 4.2 (Validity of electronic documents) of Commission Decision 2004/563