Document 23
Ref. Ares(2020)3092549 - 15/06/2020
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
Brussels, 1.2.2019
C(2019) 870 final
OUT OF SCOPE
DIGITALEUROPE
rue de la Science 14
1040 Brussels
Belgium
DECISION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION PURSUANT TO ARTICLE 4 OF THE
IMPLEMENTING RULES TO REGULATION (EC) NO 1049/20011
Subject:
Your confirmatory application for access to documents under
Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 - GESTDEM 2018/6258
Dear
,
I refer to your email registered on 14 December 2018, in which you submitted a
confirmatory application in accordance with Article 7(2) of Regulation (EC) No
1049/2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission
documents2 (hereafter 'Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001').
1.
SCOPE OF YOUR REQUEST
In your initial application of 22 November 2018, registered under reference number
GESTDEM 2018/6258 and addressed to the Directorate-General for Communication
Networks, Content and Technology, you requested ‘the disclosure of the email or letter
sent by the requester asking for a copy of our letter. [You indicated that you understood]
that personal information may not be disclosed and [that you accepted] that [we] send
[…] the information without disclosing any name or personal data’.
The documents you requested formed part of the file of another application for access to
documents registered under reference number GESTDEM 2018/5806.
1
Official Journal L 345 of 29.12.2001, p. 94.
2
Official Journal L 145 of 31.5.2001, p. 43.
Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË - Tel. +32 22991111
On 13 December 2018, the Directorate-General for Communication Networks, Content
and Technology replied to your application, identifying the following document as
falling within the scope of your request:
e-mail of 6 November 2018 addressed to the Directorate-General for
Communication Networks, Content and Technology by the applicant requesting
access to documents, reference Ares(2018)5679081.
The Directorate-General for Communication Networks, Content and Technology granted
partial access to the above-mentioned e-mail, subject to the redactions of the first and last
name of the Commission staff member handling the request, the first and last name of the
applicant, the applicant’s contact details, the name of the organisation on behalf of which
the applicant requested the documents and the contact details of the organisation. These
redactions were based on the exception of Article 4(1)(b) (protection of the privacy and
the integrity of the individual) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001.
In your initial application, you did not request access to any personal data. Consequently,
personal data did not fall within the scope of your request.
In your confirmatory application, you requested a review of the initial reply of the
Directorate-General for Communication Networks, Content and Technology. In
particular, you requested access to the name of the company or organisation on behalf of
which the applicant made a request for access to documents registered under reference
number GESTDEM 2018/5806 (hereafter ‘the applicant’). You also indicate that ‘[you]
would like [the European Commission] to consider the necessity for the public to receive
the personal data of the requester’.
2.
ASSESSMENT AND CONCLUSIONS UNDER REGULATION (EC) NO 1049/2001
When assessing a confirmatory application for access to documents submitted pursuant
to Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, the Secretariat-General conducts a fresh review of the
reply given by the relevant Directorate-General at the initial stage.
Following this review, I can inform you that wider partial access can be granted to the
name of the organisation of the applicant and its contact details appearing in the e-mail.
The name of the Commission staff member handling the request, the name of the
applicant and the applicant’s contact details, which are personal data, remain
undisclosed, because they do not fall within the scope of your request.
According to Article 7(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, a confirmatory application
can be made by the applicant only ‘[i]n the event of a total or partial refusal’. Since you
did not request access to personal data at initial stage, it is not possible to make a
confirmatory request concerning these data. In case you are interested in these data, you
can make a new application.
2
3.
MEANS OF REDRESS
Finally, I draw your attention to the means of redress available against this decision. You
may either bring proceedings before the General Court or file a complaint with the
European Ombudsman under the conditions specified respectively in Articles 263 and
228 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
Yours sincerely,
For the European Commission
Martin SELMAYR
Secretary-General
Enclosure(s): 1
3