EU correspondence with and funding of Syria White Helmets aka Syria Civil Defence
Farashah made this acceso a documentos request to Secretaría General de la Comisión Europea
This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.
Dear Secretariat General,
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 apertaining to the funding [specifying exact amounts of funding by country], training and equipment supply to the Syria White Helmets [Syria Civil Defence]
To include:
- a list of meetings of Syria White Helmets officials and/or representatives and representatives of individual companies, including lobby consultancies and law firms, and/or industry associations between 2011 and today.
- minutes and other reports of these meetings;
- all correspondence (including emails) between SG and EU member representatives and/or representatives and representatives of individual companies (including lobby consultancies and law firms) and/or industry associations and the Syria White Helmets,(between January 2012 and today).
Yours faithfully,
Farashah
Dear Ms Farashah,
Thank you for your request for access to documents.
Unfortunately you have not indicated your postal address that is required
for registering and handling your request in line with the procedural
requirements. 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.
You may, of course, use directly the electronic form for entering your
request:
[1]http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regdoc/...
Best regards,
ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS TEAM
[2]cid:image001.gif@01D18A86.5C3DA690
European Commission
Secretariat General
Unit B4 - Transparency
Dear Secretariat General,
PLEASE REPLY PUBLICLY TO MY REQUEST
Dear Secretariat General,
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 apertaining to the funding [specifying exact amounts of funding by country], training and equipment supply to the Syria White Helmets [Syria Civil Defence]
To include:
- a list of meetings of Syria White Helmets officials and/or representatives and representatives of individual companies, including lobby consultancies and law firms, and/or industry associations between 2011 and today.
- minutes and other reports of these meetings;
- all correspondence (including emails) between SG and EU member representatives and/or representatives and representatives of individual companies (including lobby consultancies and law firms) and/or industry associations and the Syria White Helmets,(between January 2012 and today).
Yours faithfully,
Farashah
Yours faithfully,
Farashah
Dear Ms Farashah,
Thank you for your mail.
Unfortunately you have not indicated your postal address that is required
for registering and handling your request in line with the procedural
requirements.
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.
You may, of course, use directly the electronic form for entering your
request:
http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regdoc/...
Best regards,
ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS TEAM
European Commission
Secretariat General
Unit B4 - Transparency
Dear Secretariat General,
I have filled in your electronic request and supplied my postal address, however i have requested that all replies be made public not private
Yours faithfully,
Farashah
Dear Secretariat General,
My postal address has now been emailed to you. @ [email address].
Yours faithfully,
Farashah
Dear Secretariat General,
On 7th June, i completed your electronic request and gave you my address details, therefore I am surprised you do not have them
here they are again: Vanessa Beeley, [postal address provided]
Yours faithfully,
Farashah
Dear Ms Farashah,
On 1 April 2014, the postal address became a mandatory feature for the
purpose of introducing a request for access to documents.
The decision to ask for a postal address from applicants for access to
documents was triggered by the following considerations:
· The need to obtain legal certainty as regards the date of
receipt of the reply by the applicant under Regulation 1049/2001. Indeed,
as foreseen by Article 297 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the
European Union (TFEU), […] decisions which specify to whom they are
addressed, shall be notified to those to whom they are addressed and shall
take effect upon such notification. Replies triggering the possibility for
administrative or judicial redress are therefore transmitted via
registered mail with acknowledgement of receipt. This requires an
indication of a valid postal address by the applicant;
· The need to direct the Commission's scarce resources first of
all to those requests which have been filed by "real" applicants. With
only a compulsory indication of an e-mail address, applicants can easily
introduce requests under an invented identity or under the identity of a
third person. Asking for a postal address helps the Commission to protect
the administration, as well as other citizens and legal persons, from
abuse;
· For similar reasons, asking for a compulsory indication of a
postal address enables the Commission services to verify whether Article
6(3) of the Regulation, on voluminous requests, is being evaded by
introducing several requests under different identities. Indeed, in its
Ryanair judgment, the General Court confirmed that Article 6(3) cannot be
evaded by splitting the application into a number of applications. The
Commission would like to point out that, in 2012/2013, it received some 57
confirmatory requests from what it suspects to be one single applicant
operating under 13 different identities;
· Knowing whether the applicant is an EU resident in the sense of
Article 2(1) of Regulation 1049/2001 is a precondition for the purpose of
correctly applying the exception in Article 4(1)(b) of Regulation
1049/2001 (protection of the privacy and integrity of the individual),
which has to be interpreted in accordance with Data Protection Regulation
45/2001. Article 9 of Regulation 45/2001 requires the adequacy of the
level of protection afforded by the third country or international
organisation when transmitting personal data to third-country residents or
legal persons. It follows that, in case of requests for documents which
include personal data, the correct application of the data protection
rules cannot be ensured in the absence of a postal address enabling the
Commission to ascertain that the minimum data protection standards will be
respected.
All of these considerations show that the request for and the consequent
processing of a postal address is not only appropriate but also strictly
necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest
within the meaning of Article 5 (a) of Data Protection Regulation 45/2001,
namely providing a smooth and effective access to documents.
We therefore kindly reiterate our request to you to provide a full postal
address, so we can duly register and handle your request. Please note
that, once we receive your postal address, we will register your request
for access as an initial application for access to documents in the
meaning of Article 6(1) of Regulation 1049/2001. The deadline for handling
your initial request shall run as from the moment of registration of your
request following the submission of your postal address.
Thank you in advance.
Kind regards,
ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS TEAM
European Commission
Secretariat General
Unit B4 - Transparency
.........................
Dear Ms Beeley,
Thank you for your e-mail dated 14/06/2016. We hereby acknowledge
receipt of your application for access to documents, which was registered
on 14/06/2016 under references numbers GESTDEM 2016/3332
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
05/07/2016. In case this time limit needs to be extended, you will be
informed in due course.
You have lodged your application via the AsktheEU.org website. Please note
that this is a private 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.
Yours faithfully,
ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS TEAM
European Commission
Secretariat General
Unit B4 - Transparency
Dear Madam, dear Sir,
We refer to your request dated 14/06/2016 in which you make a request for
access to documents, registered on 14/06/2016 under the above mentioned
reference number.
Your application is currently being handled. 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 5/07/2016.
An extended time limit is needed as the documents requested originate from
third parties which have been consulted.
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 27/07/2016.
We apologize for this delay and for any inconvenience this may cause.
Yours faithfully,
ECHO DOC ACCESS
ECHO.D1
[1]cid:image001.png@01D1D5E9.688A37C0
Commission européenne
Direction générale de la protection civile et des opérations d’aide
humanitaire européennes (ECHO)
Coordination de politiques, relations internationales & multilatérales,
questions juridiques
L-86 6/40
B-1049 Bruxelles/Belgique
Websites: [2]EN - [3]FR - [4]AR | [5]Blog | [6]YouTube | [7]Flickr |
[8]Twitter | [9]Facebook | [10]Instagram
Dear Secretariat General,
Thank you for your reply and for informing me of further delays due to third party involvement. However I would like to remind you of the following:
European Ombudsman Annual Report 2014:
Case 1743/2013/TN: Commission agrees to improve its handling of requests for public access to documents provided by a third party
The Commission had not responded, within the stipulated time-limit, to a request for public access to documents, some of which came from a third party. During the course of the inquiry, the Commission gave access to the requested documents.
The Ombudsman made a number of further remarks, suggesting improvements to the Commission's procedures. She suggested that, when an EU institution has to consult a third party in order to assess whether public access can be granted to a document, the institution should give the third party a deadline for its response. If the third party does not respond within the set deadline, the institution should proceed to deciding on the access request, bearing in mind that, in principle, all documents should be accessible to the public. A decision to refuse access to third-party documents cannot be based merely on the third party's undefined reservations regarding disclosure. If the third-party asks the institution who has requested access to the document in question, the third party's request for information should not be allowed to delay the institution's handling of the request for access to the document.
In its follow-up to the Ombudsman's further remarks, the Commission accepted the above suggestions.
On the basis of this report, I respectfully ask that you follow the recommendations contained within it and please give the "third party" a deadline to work with. Under these recommendations the third party should not be allowed to delay my public access to the requested information.
Thank you for applying these recommendations and for preventing any further delays.
Yours faithfully,
Farashah
Dear Secretariat General,
I have received a reply from ECHO which is not satisfactory. I request a review of their refusal to allow me access to information from a third party.
"Please find attached document Ares(2016)3619338 regarding "refusal - access to documents – Ref GestDem No 2016/3147" sent by Mr/Ms PARIAT Monique on 19/07/2016."
I wish to communicate publicly through ASK THE EU not through private email.
Yours faithfully,
Farashah
Dear Madam, dear Sir,
Thank you for your e-mail.
In accordance with Article 7(2) of Regulation 1049/2001, you are entitled 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 Secretary-General Transparency unit SG-B-4 BERL 5/282 B-1049 Bruxelles
or by email to: [SG request email]
Yours faithfully,
ECHO DOC ACCESS
Dear Secretariat General,
July 19, 2016
Dear Secretariat General,
I have received a reply from ECHO which is not satisfactory. I request a review of their refusal to allow me access to information from a third party.
"Please find attached document Ares(2016)3619338 regarding "refusal - access to documents – Ref GestDem No 2016/3147" sent by Mr/Ms PARIAT Monique on 19/07/2016."
I wish to communicate publicly through ASK THE EU not through private email.
Yours faithfully,
Farashah
Dear Ms Beeley,
Thank you for your email dated 27/07/2016, 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 ECHO in reply to your initial application GESTDEM 2016/3147.
We hereby acknowledge receipt of your confirmatory application for access to documents which was registered on 28/07/2016 (Ares(2016)3984009).
Your application will be handled within 15 working days (19/08/2016). 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.
We kindly offer you the possibility to provide us a contact phone number (by email to [email address]), 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,
Carlos Remis
SG.B.4
Transparence
Berl. 05/315
Dear Ms Beeley,
Please find attached a note for your attention regarding your confirmatory
application GestDem 2016/3147.
Best regards,
Carlos Remis
SG.B.4
Transparence
Berl. 05/315
Dear Ms Beeley,
Please find attached a letter regarding your confirmatory application for
access to documents under Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 - Gestdem
2016/3147.
Yours sincerely,
ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS TEAM (PS)
European Commission
Secretariat General
Unit SG.B4 – Transparency
Dear Secretariat General,
Thank you for the reply refusing my access to the documents being discussed.
However please would you confirm that
1. These documents are classified or confidential
2. You state that I have not specified my reasons for wishing to see these documents. As an EU citizen I have every right to know where funds are being apportioned and for what reason. I have serious doubts over the White Helmets and would like to know what % of public money is being used to fund such a questionable body. Please respond.
3. If you are unwilling to release the full document please at least send me information regarding the funding of the Syria White Helmets broken down by country. I already have the figures for the UK, Holland and the US so please provide the funding the Syria White Helmets receive from all other EU countries. This information does not put any employees at risk and I consider it to be perfectly reasonable for me, as an EU Citizen concerned about use of public funds, to ask for this information
4. As a huge amount of time has been lost in this research please would you reply as soon as possible.
Thank you
Yours faithfully,
Farashah
Dear Ms Beeley,
First, I would like to inform you that the person living at the postal
address you indicated in your request for access to documents informed us
that you have done so without her authorisation and that her address
should not be used anymore for any further correspondence.
Regarding your below questions, please note that, as regards the
confirmatory Decision notified to you, this Decision is definitive and you
should use the means of address available to you in case you want to
contest it (i.e. judicial proceedings and complaints to the Ombudsman
under the conditions specified respectively in Articles 263 and 228 of the
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union).
Insofar your below questions constitute a request for information, our
service is not competent and we consequently transmit your request to the
competent service, namely ECHO.
Yours faithfully,
BLURIOT-PUEBLA Madeleine
Cellule 'Accès aux documents'
European Commission
SG/B/4 - Transparence
BERL 05/315
B-1049 Brussels/Belgium
+32 2 296 09 97
[1][email address]