Ref. Ares(2020)3383838 - 29/06/2020
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR HEALTH AND FOOD SAFETY
The Director-General
Brussels,
SANTE.DDG1.B.2/AB(2020)3519596
By registered letter with acknowledgment
of receipt1
Oliver Hoedeman
Corporate Europe Observatory
Rue d’Edimbourg 26
1050 Brussels
Belgium
Advance copy by email:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx
Dear Mr Hoedeman,
Subject: Your application for access to documents – Ref GestDem 2020/2377
We refer to your email dated 24 April 2020 in which you make a request for access to
documents, registered on the same date under the above-mentioned reference number.
We also refer to our letter of 20 May 2020 extending the time limit to respond to your
request according to Article 7(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001.
1.
Scope of your request
In your request, you ask, on the basis of Regulation (EC) No 1049/20012, access to:
“In response to my application for access to documents Ref GestDem No 2019/7290, we
discussed a fair solution in accordance with Article 6(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001
and agreed 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 me to submit follow-up requests for specific documents.
1 According to standard operational procedure, the reply is usually also sent to you by registered post.
Please note, however, that due to the extraordinary health and security measures currently in force
during to the COVID-19 epidemics, which include the requirement for all Commission non-critical
staff to telework, we are unfortunately not in a position to follow this procedure until further notice.
We would therefore appreciate if you could confirm receipt of the present e-mail.
2 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
In February this year, you sent me (SANTE.DDG1.B.2/SLO/kms(2020)1089593) a list
detailing the titles of the 178 identified documents, their date and the names of
organisations, which sent or received the documents.”
2. Identification and assessment of the relevant document
We have identified 79 documents that fall within the scope of your request.
Having examined these documents under the provisions of Article 4 of Regulation (EC)
No1049/2001, we have come to the following conclusion:
documents No 05 c and 124 a in Annex A can be fully disclosed;
62 documents can be partially disclosed (documents No 01, 01 b, 02, 02 b, 05, 05
b, 06, 07, 08, 09, 19, 25 a, 25 b, 29, 30, 30, 31, 35, 41 a, 41 b, 45, 50 a, 50 b, 51, 52
a, 52 b, 52 c, 53 a, 53 b, 55 a, 55 b, 56, 60, 63, 69, 73 a, 73 b, 76, 81, 87, 94, 95, 97,
99, 112, 115, 117, 118 a, 118 b, 119 a, 119 b, 124 b, 124 c, 124 d, 124 e, 125, 152
a, 152 b, 154 a, 154 b, 172 in Annex A);
access to 16 documents must be refused (documents No 13, 15, 17, 18, 42, 44, 54,
68, 98, 102, 129, 130, 158, 169, 171, 178 in Annex A).
You will find attached a table listing the identified documents and summarising the
outcome of the assessment carried out on the basis of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001.
Please note that the numbering of the table is not consecutive, documents are numbered as
they were in request ref. GESTDEM 2020/7290, in order to facilitate their identification.
The documents you request contain information related to several third parties. Therefore,
the third parties have been consulted in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, in
order to assess whether an exception to the right of access to documents is applicable.
Having examined the document requested under the provisions of Regulation (EC) No
1049/2001 regarding public access to documents, and having considered the opinion of the
third party, we have concluded that the documents may be partially disclosed. Some parts
of the documents have been blanked out as their disclosure is prevented by an exception to
the right of access laid down in Article 4 of this Regulation.
Please note that documents originating from third parties are disclosed to you based on
Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001. However, this disclosure is without prejudice to the
rules on intellectual property, which may limit your right to reproduce or exploit the
released documents without the agreement of the originator, who may hold an
intellectual property right on them. The European Commission does not assume any
responsibility from their reuse.
You may reuse public documents, which have been produced by the European You may
reuse public documents, which have been produced by the European Commission or by
public and private entities on its behalf based on the
Commission Decision on the reuse of
Commission documents. You may reuse the documents disclosed free of charge and for
non-commercial and commercial purposes provided that the source is acknowledged and
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.
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3. Reason for partial disclosure
Protection of personal data - Article 4(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001
With regard to the documents listed above, their full disclosure is prevented by the
exception concerning the protection of privacy and the integrity of the individual as laid
down in Article 4(1)(b) of the Regulation, because they contain the following personal
data:
-
the names/initials and contact information of Commission staff members not
pertaining to the senior management;
-
the names/initials and contact details of other natural persons;
-
handwritten signatures/abbreviated signatures of natural persons;
-
other information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person such as
office/phone numbers or email addresses.
Article 9(1)(b) of the Data Protection Regulation does not allow the transmission of these
personal data, except if you prove that it is necessary to have the data transmitted to you
for a specific purpose in the public interest and where there is no reason to assume that the
legitimate interests of the data subject might be prejudiced. In your request, you do not
express any particular interest to have access to these personal data nor do you put forward
any arguments to establish the necessity to have the data transmitted for a specific purpose
in the public interest.
Consequently, we conclude that, pursuant to Article 4(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No
1049/2001, access cannot be granted to the personal data contained in the requested
documents, 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.
4. Reasons for refusal
Protection of the commercial interests of a legal person - Article 4(2), first indent, of
Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001
Documents No 13, 15, 17, 18, 42, 44, 54, 68, 98, 102, 129, 130, 158, 169, 171, 178 in
Annex A contain commercially sensitive business information of some of the third parties,
as well of its business partners, such as the names of companies as well as other
information of highly sensitive nature and related to contractual matters. Disclosure of
these parts would undermine the protection of the companies’ commercial interests.
We have considered whether partial access could be granted to these documents, in
accordance with Article 4(6) of the Regulation. However, it follows from the
assessment made above that these 16 documents are entirely covered by the exception
laid down in Article 4(2), first indent, as the remaining parts after expunging the
confidential information are meaningless and illegible.
5. Overriding public interest
The exceptions to the right of access provided for in Article 4(2) of Regulation (EC)
No 1049/2001 must be waived if there is an overriding public interest in disclosing the
requested document. In your application, you did not submit any grounds concerning a
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public interest on the basis of which the interests protected in Regulation (EC)
No 1049/2001 would have to be overridden, and we could not identify any such ground
either. In these circumstances, we have to conclude that there is no evidence of an
overriding public interest in disclosure, in the sense of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001.
6. Means of redress
In case you would disagree with this assessment, you are entitled, in accordance with
Article 7(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, to submit 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
Transparency, Document Management & Access to Documents (SG.C.1)
BERL 7/076
B-1049 Brussels
or by email to:
xxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx
Yours sincerely
Anne BUCHER
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Electronically signed on 25/06/2020 14:09 (UTC+02) in accordance with article 4.2 (Validity of electronic documents) of Commission Decision 2004/563