Ref. Ares(2020)7713635 - 17/12/2020
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
Brussels, 22.10.2019
C(2019) 7687 final
10600 Plasencia
Spain
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 2019/4174
Dear
,
I refer to your letter of 11 August 2019, registered on 12 August 2019, 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’).
I apologise for the delay in the handling of your application.
1.
SCOPE OF YOUR REQUEST
In your initial application of 18 July 2019, addressed to the Directorate-General for
Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, you requested access to, I quote ‘letter from
the Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, referred to in [a
journal article], [a]s well as the letter of origin of the referred response of the [European
Commission] […] after the anonymisation of the corresponding personal data’3.
1
OJ L 345, 29.12.2001, p. 94.
2
OJ L 145, 31.5.2001, p. 43.
3 The original request in Spanish reads as follows: ‘Carta de la Dirección General de Empleo, Asuntos
Sociales e Inclusión de la Comisión a que se refiere la siguiente noticia […], [a]sí como la carta origen
de la referida respuesta de la Comisión. Todo ello previa anonimización de los datos de carácter
personal que correspondan’.
Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË - Tel. +32 22991111
The Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion identified the
following document as falling within the scope of your request:
Consultations received by Europe Direct and reply to those consultations,
8 April 2019 – 24 July 2019, reference Ares(2019)5154301 (hereafter
‘document 1’).
In its initial reply of 8 August 2019, the Directorate-General for Employment, Social
Affairs and Inclusion granted access to this document with only personal data redacted.
In your confirmatory application, you contest this position. In particular, you argue that
the Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion did not provide
you the document requested. You state that, I quote:
'There seems to be a letter from the European Commission provided by Europe Direct
with reference <101000445226>, dated 20 June, it seems that it originates from the
Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion […]. I am interested
in receiving the referred letter dated 20 June. Such letter seems to exist, because in the
letter entitled "24 July, corrective reply email from EDCC", sent to the undersigned in
the file GESTDEM 2019/4174, it is said that "the mail you received last 20 June was
unfortunately sent by mistake and does not represent the position of the Commission"'4.
Furthermore, you state that ‘the document is clearly of a public interest’ and you argue
that no exception to the right of public access to documents applies to the case at hand.5
Please be informed that the European Commission does not hold any letter from the
Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion dated 20 June 2019
and registered under reference <101000445226>.
However, in the broad sense of your request, the European Commission has identified an
e-mail sent by Europe Direct on 20 June 2019, entitled ‘Europe Direct – 101000469975’
and registered under reference Ares(2019)5489691 (hereafter ‘document 2’).
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 Directorate-General concerned at the initial stage.
4 The original statement in Spanish reads as follows: '[p]arece que existe un escrito de la Comisión
Europea remitido por Europe Direct, con referencia <101000445226>, de 20 de junio, parece que
procedente de la Dirección General de Empleo, Asuntos Sociales e Inclusión, de la Comisión Europea
[…]. Al que suscribe le interesa recibir el referido escrito de 20 de junio. Dicho escrito parece existir,
pues en el escrito denominado "24 July, corrective reply email from EDCC", remitido al que suscribe
en el expediente GESTDEM 2019/4174, se dice que: "El correo que usted recibió el pasado 20 de
junio fue desafortunadamente enviado por error y no representa la posición de la Comisión"'.
5 Your statement in Spanish language reads as follows: ‘El que subscribe considera que no es aplicable
al presente caso ninguna excepción al derecho de acceso y que el documento es de evidente interés
público’.
2
Following this review, I am pleased to inform you that access is granted to document 2.
The document concerns a reply from Europe Direct to a citizen’s request registered under
reference 101000445226. Please be informed that the information provided in that reply
was erroneously regarded as the position of the Directorate-General for Employment,
Social Affairs and Inclusion on the subject-matter at hand. Hence, as already indicated in
the correspondence of Europe Direct dated 24 July 2019 (document 1), the information
concerned does not represent the official position of the European Commission.
Please note that the parts of the document containing personal data such as the name, and
surname(s) of a third party have been redacted as they fall outside the scope of your
request.
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 Commission
Enclosures: (1)
3