Ref. Ares(2022)5163886 - 15/07/2022
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR FINANCIAL STABILITY, FINANCIAL SERVICES AND CAPITAL
MARKETS UNION
General Affairs
Policy planning and implementation, inter-institutional relations
Ms Esther MENHARD
Netzpolitik
Schönhauser Allee 6/7
10119 Berlin – Germany
e-mail:
ask+request-11474-
xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx
Brussels,
fisma.a.2(2022)5640344
Subject:
Your application for access to documents – GESTDEM 2022/3589
Dear Ms Menhard,
We refer to your e-mail of 22 June 2022, in which you make a request for access to
documents, registered on the same day under the above mentioned reference number, in
which you ask for:
“ All documents—including but not limited to correspondence, emails, minutes, notes
(hand written or electronic), audio or video recordings, verbatim reports, operational
conclusions, lines to take, briefings, and presentations—related to the meeting between
commissioner Mairead McGuinness Blockchain [sic] or cabinet and Association pour le
développement des actifs numériques on 29-01-2021.”.
Your wording “Commissioner Mairead McGuinness Blockchain
” [sic] was not clear to
us and therefore we kindly asked you by e-mail of 7 July 2022 to clarify its meaning.
Given that we have not received a reply from you at the date of this letter, we assume that
such wording is a typing mistake and therefore we understand your request to cover
documents “related to the meeting between Commissioner Mairead McGuinness or
cabinet and Association pour le développement des actifs numériques on 29-01-2021”.
The Commission services have identified the following documents related to the meeting
with “
Association pour le développement des actifs numériques” that took place on 29-
01-2021:
1. Request for a meeting - Ares(2021)351906
Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË - Tel. +32 22991111
2. Presentation on crypto assets - Ares(2021)351906
3. Minutes of the meeting - Ares(2022)4962220
We would like to inform you that according to Article 4(1)(b) of Regulation (EC)
No 1049/2001 personal data have been redacted in the attached documents.
Article 9(1)(b) of the Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 on the protection of natural persons
with regard to the processing of personal data 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 put forward
any arguments to establish the necessity to have the data transmitted for a specific
purpose in the public interest.
Consequently, we 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.
As regards document 2, please note that it originates from a third party and it is 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 document without the agreement of the originator, who may hold an
intellectual property right on it. The European Commission does not assume any
responsibility from its reuse.
As regards document 3, please note that the minutes were drawn up for internal use under
the responsibility of the relevant member of staff. They solely reflect the authors’
interpretation of the interventions made and do not set out any official position of the
third parties to which the documents refer, which were not consulted on their content.
They do not reflect the position of the Commission and cannot be quoted as such.
In case you would disagree with this position, you are entitled, in accordance with Article
7(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, to submit 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
Unit C.1. ‘Transparency, Document Management and Access to Documents’
BERL 7/076
B-1049 Brussels, or by e-mail to:
xxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx
Yours sincerely,
Electronically signed
Head of Unit
2
Enclosure:
Request for a meeting - Ares(2021)351906;
Presentation on crypto assets - Ares(2021)351906;
Minutes of the meeting - Ares(2022)4962220.
3
Electronically signed on 15/07/2022 11:19 (UTC+02) in accordance with Article 11 of Commission Decision (EU) 2021/2121