Contacts of DG TRADE with the tobacco industry and their lobbyists in 2023
Dear Trade,
The Ombudsman stressed that the tobacco industry continued to have regular contacts with representatives of the European Commission, and that transparency about these contacts, although necessary to achieve the EU's public health objectives, was lacking.
Therefore, under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as developed in Regulation 1049/2001, I am requesting documents which contain the following information:
All correspondence, preparatory documents, minutes of meetings and any other report of such meetings, notes, logs of phone calls having occurred in 2023 between officials/representatives/Commissioner/cabinet member of DG TRADE and the following private companies and stakeholders:
- Philippe Morris International;
- British American Tobacco;
- Japan American Tobacco;
- Any lobby group or individual when these exchanges are related to tobacco or nicotine products.
Yours sincerely,
Cassandre Bigaignon
Alliance contre le tabac
13 rue d’Uzès, 75002, Paris
France
Dear Sir or Madam,
We hereby acknowledge the receipt of your request for access to documents
sent on 24/04/2024 and registered on 29/04/2024 under the case number
2024/2247.
We will handle your request within 15 working days as of the date of
registration. The time-limit expires on 23/05/2024. We will let you know
if we need to extend this time limit for additional 15 working days.
To find more information on how we process your personal data, please see
[1]the privacy statement.
Yours faithfully,
Directorate-General for Trade - Access to Documents
European Commission
References
Visible links
1. https://ec.europa.eu/info/principles-and...
Subject: Your application for access to documents – EASE 2024/2247,
extension of the time limit for the reply
Dear Ms BIGAIGNON,
We refer to your request for public access to documents of 24/04/2024 in
which you make a request for public access to documents, registered on the
same date under the above mentioned GestDem reference number.
Your application is currently being handled and the reply to it should be
finalised very soon.
However, we will not be in a position to complete the handling of your
application within the time limit of 15 working days, which expires on
23/05/2024.
An extended time limit is needed as the application concerns documents
held by different Services, which must be consulted.
Therefore, we have to extend the time limit by 15 working days in
accordance with Article 7(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 regarding
public access to documents.
The new time limit expires on 13/06/2024.
We apologise for this delay and for any inconvenience this may cause.
Yours faithfully/sincerely,
DG TRADE Public Access to Documents Team
European Commission
Directorate General for Trade
Unit R3 – Transparency, Civil Society and Communications
CHAR
1049 Brussels
Belgium
Dear Ms Bigaignon,
We refer to your application dated 24 April 2024, in which you make a
request for public access to documents under Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001
[1] (‘Regulation 1049/2001’), registered on 29 April 2024 under the
above-mentioned EASE reference number.
Kindly accept our apologies for the delay in preparing the reply to your
request.
We are fully aware that the expiry of the deadline for reply.
Please be informed that the reply to your application is prepared and
currently on its way through the internal administrative approval chain.
Your file has been identified as a matter of urgency and priority, and
best efforts are undertaken to speedily approve the reply to you and to
provide you with the response.
It is not possible though to predict at this point in time the exact
number of days this internal processing may still require, as the quite
voluminous reply comprises a very high number of documents (having
required several consultations with 3rd parties, amongst other on texts
that have needed Japanese language expertise) and requires the approval
and signature of the Director-General.
Thank you very much in any case for your understanding and further
patience.
Kind regards,
DG TRADE Public Access to Documents Legal Coordination
___________
[1] Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the
Council of 20 May 2001 regarding public access to European Parliament,
Council and Commission documents – Official Journal OJ L 145, 31.5.2001,
p. 43.
Dear Trade,
Please pass this on to the person who reviews confirmatory applications.
I am filing the following confirmatory application with regards to my access to documents request 'Contacts of DG TRADE with the tobacco industry and their lobbyists in 2023'.
Although the deadline is well past, my request has not yet been answered.
A full history of my request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/cont...
Yours faithfully,
Cassandre Bigaignon
Dear Sir or Madam,
We hereby acknowledge the receipt of your confirmatory request for case
2024/2247, sent on 15/07/2024 and registered on 18/07/2024.
We will handle your confirmatory request within 15 working days as of the
date of registration. The time-limit expires on 08/08/2024. We will let
you know if we need to extend this time limit for additional 15 working
days.
Yours faithfully,
Secretariat-General - Access to Documents
European Commission
Dear Ms Bigaignon,
Please find attached the reply to your initial request for public access
to Commission documents registered under the above case number EASE
2024/2247.
We apologise once more for the delay in the handling of your request. This
delay occurred also, because the reply handles a significant higher number
of documents than one could usually expect to be handled within the
legally prescribed deadlines. In this context we therefore very much
regret and want to express also our related astonishment that you have
submitted a confirmatory application during the finalisation of the
initial handling stage of your request.
The colleagues of the Secretariat-General will revert back to you as
regards your confirmatory application request due to lack of the (in the
meantime rendered) initial level reply.
Kindly acknowledge the receipt of the present message by return email.
Thank you very much in advance!
Kind regards,
DG TRADE Public Access to Documents
Dear Ms Bigaignon,
Please find attached the reply to your initial request for public access
to Commission documents registered under the above case number EASE
2024/2247.
We apologise once more for the delay in the handling of your request. This
delay occurred also, because the reply handles a significant higher number
of documents than one could usually expect to be handled within the
legally prescribed deadlines. In this context we therefore very much
regret and want to express also our related astonishment that you have
submitted a confirmatory application during the finalisation of the
initial handling stage of your request.
The colleagues of the Secretariat-General will revert back to you as
regards your confirmatory application request due to lack of the (in the
meantime rendered) initial level reply.
Kindly acknowledge the receipt of the present message by return email.
Thank you very much in advance!
Kind regards,
DG TRADE Public Access to Documents
Dear applicant,
Please find attached a message concerning your request for access to
Commission documents registered under the above case number 2024/2247.
Kind regards,
Access to Documents Team - Secretariat-General of the European Commission