EU strategy on Covid-19 therapeutics
Dear DG Health and Food Safety,
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 reports (and other notes) from meetings with representatives of pharmaceutical companies and their lobby groups where the EU strategy on Covid-19 therapeutics was discussed.
- all correspondence (including emails and their attachments) with representatives of pharmaceutical companies and their lobby groups where the EU strategy on Covid-19 therapeutics was discussed.
- a list of all the above-mentioned documents (including dates, names of participants/senders/recipients and their affiliation, subject of meeting/correspondence).
In the light of other access to documents requests that we have previously submitted, this request is limited to documents from September 1st 2020 onwards.
There is a clear public interest in disclosure of these documents. The transparency obligations as set out in the Lisbon Treaty instruct the EU institutions to work as openly and as closely as possible to citizens. There is clearly a lot at stake for citizens in the choices made in the EU’s strategy for tackling the pandemic, including the strategy on Covid-19 therapeutics, hence the need for transparency and public accountability.
Yours sincerely,
Olivier Hoedeman
on behalf of Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO)
Rue d'Edimbourg 26, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
Tel. +32 (0)2 893 0930
Dear DG Health and Food Safety,
I have not yet received a confirmation of receipt or any other reaction to my request for access to documents submitted on October 27th.
Could you confirm that the request has been rreceived and is being processed?
Yours faithfully,
Olivier Hoedeman
Dear Sir,
We hereby acknowledge receipt of your application for access to documents,
which was registered on 04/11/2021 under reference number GESTDEM
2021/6564.
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 25/11/2021. In case this time limit needs to
be extended, you will be informed in due course.
You have lodged your application via 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 the private third party running the AsktheEU.org website
is responsible and accountable for the processing of your personal data
via that website, and not the Commission.
For further information on your rights, please refer to the third party’s
privacy policy.
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).
Similarly, the third party publishes on that website any reply that the
Commission will send to the email address of the applicants generated by
the AsktheEU.org website.
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.
For information on how we process your personal data visit our page
Privacy statement – access to documents.
Yours faithfully,
Access to documents team (rc)
SG.C.1
Transparency
Dear Sir,
Thank you for your e-mail of 27 October 2021.
Please note that your request covers areas falling under the
responsibility of more than one Directorate-General. The initial request
attributed to DG HERA (Gestdem 2021/6464), today has been attributed also
to DG SANTE under reference number GESTDEM 2021/8227.
We acknowledge that the deadline already expired on 25 November 2021 and
we would like to apologize for the delay.
We would like to inform you that your request is being handled. Please be
reassured that DG SANTE is doing the utmost to provide you with the reply
as soon as possible.
You have lodged your application via 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 the private third party running the AsktheEU.org website
is responsible and accountable for the processing of your personal data
via that website, and not the Commission. For further information on your
rights, please refer to the third party’s privacy policy.
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).
Similarly, the third party publishes on that website any reply that the
Commission will send to the email address of the applicants generated by
the AsktheEU.org website.
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.
For information on how we process your personal data visit our page
[1]Privacy statement – access to documents.
Yours faithfully,
Access to Documents Team
References
Visible links
1. https://ec.europa.eu/info/principles-and...
Dear [email address],
thank you for your message of December 20th. In your message you informed me that my request is being handled and that DG SANTE is doing the utmost to provide me with the reply as soon as possible.
I very much appreciate that, but in the meantime another six weeks have passed. Is it possible to give an indication of when I will receive a reply?
Yours sincerely,
Olivier Hoedeman
Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO)
Dear Mr Hoedeman,
We would like to thank you for your email and to apologise for the further
delay, due to the issues encountered in identifying the documents falling
within the scope and the time needed to assess them.
We acknowledge the due time is long expired but please be reassured that
we are doing our utmost to provide you with the reply as soon as possible.
Thank you very much for your understanding.
Kind regards,
SANTE ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS
[1]cid:image001.gif@01D3FF48.374A49E0
European Commission
Health and Food Safety
Dear [email address],
we are honestly getting rather worried about the handling of our access to documents request (attributed to DG HERA as Gestdem 2021/6464 and attributed also to DG SANTE under reference number GESTDEM 2021/8227). The request was submitted in November 2021 and we have still not received a response with any substance. The latest message - stating that a response would come "as soon as possible" - is from almost six weeks ago.
CEO, as you may know, has had a deeply disappointing experience with our September 2020 requests for documents related to the vaccines strategy and we are starting to worry that we will face a similar experience with this request...
We are of course still hoping that our request will be treated constructively and in accordance with the deadlines and other requirements outlined in Regulation 1049/2001. Could you kindly provide me with news about the plans for handling the request, including the timeline?
Yours sincerely,
Olivier Hoedeman
on behalf of Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO)
Dear Mr. Hoedeman,
Please find attached the reply to your request for access to documents, registered under reference GestDem 2021/8227. Please note that due to the size and number of documents we will send remaining documents in two additional emails. All together you will receive 39 documents and this email will have 10 of them.
According to standard operational procedure, the reply is usually also sent to you by registered post. Please note, however, that due to the extraordinary health and security measures currently in force during to the COVID-19 epidemics, which include the requirement for all Commission non-critical staff to telework, we are unfortunately not in a position to follow this procedure until further notice.
We would therefore appreciate if you could confirm receipt of the present e-mail by replying to [email address].
Kind regards,
SECRETARIAT SANTE C1
Dear Mr. Hoedeman,
Please find additional documents as mentioned in previous email from number 11 to 20.
Kind regards,
SECRETARIAT SANTE C1
Dear Mr. Hoedeman,
Please find additional documents as mentioned in previous email from number 21 to 30.
We would like to compliment email mentioned above. We will send you three additional email with attachments due to the size of them.
Kind regards,
SECRETARIAT SANTE C1
Dear Mr. Hoedeman,
Please find additional documents as mentioned in previous email from number 31 to 39.
Kind regards,
SECRETARIAT SANTE C1