Ref. Ares(2022)449997 - 20/01/2022

EUROPEAN COMMISSION
DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR COMMUNICATIONS NETWORKS, CONTENT AND
TECHNOLOGY

The Director-General

Brussels,
CONNECT/R4

     Ms Margarita da Silva
     Corporate Europe Observatory
      Rue d’Edimbourg 26
        Ixelles, Brussels
Belgium
Advance copy via email:
          xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx


REGISTERED LETTER WITH ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF RECEIPT
Subject: Your application for access to documents - RefGestDem 2021/6947
Dear Ms da Silva,
We refer to your e-mail from 15 November 2021 wherein you make a request for access to
documents  pursuant  to  Regulation  (EC)  No  1049/2001  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of
the Council of 30 May  2001  regarding public access  to  European Parliament, Council and
Commission  documents (hereinafter ‘Regulation  1049/2001’), registered  on the same date
under the abovementioned reference number. We also refer to our email, dated 6 December
2021,  our  reference  Ares(2021)7511201,  whereby  we  informed  you  that  the  time  limit  for
handling  your  application  was  extended  by  15  working  days  pursuant  to  Article  7(3)  of
Regulation 1049/2001.
1.
SCOPE OF YOUR APPLICATION
Your request reads as follows:
΄΄Dear Communications Networks, Content and Technology,

Under  the  right  of  access  to  documents  in  the  EU  treaties,  as  developed  in  Regulation
1049/2001, I am requesting all documents (including but not limited to correspondence,
briefs,  notes,  recordings,  presentations,  etc)  related  to  the  online  roundtable  to  discuss
the Digital  Markets  Act  and the Digital  Services Act  held  by the  Irish Minister of  State
with responsibility for Trade Promotion, Digital and Company Regulation on the 21st of
September.

Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË - Tel. +32 22991111
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx

According to press reports, a DG CNECT official attended the meeting[…]΄΄
2.
DOCUMENTS FALLING WITHIN THE SCOPE OF THE REQUEST
We identified the following document as falling within the scope of your request:
-Email exchanges between the Permanent Representation of Ireland to the European Union
and DG CONNECT from 26 July until 13 September 2001 concerning the Irish DSA/DMA
event (Document 1)
- Email exchanges of 17 September 2021 between the Department of Enterprise, Trade and
Employment  and  DG  CONNECT  concerning  the  Roundtable  Discussion  on  EU  Digital
Package on 21st September (Document 2)
-  Meeting  Agenda  of  the  Roundtable  Stakeholder  Discussion  on  EU  Digital  Package
(Document 3)
- Back to Office (BTO) report of the IE event on DSA/DMA (Document 4)
3.
ASSESSMENT UNDER REGULATION 1049/2001
Following  an  examination  of  the  identified  documents  under  the  provisions  of  Regulation
1049/2001,  we  have  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  partial  access  can  be  granted  to  three
documents  whilst  disclosure  is  refused  for  one  document.  Full  disclosure  is  prevented  by
exceptions to the right of access laid down in Article 4 of Regulation 1049/2001.
A.
Partial disclosure - Protection of privacy and integrity of individuals
Full disclosure of Documents 1-3 is prevented by the exception concerning the protection of
privacy  and  integrity  of  the  individual  outlined  in  Article  4(1)(b)  Regulation  1049/2001,
since they contain the following personal data:
-  the  names,  initials,  functions,  CV  and  contact  details  of    Commission  staff  members  not
pertaining to the senior management;
-the names, functions, CV and contact details of other natural persons.
Article 9(1)(b) of the Data Protection Regulation1 does not allow the transmission of these
personal data, except if you prove that it is necessary to have the data transmitted to you for
a  specific  purpose  in  the  public  interest  and  where  there  is  no  reason  to  assume  that  the
legitimate  interests  of  the  data  subject  might  be  prejudiced.  In  your  request,  you  do  not
express any particular interest to have access to these personal data nor do you put forward

1 Regulation  (EU)  2018/1725  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  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, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 and
Decision No 1247/2002/EC, OJ L 295, 21.11.2018, p. 39.
Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË - Tel. +32 22991111
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx

any arguments to establish the necessity to have the data transmitted for a specific purpose
in the public interest.
Consequently,  I  conclude  that,  pursuant  to  Article  4(1)(b)  Regulation  1049/2001,  access
cannot be granted to the personal data contained in the requested documents, as the need to
obtain access thereto for a purpose in the public interest has not been substantiated and there
is no reason to think that the legitimate interests of the individuals concerned would not be
prejudiced by disclosure of the personal data concerned.
B. Non disclosure

We  regret  to  inform  you  that  access  to  Document  4  cannot  be  granted  as  disclosure  is
prevented  by  exceptions  to  the  right  of  access  laid  down  in  Article  4  of  Regulation
1049/2001.
The first subparagraph of Article 4(3) of Regulation 1049/2001 provides that ‘[a]ccess to a
document,  drawn  up  by  an  institution  for  internal  use  or  received  by  the  an  institution,
which relates to a matter where the decision has not been taken by the institution, shall be
refused if disclosure of the document would seriously undermine the institution’s decision-
making process, unless there is an overriding public interest in disclosure.’
Document 4 contains sensitive information with regard to the ongoing procedure relating to
the Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act. It also contains considerations and views
of  the  participants.  This  content  is  subject  to  ongoing  discussions.  Disclosure  of  this
information would lead to speculations and misinterpretations of the public on the views and
considerations  put  forward  in  an  early  stage  of  the  decision-making  process  and  would
seriously  undermine  the  ongoing  decision-making  process.  This  risk  is  reasonably
foreseeable and not purely hypothetical.
Furthermore,  parts  of  this  document  contain  personal  data,  in  particular  the  names,  and
initials of Commission staff members not pertaining to the senior management and names of
other natural persons, thus their disclosure is prevented by the exception of Article 4(1)(b)
of Regulation 1049/2001 for the reasons set out in Section 3.A.
We  have  considered  whether  partial  access  could  be  granted  to  this  document.  However,
partial access is not possible considering that this document is covered in its entirety by the
abovementioned exceptions of Article 4 of Regulation 1049/2001.
4.
OVERRIDING PUBLIC INTEREST IN DISCLOSURE
The exception laid down in Article 4(3) of Regulation 1049/2001 applies, unless there is an
overriding public interest in the disclosure of documents. Such an interest must, firstly, be a
public interest and, secondly, outweigh the harm caused by disclosure. We have examined
whether  there  could  be  an  overriding  public  interest  in  the  disclosure  of  these  parts  of  the
document but we have not been able to identify such an interest.
Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË - Tel. +32 22991111
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx

5.
REUSE OF DOCUMENTS
You may reuse public documents which have been produced by the European Commission
or  by  public  and  private  entities  on  its  behalf  based  on  the  Commission  Decision  on  the
reuse  of  the  Commission  documents.  You  may  reuse  the  parts  of  Documents  1  and  2
originating  from  the  Commission  free  of  charge  and  for  non-commercial  and  commercial
purposes provided that the source is  acknowledged and that  you do not distort the original
meaning  or  message  of  the  documents.  Please  note  that  the  Commission  does  not  assume
liability stemming from the reuse.
Document 3  and parts of Documents 1 and 2  originate from  third parties. Please note that
they are disclosed to you based on Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001. However, this disclosure
is  without  prejudice  to  the  rules  on  intellectual  property,  which  may  limit  your  right  to
reproduce or exploit the released documents without the agreement of the originators, who
may  hold  an  intellectual  property  right  on  them.  The  European  Commission  does  not
assume any responsibility from their reuse.
6.
CONFIRMATORY APPLICATION
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 Secretariat-General of the Commission at the following address:

European Commission
Secretariat-General
Transparency, Document Management & Access to Documents (SG.C.1)
BERL 7/076
B-1049 Bruxelles
or by email to: xxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx
Yours sincerely,

Electronically signed

Roberto Viola

Enclosures: (3)
Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË - Tel. +32 22991111
Electronically signed on 19/01/2022 17:29 (UTC+01) in accordance with article 11 of Commission Decision C(2020) 4482
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx

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