Ref. Ares(2021)1148528 - 10/02/2021
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR INTERNAL MARKET, INDUSTRY, ENTREPRENEURSHIP
AND SMES
Industrial Policy and Innovation
Industrial Strategy and Value Chains
Brussels
GROW.F.1/
Ms Venetia Roxburgh
40 Bermondsey Street
London
By e-mail:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx
Dear Madam,
Subject:
Your application for access to documents – GESTDEM 2021/0575
We refer to your e-mail of 21 December 2020 in which you make a request for access to
documents, registered on 4 February 2021 under the above-mentioned reference number.
You request access to:
All documentation (including but not limited to all email correspondence, attendance
lists, agendas, background papers, transcripts, recordings and minutes/notes) relating to
the meeting listed below:
1. between European Round Table for Industry (ERT) and Vice-President Vestager on
the 11th November 2020
2. between Eurofer and Vice-President Vestager on the 15th June 2020
Please note that due to the wide scope of your request, covering also areas falling under
the responsibility of other Directorates-General, parts of your request have been
attributed to other Directorates-General1. This reply relates only to the documents held by
the Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG
GROW). You will receive the replies from the other respective Directorates-General in
due course.
Your application concerns the following document:
1. Reference ARES (2020) 6985190 - steering briefing for the meeting Vice-
President Vestager - ERT prepared by DG GROW.
1 GESTDEM no 2020/7917 attributed to the Directorate-General for Competition (DG COMP)
Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË - Tel. +32 22991111
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx
With regard to the document listed above, a complete disclosure of the 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 personal data:
- the names/initials and contact information of Commission staff members not
pertaining to the senior management;
- the names/initials/functions and contact details of other natural persons.
In your application, you indicate that your address is in the UK. Transfers of personal
data from the Commission to countries that are not members of the European Economic
Area (EEA), or to international organisations are regulated under Chapter V of the Data
Protection Regulation2.
According to Article 47(1) of this Regulation, a transfer of personal data to a third
country or an international organisation may take place where the Commission has
decided that the third country, a territory or one or more specified sectors within that
country, or the international organisation in question ensures an adequate level of
protection and where the personal data are transferred solely to allow tasks within the
competence of the controller to be carried out.
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 any 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.
Please note that a document originating from third parties is disclosed to you based on
Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001. 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 their
reuse.
In case you would disagree with this position, you are entitled, in accordance with Article
7(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, to submit a confirmatory application requesting
the Commission to review this position.
2 Regulation (EU) 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) No
45/2001 and Decision No 1247/2002/EC, OJ L 295, 21.11.2018, p. 39.
2
Such a confirmatory application should be addressed within 15 working days upon
receipt of this letter to the Secretariat-General of the Commission at the following
address:
European Commission
Secretariat-General
Unit C.1. ‘Transparency, Document Management and Access to Documents’
BERL 7/076
B-1049 Brussels, or by email t
o: xxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx
Yours faithfully,
Mark Nicklas
Head of Unit
Enclosure: steering brief
3