EUROPEAN COMMISSION
Brussels, 4.6.2020
C(2020) 3751 final
Olivier Hoedeman
Corporate Europe Observatory
Rue d'Edimbourg 26
B-1050 Brussels
DECISION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION PURSUANT TO ARTICLE 4 OF THE
IMPLEMENTING RULES TO REGULATION (EC) NO 1049/20011
Subject:
Your confirmatory application for access to documents under
Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 - GESTDEM 2020/1909
Dear Mr Hoedeman,
I refer to your e-mail of 30 April 2020, registered on 4 May 2020, in which you submit a
confirmatory
application
in
accordance
with
Article
7(2)
of
Regulation
(EC) No 1049/2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and
Commission documents2 (hereafter ‘Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001’).
1.
SCOPE OF YOUR APPLICATION
On 3 April 2020 you submitted the initial application, in which you requested access to
documents concerning, I quote, ‘[…] the Commission's plans for implementing "steps to
ensure that Member States comply with the existing notification obligation under the
Services Directive in order to identify and eliminate new potential regulatory barriers"’.
In this context, you refer to, I quote, ‘[s]uch steps were announced in the Single Market
Enforcement Action Plan (SMEAP) presented in March 2020 (Action 11). […].’ And
underline that, I quote, ‘[t]here is no further information in the public domain on what
kind of steps the Commission intends to take, which means public scrutiny and informed
debate is virtually impossible’. You conclude that, I quote, ‘[t]here is therefore a clear
public interest in the release of the requested documents’.
1
Official Journal L 345 of 29.12.2001, p. 94.
2
Official Journal L 145 of 31.5.2001, p. 43.
Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË - Tel. +32 22991111
http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/secretariat_general/
Your initial application was attributed to the Directorate-General for Internal Market,
Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs for handling and reply. It replied to your
application on 28 April 2020, informing you that it does not hold any documents that
would correspond to the description given in your application.
You asked for the review of that position by submitting the confirmatory application on
30 April 2020, in which you requested that the European Commission, I quote, ‘[does] a
new search of the [European] Commission's archives and release the relevant
documents’. You also clarified what type of documents interest you.
2.
ASSESSMENT AND CONCLUSIONS UNDER REGULATION (EC) NO 1049/2001
When assessing a confirmatory application for access to documents submitted pursuant
to Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, the Secretariat-General conducts a fresh review of the
reply given by the Directorate-General concerned at the initial stage.
As a preliminary comment, I would like to underline that the dates of the adoption of the
Single Market Enforcement Action Plan and the date of your application for access to
documents were very close. Indeed, the European Commission has adopted the Action
Plan on 10 March 2020, while the date of the submission of your application for access
to documents is 4 April 2020. Consequently, the Commission services were not in the
position to establish documents with the concrete steps envisaged to implement the
Action.
In the light of the above, following your confirmatory application, the European
Commission has carried out a renewed, thorough search for document(s) that would
contain the information requested. The search included also the period after the date of
the initial reply provided by the Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry,
Entrepreneurship and SMEs. Following this renewed search, I confirm that the European
Commission has not identified any such documents.
In line with the provisions of Article 2(3) and Article 10 of Regulation (EC) No
1049/2001, the right of access guaranteed by that Regulation applies only to existing
documents in possession of the institution concerned.
Article 2(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 provides that ‘[t]his Regulation shall
apply to all documents held by an institution, that is to say, documents drawn up or
received by it and in its possession, in all areas of activity of the European Union’.
Article 10(3) of the above-mentioned regulation provides that ‘[d]ocuments shall be
supplied in an existing version and format […]’.
In the light of the above, given that the European Commission holds no documents
containing information of the level of detail that you requested, it is not possible to
handle your confirmatory application.
2
3.
MEANS OF REDRESS
Finally, I would like to draw your attention to the means of redress that are available
against this decision, that is, judicial proceedings and complaints to the Ombudsman
under the conditions specified respectively in Articles 263 and 228 of the Treaty on the
Functioning of the European Union.
Yours sincerely,
For the Commission
Ilze JUHANSONE
Secretary-General
3
Document Outline