Statement on English translations
Dear Communication,
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:
I would like any document relating to the information on which the statement (below) on your website is based. It includes all research and data it refers to.
"All content is published in at least English, because research has shown that with English we can reach around 90% of visitors to our sites in either their preferred foreign language or their native language."
Source: https://ec.europa.eu/info/languages-our-...
Due to the environment I would like to receive the data in electronic format.
Yours faithfully,
Elin Schonfelder
Dear Madam,
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.
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:
[1]http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regdoc/...
Best regards,
ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS TEAM
[2]cid:image001.png@01D8C8F9.AECF4220
European Commission
DG COMM
Dear [email address],
My postal address is Calle Cava de San Miguel 8, 28005, Madrid (Community of Madrid), at the office of Access Info Europe.
Yours sincerely,
Elin Schonfelder
Dear Ms Schonfelder,
Further to your initial application for access to documents made on 15
September 2022, we regret to inform you that your application cannot be
handled pending the submission of a valid, real and personal (and not a
generic) postal address.
Since 1 April 2014, the submission of a postal address became a mandatory
feature for the purpose of making an application for access to documents.
We would like to explain why we need your postal address in order to
register and handle your application for access to documents:
· Firstly, to obtain legal certainty as regards the date you
received the European Commission reply to your application for public
access to documents. Article 297 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the
European Union (TFEU) states that ‘[…] 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.’ In line with this
provision, if the Commission does not grant full access to the requested
documents, it notifies the reply to the applicant via registered mail with
acknowledgement of receipt or via delivery service. This requires an
indication of a valid postal address by the applicant;
· Secondly, to apply correctly the Data Protection Regulation (EU)
2018/1725 [1][1]. Knowing whether the applicant is an EU resident (or not)
is necessary for deciding which conditions shall apply for the
transmissions of personal data to applicants for access to documents.
These conditions are not the same for recipients established in the Union
and for recipients in third countries. As the vast majority of the
documents requested contain personal data, the Commission cannot ensure
the correct application of the data protection rules in the absence of a
postal address;
· Thirdly, to apply correctly Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 [2][2].
Article 4(1)(b) of that Regulation refers to the protection of the privacy
and integrity of the individual and has to be applied in line with the
Data Protection Regulation;
· Fourthly, to protect the interest of other citizens and
safeguard the principle of good administration. The Commission has to
treat all citizens equally by ensuring that the legal framework for public
access to documents is respected. For example, it has to verify whether
Article 6(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 is being evaded by
introducing several requests under different identities. Indeed, in its
Ryanair judgment [3][3], the General Court confirmed that Article 6(3) of
Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 cannot be evaded by splitting an application
into several, seemingly separate, parts. In addition, the Commission has
to make sure that the legal framework is respected and the right of access
to documents is not abused by making requests under an invented identity.
The considerations above show that the request for and the consequent
processing of the applicant’s 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(1)(a) of Data Protection
Regulation, namely providing a smooth and effective access to documents.
We therefore kindly reiterate our request to you to provide a full valid
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 (EC) No 1049/2001. The deadline
for handling your initial request shall run as from the moment of
registration of your application following the submission of your personal
postal address.
Thank you in advance.
Kind regards,
ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS TEAM
[4]cid:image001.png@01D8C925.C65A01B0
European Commission
DG COMM
Dear [email address],
My apologies, here is the full postal address:
Calle Cava de San Miguel 8, 4c, 28005, Madrid (Community of Madrid), at the office of Access Info Europe.
Yours sincerely,
Elin Schonfelder
Dear Madam,
Thank you for your e-mail of 15 September 2022. We hereby acknowledge
receipt of your application for access to documents, which was registered
on 20 September 2022 under reference number GESTDEM 2022/5316.
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 11
October 2022. 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
[1]Privacy statement – access to documents.
Yours faithfully,
ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS TEAM
European Commission
DG COMM
References
Visible links
1. https://ec.europa.eu/info/principles-and...
Dear Madam,
After further examination, we have come to the conclusion that your
request qualifies as a request for information rather than a request for
documents.
You will therefore receive a reply directly from the relevant service
addressing your request for information under the framework of the Code of
Good Administrative Behaviour.
We will proceed to close Gestdem 2022/5316.
Yours faithfully,
ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS TEAM
European Commission
DG COMM
Link: [1]File-List
Link: [2]themeData
Link: [3]colorSchemeMapping
Dear Madam,
We refer to your request for information of 28 September 2022 based on a
request for access to documents registered under the reference number
Gestdem 2022/5316, and transformed into a request for information.
This information on the Language Policy page for Commission websites is
based on the results of an online survey done in 2014 on all websites
owned by the Commission, with a total of more than 100.000 respondents
from all EU countries. This survey was answered by 30% of the respondents
in English and another 60% indicated English as one of their “passive
languages” (French and German ranked second in this question with
respectively 8% and 4% of respondents indicating it as passive language).
In order to avoid any misunderstandings we will consider updating the
Language Policy page, potentially reformulating the statement in order to
correctly convey the message that 90% of site visitors are “able to use
English at least as passive language”.
Best regards,
Europa Web Communication Unit
DG Communication – European Commission
References
Visible links
1. file:///tmp/cid:filelist.xml@01D8D3EB.2DC4D800
2. file:///tmp/~~themedata~~
3. file:///tmp/~~colorschememapping~~