EEAS letter to the Office of the South African President on the South African Draft Copyright Bill

La solicitud fue parcialmente exitosa.

Dear Trade,

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:

On 20 March 2020, the EU Ambassador to the Republic of South Africa Riina Kionka sent a letter to Dr. Cassius Reginald Lubisi, Director-General in the Office of the South African President, on the subject of South Africa’s copyright regime, available online at: https://eeas.europa.eu/sites/eeas/files/... In the letter, Ambassador Kionka states that she is writing on behalf of the European Commission.

Ambassador Kionka states in the letter in reference to South Africa’s Draft Copyright Bill: “The European Commission has participated continuously throughout the consultation process which began in 2015 and culminated in March 2019 with the final Copyright Bill being sent to the President for assent. In particular, by addressing its contributions on 16 September 2015 to Mr. Lionel October, Director General of the Department of Trade and industry, and on 22 February 2019 to the Hon. E. Makue Chairperson of the Select Committee on Trade and Industry Relations.”

I am explicitly seeking any information the Commission has in connection with the letter of 20 March 2020, as well as any information related to the South African Draft Copyright Bill. I do not want this request to be limited to information that was registered as "not short-lived" or "not unimportant". This request should therefore also contain short-lived information such as drafts, inter-agency communication, e-mails, text messages, memos, and follow-up communication, including responses to the letter of 20 March 2020. I am requesting all information, including internal communication, inter-service consultation, communication with the EEAS, any South African bodies, or with third parties such as external stakeholders regarding or in connection with the letter of 20 March 2020 or the South African Draft Copyright Bill.

Yours faithfully,

Julia Reda

Dear Ms Reda,

Thank you for your request for access to documents. Unfortunately, you have not indicated your postal address. This is necessary for registering and handling your request in line with the procedural requirements.

You have lodged your application via the ask-the-eu platform, a private third-party website, which has no link with any institution of the European Union. Therefore, the European Commission cannot be held accountable for any technical issues or problems linked to the use of this system. Please note that ask-the-eu is responsible and accountable for the processing of your personal data via that website, and not the Commission. We understand that the third party running the AsktheEU.org website usually publishes the content of applicants’ correspondence with the Commission on that website. This includes the personal data that you may have communicated to the Commission (e.g. your private postal address). If you do not wish that your correspondence with the Commission is published on a private third-party website such as AsktheEU.org, you can provide us with an alternative, private e-mail address for further correspondence. In that case, the Commission will send all future electronic correspondence addressed to you only to that private address, and it will use only that private address to reply to your request. You should still remain responsible to inform the private third-party website about this change of how you wish to communicate with, and receive a reply from, the Commission.

Please send us your full postal address at your earliest convenience. Pending your reply, we reserve the right to refuse the registration of your request. Alternatively, you may use directly the electronic form available on the Europa website:

http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regdoc/...

Best regards,

Access to Documents Team

-----Original Message-----
From: Julia Reda <[FOI #7916 email]>
Sent: Tuesday, April 28, 2020 2:58 PM
To: TRADE ACCES DOCUMENTS <[DG TRADE request email]>
Subject: access to documents request - EEAS letter to the Office of the South African President on the South African Draft Copyright Bill

Dear Trade,

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:

On 20 March 2020, the EU Ambassador to the Republic of South Africa Riina Kionka sent a letter to Dr. Cassius Reginald Lubisi, Director-General in the Office of the South African President, on the subject of South Africa’s copyright regime, available online at: https://eeas.europa.eu/sites/eeas/files/... In the letter, Ambassador Kionka states that she is writing on behalf of the European Commission.

Ambassador Kionka states in the letter in reference to South Africa’s Draft Copyright Bill: “The European Commission has participated continuously throughout the consultation process which began in 2015 and culminated in March 2019 with the final Copyright Bill being sent to the President for assent. In particular, by addressing its contributions on 16 September 2015 to Mr. Lionel October, Director General of the Department of Trade and industry, and on 22 February 2019 to the Hon. E. Makue Chairperson of the Select Committee on Trade and Industry Relations.”

I am explicitly seeking any information the Commission has in connection with the letter of 20 March 2020, as well as any information related to the South African Draft Copyright Bill. I do not want this request to be limited to information that was registered as "not short-lived" or "not unimportant". This request should therefore also contain short-lived information such as drafts, inter-agency communication, e-mails, text messages, memos, and follow-up communication, including responses to the letter of 20 March 2020. I am requesting all information, including internal communication, inter-service consultation, communication with the EEAS, any South African bodies, or with third parties such as external stakeholders regarding or in connection with the letter of 20 March 2020 or the South African Draft Copyright Bill.

Yours faithfully,

Julia Reda

-------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a request for access to information under Article 15 of the TFEU and, where applicable, Regulation 1049/2001 which has been sent via the AsktheEU.org website.

Please kindly use this email address for all replies to this request: [FOI #7916 email]

If [DG TRADE request email] is the wrong address for information requests to Trade, please tell the AsktheEU.org team on email [email address]

This message and all replies from Trade will be published on the AsktheEU.org website. For more information see our dedicated page for EU public officials at https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www....

Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will be delayed.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

ocultar partes citadas

Dear Trade,

there is no legal basis for requiring my postal address as a prerequisite for processing my freedom of information request, which is my right under Regulation 1049/2001. I regret that the European Commission appears to make this procedural requirement for the sole purpose of discouraging citizens from using the portal asktheEU, which is making an important contribution to the transparency of the European institutions. Rather than pushing me to choose between publicly disclosing personal information and ensuring the transparency of the freedom of information request, the European Commission should be embracing and actively supporting asktheEU's important work.

But that is a topic for another day.

My postal address is:

Julia Reda
Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte e.V.
Hessische Str. 10
10115 Berlin
Germany

Yours faithfully,

Julia Reda

1 Adjuntos

Dear Ms Reda,
 
Thank you for providing your postal address. We hereby acknowledge receipt
of your application for access to documents, which was registered on today
under the above mentioned reference number.
 
In accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 regarding public access to
European Parliament, Council and Commission documents, your application
will be handled within 15 working days. The time-limit will expire on 25
May 2020. In case this time-limit needs to be extended, you will be
informed in due course.
 
For information on how we process your personal data visit our page
[1]Privacy statement – access to documents.
Yours sincerely,
Access to Documents Team
European Commission
DG TRADE
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Julia Reda <[FOI #7916 email]>
Sent: Tuesday, April 28, 2020 8:41 PM
To: TRADE ACCES DOCUMENTS <[DG TRADE request email]>
Subject: RE: access to documents request - EEAS letter to the Office of
the South African President on the South African Draft Copyright Bill
 
Dear Trade,
 
there is no legal basis for requiring my postal address as a prerequisite
for processing my freedom of information request, which is my right under
Regulation 1049/2001. I regret that the European Commission appears to
make this procedural requirement for the sole purpose of discouraging
citizens from using the portal asktheEU, which is making an important
contribution to the transparency of the European institutions. Rather than
pushing me to choose between publicly disclosing personal information and
ensuring the transparency of the freedom of information request, the
European Commission should be embracing and actively supporting asktheEU's
important work.
 
But that is a topic for another day.
 
My postal address is:
 
Julia Reda
Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte e.V.
Hessische Str. 10
10115 Berlin
Germany
 
Yours faithfully,
 
Julia Reda
 
-----Original Message-----
 
Dear Ms Reda,
 
Thank you for your request for access to documents. Unfortunately, you
have not indicated your postal address. This is necessary for registering
and handling your request in line with the procedural requirements.
 
You have lodged your application via the ask-the-eu platform, a private
third-party website, which has no link with any institution of the
European Union. Therefore, the European Commission cannot be held
accountable for any technical issues or problems linked to the use of this
system. Please note that ask-the-eu is responsible and accountable for the
processing of your personal data via that website, and not the Commission.
We understand that the third party running the AsktheEU.org website
usually publishes the content of applicants’ correspondence with the
Commission on that website. This includes the personal data that you may
have communicated to the Commission (e.g. your private postal address). If
you do not wish that your correspondence with the Commission is published
on a private third-party website such as AsktheEU.org, you can provide us
with an alternative, private e-mail address for further correspondence. In
that case, the Commission will send all future electronic correspondence
addressed to you only to that private address, and it will use only that
private address to reply to your request. You should still remain
responsible to inform the private third-party website about this change of
how you wish to communicate with, and receive a reply from, the
Commission.
 
Please send us your full postal address at your earliest convenience.
Pending your reply, we reserve the right to refuse the registration of
your request. Alternatively, you may use directly the electronic form
available on the Europa website:
 
[2]http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regdoc/...
 
Best regards,
 
Access to Documents Team
 
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[3][FOI #7916 email]
 
This message and all replies from Trade will be published on the
AsktheEU.org website. For more information see our dedicated page for EU
public officials at
[4]https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www....
 
Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will
be delayed.
 
-------------------------------------------------------------------
 

References

Visible links
1. https://ec.europa.eu/info/principles-and...
2. http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regdoc/...
3. mailto:[FOI #7916 email]
4. https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www....

ocultar partes citadas

Dear Directorate General for Trade,

according to my knowledge of Belgian public holidays, the time-limit of 15 working days will expire on 20 May 2020, not 25 May 2020. Should you come to a different conclusion, please provide me with your calculation. I look forward to your response by 20 May 2020.

Yours faithfully,

Julia Reda

Dear Ms Reda,

In reply to your message of today 15:03 hrs, we would kindly like to inform you that we do not use the Belgian public holidays, but those of the EU institutions. 1 May, 21 and 22 May are public holidays in the institutions. Therefore the legal deadline is 25 May.

Yours sincerely,
Access to Documents Team

European Commission
DG TRADE

-----Original Message-----
From: Julia Reda <[FOI #7916 email]>
Sent: Wednesday, April 29, 2020 3:03 PM
To: TRADE ACCES DOCUMENTS <[DG TRADE request email]>
Subject: Re: GestDem 2020/2472 - EEAS letter to the Office of the South African President on the South African Draft Copyright Bill

Dear Directorate General for Trade,

according to my knowledge of Belgian public holidays, the time-limit of 15 working days will expire on 20 May 2020, not 25 May 2020. Should you come to a different conclusion, please provide me with your calculation. I look forward to your response by 20 May 2020.

Yours faithfully,

Julia Reda

-----Original Message-----

Dear Ms Reda,
 
Thank you for providing your postal address. We hereby acknowledge receipt
of your application for access to documents, which was registered on today
under the above mentioned reference number.
 
In accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 regarding public access to
European Parliament, Council and Commission documents, your application
will be handled within 15 working days. The time-limit will expire on 25
May 2020. In case this time-limit needs to be extended, you will be
informed in due course.
 
For information on how we process your personal data visit our page
[1]Privacy statement – access to documents.
Yours sincerely,
Access to Documents Team
European Commission
DG TRADE
 

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #7916 email]

This message and all replies from Trade will be published on the AsktheEU.org website. For more information see our dedicated page for EU public officials at https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www....

Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will be delayed.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

ocultar partes citadas

Dear Directorate General for Trade,

thank you for the clarification. Since I sent my initial request 28 April 2020, and also provided my postal address (which you do not need) on 28 April 2020, the time-limit should expire on 20 May 2020. Public holidays on 21 and 22 May should not affect the time-limit, as they occur after the time-limit has expired.

Yours sincerely,

Julia Reda

1 Adjuntos

Dear Ms Reda,
 
You are correct, you submitted your request on 28 April and provided your
postal address on the same date. The date for the deadline is taken from
the date of registration. We register every new request on the same day or
on the next day. Your request was registered on 29 April.
 
On the providing your postal address, we would like to inform you that the
Secretariat-General is developing a new tool for access to documents
requests that should be implemented still this year. When this new tool
will be operational, we might not require a postal address from applicants
anymore. We also have some information available about processing of
personal data on our page [1]Privacy statement – access to documents.
 
We assume to have informed you sufficiently with this information. If you
have any more questions, please don't hesitate to contact us again.
Yours sincerely,
Access to Documents Team
European Commission
DG TRADE
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Julia Reda <[FOI #7916 email]>
Sent: Wednesday, April 29, 2020 3:42 PM
To: TRADE ACCES DOCUMENTS <[DG TRADE request email]>
Subject: RE: GestDem 2020/2472 - EEAS letter to the Office of the South
African President on the South African Draft Copyright Bill
 
Dear Directorate General for Trade,
 
thank you for the clarification. Since I sent my initial request 28 April
2020, and also provided my postal address (which you do not need) on 28
April 2020, the time-limit should expire on 20 May 2020. Public holidays
on 21 and 22 May should not affect the time-limit, as they occur after the
time-limit has expired.
 
Yours sincerely,
 
Julia Reda
 
-----Original Message-----
 
Dear Ms Reda,
 
In reply to your message of today 15:03 hrs, we would kindly like to
inform you that we do not use the Belgian public holidays, but those of
the EU institutions. 1 May, 21 and 22 May are public holidays in the
institutions. Therefore the legal deadline is 25 May.
 
Yours sincerely,
Access to Documents Team
 
European Commission
DG TRADE
 
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[2][FOI #7916 email]
 
This message and all replies from Trade will be published on the
AsktheEU.org website. For more information see our dedicated page for EU
public officials at
[3]https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www....
 
Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will
be delayed.
 
-------------------------------------------------------------------
 

References

Visible links
1. https://ec.europa.eu/info/principles-and...
2. mailto:[FOI #7916 email]
3. https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www....

ocultar partes citadas

1 Adjuntos

Dear Ms Reda,
 
We refer to your access to documents request registered under GestDem
2020/2472. Your application is currently being handled. However, due to
the fact that third parties have to be consulted on release of their
documents, we will not be in a position to complete the handling of your
application within the time limit of 15 working days. Therefore, we have
to extend the time limit with 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 16/06/2020. We apologise for this delay and
for any inconvenience this may cause to you.
 
Another request for access to the same documents has been registered by
the Secretariat-General under reference number GestDem 2020/2479. The SG
attributed this request to DG Trade. Since it is a duplicate of request
2020/2472, we will close the request with registration number 2020/2479
and reply to you under the request with registration number 2020/2472.
Yours sincerely,
Access to Documents Team
European Commission
DG TRADE
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Julia Reda <[FOI #7916 email]>
Sent: Tuesday, April 28, 2020 2:58 PM
To: TRADE ACCES DOCUMENTS <[DG TRADE request email]>
Subject: access to documents request - EEAS letter to the Office of the
South African President on the South African Draft Copyright Bill
 
Dear Trade,
 
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:
 
On 20 March 2020, the EU Ambassador to the Republic of South Africa Riina
Kionka sent a letter to Dr. Cassius Reginald Lubisi, Director-General in
the Office of the South African President, on the subject of South
Africa’s copyright regime, available online at:
[1]https://eeas.europa.eu/sites/eeas/files/...
In the letter, Ambassador Kionka states that she is writing on behalf of
the European Commission.
 
Ambassador Kionka states in the letter in reference to South Africa’s
Draft Copyright Bill: “The European Commission has participated
continuously throughout the consultation process which began in 2015 and
culminated in March 2019 with the final Copyright Bill being sent to the
President for assent. In particular, by addressing its contributions on 16
September 2015 to Mr. Lionel October, Director General of the Department
of Trade and industry, and on 22 February 2019 to the Hon. E. Makue
Chairperson of the Select Committee on Trade and Industry Relations.”
 
I am explicitly seeking any information the Commission has in connection
with the letter of 20 March 2020, as well as any information related to
the South African Draft Copyright Bill. I do not want this request to be
limited to information that was registered as "not short-lived" or "not
unimportant". This request should therefore also contain short-lived
information such as drafts, inter-agency communication, e-mails, text
messages, memos, and follow-up communication, including responses to the
letter of 20 March 2020. I am requesting all information, including
internal communication, inter-service consultation, communication with the
EEAS, any South African bodies, or with third parties such as external
stakeholders regarding or in connection with the letter of 20 March 2020
or the South African Draft Copyright Bill.
 
Yours faithfully,
 
Julia Reda
 
-------------------------------------------------------------------
 
This is a request for access to information under Article 15 of the TFEU
and, where applicable, Regulation 1049/2001 which has been sent via the
AsktheEU.org website.
 
Please kindly use this email address for all replies to this request:
[2][FOI #7916 email]
 
If [3][DG TRADE request email] is the wrong address for
information requests to Trade, please tell the AsktheEU.org team on email
[4][email address]
 
This message and all replies from Trade will be published on the
AsktheEU.org website. For more information see our dedicated page for EU
public officials at
[5]https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www....
 
Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will
be delayed.
 
 
-------------------------------------------------------------------
 

References

Visible links
1. https://eeas.europa.eu/sites/eeas/files/...
2. mailto:[FOI #7916 email]
3. mailto:[DG TRADE request email]
4. mailto:[AsktheEU.org contact email]
5. https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www....

ocultar partes citadas

1 Adjuntos

Dear Ms Reda,
 
We refer to your access to documents request registered on under the above
mentioned reference number. The service responsible for the reply to your
application has completed it. However, the file is subject to internal
approval for the moment.
 
Therefore we are not in a position to complete the handling of your
application within the extended legal deadline, which expires today.
Please be assured that we do everything we can to provide you with the
requested documents as soon as possible.
 
We apologise for this delay and for any inconvenience this may cause to
you.
Yours sincerely,
Access to Documents Team
European Commission
DG TRADE
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Julia Reda <[FOI #7916 email]>
Sent: Tuesday, April 28, 2020 2:58 PM
To: TRADE ACCES DOCUMENTS <[DG TRADE request email]>
Subject: access to documents request - EEAS letter to the Office of the
South African President on the South African Draft Copyright Bill
 
Dear Trade,
 
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:
 
On 20 March 2020, the EU Ambassador to the Republic of South Africa Riina
Kionka sent a letter to Dr. Cassius Reginald Lubisi, Director-General in
the Office of the South African President, on the subject of South
Africa’s copyright regime, available online at:
[1]https://eeas.europa.eu/sites/eeas/files/...
In the letter, Ambassador Kionka states that she is writing on behalf of
the European Commission.
 
Ambassador Kionka states in the letter in reference to South Africa’s
Draft Copyright Bill: “The European Commission has participated
continuously throughout the consultation process which began in 2015 and
culminated in March 2019 with the final Copyright Bill being sent to the
President for assent. In particular, by addressing its contributions on 16
September 2015 to Mr. Lionel October, Director General of the Department
of Trade and industry, and on 22 February 2019 to the Hon. E. Makue
Chairperson of the Select Committee on Trade and Industry Relations.”
 
I am explicitly seeking any information the Commission has in connection
with the letter of 20 March 2020, as well as any information related to
the South African Draft Copyright Bill. I do not want this request to be
limited to information that was registered as "not short-lived" or "not
unimportant". This request should therefore also contain short-lived
information such as drafts, inter-agency communication, e-mails, text
messages, memos, and follow-up communication, including responses to the
letter of 20 March 2020. I am requesting all information, including
internal communication, inter-service consultation, communication with the
EEAS, any South African bodies, or with third parties such as external
stakeholders regarding or in connection with the letter of 20 March 2020
or the South African Draft Copyright Bill.
 
Yours faithfully,
 
Julia Reda
 
-------------------------------------------------------------------
 
This is a request for access to information under Article 15 of the TFEU
and, where applicable, Regulation 1049/2001 which has been sent via the
AsktheEU.org website.
 
Please kindly use this email address for all replies to this request:
[2][FOI #7916 email]
 
If [3][DG TRADE request email] is the wrong address for
information requests to Trade, please tell the AsktheEU.org team on email
[4][email address]
 
This message and all replies from Trade will be published on the
AsktheEU.org website. For more information see our dedicated page for EU
public officials at
[5]https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www....
 
Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will
be delayed.
 
 
-------------------------------------------------------------------
 

References

Visible links
1. https://eeas.europa.eu/sites/eeas/files/...
2. mailto:[FOI #7916 email]
3. mailto:[DG TRADE request email]
4. mailto:[AsktheEU.org contact email]
5. https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www....

ocultar partes citadas

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 'EEAS letter to the Office of the South African President on the South African Draft Copyright Bill'.

The response to my access to documents request of 28 April 2020 is long overdue. After an initial, exceptional extension of the time limit was requested by DG Trade on 19 May 2020 pursuant to Article
7(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, on the grounds that a consultation of third parties was necessary, DG Trade failed to respond within the extended time limit. There is no legal basis in Regulation 1049/2001 for an additional extension of the time limit after the initial extension. Please ensure that the response to my access to documents request is delivered promptly.

In the event that DG Trade replies to the initial request after the submission of this confirmatory application, I reserve my right to make amendments concerning the nature and scope of this confirmatory application.

A full history of my request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/eeas...

Yours faithfully,

Julia Reda

ve_sg.accessdoc (SG), Comercio

[1]Ares(2020)3168614 - RE: Internal review of access to documents request
- EEAS letter to the Office of the South African President on the South
African Draft Copyright Bill

Sent by ve_sg.accessdoc (SG) <[email address]>. All responses have
to be sent to this email address.
Envoyé par ve_sg.accessdoc (SG) <[email address]>. Toutes les
réponses doivent être effectuées à cette adresse électronique.

Dear Madam,

Thank you for your email dated 17/06/2020 by which you request, pursuant
to Regulation No 1049/2001 regarding public access to European Parliament,
Council and Commission documents, a review of the position taken by DG
TRADE in reply to your initial application GESTDEM 2020/2472.

We hereby acknowledge receipt of your confirmatory application for access
to documents which was registered on 18/06/2020 (Ares(2020)3168552).

Your application will be handled within 15 working days (09/07/2020). In
case this time limit needs to be extended, you will be informed in due
course.

Please be informed that the answer to your confirmatory application is a
formal Commission decision that will be notified to you by express
delivery. Thank you for providing your contact phone number, so that the
external delivery service can contact you in case of absence.

Please note that the Commission will not use your phone number for any
other purpose than for informing the delivery service, and that it will
delete it immediately thereafter.

Yours faithfully,

Access to documents team (RC)

-----Original Message-----
From: Julia Reda <[FOI #7916 email]>
Sent: Wednesday, June 17, 2020 9:21 AM
To: TRADE ACCES DOCUMENTS <[DG TRADE request email]>
Subject: Internal review of access to documents request - EEAS letter to
the Office of the South African President on the South African Draft
Copyright Bill

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 'EEAS letter to the Office of the South
African President on the South African Draft Copyright Bill'.

The response to my access to documents request of 28 April 2020 is long
overdue. After an initial, exceptional extension of the time limit was
requested by DG Trade on 19 May 2020 pursuant to Article
7(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, on the grounds that a consultation
of third parties was necessary, DG Trade failed to respond within the
extended time limit. There is no legal basis in Regulation 1049/2001 for
an additional extension of the time limit after the initial extension.
Please ensure that the response to my access to documents request is
delivered promptly.

In the event that DG Trade replies to the initial request after the
submission of this confirmatory application, I reserve my right to make
amendments concerning the nature and scope of this confirmatory
application.

A full history of my request and all correspondence is available on the
Internet at this address:
[2]https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www....

Yours faithfully,

Julia Reda

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #7916 email]

This message and all replies from Trade will be published on the
AsktheEU.org website. For more information see our dedicated page for EU
public officials at
[3]https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www....

Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will
be delayed.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

References

Visible links
1. https://webgate.ec.testa.eu/Ares/documen...
2. https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www....
3. https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www....

ocultar partes citadas

ve_trade.b.3(TRADE), Comercio

16 Adjuntos

Please find attached document Ares(2020)3170450 from WEYAND Sabine (TRADE) dated 18/06/2020.

Veuillez trouver ci-joint le document Ares(2020)3170450 de WEYAND Sabine (TRADE) daté du 18/06/2020.

Dear Ms Reda,
Please note that the size of the message is larger than the system limit (30MB).
We were therefore obliged to remove some attachments and will send these attachements to you in a separate email.

Please note that the hyperlink to document 21 is:
https://www.internationalpublishers.org/...

ve_trade.b.3(TRADE), Comercio

20 Adjuntos

Please find attached document Ares(2020)3170450 from WEYAND Sabine (TRADE) dated 18/06/2020.

Veuillez trouver ci-joint le document Ares(2020)3170450 de WEYAND Sabine (TRADE) daté du 18/06/2020.

Dear Ms Reda,
Please note that the size of the message is larger than the system limit (30MB).
We were therefore obliged to remove some attachments from the first email.
You will find these remaining attachements in this e-mail.

Please note that the hyperlink to document 21 is:
https://www.internationalpublishers.org/...

Dear Directorate-General for Trade,

Please pass this on to the person who reviews confirmatory applications.

Following up to my confirmatory application filed with regards to my access to documents request 'EEAS letter to the Office of the South African President on the South African Draft Copyright Bill' on June 17, 2020, I would like to inform you that I have in the meantime received an initial response to my request.

As announced in my confirmatory application, I would like to amend my confirmatory application by adding the following points, after having consulted the documents released thus far.

1. In its response to my access to documents request, DG Trade indicates that it identified 9 documents access to which was withheld on the grounds that third parties who had sent those documents “have not agreed to their release arguing that, in the absence of information about the applicant’s identity, their member companies’ commercial interests, including those related to their business relations with other stakeholders, could be undermined”. I agree that my identity be released to these third party stakeholders. I am convinced that knowing my identity will reassure stakeholders that the release of their statements would not jeopardize any of their member companies’ commercial interests.

In any event, there is an overwhelming public interest in the disclosure of these documents, as the efforts of private stakeholders trying to derail the adoption of the South African copyright bill through interventions with the European Commission and the US Trade Representative are a matter of controversial public debate in the media, as evidenced by the following small selection of the many press publications on the subject:

https://www.iol.co.za/business-report/co...
https://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/...
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/202004...
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/201910...
https://www.pressreader.com/south-africa...
https://mg.co.za/article/2019-11-01-00-c...
http://infojustice.org/archives/41858
https://theconversation.com/making-sense...
https://businesstech.co.za/news/business...
https://www.researchprofessionalnews.com...
https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/opinio...

In fact, entertainment industry stakeholders have been actively participating in this public debate, including by making claims about their licensing and revenue sharing practices, when arguing against the introduction of provisions in the South African copyright bill that would strengthen the bargaining position of individual authors or performers. Disclosure of the documents in question is in the public interest, among other reasons, because these documents would shed light on the public controversy surrounding these stakeholders’ interventions in the South African legislative process. In a joint letter of several authors’ organisations to the Director General of DG Trade of 15 March 2019 released in response to my access to documents request (document 26a), those authors’ organisations claim that industry stakeholders’ opposition to the South African copyright reform bill stems from an unwillingness to share revenues with South African authors who live in poverty, further highlighting the public interest nature of the issues described in the withheld third-party documents.

Further, Should the Commission come to the conclusion that despite these reasons, full disclosure of the aforementioned documents is not possible, I request that the documents sent by those third-party stakeholders be redacted in order to remove the information jeopardizing their commercial interests for which an overriding public interest has been denied, and that all other information included in those documents be released. It is extremely unlikely that all elements of the nine documents in question fulfil all three of the cumulative criteria necessary for refusing disclosure under Article 4 (2) of Regulation 1049/2001, namely constituting information that is ‘known only to a limited number of persons’, ‘whose disclosure is liable to cause serious harm to the person who has provided it or to third parties’ and for which ‘the interests liable to be harmed by disclosure must, objectively, be worthy of protection’.

2. The initial response to my access to documents request does not appear to include any information that the Commission deems “short-lived” or “not important”, despite my explicit request to include such information. I am aware that pursuant to the European Commission’s guidelines on document management and access to documents (according to the version from 2015, available here https://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/3597... - should these guidelines no longer accurately reflect the practice of the European Commission, please provide the up-to-date version of these guidelines), the European Commission follows the practice of automatically deleting documents it deems unimportant after six months, including drafts, emails and other texts circulated within an informal exchange of views between colleagues and exchanges on short-lived matters.

I would like to stress that the European Ombudsman has concluded that “failure of the Commission to retain in its possession copies of [...] material after the complainant had exercised his [or her] fundamental right of access to documents, but before the appeal process had been completed, constituted maladministration” (European Ombudsman, decision in case 2134/2018/FP). Please immediately halt the deletion of any remaining documents that fall into the scope of my original request and include them in the response to my confirmatory application, as deleting any material that falls within the scope of my request after the receipt of my original access to documents request would constitute maldaministration.
I would further like to remind you that the European Ombudsman has found that the European Commission cannot refuse access to such documents of a professional nature on the grounds of protection of personal data, and “that the Commission’s failure to ask an official to identify and retrieve e-mails in the official’s work email in-box, so as to allow the Commission to assess whether the emails could be disclosed in response to a request for public access to document, is maladministration” (European Ombudman, decision in case 1050/2018/DL).

3. In the letter of 29 June 2017 (document 9) to the Chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Trade and Industry, the EU ambassador indicates that the European Commission is “consulting widely with relevant stakeholders”. I believe there must have been an omission in the documents included, because all the stakeholders that have been consulted according to the documents provided appear to be rightholders' organisations. As consulting widely would clearly require consultation with more than one stakeholder group, please provide all documents relating to all stakeholders that have been consulted on the matter.

4. The correspondence between the EEAS and the European Commission of 21 May 2018 (document 17) appears to be incomplete. In its email to DG Trade, the EEAS is inquiring about “which course of action should be pursued by the Delegation at this stage”, but no response to this email from DG Trade to the EEAS is included in the released documents. It seems likely that this inquiry would have been answered. Please provide any potential follow-up to this message, including documents deemed “short-lived” or “not important”, such as emails, drafts or informal exchanges. Please include emails retrieved from the officials’ work email inboxes that were included in the initial correspondence, in accordance with the European Ombudsman’s recommendation cited above.

5. In an email of 28 February 2020 (document 32), a stakeholder refers to a meeting or phone call that presumably took place on the preceding Monday, 24 February 2020. Please include any documents relating to the meeting or phone call of 24 February 2020, including documents deemed “short-lived” or “not important”, such as emails, drafts or informal exchanges. As this meeting or phone call took place less than six months ago, such information, both leading up to and following the meeting or phone call, should still be available and not have been subject to the European Commission’s automatic deletion policy. Please include emails retrieved from the official’s work email inbox, as well as the inboxes of other relevantn officials, in accordance with the European Ombudsman’s recommendation cited above.

6. In the same email of 28 February 2020 (document 32), a stakeholder claims to have “asked colleagues in music, publishing and CMO sectors to continue sending me any facts and figures they can find and will pass those on to you if and when I receive it”, but no such follow-up information is included in the documents disclosed. Please send me any documents, such as emails, sent to the recipient of the email of 28 February 2020 or any other recipient within DG Trade by the sender of the email of 28 February 2020, or any follow-up communication received from other stakeholders on the topic of the South African copyright bill received after the email of 28 February 2020, including any documents deemed “short-lived” or “not important”, such as emails, drafts or informal exchanges. Please include emails retrieved from the relevant officials' work email inboxes in accordance with the European Ombudsman’s recommendation cited above.

7. The initial response to my access to documents request does not include any documents after the letter of EU Ambassador to the Republic of South Africa Riina Kionka to Dr. Cassius Reginald Lubisi, Director-General in the Office of the South African President, of 20 March 2020, although my request explicitly included eventual responses to the letter or any other follow-up communication: “This request should therefore also contain short-lived information such as drafts, inter-agency communication, e-mails, text messages, memos, and follow-up communication, including responses to the letter of 20 March 2020.” Please include any documents succeeding the letter of 20 March 2020, including any documents deemed “short-lived” or “not important”, such as emails, drafts or informal exchanges. Please include emails retrieved from the relevant officials’ work email inboxes in accordance with the European Ombudsman’s recommendation cited above.

A full history of my request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/eeas...

Yours faithfully,

Julia Reda

Dear Directorate General for Trade,

I refer to my confirmatory application of 19 June 2020. According to Article 8 (1) of Regulation 1049/2001, confirmatory are to be handled promptly, and access is to be granted within 15 working days. This deadline has passed, yet I have not received a response, not even an acknowledgement of receipt of my confirmatory application. Please respond to my confirmatory application promptly.

Yours sincerely,

Julia Reda

Mail Delivery System,

2 Adjuntos

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Dear Directorate General for Trade,

I refer to my confirmatory application of 19 June 2020. According to Article 8 (1) of Regulation 1049/2001, confirmatory are to be handled promptly, and access is to be granted within 15 working days. This deadline has passed, yet I have not received a response, not even an acknowledgement of receipt of my confirmatory application. Please respond to my confirmatory application promptly.

Yours faithfully,
Julia Reda

Your message has been received by the Transparency Unit of the
Secretariat-General of the European Commission.
Requests for public access to documents are treated on the basis of
[1]Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to
European Parliament, Council and Commission documents.
The Secretariat-General will reply to your request within 15 working days
upon registration of your request and will duly inform you of the
registration of the request (or of any additional information to be
provided in view of its registration and/or treatment).
 
 
L’unité «Transparence» du secrétariat général de la Commission européenne
a bien reçu votre message.
Les demandes d’accès du public aux documents sont traitées sur la base du
[2]règlement (CE) n° 1049/2001 du 30 mai 2001 relatif à l’accès du public
aux documents du Parlement européen, du Conseil et de la Commission.
Le secrétariat général répondra à votre demande dans un délai de 15 jours
ouvrables à compter de la date d’enregistrement de votre demande, et vous
informera de cet enregistrement (ou vous indiquera toute information
supplémentaire à fournir en vue de l'enregistrement et/ou du traitement de
votre demande).
 
 
Ihre Nachricht ist beim Referat „Transparenz“ des Generalsekretariats der
Europäischen Kommission eingegangen.
Anträge auf Zugang zu Dokumenten werden auf der Grundlage der
[3]Verordnung (EG) Nr. 1049/2001 vom 30. Mai 2001 über den Zugang der
Öffentlichkeit zu Dokumenten des Europäischen Parlaments, des Rates und
der Kommission behandelt.
Das Generalsekretariat beantwortet Ihre Anfrage innerhalb von
15 Arbeitstagen nach deren Registrierung und wird Sie über die
Registrierung Ihres Antrags (oder die Notwendigkeit weiterer Informationen
im Hinblick auf dessen Registrierung und/oder Bearbeitung) unterrichten.
 
 

References

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1 Adjuntos

Dear Ms Reda,
 
With reference to your email of 24/07/2020 whereby you enquiry about the
reply to your confirmatory application registered for the case GESTDEM
2020/2472, I would like to inform you that we emailed the acknowledgment
of receipt of your confirmatory application to you on 16/06/2020
(Ares(2020)3168614). If I am not mistaken it is this exact email you have
now replied to in order to enquire about our reply to the confirmatory
application, see further below.
 
In addition, on 09/07/2020 we informed you by email about the extension of
the deadline, which expires on 31/07/2020 ( Ares(2020)3622902).
 
I have noticed that our acknowledgment of receipt is not displayed on the
AskTheEU.org website, the note on the extension of the deadline however,
is:
[1]https://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/eeas...
As you have previously been informed, since the AskTheEU.org website is a
private third-party website, which has no link with any institution of the
European Union, the European Commission cannot be held accountable for any
technical issues or problems linked to the use of that system.
 
I can assure that we are doing our utmost to handle your confirmatory
application without undue delay.
 
Best regards,
 
ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS TEAM
 
European Commission
Secretariat-General
Unit C1 – Transparency, Document Management & Access to Documents
[2]HOW WE PROCESS PERSONAL DATA
 
 
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Julia Reda <[FOI #7916 email]>
Sent: Friday, July 24, 2020 12:11 PM
To: SG ACCES DOCUMENTS <[email address]>
Subject: Re: Ares(2020)3168614 - RE: Internal review of access to
documents request - EEAS letter to the Office of the South African
President on the South African Draft Copyright Bill
 
Dear Directorate General for Trade,
 
I refer to my confirmatory application of 19 June 2020. According to
Article 8 (1) of Regulation 1049/2001, confirmatory are to be handled
promptly, and access is to be granted within 15 working days. This
deadline has passed, yet I have not received a response, not even an
acknowledgement of receipt of my confirmatory application. Please respond
to my confirmatory application promptly.
 
Yours faithfully,
Julia Reda
 
-----Original Message-----
 
[1]Ares(2020)3168614 - RE: Internal review of access to documents request
- EEAS letter to the Office of the South African President on the South
African Draft Copyright Bill
 
Sent by ve_sg.accessdoc (SG) <[email address]>. All responses have
to be sent to this email address.
Envoyé par ve_sg.accessdoc (SG) <[email address]>. Toutes les
réponses doivent être effectuées à cette adresse électronique.
 
Dear Madam,
 
Thank you for your email dated 17/06/2020 by which you request, pursuant
to Regulation No 1049/2001 regarding public access to European Parliament,
Council and Commission documents, a review of the position taken by DG
TRADE in reply to your initial application GESTDEM 2020/2472.
 
We hereby acknowledge receipt of your confirmatory application for access
to documents which was registered on 18/06/2020 (Ares(2020)3168552).
 
Your application will be handled within 15 working days (09/07/2020). In
case this time limit needs to be extended, you will be informed in due
course.
 
Please be informed that the answer to your confirmatory application is a
formal Commission decision that will be notified to you by express
delivery. Thank you for providing your contact phone number, so that the
external delivery service can contact you in case of absence.
 
Please note that the Commission will not use your phone number for any
other purpose than for informing the delivery service, and that it will
delete it immediately thereafter.
 
Yours faithfully,
 
Access to documents team (RC)
 
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[3][FOI #7916 email]
 
This message and all replies from Trade will be published on the
AsktheEU.org website. For more information see our dedicated page for EU
public officials at
[4]https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www....
 
Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will
be delayed.
 
-------------------------------------------------------------------
 

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ocultar partes citadas

24 Adjuntos

Dear Ms Julia Reda,

 

Please find the documents attached to this mail.

 

Kind regards.

 

BEVIERE Chantal

 

European Commission

Secrétariat général de la Commission – Greffe B-2
Procédures écrites, habilitations, délégations et transmissions externes

B-1049 Brussels/Belgium

+32 2-295.77.42

[1][email address]

 

[2]cid:image016.jpg@01D041FE.EC4221C0[3]cid:image017.jpg@01D041FE.EC4221C0[4]cid:image018.jpg@01D041FE.EC4221C0

   Your tool  | Our help

 

From: SG GREFFE CERTIFICATION <[email address]>
Sent: Tuesday, September 8, 2020 11:23 AM
To: [email address]
Cc: OBLIN Frederic (SG) <[email address]>
Subject: C(2020) 6214 addressed to Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte e.V.

 

Dear Ms Julia Reda,

 

Please find attached the electronic version of Commission Decision C(2020)
6214 as adopted by the European Commission on 07/09/2020.

 

Given the exceptional circumstances due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the
formal notification of the decision under Article 297 TFEU is being made
only in electronic form.

 

Please confirm receipt of the attached document by return e-mail.

 

Kind regards,

 

 

BEVIERE Chantal

 

European Commission

Secrétariat général de la Commission – Greffe B-2
Procédures écrites, habilitations, délégations et transmissions externes

B-1049 Brussels/Belgium

+32 2-295.77.42

[5][email address]

 

[6][IMG][7][IMG]

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6. https://intragate.ec.europa.eu/decide/sep
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25 Adjuntos

Dear Ms Julia Reda,

 

It is very important for us.

 

Please, could you please acknowledge the receipt of the document enclosed
in the message addressed to you ?

 

 

BEVIERE Chantal

 

European Commission

Secrétariat général de la Commission – Greffe B-2
Procédures écrites, habilitations, délégations et transmissions externes

B-1049 Brussels/Belgium

+32 2-295.77.42

[1][email address]

 

[2][IMG][3][IMG]

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Dear DG Trade,

thank you for your response, I can confirm receipt of your response to my confirmatory application.

Yours faithfully,

Julia Reda