Ref. Ares(2020)1980392 - 08/04/2020
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR RESEARCH & INNOVATION
The Director-General
B1/RS/JCV
rtd.b.1.002(2020)1950621
By registered letter with acknowledgment
of receipt
Peter Teffer
Ekko Voorkamer
Bemuurde Weerd WZ 3
3513 BH Utrecht
The Netherlands
Advance copy by e-mail:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx
Subject: Your application for public access to documents – GestDem Ref No
2020/0480
Dear Mr Teffer,
We refer to your email dated 24/01/2020 in which you submitted an application for
access to documents within the framework of Regulation (EC) 1049/20011.
1. SCOPE OF YOUR REQUEST
You requested access to the following documents:
- all documents - including but not limited to minutes, (hand-written) notes, audio
recordings, verbatim reports, operational conclusions, lines to take, e-mails, and
presentations - related to the 11/12/2019 meeting between Adrienn Kiraly and IBM
- all documents - including but not limited to minutes, (hand-written) notes, audio
recordings, verbatim reports, operational conclusions, lines to take, e-mails, and
presentations - related to the 04/12/2019 meeting between Commissioner Mariya Gabriel
and INSERM
- all documents - including but not limited to minutes, (hand-written) notes, audio
recordings, verbatim reports, operational conclusions, lines to take, e-mails, and presentations - related to the 04/12/2019 meeting between Commissioner Mariya Gabriel
and Robert Bosch GmbH
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) ,
hereinafter referred to as ‘Regulation (EC) 1049/2001’.
Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË - Tel. +32 22991111
Email:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx
- all documents - including but not limited to minutes, (hand-written) notes, audio
recordings, verbatim reports, operational conclusions, lines to take, e-mails, and
presentations - related to the 05/12/2019 meeting between Commissioner Mariya Gabriel
and
EU-LIFE
- all documents - including but not limited to minutes, (hand-written) notes, audio
recordings, verbatim reports, operational conclusions, lines to take, e-mails, and
presentations - related to the 10/12/2019 meeting between Commissioner Mariya Gabriel
and Science Europe (SE)
- all documents - including but not limited to minutes, (hand-written) notes, audio
recordings, verbatim reports, operational conclusions, lines to take, e-mails, and
presentations - related to the 10/12/2019 meeting between Commissioner Mariya Gabriel
and European Brain Council (EBC)
- all documents - including but not limited to minutes, (hand-written) notes, audio
recordings, verbatim reports, operational conclusions, lines to take, e-mails, and
presentations - related to the 10/12/2019 meeting between Commissioner Mariya Gabriel
and
European Science Foundation (ESF)
- all documents - including but not limited to minutes, (hand-written) notes, audio
recordings, verbatim reports, operational conclusions, lines to take, e-mails, and
presentations - related to the 10/12/2019 meeting between Commissioner Mariya Gabriel
and
Siemens AG (SAG)
- all documents - including but not limited to minutes, (hand-written) notes, audio
recordings, verbatim reports, operational conclusions, lines to take, e-mails, and
presentations - related to the 11/12/2019 meeting between Commissioner Mariya Gabriel
and AeroSpace and Defence Industries Association of Europe (ASD)
- all documents - including but not limited to minutes, (hand-written) notes, audio
recordings, verbatim reports, operational conclusions, lines to take, e-mails, and
presentations - related to the 11/12/2019 meeting between Commissioner Mariya Gabriel
and Airbus
- all documents - including but not limited to minutes, (hand-written) notes, audio
recordings, verbatim reports, operational conclusions, lines to take, e-mails, and
presentations - related to the 12/12/2019 meeting between Commissioner Mariya Gabriel
and BUSINESSEUROPE
We regret to inform you that we have not identified any documents that would
correspond to the description of your application regarding the first and seventh point,
namely:
- all documents - including but not limited to minutes, (hand-written) notes, audio
recordings, verbatim reports, operational conclusions, lines to take, e-mails, and
presentations - related to the 11/12/2019 meeting between Adrienn Kiraly and IBM
- all documents - including but not limited to minutes, (hand-written) notes, audio
recordings, verbatim reports, operational conclusions, lines to take, e-mails, and
presentations - related to the 10/12/2019 meeting between Commissioner Mariya Gabriel
and
European Science Foundation (ESF)
2
Therefore, we are not in position to handle this part of your request. As specified in
Article 2(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, the right of access as defined in that
Regulation applies only to existing documents in the possession of the institution.
With regard to the remaining parts of your request, we have identified the following
documents falling within the scope (hereinafter the “
requested documents”):
1. Ares(2019)6096325_ request for an appointment on December 4th with Inserm
2. 1404_Briefing Bosch_V2
3. 1404_Briefing Bosch_V2_(002)
4. Meeting in Brussels _ 4 December 2019
5. 2019-12-09_European
Commission-European
Commissioner
for
Digital
Economy and Society-Mariya Gabriel
6. EULIFEMeeting_Agenda_5DEC2019
7. BASIS (CAB GABRIEL 1406) - EU-LIFE research centres alliance G2
8. EU_LIFE_introduction_5Dec2019
9. SummaryEULIFE_meeting_5Dec2019_2CMG
10. EULIFE_Recommendations_ERANARRATIVE_August2019_2ERAC
11. Ares(2019)7690660 EU-LIFE I Thank you and follow up
12. 2019-12-10 Gabriel - Science Europe – Final
13. 1421 CAB Gabriel Science Europe_
14. 20191104 2nd Science Europe Letter to Commissioner Gabriel
15. Briefing contribution Unit E2_meeting Gabriel_EBC BASIS 1422_02122019
16. CAB GABRIEL 3 - Brief bilateral meeting with - 11 December 2019_
17. Speech_FINAL_ASD Board Meeting
18. FINAL_ASD Board Meeting 11 Dec - BASIS 1413
19. Letter from ASD President
20. ASD 2019 Facts and Figures
21. ASD 2019 Corporate folder
22. Letter to Commissioner Gabriel
23. Annex 2 - AirbusReplyConsultationPartnershipsHorizonEurope_RTD
24. cab gabriel 1335 airbus CEO G Faury_w rtd_
25. Ares(2019)7225096 Business Europe
2. EXAMINATION UNDER REGULATION (EC) NO 1049/2001
After a concrete assessment of the requested documents, we have concluded that:
- Access can be granted to documents under number 20 and 21. The document
under number 20 is already public.
The document under number 21 contains public information.
- Partial access can be granted to documents under numbers 1 to 19 and 22 to 25.
Please note that certain parts of the specific documents have been expunged, as
their content must be protected in accordance with the exceptions concerning the
protection of commercial interests and the protection as regards the protection of
personal data provided under Article 4 of Regulation EC (No) 1049/2001.
Please see below the analysis on the applicable exceptions:
2.1. Protection of commercial interests of a natural or legal person, including intellectual
property
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Article 4(2), first indent, of Regulation (EC) 1049/2001 provides that
"[t]he institutions
shall refuse access to a document where disclosure would undermine the protection of
[...] commercial interests of a natural or legal person, including intellectual property,
unless there is an overriding public interest in disclosure".
Parts of the requested documents under numbers 2, 3, 24, have been redacted in
accordance with the specific exception. More specifically, the views or positions of third
parties – authors of the requested documents on a particular subject as well as their
strategic plans, have been expunged.
Disclosure of the specific information could have a negative impact on the commercial
interests of the entities in question by revealing to the public details concerning the
professional activities of the specific entities.
Pursuant to article 4(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, the exception to the right of
access must be waived if there is an overriding public interest permitting the disclosure of
the requested documents. In order for such an overriding public interest to exist, this
interest, firstly, has to be public and, secondly, overriding, i.e. in this case it must
outweigh the interest protected under article 4(2), first indent. We consider that in the
present case there are no elements capable of showing the existence of an overriding
public interest in disclosure of the refused documents that would outweigh the public
interest in the protection of the commercial interests.
2.2. Protection of privacy and the integrity of the individual
According to Article 4(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, access must be refused
where disclosure would undermine the protection of "
privacy and the integrity of the
individual", in particular in accordance with European Union legislation regarding the
protection of personal data2.
All of the partially disclosed documents contain personal data such as names, surnames,
functions, office numbers and e-mail addresses of the Commission’s officials not having
the function of senior management staff and of the third parties identified in the
documents, as well as information that could lead to the identification of individuals. This
information clearly constitutes personal data in the meaning of Article 3(1) of Regulation
(EU) 2018/1725.
Pursuant to Article 9(1)(b) of Regulation (EU) 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”.
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
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. 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.
2 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/EC (OJ L 295, 21.11.2018, p. 39).
4
Therefore, personal data have been withheld from the requested documents.
Please note that the exception of Article 4(1)(b) has an absolute character and does not
envisage the possibility of demonstrating the existence of an overriding public interest.
3. DISCLAIMER AND RE-USE OF DOCUMENTS
Please note that documents received by the Commission from third parties are disclosed
for information only and cannot be re-used without the agreement of the originator, who
holds a copyright on it. They do not reflect the position of the Commission and cannot be
quoted as such.
With regard to the remaining documents, drafted by the services of the European
Commission, you may reuse the disclosed documents 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 documents. Please note that the
Commission does not assume liability stemming from the reuse.
4. MEANS OF REDRESS
In accordance with Article 7(2) of Regulation (EC) 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
Unit SG C.1 – Transparency, document management & access to documents
BERL 7/076
B-1049 Brussels
or by email t
o: xxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx
Yours sincerely,
Jean-Eric Paquet
Enclosure: requested documents, expunged from personal data and from information
affecting commercial interests
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Electronically signed on 07/04/2020 11:12 (UTC+02) in accordance with article 4.2 (Validity of electronic documents) of Commission Decision 2004/563
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