Ethics screening and assessments under the European Defence Fund
Dear Defence Industry and Space,
Article 7.1 of Regulation (EU)2021/697 establishing the European Defence Fund (EDF) states that “Actions carried out under the Fund shall comply with relevant Union, national and international law, including the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. Moreover, those actions shall comply with ethical principles also reflected in relevant Union, national and international law.”
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 documents related to the reviewing of EDF projects’ compliance with Union, national and international law and ethical principles, for the 101 projects funded under EDF 2021 and EDF 2022
– all documents related to the procedures that determine the compliance of EDF projects with Union, national and international law and ethical principles, for the 101 projects funded under EDF 2021 and EDF 2022.
Yours faithfully,
ENAAT
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
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References
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1. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
2. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
3. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
Dear Sir or Madam,
We are writing to you concerning your request for access to documents sent on 28/05/2024.
Since you have not indicated your complete postal address and your name, we are not able to start handling your request.
The 15 working days to reply to your request will start running only when you send us your name and complete postal address.
You can send your name and postal address by replying to this e-mail. If we do not receive your reply we may close this case.
Please note that you can submit a request for access to Commission documents via the portal [1]'Request a Commission document', which does not require you to indicate your postal address.
Yours faithfully,
Secretariat-General - Access to Documents - cr
European Commission
Dear [email address],
My name is Laëtitia Sedou
ENAAT postal address is:
Quaker House
Square Ambiorix 50
B-1000 Brussles
Yours sincerely,
ENAAT
Dear Sir or Madam,
We hereby acknowledge the receipt of your request for access to documents
sent on 28/05/2024 and registered on 28/05/2024 under the case number
2024/2784.
We will handle your request within 15 working days as of the date of
registration. The time-limit expires on 18/06/2024. 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,
Secretariat-General - Access to Documents
European Commission
References
Visible links
1. https://ec.europa.eu/info/principles-and...
Hello,
We are writing concerning your request for access to Commission documents
registered on 28.05.2024 under case number 2024/2784.
We are currently working on your request. However, we have not yet been
able to gather all the elements necessary to carry out a full analysis of
your request. We will not be able to send you the reply within the
prescribed time limit expiring on 18.06.2024.
Therefore, in line with Article 7(3) of [1]Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001,
we need to extend this time limit by 15 additional working days. The new
time limit expires on 09.07.2024.
We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
Kind regards,
References
Visible links
1. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
Hello,
Please find attached a message concerning your request for access to
Commission documents registered under the above case number 2024/2784.
Please acknowledge the receipt of this message by return email.
Kind regards,
Dear Defence Industry and Space,
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 'Ethics screening and assessments under the European Defence Fund'.
The European Defence Fund is about developing or enhancing weaponry, including disruptive technologies that could radically the way to conduct war.
There is therefore an overriding public interest in disclosing documents 2, 3 and 4 identified as relevant by DG DEFIS, in order to let interested civil society and the public at large know that the EU is developing this new weaponry in full respect of its obligations under international law.
This is all the more important that civil society organisations expert in the area, several MEPs and the European ombudsman herself expressed regular concerns about the lack of transparency on the ethical checks under the Defence Fund and its precursor programmes PADR and EDIDP, and about excessive reliance on self-assessments by the applicants.
Commissioner Breton made a commitment to MEPs to ensure the greatest possible transparency on this issue, but no concrete action has been taken to date other than self-congratulation.
Given the serious risk of these disruptive technologies having, among others, a disproportionate impact on civilians in the conduct of war, it is necessary to provide civil society with sufficient information and evidence demonstrating that these ethical controls are being carried out in line with international obligations, and to disclose documents 2, 3 and 4.
A full history of my request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/ethi...
Yours faithfully,
ENAAT
Dear Sir or Madam,
We hereby acknowledge the receipt of your confirmatory request for case
2024/2784, sent on 25/06/2024 and registered on 25/06/2024.
We will handle your confirmatory request within 15 working days as of the
date of registration. The time-limit expires on 16/07/2024. 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 Sedou,
We refer to your email, registered on 25 June 2024, by which you submit a
confirmatory application in accordance with Article 7(2) of Regulation
(EC) No 1049/2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council
and Commission documents ("Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001"), registered
under reference number above.
Your confirmatory application is currently being handled.
Unfortunately, we have not yet been able to finalise the internal
consultations needed to carry out a full analysis of your request and to
take a final decision. Therefore, we are not in a position to reply to
your confirmatory request within the prescribed time limit which will
expire on 16 July 2024. Consequently, we have to extend this period by
another 15 working days in accordance with Article 8(2) of Regulation (EC)
No1049/2001. The new deadline will expire on 6 August 2024.
We regret this additional delay and sincerely apologise for any
inconvenience this may cause. However, we can assure you that we are doing
our utmost to provide you with a final reply as soon as possible.
Yours sincerely,
SG.C1 ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS TEAM
Dear SEDOU, Laëtitia ,
Please find attached the electronic version of European Commission
Decision C(2024)5680 as adopted by the European Commission on 01/08/2024
concerning the request 2024/2784.
In accordance with the Terms and Conditions of this portal, please note
that this decision is being formally notified pursuant to article 297 TFEU
through this electronic platform only.
Yours sincerely,
Access to documents team - SG.C.1