Ref. Ares(2022)5805250 - 18/08/2022
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR ENERGY
Directorate A – Energy policy: Strategy and Coordination
A.1 – Interinstitutional, Policy Coordination and Planning
Brussels , 17/08/2022
ENER.A.1/MP/(2022)6402725
Mr CRANSTON Alex
1 Long Ln, London
by email: ask+request-9677-
xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx
Subject:
Your application for access to documents – GESTDEM 2021/4214
Dear Sir,
We refer to your e-mail of 25 June 2021 in which you make a request for access to documents,
registered on 25 June 2021 under the above-mentioned reference number.
You request access to
all documentation (including but not limited to all email correspondence,
attendance lists, agendas, background papers, transcripts, recordings and minutes/notes)
relating to the meeting listed below:
1. Between the European Forest Institute (EFI) and Thor-Sten Vertmann, Stefano Grassi, Laure
Chapuis-Kombos, cabinet members of Commissioner Kadri Simson on 24/06/2021 to discuss the
use of woody biomass.
Your application concerns the following documents:
1. mail exchange for a MEETING REQUEST LC and other members 24-28-31/05 or
03/06/2021 - with EFI representatives on Causes of declining forest biodiversity
(19/05/2021)
2.
minutes of the Meeting Stefano Grassi - Laure Chapuis with EFI Director Marc Palahi and
Prof Goran Berndes, Chalmers University of Technology (24/06/2021).
I am glad to inform you that you can have wide partial access to all documents, subject only to
the redaction of personal data. Please find enclosed redacted copies of these documents.
With regard to the documents listed above, a complete disclosure of the identified documents is
prevented by the exception concerning the protection of privacy and the integrity of the individual
outlined in Article 4(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, 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.
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, I 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.
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.
Access is granted to minutes of a videoconference with external parties. This document was
drawn up for internal use under the responsibility of the relevant service. It solely reflects the
service’s interpretation of the interventions made and does not set out any official position of the
third parties to which the document refers, which was not consulted on its content. It does not
reflect the position of the Commission and cannot be quoted as such.
In case you would disagree with this position, 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 Secretariat-General of the Commission at the following address:
European Commission
Secretariat-General
Unit C.1. ‘Transparency, Document Management and Access to Documents’
BERL 7/076
B-1049 Brussels, or by email to:
xxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx
Yours faithfully,
Electronically signed
(p.o. Guus van de Schouw)
Paula Abreu Marques
Head of Unit
2
Electronically signed on 18/08/2022 14:50 (UTC+02) in accordance with Article 11 of Commission Decision (EU) 2021/2121
