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:
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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
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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
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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
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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 t
o: 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
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Document Outline