Ref. Ares(2020)3255548 - 23/06/2020
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
DIRECTORATE-GENERAL
TAXATION AND CUSTOMS UNION
The Acting Director General
Brussels,
TAXUD.E.2/PK/SVDV – taxud.e.2(2020) 3566090
Mr Mathias Schindler
Bundestagsbüro Julia Reda MdEP
Unter den Linden 50
DE - 11011 Berlin
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx
(by e-mail only)
Dear Mr Schindler
,
Subject: Your application for access to documents – Ref GestDem No 2020/3454
We refer to your e-mail dated 8 June 2020 in which you make a request for access to documents,
registered under the above-mentioned reference number.
You make a request for access to:
“a) meeting records (drafts, memos, invitations, appointments, cancellations) involving Palantir
officials and people representing Palantir and their interests;
b) correspondence (including within the [Authority name] and with the European institutions
concerning Palantir technologies and / or its products and services or the regulatory environment of
the EU that affects their products and services. This may include policy papers, consultation input,
memoranda or any other form of information;
c) invoices, tenders, service agreements, purchases, orders, procurement documents, offers etc.
concerning products and services using Palantir Technologies.”
Following your request, we have identified following documents:
1. Note for the file (minutes of meeting) of 6 September 2019 [Ares(2019)5640092];
2. Thank you – e-mail from Palantir of 9 September 2019 and the Director-General’s reply of
11 September [Ares(2019) 5710382];
3. E-mail from Palantir to the Commission dated 25 July 2019 – Palantir Technical Documents
[Ares(2020)2399220];
Commission européenne, B-1049 Bruxelles / Europese Commissie, B-1049 Brussel - Belgium. Telephone: (32-2) 299 11 11.
Office: J-79 (5/222) Telephone: direct line (32-2) 2961371
xxxxxx.xxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx
4. Presentation - Why Business Intelligence Fails (when it does) – overview
[Ares(2020)2399220];
5. Presentation -Palantir Foundry – 19/02/2019 [Ares(2020)2399220];
6. Presentation -Palantir Foundry for Customs [Ares(2020)2399220];
7. Presentation -Palantir Foundry (technical overview) [Ares(2020)2399220].
Point a)
Documents 1-2
These documents relate to a meeting with the Director-General on 6 September 2019.
Having examined the documents requested under the provisions of Regulation (EC) N°1049/2001
regarding public access to documents, I am pleased to inform you that Commission agrees with the full
disclosure of document 1 and the partial disclosure of document 2.
As concerns document 2, the redacted sentences relate to (pre-)commercial contacts of Palantir
Technologies with a Member State’s government agency and its disclosure would harm its commercial
interests, vis-à-vis its competitors and customers. The Commission considers that disclosure of this
part of the document would undermine the protection of the commercial interests of the company, in
accordance with Article 4 (2), second paragraph of Regulation 1049/2001 (see below).
Point b)
Documents 3-7
These documents relate to two meetings in 2019. Note that no minutes were drafted because the
meetings were purely commercial presentations and that discussions with Palantir Technologies were
not pursued any further. Document 3 is an e-mail and documents 4-7 are presentations originating
from Palantir Technologies (“the third party”). Under Article 4 (4) of Regulation 1049/2001, we
initiated a consultation for these documents with the third party.
Having examined the documents requested under Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 regarding public
access to documents and taking into account the consultation of the originator of the documents, we
consider that documents 3-4 can be fully disclosed and documents 5-7 can be partially disclosed.
Palantir Technologies invoked following arguments for the partial redaction of documents 5-7:
1. The redacted information all pertains directly to our intellectual property, know-how, trade
secrets, and commercial insights that we have developed or acquired during the course of our
commercial activities. This includes screen shots and detailed descriptions of our software
system which, as a software company, constitute our most important and valuable intellectual
property the confidentiality and integrity of which is highly commercially sensitive.
2. The disclosure of this would prejudices our commercial interests for a variety of clearly
foreseeable reasons. The disclosure of materials containing know-how and trade craft relevant
to a technology company operating within the governmental space will undermine the value of
such know-how and trade craft and erode the competitive advantage we have invested in by
disseminating it freely to our competitors. In addition to which the exposure of our intellectual
property (principally our software) will undermine the protections afforded to it by law by
2
impinging its confidential nature and facilitating the copying, misappropriation, exploitation,
and passing off of our works.
3. For the avoidance of doubt, and in the interest of protecting the privacy of our employees, we
ask that you redact all personal data in relation to Palantir staff in any of the disclosed
documents.
The Commission concurs with this position. The commercial information has been expunged as its
disclosure would undermine the commercial interest of the company concerned in accordance with the
first indent of Article 4(2) of Regulation 1049/2001 which reads: "
The 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".
Please note further that there is no overriding public interest in disclosure of the documents which
would outweigh the harm disclosure would cause to the interests protected by the invoked exception.
It is considered that this risk is foreseeable and not purely hypothetical.
Point c)
No contractual actions or purchases
concerning products and services have taken place with Palantir
Technologies. Following the presentations given by that company, discussions were not pursued any
further.
Personal data
The documents 1-3 to which you have requested access contain personal data (names, functions,
phone numbers, e-mail addresses).
We consider that, with the information available, the necessity of disclosing the aforementioned
personal data to you has not been established and it cannot be assumed that such disclosure would
not prejudice the legitimate rights of the persons concerned. Therefore, we are disclosing the
documents requested expunged from this personal data.
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 of the
individual, in particular in accordance with Community legislation regarding the protection of
personal data. The applicable legislation in this field is Regulation (EC) No 2018/17251. 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 the 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’.
1 Regulation (EC) No 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the protection of individuals 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, Official Journal L 205 of 21.11.2018, p. 39.
3
Fair use
You may reuse the documents requested free of charge 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 document. The Commission does not assume liability stemming from the reuse.
Please note that third parties may hold an intellectual property right on their documents.
In view of the nature of the documents, we would like to stress that Commission officials draft
reports for internal use. These reports are usually of value only for a limited time. These documents
are intended for internal Commission use only and have not been agreed upon or discussed with any
of the other participants at the meeting. Therefore, they constitute a subjective view of the contents of
the meetings covered and cannot in any way be regarded as official minutes of the meeting.
Confirmatory application
In case you would disagree with the overall assessment of the documents or if you consider that the
expunged data are not personal data which can only be disclosed if such disclosure is legitimate
under the rules of personal data protection, you are entitled, in accordance with Article 7(2) of
Regulation 1049/2001, 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
Secretariat-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 faithfully,
Philip KERMODE
Annexes: as stated above
4
Electronically signed on 22/06/2020 11:40 (UTC+02) in accordance with article 4.2 (Validity of electronic documents) of Commission Decision 2004/563