Ref. Ares(2023)1528160 - 02/03/2023
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR INTERNAL MARKET, INDUSTRY, ENTREPRENEURSHIP
AND SMES
The Director-General
Brussels
GROW.B.1/LN
Mr. Kenneth HAAR
Overgaden oven Vandet 12
1415 Copenhagen K Denmark
DENMARK
By em
ail: ask+request-12284-
xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx
Subject:
Your application for access to documents – EASE 2022/7063
Dear Mr. Haar,
We refer to your letter dated 6 December 2022 registered on the same date under the
above-mentioned reference number, in which you make a request for access to
documents which contain the following information:
“1) a list of meetings (from 1. January 2022 till today) of Commissioner Thierry Breton,
members of her cabinet or representatives of DG GROW AND representatives of the
European Holiday Home Association, Booking.com, the CCIA, Expedia, Dot.Europe or
AirBnB;
2) minutes and other reports of these meetings;
3) all correspondence with entities listed above, including emails from 1. January 2022
till today)”.
We have identified 22 documents that fall within the scope of your request, the list of
which you will find in the enclosed table.
Following the examination of the identified documents under the provisions of
Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 regarding public access to documents and taking into
account the opinion of the third parties, I regret to inform you that your application
cannot be granted with reference to the documents
1,
17 and
19 (as indicated in the
enclosed table). The disclosure of those documents is prevented by exception to the right
of access laid down in Article 4(2) first indent of the Regulation. The disclosure could
infringe the third parties’ commercial interests, including intellectual property and in
consequence influence their market position and growth potential.
Furthermore, I regret to inform you that your application cannot be granted with
reference to document
22, as its disclosure is prevented by exception to the right of
Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË - Tel. +32 22991111
access laid down in Article 4(2) third indent of the Regulation. The minutes concern an
ongoing infringement procedure against a Member State; disclosure of the document at
this point in time would affect the climate of mutual trust between the authorities of the
Member State and the Commission, which is required to enable them to resolve the case
without having to refer it to the Court of Justice.
The exceptions laid down in Article 4(2) and 4(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001
apply unless there is an overriding public interest in disclosure of the document. I have
further examined whether there could be an overriding public interest in disclosure, but I
have not been able to identify such an interest.
A complete disclosure of the remaining identified documents 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 data:
-
the names/initials and contact information of Commission staff members not
pertaining to the senior management;
-
the names/initials and contact details of other natural persons;
-
other information relating to identified or identifiable 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
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.
With regard to the meeting minutes, please note that those documents were drawn up for
internal use under the responsibility of the relevant service of DG GROW. They solely
reflect the author’s interpretation of the interventions made and do not set out any official
position of the third parties to which the document refers, which was not consulted on its
content. It does not reflect the position of the Commission and cannot be quoted as such.
Please note that some documents originating from third parties are disclosed to you based
on Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, following the third party consultations. 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.
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.
2
Such a confirmatory application should be addressed to the Secretariat-General of the
Commission within 15 working days upon receipt of this letter. You can submit it in one of
the following ways:
by asking for a review via your portal1 account (available only for initial requests
submitted via the portal account),
or by mail:
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 faithfully,
Kerstin JORNA
Director-General
(electronically signed)
Enclosures: 19
1
https://www.ec.europa.eu/transparency/documents-request
3
Electronically signed on 02/03/2023 12:30 (UTC+01) in accordance with Article 11 of Commission Decision (EU) 2021/2121