Ref. Ares(2020)5414656 - 12/10/2020
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
RESEARCH EXECUTIVE AGENCY
Legal Affairs, Internal Control and Reporting
Head of Sector
Brussels,
REA C0.1
Ms Hanna Rullmann
57 Friary Road
SE15 1QS London,
UK
Sent by registered email to:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx
Subject:
Your application for access to documents - Ares(2020)4505068
Dear Ms Rullmann,
We refer to your request for access to documents submitted to the Research Executive Agency
(REA) on 28 August 2020 via the website AskTheEU.org and registered on 31 August 2020 under
reference number Ares(2020)4505068. Further to the acknowledgement of your request, we
informed you on 21 September 2020 that an extension of the time limit with 15 working days was
necessary in accordance with Article 7(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 regarding public access
to documents.
A.
SCOPE OF YOUR REQUEST
In your application you request:
“
documents which contain the following information concerning the CAESARIS project (funded
under FP7-SME):
1. Any internal evaluations of the CAESARIS project that detail the reasons for its cancellation, as
described here: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/605093/reporting.
2. All deliverables produced under the CAESARIS project.
3. Any ethical assessments of the CAESARIS proposal held by REA.”
Agence exécutive pour la recherche, B-1049 Bruxelles / Uitvoerend Agentschap Onderzoek, B-1049 Brussel – Belgium. Telephone:
(32-2) 299 11 11.
Office: COV2-08/28 - Tel. direct line (32-2) 2991510 - Email: xxxxxxx.xxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx
This request is handled within the scope of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 regarding public access
to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents1.
B.
DISCLOSURE OF THE REQUESTED DOCUMENTS
Having examined the documents requested under the provisions of Regulation (EC) N° 1049/2001
regarding public access to documents, we consider that the documents listed in Annex 1 to this
letter are related to your request. In Annex 1, we mention the legal grounds under Regulation (EC)
N° 1049/2001 applicable to each of the listed documents.
Concerning the exceptions to the right of access laid down in Articles 4(1) (b) and 4(2) first indent
of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, namely the protection of privacy and the integrity of the
individual, in particular in accordance with EU legislation regarding the protection of personal data,
and the protection of commercial interests of a natural or legal person including intellectual property
we recall the following:
Protection of privacy and integrity of the individual
Pursuant to Article 4(1) (b) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, access to a document has to be
refused if its disclosure would undermine the protection of privacy and integrity of the individual, in
particular in accordance with EU legislation regarding the protection of personal data.
The applicable legislation in this field is Regulation (EU) No 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) 45/2001 and Decision No 1247/2002/EC2
(hereinafter “Regulation 2018/1725”).
The documents to which you requested access, contain personal data of individuals such as the
name, surname, email, address, telephone number, fax number, signature or other personal data of
staff of the consortium or of REA that are not in the public domain. Indeed, Article 3(1) of
Regulation 2018/1725 provides that personal data ‘
means any information relating to an identified
or identifiable natural person […]’. The Court of Justice has specified that any information, which
by reason of its content, purpose or effect, is linked to a particular person is to be considered as
personal data3.
In its Judgment in case C-28/08/P (Bavaria Lager)4, the Court of Justice ruled that when a request is
made for access to documents containing personal data, the Data protection Regulation becomes
fully applicable. Pursuant Article 9 (1) (b) of Regulation (EC) 2018/1725 ‘
personal data shall only
be transmitted to recipients established in the Union other than Union institutions and bodies
if ‘[t]he recipient establishes that it is necessary to have the data transmitted for a specific purpose
1 Regulation (EC) N° 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to
European Parliament, Council and Commission documents, OJ L145, 31.05.2001, page 43, hereinafter “Regulation N° 1049/2001.
2 Official Journal L 205 of 21.11.2018, p. 39
3 Judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union of 20 December 2017 in case C-434/16.
4 Judgment of 29 June 2010 in case C-28/08/P, European Commission v The Bavaria Lager Co. Ltd, EU:C2010:378, paragraph 63.
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in the public interest and the controller, where there is any reason to assume that the data subject’s
legitimate interests might be prejudiced, establishes that it is proportionate to transmit the personal
data for that specific purpose after having demonstrably weighed the various competing interests’.
Only if these conditions are fulfilled and the processing constitutes lawful processing in accordance
with the requirements of Article 5 of Regulation 2018/1725, can the transmission of personal data
occur.
According to Article 9(1) (b) of Regulation, REA has to examine the further conditions for a lawful
processing of personal data only if the first condition is fulfilled, namely if the recipient has
established that it is necessary to have the data transmitted for a specific purpose in the public
interest. It is only in this case that REA has to examine whether there is a reason to assume that the
data subject’s legitimate interest might be prejudiced and, in the affirmative, establish the
proportionality of the transmission of the personal data for that specific purpose.
We consider that, in your request, you do not put forward any arguments to establish the necessity to
have the data transmitted. Therefore, REA does not have to examine whether there is a reason to
assume that the data subject’s legitimate interest might be prejudiced. Nevertheless, please note that
there are no reasons to assume that the legitimate interest of concerned individuals would not be
prejudiced by disclosing their personal data. In the present case, disclosure of the personal data of
persons involved in the project in question would harm their privacy.
Consequently, I conclude that, pursuant to Article 4(1) (b) of Regulation 1049/2001, access cannot
be granted to the personal data contained in the documents requested. Therefore, the personal data
have been redacted in the documents.
The exception laid down in Article 4(1) (b) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, the protection of
privacy and the integrity of the individual, is an absolute exception that does not have to be balanced
against the public interest in disclosure.
Protection of commercial interests of natural and legal persons
The documents (nr. 3, 4 and 21 in Annex 1) contain sensitive commercial information of the entities
that participated in the project which is not in the public domain. The mentioned documents contain,
in particular, information relating to commercial, financial and administrative data, like budget
allocations and payments within the consortium, as well as business partners that participated into
the implementation of the project. The public disclosure of such information would thus seriously
undermine the applicants’ commercial interests. Accordingly, the exception in Article 4(2) first
indent of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, has to be invoked and access to the parts of the requested
documents containing this information has to be refused.
Such exception applies, unless there is an overriding public interest in disclosure of the requested
documents. Such an interest must, first, be a public interest and secondly, outweigh the harm caused
by disclosure. In your application, you did not bring forward any argument to justify the existence of
an overriding public interest in releasing the requested documents. In this instance, we have found
no elements that could indicate the existence of such an overriding public interest in the sense the
Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 that would outweigh the need to protect the commercial interests
identified in this reply.
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Therefore, the exception laid down in Article 4(2) first indent of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001
applies to some parts of the requested documents, which have been redacted.
In accordance with Article 7(2) of Regulation 1049/2001, you are entitled to make a confirmatory
application requesting the Director of REA to review this position.
Such a confirmatory application should be addressed within 15 working days upon receipt of this
letter to Mr Marc TACHELET, Director of REA, at the following address:
Research Executive Agency
Covent Garden building
COV2 – 08/52
Place Charles Rogier, 16
1210 Brussels
Or by e-mail
to xxxx.xxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx
Yours sincerely,
(e-signed)
Barbara KAMPIS
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Enclosures: Annex 1
Documents:
01. Review Report RP1 (Ares(2015)2522635)-Redacted
02. Review Report RP2 (Ares(2016)7025947)-Redacted
03. Assessment Report RP1 (Ares(2016)7025947)-Redacted
04. Assessment Report RP2 (Ares(2017)12222)-Redacted
05. D1.1 CAESARIS-system requirements-Redacted
06 .D2.1. CAESARIS-specifications-Redacted
07. D2.2. Certification plan-Redacted
08. D2.3 Risk analysis and mitigation plan-Redacted
09. D3.1. Settings for reconfiguration approach-Redacted
10. D3.2. Detection and Imaging algorithms-Redacted
11. D4.1. SAR image orthorectification and georeferencing and ROI segmentation in
SAR-Redacted
12. D4.2. Design and prototype for EO image orthorectification and georeferencing
of ROI segmentation in EO-Redacted
13. D4.3. Software module for SAR_ISAR data analysis-Redacted
14. D4.4. Software module for EO image analysis and multisensory fusion-Redacted
15. D4.5. Cognitive Sensing Module (CSM)-Redacted
16. D4.6. Cognitive Multispectral Sensing module specifications-Redacted
17. D6.1.Software module for Embedded Control and Visualization (ECVM)-
Redacted
18. D6.2.Software module for the GSCVM API-Redacted
19. D8.1. Project Website
20. D8.2. Interim Plan for the Use and Dissemination of the Knowledge
21. D9.1.Deliverable consortium agreement-Redacted
Electronically signed on 12/10/2020 11:03 (UTC+02) in accordance with article 11 of Commission Decision C(2020) 4482
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