Biometric fingerprinting of MEPs for registering attendance
Peter Pirate a fait une demande de Accès à l'information à Parlement européen
This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.
Dear Mr President,
Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as developed in Regulation 1049/2001, I am requesting access to all documents regarding plans to establish or test an electronic attendance register for MEPs, including Impact Assessments.
Yours faithfully,
Patrick Breyer MEP
Our reference: A(2020)11855
Dear Mr Breyer,
The European Parliament hereby acknowledges receipt of your application
for public access to documents, which was registered on 23/10/2020.
All requests for public access to documents are treated in compliance with
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 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
[1][European Parliament request email]
[2]www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[European Parliament request email]
2. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb
Our reference: A(2020)11855
Dear Mr Breyer,
The deadline for replying to your application concerning public access to
documents under Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 registered on 23/10/2020
expires today, on 16/11/2020.
However, due to the fact that the internal consultation process for
identifying the relevant documents and that the detailed analysis of all
legal aspects linked to the possible disclosure of these documents are
still ongoing, in order to reply to your application Parliament
exceptionally needs to extend the time-limit provided for in Article 7(1)
of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 by a further 15 working days, in
accordance with Article 7(3) of the same regulation.
Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience. We thank you for your
understanding.
Kind regards,
TRANSPARENCY UNIT
European Parliament
Directorate-General for the Presidency
Directorate for Interinstitutional Affairs and Legislative Coordination
[1][European Parliament request email]
[2]www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[European Parliament request email]
2. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb
Our reference: A(2020)11855
Dear Mr Breyer,
With a view to permitting the European Parliament to duly notify its
decision, once adopted, concerning your application, you are kindly
invited to provide us with your postal address, in accordance with Article
8(3) of the Bureau Decision of 28 November 2001 on rules governing public
access to European Parliament documents (OJ C 216, 22.7.2011, p. 19).
Notification by registered letter is required in order to ensure legal
certainty as regards due notification of Parliament's decision, pursuant
to the third subparagraph of Article 297(2) of the Treaty on the
Functioning of the European Union (OJ C 326, 26.10.2012, p. 47).
Therefore, Parliament will not be in a position to duly notify the
decision to you until you provide a postal address for notification.
Please note that any personal data that you may disclose by using
AsktheEU.org website will be visible via the Internet to the general
public. If you prefer to avoid this, you are invited to communicate your
postal address from your private email address.
Please communicate your postal address to the following functional mailbox
address:
AccesDocs(at)europarl.europa.eu
We thank you for your understanding.
Kind regards,
TRANSPARENCY UNIT
European Parliament
Directorate-General for the Presidency
Directorate for Interinstitutional Affairs and Legislative Coordination
[1][European Parliament request email]
[2]www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[European Parliament request email]
2. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb
Dear Sir/Madam,
notification of your decision can take place at the European Parliament (postal address: Rue Wiertz 60, 1047 Bruxelles).
According to Article 10 of Regulation 2001/1049, the applicant shall have access to documents either by consulting them on the spot or by receiving a copy, including, where available, an electronic copy, according to the applicant's preference. My preference is to receive an electronic copy by e-mail.
Yours sincerely,
Patrick Breyer
Dear Mr Welle,
I hereby file a confirmatory application to the documents access to which has been refused. Please examine it carefully since I consider seeking legal redress if your refusal is upheld. You may know that I already once successfully challenged a refusal to grant access to documents (C-213/15).
The public security exception is not applicable right from the outset. A system that registers MEPs attendance for paying their allowances is not relevant to public security. The provision does not cover the security of personal (private) data. By the way, if the documents do reveal risks regarding the security of personal data this gives rise to an overriding public interest in exposing such a dangerous system.
Disclosure would not undermine the protection of legal advice. The legal advice in question relates to an administrative Bureau decision on the setting up of a biometric attendance register. However that Bureau decision has already been taken. Thus it is legal advice on a completed administrative decision procedure. The ECJ decided in the MyTravel case that legal opinions delivered in the context of an administrative procedure generally need to be made public once that administrative process has ended, Case C-506/08 P. There is no evidence to support the unsubstantiated claim that the services provided by the legal service would in any way suffer in case of publication of the two opinions in question here.
There is also an overriding public interest in that the opinions discuss compliance with the fundamental right to data protection (see below in more detail).
Nor would disclosure undermine the Parliament's decision-making process. The ECJ decided in the MyTravel case that after completion of an administrative procedure, specific reasons need to be given for why disclosure would still seriously undermine the Parliament's decision-making process, Case C-506/08 P. The same was decided in the Éditions Jacob/Commission and Agrofert cases. In the present case no such specific reasons have been given. A general argumentation, without any genuine application to the content of each of the specific documents at hand, is not sufficient, as decided by the ECJ.
I also take note of the fact that the minutes of the Bureau meeting and thus of the internal deliberations of the Bureau have been disclosed, so all the more can the merely preparatory documents be released without a negative impact on the Bureau's decision-making process.
The protection of the decision-making process does not extend to the implementation of a decision; furthermore the general and hypothetical claim of "undue influence" as a result of disclosure has not been substantiated.
If there was information in the documents that could be used to challenge the decision taken, this would result in an overriding public interest in knowing such maladministration. However the claim to that effect is general and hypothetical and does not relate to the specific documents in question.
Even if any of the above mentioned grounds for refusal was applicable, there is an overriding public interest in disclosure. There is generally an overriding public interest especially in the disclosure of violations of the law and fundamental rights. As the EDPS has concluded in other cases that there is no need for processing biometric data to register attendance because badge-based systems work sufficiently well without such sensitive data. The public have in interest in knowing the documents also because working hours are registered for most employees, so this case can be considered a precedent. Also the system comes at considerable cost, and in times of the pandemic when many citizens suffer economically such expenditure (justified with the alleged dishonesty of "greedy" MEPs) is of public concern. There is also a risk that taxpayers money is wasted on a system that must not be used in the end. There has already been a media report on the issue, and the media are interested in finding out more.
Yours sincerely
Patrick Breyer
Dear Mr Breyer,
The European Parliament has received your message. You confirmatory application will be processed in compliance with Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents.
All your personal data is processed in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the protection of the individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the Community institutions and bodies and on the free movement of such data.
In case of doubts regarding your identity, the European Parliament reserves the right to ask for the transmission of additional information.
Kind regards, and season greetings,
TRANSPARENCY UNIT
European Parliament
Directorate General for the Presidency
Directorate for Inter-Institutional Affairs
and Legislative Coordination
Public Register webpage
[email address]
Our reference: A(2020)11855C
Dear Mr Breyer,
The deadline for replying to your confirmatory application concerning
public access to documents expires tomorrow, on 21/01/2021.
However, the internal consultation with the relevant services is taking
more time than expected and the legal assessment of the arguments put
forward in your confirmatory application is still ongoing. Unfortunately,
Parliament will thus need more time to take a final position on your
request. Therefore, the time limit to reply to your confirmatory
application is hereby extended by 15 working days, in accordance with
Article 8(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001.
We thank you for your understanding and apologise for any inconvenience,
Kind regards,
TRANSPARENCY UNIT
European Parliament
Directorate-General for the Presidency
Directorate for Interinstitutional Affairs and Legislative Coordination
[1][European Parliament request email]
[2]www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[European Parliament request email]
2. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegistreWeb
Peter Pirate a laissé une remarque ()
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