Information regarding EU tropical tuna lobbies
Dear European Parliament,
Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as developed in Regulation 1049/2001, I am requesting the communication of all exchanges (emails, text and instant messages, letters, meeting agendas, meetings minutes, position papers sent, and any other material) that have taken place over the last 12 months between individuals of the European Parliament (MEPs and Parliament staff), in particular the members of the Committee on Fisheries (PECH), at all levels of function involved at the IOTC, in fishing agreements’ matters, and the management of tropical tuna fisheries in general, with the lobbies Orthongel, Cepesca, Opagac, Anabac, Europêche, and UAPF, as well as with all the companies that are members of these structures (e.g. CFTO, Sapmer, Albacora, Echebastar, etc.).
Should these documents contain personal data, it is necessary that BLOOM still gets access to complete information including personal data. We are aware that Article 4 b) 1) provides an exception to freedom of information in case the disclosure would undermine the protection of privacy and the integrity of the individual, in particular in accordance with Community legislation regarding the protection of personal data. Article 9 1) b) of the Data Protection regulation states that “the recipient establishes that it is necessary to have the data transmitted for a specific purpose in the public interest”. According to the 28 recital of the regulation mentioned above, “the specific purpose in the public interest could relate to the transparency of Union institutions and bodies”.
As a marine conservation NGO, BLOOM fights opacity in the fishing sector. We request access to complete information and data, including personal data on MEPs and Parliament staff members and at every level, and on any other person with whom they have had contacts regarding the topic of interest here. Our request of unredacted data is in line with the specific purpose of public interest according to Article 9 1) b) of the Data Protection regulation.
Please note that I prefer to receive the requested documents in digital format rather than physical mail.
Sincerely,
Claire Nouvian
Director, BLOOM
16 rue Martel 75010 Paris France
Our reference: 2023-2394
Dear Ms Nouvian Claire,
The European Parliament hereby acknowledges receipt of your message, which
was registered on February 22, 2023.
All applications for public access to documents are treated in compliance
with Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of 30 May 2001 regarding public access
to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents.
In accordance with the above-mentioned Regulation, your application will
be handled within 15 working days upon registration of your request.
Your personal data will be processed in accordance with Regulation (EU)
2018/1725 of 23 October 2018 on the protection of natural persons with
regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions,
bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data. A
detailed privacy statement is available [1]here.
The European Parliament reserves the right to ask for additional
information regarding your identity in order to verify compliance with
Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 and the European Parliament’s implementing
measures.
Your attention is drawn to the fact that you have lodged your application
via the AsktheEU.org website, which is a private website not officially
related to the European Parliament. Therefore, the European Parliament
cannot be held accountable for any technical issues or problems linked to
the use of this system.
In addition, please note that any personal data that you provide by using
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this private website. The European Parliament cannot be held responsible
for such disclosure. Should you need to communicate directly to Parliament
any personal data and would like to avoid public disclosure, you may do so
from your private email address by using the following functional mailbox
address: AccesDocs(at)europarl.europa.eu
Best regards,
TRANSPARENCY UNIT
European Parliament
Directorate-General for the Presidency
Directorate-General for Interinstitutional Affairs and Legislative
Coordination
[2][European Parliament request email]
[3]www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb
References
Visible links
1. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreW...
2. mailto:[European Parliament request email]
3. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb
Our reference: 2023-2394
Dear Ms Nouvian,
Thank you for contacting the Transparency Unit of the European Parliament.
Further to your application under [1]Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001,
requesting access to all exchanges that have taken place over the last 12
months between MEPs or Parliament staff involved in the Indian Ocean Tuna
Commission (IOTC), in fishing agreements’ matters, and the management of
tropical tuna fisheries in general with the lobbies Orthongel, Cepesca,
Opagac, Anabac, Europêche, and UAPF, as well as with all other entities
that are members of these organisations, Parliament has identified two
documents that have now been published in Parliament's Public Register of
Documents [2]here, under reference EP-PE_DV(2023)2394.
The documents relate to the participation of Mr Javier Garat, President of
Europêche, in the public hearing “State of play in the implementation of
the Common Fisheries Policy and future perspectives” which took place in
the EP on 17 March 2022, see
[3]https://www.europarl.europa.eu/cmsdata/2....
In particular, they contain the invitation sent by the PECH Secretariat to
the above mentioned hearing, and a thank you letter sent by Mr Karleskind
MEP to Mr Garat afterwards.
No other Parliament documents could be identified at this stage.
On this basis, Parliament considers your application handled and the
procedure closed. Should you wish to submit any new requests for specific
Parliament documents, [4]please do not hesitate to come back to us.
Kind regards,
TRANSPARENCY UNIT
European Parliament
Directorate-General for the Presidency
Directorate-General for Interinstitutional Affairs and Legislative
Coordination
[5][European Parliament request email]
[6]www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb
References
Visible links
1. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
2. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreW...
3. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/cmsdata/2...
4. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreW...
5. mailto:[European Parliament request email]
6. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb
Dear European Parliament,
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 'Information regarding EU tropical tuna lobbies'.
We believe that the Parliament’s answer to our request is not appropriate. Indeed, for us, many elements shows that MEPs have contacts with tropical tuna lobbies.
All tropical tuna lobbies and industrial fishing lobbies in general do have full-time staff based in Brussels and are present on a daily basis within Parliament’s buildings. We believe it is very unlikely that just one single contact was made with a tuna lobbyist (in that case Mr. Javier Garat).
In particular, several MEPs from the PECH Committee have taken the floor on 1 March 2023 to put forth several arguments that were made by tropical tuna lobbies, so it is unlikely that have decided to do so on their own, without any contacts with such lobbies.
Therefore, we believe that our demand remains legitimate, and that tropical tuna lobbies have had other interactions with members of the Parliament. As a reminder, we are requesting any kind of communication materials, including emails, texts, etc.
A full history of my request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/infor...
Yours faithfully,
Claire Nouvian
Dear Ms Nouvian,
Many thanks for contacting the Transparency Unit.
Please allow us to first clarify that the application you refer to has
been handled positively, that is, Parliament has granted access to all
identified documents, and that the time limit provided for in paragraph 2
of Article 7 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 has expired on 21 March,
2023. Therefore, your confirmatory application is not admissible as such.
We would also like to address the questions you raise with regard to the
scope of Parliament's response. You are right to point out that Parliament
has only identified documents held by its administration, but not any
documents held only by its Members. However, this does not amount to a
claim that Members of Parliament have not been in contact with tropical
tuna lobbies.
Rather, the reason for which Parliament has not been able to identify any
other documents related to contacts between its Members and the lobbies in
question is that Parliament's administration has no access to the private
offices of its Members. In other words, documents exchanged only between
Members or their offices and interest representatives are held only by
those Members and their offices, but not by Parliament's administration,
which cannot, therefore, identify or grant access to such documents.
([1]please see also Rule 122(2) of Parliaments Rules of Procedure).
As a consequence, when Members declare meetings with interest
representatives, for example [2]here, between Europeche and the
[3]Rapporteur for the Multiannual management plan for bluefin tuna in the
eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean, Parliament's administration would
not normally hold any related documents. Lists of declared meetings are
available on Members' Parliament websites.
If you are interested to obtain information from Parliament's Members, you
may of course get in touch with any relevant Member's office.
If you wish to request access to specific documents held by Parliament's
administration, please don't hesitate to get in touch [4]here.
Best regards,
TRANSPARANCY UNIT
European Parliament
Directorate-General for the
Presidency
Directorate for
Interinstitutional Affairs and
Legislative Coordination
[5][European Parliament request email]
[6]www.europarl.europa.eu