Ref. Ares(2021)760955 - 29/01/2021
Mr. Nik Völker
Email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx
Sent by email only
29 January 2021
Ref: 06/2020
Subject: Access to documents request – Agreements and contracts with KIC InnoEnergy SE and its
subsidiaries
Dear Mr. Nik Völker,
We refer to your email dated 9 December 2020 and to our reply dated 18 December 2020 in which we
communicated the extension of deadline due to the large number of documents to be assessed by EIT.
In your application, Ref. 06/2020, you request access to documents which contain the following
information:
1. contracts and agreements that EIT holds with KIC InnoEnergy SE or any of its below listed
subsidiaries, including any existing addenda, annexes, amendments, or subcontracts,
2. any other documents that may hold information on the cooperation of EIT with KIC InnoEnergy
SE or its subsidiaries, including, inter alia, possible financial contributions, guarantees,
preliminary agreements, or letters of intent/understanding,
3. information on other EC bodies or agencies that may hold information on cooperation with KIC
InnoEnergy SE or its subsidiaries,
4. documents that hold information on KIC InnoEnergy SE or its subsidiaries relevant
administrative committees (e.g. Supervisory Board, General Assembly, Executive Board).
The EIT has carefully examined your request in line with Regulation (EC) 1049/2001 regarding public
access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents ('the Regulation'), as applicable to
the EIT pursuant to Article 13 of Regulation 294/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council
establishing the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, as amended by Regulation 1292/2013
of the European Parliament and of the Council (‘EIT Regulation’).
In line with the aforementioned request, the EIT has identified the following documents:
-
Framework Partnership Agreement 2016 (FPA 2016) and Annex 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6.
-
FPA 2016 amendments: the only amendment which modified the FPA provisions was signed in
2018.
-
Specific Gran Agreement 2020 (SGA 2020) and its annexes.
-
SGA 2020 amendments and their annexes.
With regards to the documents identified above, the EIT came to the following conclusion:
-
As regards
FPA 2016 and Annexes, full access is granted. Concerning FPA Annex 2 and 5, the EIT
grants access to a current
list of KIC Partners and linked third parties (all the KIC Partners and
linked third parties of EIT InnoEnergy since 2010). The FPA signatures are blacked out.
-
With reference to
SGA 2020, access to all Annexes, except Annex 1 Business Plan and Annex 2
Estimated Budget is granted. The Business Plan and Estimated Budget are not disclosed due to
commercial interests. The signatures are also blacked out.
-
The same applies to the
FPA amendment and its annexes, the
2020 SGA amendments and their
Annexes (the Business Plan and Estimated Budget are be disclosed due to commercial interests),
All signatures are blacked out.
Article 4(2), first indent of the Regulation establishes that “the institutions shall refuse access to a
document where disclosure would undermine the protection of commercial interests of a natural or
legal person, including intellectual property.”
The information contained in the 2020 Business Plan and the Estimated Budget (and their amendments)
mentioned above are considered commercially sensitive (i.e. information regarding projects and
activities resulting in products, services, IP rights and investments, which are part of the business
strategy of the KIC), thus falling under the exception in Article 4(2), first indent of Regulation (EC) No
1049/2001. Disclosure of such confidential information would result in serious negative consequences
relating to the KIC’s business interests, including its KIC Partners’ business interests.
Therefore, the EIT is not in a position to grant access to Annex 1 and 2 of SGA2020 and its amendment.
Regarding the other documents requested:
2. Any other documents that may hold information on the cooperation of EIT with KIC InnoEnergy
SE or its subsidiaries, including, inter alia, possible financial contributions, guarantees,
preliminary agreements, or letters of intent/understanding;
Please note that the cooperation between the KICs and the EIT is regulated in the agreements
between the EIT and the KICs as per the EIT Regulation and it can be found under the link below:
https://eit.europa.eu/our-communities/eit-innovation-communities/contractual-relations.
3. Information on other EC bodies or agencies that may hold information on corporations with KIC
InnoEnergy SE or its subsidiaries;
As laid down in Article 2(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, the right of access applies only to
existing documents in possession of the institution. In this regard, please note that the EIT does
not hold any documents that would correspond to the description given by you in this regard.
4. Documents that hold information on KIC InnoEnergy SE or its subsidiaries relevant
administrative committees (e.g. Supervisory Board, General Assembly, Executive Board).
Information on KIC InnoEnergy SE or its subsidiaries relevant administrative committees and
other information related to them can be found under the following link:
https://www.innoenergy.com/contact/
Please note that in line with Article 7(2) of the Regulation, you may, within 15 working days of receiving
this reply, make a confirmatory application asking the EIT to reconsider its position. Such a confirmatory
action should be addressed by post or electronically to the Head of Services and Finance Unit at the
following address:
Electronically:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxx.xxxxxx.xx
By post: Head of Services and Finance Unit
European Institute of Innovation and Technologies
Infopark
1/E Neumann Janos utca
1117 Budapest, Hungary
Please find attached the above-mentioned documents.
Best regards,
Tzvetan Zafirov
Electronically signed on 29/01/2021 19:48 (UTC+01) in accordance with article 11 of Commission Decision C(2020) 4482