Ref. Ares(2022)4902901 - 05/07/2022
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR INTERNAL MARKET, INDUSTRY, ENTREPRENEURSHIP
AND SMES
The Director-General
Brussels
GROW.B.1
Mr Scott BROWN
School of Social Sciences Scrymgeour
Building University of Dundee, Dundee
Scotland, UK
By email:
ask+request-10968-
xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx
Subject:
Your application for access to documents – GESTDEM 2022/2165
Dear Sir,
We refer to your e-mail of 7 April 2022 in which you make a request for access to
documents, registered on 13 April 2022 under the above-mentioned reference number.
You requested access to following documents:
1. Minutes of meetings between Commission officials and representatives of Huawei
during the calendar years of 2021 and 2022
2. Transcripts of telephone calls and/or teleconference communications between
Commission officials and representatives of Huawei during the calendar years of 2021
and 2022
3. Correspondence between Commission officials, agencies, and Huawei during the
calendar years of 2021 and 2022
Please note that due to the wide scope of your request covering also areas falling under
the responsibility of other Directorates-General, parts of your request have been
attributed to other Directorates-General1. This reply relates only to the documents held by
the Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG
GROW). You received/will receive the replies from the other respective Directorates-
General in due course.
We have identified twelve documents that fall within the scope of your request and
presented in the enclosed table.
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Registered under numbers GESTDEM 2022/2163 (DG MOVE), GESTDEM 2022/2164 (DG
REGIO), 2022/2166 (DG AGRI) and 2021/2167 (SG).
Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË - Tel. +32 22991111
Protection of personal data
A complete disclosure of the identified documents 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9 to 12 is prevented by the
exception concerning the protection of privacy and the integrity of the individual outlined in
Article 4(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, because they contain the following
personal data:
- the names/initials, contact information and functions of Commission staff members not
pertaining to the senior management;
- the names/initials, contact details and functions of other natural persons.
Article 9(1)(b) of the Data Protection Regulation 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
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) of Regulation (EC) No
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.
Protection of commercial interests and intellectual property
Having examined documents 2, 6 and 8, in the absence of reply from the consulted third
party, I took a position on the disclosure of these documents originating from the third party,
taking account of its legitimate interests and based on the information in my possession. I
concluded that the disclosure of the requested documents 2, 6 and 8 would undermine the
protection of the commercial interests of the company that submitted it, including
intellectual property, as putting this information in the public domain would affect its
competitive position on the market.
Consequently, I conclude that, pursuant to Article 4(2) first indent of Regulation (EC) No
1049/2001, access cannot be granted to these documents as they contain commercially
sensitive data.
I have considered whether partial access could be granted to these documents requested
and concluded that they are entirely covered by the exceptions. In addition, I have
examined whether there could be an overriding public interest in disclosure, but I have
not been able to identify such an interest.
Please note that the minutes were drawn up for internal use under the responsibility of the
relevant service of the Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship
and SMEs. They solely reflect the service’s interpretation of the interventions made and
do not set out any official position of the third parties to which the minutes refer, which
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were not consulted on its content. They do not reflect the position of the Commission and
cannot be quoted as such.
In accordance with Article 7(2) of Regulation (EC) No 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 Secretary-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 Brussels
or by email to:
xxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx
Yours faithfully,
Electronically signed
Kerstin Jorna
Director General
Enclosure: 10
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Electronically signed on 04/07/2022 17:16 (UTC+02) in accordance with Article 11 of Commission Decision (EU) 2021/2121