EUROPEAN COMMISSION
DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR INTERNAL MARKET, INDUSTRY, ENTREPRENEURSHIP
AND SMES
The Director-General
Brussels
GROW.B.1/AS
Belen BALANYA
Rue D’Edinbourg 26
1050 Brussels
ask+request-9449-
xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx
Subject:
Your application for access to documents – GESTDEM 2021/3006
Dear Ms Balanya,
I refer to your e-mail of 6 May 2021 in which you make a request for access to
documents, registered on 7 May 2021 under the above-mentioned reference number.
1. Scope of your request
You request access to:
“
1) all correspondence (including email) between 1st january 2021 and 6th May 2021
between Commissioner Simson, Commissioner Timmermans, Commissioner Breton,
President van der Leyen, Commissioner McGuinness, Commissioner Gentiloni and/or
their cabinets and/or officials from DG Energy, DG Clima, DG Grow, DG Fisma and
Secretariat General on one hand and stakeholders on the other, where EU taxonomy for
sustainable activities was addressed;
2) minutes of the meetings/videocalls/calls between 1st December 2020 and 6th May
2021 between officials and/or representatives of the European Commission and
stakeholders where the issue of EU taxonomy for sustainable activities was addressed”.
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 the relevant Directorates-Generals. This reply relates only to the documents
held by DG Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs. You will receive the
replies from the other respective Directorates-General in due course.
Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË - Tel. +32 22991111
Office: BREY 08/083
2.
Disclosure of the documents
We have identified 67 documents (40 documents and 27 annexes) falling within the
scope of your request as listed in the enclosed document register.
Having examined the documents requested under the provisions of Regulation (EC) No
1049/2001 regarding public access to documents, I have come to the conclusion that all
documents with the exception of document no. 32 can be partially disclosed.
You may reuse public documents, which have been produced by the European
Commission or by public and private entities on its behalf based on the
Commission
Decision on the reuse of Commission documents. You may reuse the document disclosed
free of charge and for non-commercial and commercial purposes provided that the source
is acknowledged and that you do not distort the original meaning or message of the
document. Please note that the Commission does not assume liability stemming from the
reuse.
Please note that the documents originating from a third party are 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 documents without the agreement of the originator, who may hold an intellectual
property right on it. The European Commission does not assume any responsibility from
the reuse.
3.
Protection of personal data
With regard to documents No. 1-31 and 33-40 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 and contact details of other natural persons;
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, we 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.
4.
Protection of commercial interest of a legal person and of the decision-
making process of the Commission
Document no. 32 originates from a third party. We have consulted the third party with a
view to assessing whether an exception in Article 4 paragraph 1 or 2 of Regulation (EC)
2
1049/2001 is applicable and the third party has objected to release the document. The
document contain commercially sensitive information that if disclosed would undermine
the protection of commercial interests of the third party. We have considered whether
partial access could be granted to the document and we concluded that it is not possible
to grant access to an expunged version of the document as the remaining parts after
expunging the confidential information might be meaningless or illegible.
Finally, having examined the documents no. 10, 13, 22 and 27, we have come to the
conclusion that they may be partially disclosed. Some parts of the documents have been
blanked out as their disclosure is prevented by exception to the right of access laid down
in Article 4(2) and in Article 4(3) first subparagraph of Regulation (EC) 1049/2001.
The redacted parts of the documents no 10, 13 and 22 contain commercially sensitive
information. Disclosure of these parts would undermine the protection of commercial
interests of the third party. In addition, the redacted part of document no. 27 relate to the
decision-making process of the Commission which, if disclosed, would reveal preliminary
views and policy options which are currently under consideration. The Commission's
services must be free to explore all possible options in preparation of a decision free from
external pressure. Therefore the exception laid down in Article 4(3) first subparagraph of
Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 applies to parts of this document.
The exceptions laid down in Article 4(2) and 4(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001
apply unless there is an overriding public interest in disclosure of the document. We have
examined whether there could be an overriding public interest in disclosure, but we have
not been able to identify such an interest.
5.
Means of redress
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.
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 to:
xxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx
Sincerely yours,
Electronically signed
Kerstin JORNA
Director-General
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Electronically signed on 18/06/2021 15:32 (UTC+02) in accordance with article 11 of Commission Decision C(2020) 4482
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