Our reference: A(2021)3607

Dear Ms Balanya,

The European Parliament hereby acknowledges receipt of your application
for public access to documents, which was registered on 28/05/2021.

All requests for public access to documents are treated in compliance with
[1]Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to
European Parliament, Council and Commission documents.

In accordance with the above-mentioned Regulation, your application will
be handled within 15 working days upon registration of your request.

Your personal data will be processed in accordance with [2]Regulation (EU)
2018/1725 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.

The European Parliament reserves the right to ask for additional
information regarding your identity in order to verify compliance with
Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 and the European Parliament’s implementing
measures.

Your attention is drawn to the fact that you have lodged your application
via the AsktheEU.org website, which is a private website not officially
related to the European Parliament. Therefore, the European Parliament
cannot be held accountable for any technical issues or problems linked to
the use of this system.

In addition, please note that any personal data that you provide by using
AsktheEU.org website may be disclosed to the general public and visible on
this private website. The European Parliament cannot be held responsible
for such disclosure. Should you need to communicate directly to Parliament
any personal data and would like to avoid public disclosure, you may do so
from your private email address by using the following functional mailbox
address: AccesDocs(at)europarl.europa.eu  

Kind regards,

TRANSPARENCY UNIT

 
European Parliament
Directorate-General for the Presidency
Directorate for Interinstitutional Affairs and Legislative Coordination
[3][European Parliament request email]
[4]www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb

References

Visible links
1. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
2. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
3. mailto:[European Parliament request email]
4. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb

Our reference: A(2021)3607

Dear Ms Balanya,

Further to your application submitted under [1]Regulation (EC) No
1049/2001 requesting public access to a "list of lobby
meetings/videocalls/calls between 1st January 2021 and 26th May 2021 held
by" five Members of the European Parliament that you list in your
application, Parliament informs you that the scope of Regulation (EC) No
1049/2001, as defined in its Article 2(3), extends only to documents held
by an institution, that is to say documents drawn up or received by the
Institution and in its possession. Unfortunately, Parliament is unable to
grant you access to a list as requested in your application since
Parliament does not hold any such list within the meaning of this
provision.

However, information concerning the meetings with interest
representatives, either taking place in person or remotely, of the five
Members that you list in your application may be available in a format
other than the list you request. According to [2]Rule 11(3) of
Parliament's Rules of Procedure, "Members should publish online all
scheduled meetings with interest representatives" while "rapporteurs,
shadow rapporteurs and committee chairs shall, for each report, publish
online all scheduled meetings with interest representatives". This rule is
not mandatory ("should") for Members in general while, on the other hand,
it is mandatory ("shall") for rapporteurs, shadow rapporteurs and
committee chairs.

This online publication, as the case may be, takes place in the individual
webpage of the Member concerned within Parliament's web portal:

[3]https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/h...

For example, you are invited to go to the webpage of one of the Members
you list in your application (Mr Tom Berendsen):

[4]https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/1...

In this page you can access a section named "Meetings – Past meetings"
where you can see the meetings published by MEP Berendsen:

[5]https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/1...

It is possible that other Members do not have this section in their
individual webpages since as mentioned above, Rule 11(3) is mandatory only
for rapporteurs, shadow rapporteurs and committee chairs.

Finally, Parliament would like to point out that documents concerning the
meetings you request may be in possession of the individual Members that
you list in your application, however, according to [6]Rule 122(2) of
Parliament's Rules of Procedure "[...] documents drawn up by individual
Members or political groups are Parliament documents for the purposes of
access to documents only if they are tabled in accordance with the Rules
of Procedure". This means that if the Members you list in your application
have documents concerning these meetings but they have not been tabled in
accordance with the Rules of Procedure, such documents are not to be
considered as documents held by Parliament within the meaning of Article
2(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001.

On this basis, Parliament considers your application as handled and the
file closed. Should you have any new requests for specific Parliament
documents, please do not hesitate to come back to us.

Kind regards,

TRANSPARENCY UNIT

 
European Parliament
Directorate-General for the Presidency
Directorate for Interinstitutional Affairs and Legislative Coordination
[7][European Parliament request email]
[8]www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb

References

Visible links
1. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
2. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/doc...
3. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/h...
4. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/1...
5. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/1...
6. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/doc...
7. mailto:[European Parliament request email]
8. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb