Dear Secretariat General,

Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as developed in Regulation 1049/2001, and under the same circumstances and with the same arguments put forward in requests GESTDEM 2016/5975, 2016/6006, 2016/6010, 2016/6050, I hereby request the following documents:

The travel expenses of Commissioner Moedas, for the period 1 March to 30 April 2016, as contained in the relevant mission summary fiches/settlement of mission expenses.

Yours faithfully

Mireia Crespo Castellano
[postal address]
[postal address]
[postal address]
[postal address]

Dear Secretariat General of the European Commission,

Dear Secretariat General of the European Commission,

Following my request for access to EU documents registered with GESTDEM reference number 2017/434, I am hereby submitting a confirmatory application under Article 7(4) of EU Regulation 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents (“the Regulation”). [1]

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

On Wednesday 25 January 2017, I requested “the travel expenses of Commissioner Moedas, for the period Mar to Apr 2016, as contained in the relevant mission summary fiches/settlement of mission expenses” via the AsktheEU.org website.

On the same day, the Commission acknowledged receipt of the application and registered it with GESTDEM reference number 2017/434.

Since registering my request, the Commission has failed to communicate with me at all regarding my request, violating Articles 7(1) and 7(3) of the Regulation. [2]

ASSESSMENT

The Commission has violated Articles 7(1) and 7(3) of the Regulation.

The Commission has failed to comply with its obligations in Articles 7(1) of the Regulation to answer my request for access to EU documents within the prescribed time limit of 15 working days. I have not received any communication from the Commission since my request was registered.

If it is the case that an extension has been applied as per Article 7(2) [3] of the Regulation, then the Commission has failed to inform me about such an extension, something that is required by Article 7(3) of the Regulation. Even if an extension has been applied, the overall time limit for answering (15 working days plus a 15 working day extension) has also expired.

I therefore ask that the Commission inform me immediately and at most within 10 working days about the status of my request.

Yours faithfully,

Mireia Crespo

NOTES

[1] “Article 7(4) Failure by the institution to reply within the prescribed time-limit shall entitle the applicant to make a confirmatory application.”

[2] “Article 7(1) An application for access to a document shall be handled promptly. An acknowledgement of receipt shall be sent to the applicant. Within 15 working days from registration of the application, the institution shall either grant access to the document requested and provide access in accordance with Article 10 within that period or, in a written reply, state the reasons for the total or partial refusal and inform the applicant of his or her right to make a confirmatory application in accordance with paragraph 2 of this Article.
(3) In exceptional cases, for example in the event of an application relating to a very long document or to a very large number of documents, the time-limit provided for in paragraph 1 may be extended by 15 working days, provided that the applicant is notified in advance and that detailed reasons are given.”

[3] “Article 7(2) In the event of a total or partial refusal, the applicant may, within 15 working days of receiving the institution's reply, make a confirmatory application asking the institution to reconsider its position.”