Dear Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers,

Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as developed in Regulation 1049/2001, I am requesting a copy of the following documents which are all mentioned in the European Commission’s press release IP/24/2461 dated 6 May 2024;

1/ Poland’s Action Plan;

2/ The Commission’s “information note” sent to the Council via Vice-President Věra Jourová;

3/ The document(s) containing the Commission's "new analysis" ("the Commission has undertaken a new analysis to determine whether “a clear risk of a serious breach” still exists") assuming this "new analysis" is contained in separate document(s) from the information note sent to the Council;

4/ The document sent to the European Parliament ("The Commission also
informed the European Parliament about its analysis").

Thank you,

Professor Laurent Pech

JUST-ACCES-DOCUMENTS@ec.europa.eu,

Dear Sir or Madam,

We are writing to you concerning your request for access to documents sent
on 10/05/2024 and registered on 13/05/2024 under case number 2024/2427.

Since you have not indicated your postal address, we are not able to start
handling your request. The 15 working days to reply to your request will
start running only when you send us your postal address.

You can send your postal address by replying to this e-mail. If we do not
receive your reply we may close this case.

Please note that you can submit a request for access to Commission
documents via the portal [1]'Request a Commission document', which does
not require you to indicate your postal address.

Why do we need your personal postal address?

Since 1 April 2014, the submission of a postal address became a mandatory
feature when submitting an application for access to Commission documents
via an e-mail. We would like to explain why we need your postal address in
order to register and handle your application for access to documents when
submitted via e-mail:

• Firstly, to obtain legal certainty as regards the date you received
the European Commission reply to your application for public access to
documents. Article 297 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the
European Union (TFEU) states that 'decisions which specify to whom
they are addressed, shall be notified to those to whom they are
addressed and shall take effect upon such notification.' In line with
this provision, if the Commission does not grant full access to the
requested documents, it notifies the reply to the applicant via
registered mail with acknowledgement of receipt or via delivery
service. This requires an indication of a valid postal address by the
applicant;
• Secondly, to apply correctly the [2]Data Protection Regulation (EU)
2018/1725. Knowing whether the applicant is an EU resident (or not) is
necessary for deciding which conditions shall apply for the
transmissions of personal data to applicants for access to documents.
These conditions are not the same for recipients established in the
Union and for recipients in third countries. As the vast majority of
the documents requested contain personal data, the Commission cannot
ensure the correct application of the data protection rules in the
absence of a postal address;
• Thirdly, to apply correctly [3]Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001. Article
4(1)(b) of that Regulation refers to the protection of the privacy and
integrity of the individual and has to be applied in line with the
Data Protection Regulation;
• Fourthly, to protect the interest of other citizens and safeguard the
principle of good administration. The Commission has to treat all
citizens equally by ensuring that the legal framework for public
access to documents is respected. For example, it has to verify
whether Article 6(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 is being evaded
by introducing several requests under different identities. Indeed, in
its Ryanair judgment ([4]EU:T:2010:511), the General Court confirmed
that Article 6(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 cannot be evaded by
splitting an application into several, seemingly separate, parts. In
addition, the Commission has to make sure that the legal framework is
respected and the right of access to documents is not abused by making
requests under an invented identity.

The considerations above show that the request for and the consequent
processing of the applicant's postal address is not only appropriate, but
also strictly necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the
public interest within the meaning of Article 5(1)(a) of Data Protection
Regulation, namely providing a smooth and effective access to documents.

Yours faithfully,

Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers - Access to Documents
European Commission

References

Visible links
1. https://www.ec.europa.eu/transparency/do...
2. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
3. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
4. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...

Dear Justice and Consumers,

Here is my postal address:

The Good Lobby
Av. des Arts 44,
1040 Bruxelles,
Belgium

Yours faithfully,

Laurent Pech

JUST-ACCES-DOCUMENTS@ec.europa.eu,

Dear Sir or Madam,

We hereby acknowledge the receipt of your request for access to documents
sent on 10/05/2024 and registered on 13/05/2024 under the case number
2024/2427.

We will handle your request within 15 working days as of the date of
registration. The time-limit expires on 04/06/2024. We will let you know
if we need to extend this time limit for additional 15 working days.

To find more information on how we process your personal data, please see
[1]the privacy statement.

Yours faithfully,

Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers - Access to Documents
European Commission

References

Visible links
1. https://ec.europa.eu/info/principles-and...

JUST-ACCES-DOCUMENTS@ec.europa.eu,

Dear Sir,

We are writing concerning your request for access to Commission documents
registered on 13 May 2024 under case number 2024/2427.

We are currently working on your request. However, we have not yet been
able to gather all the elements necessary to carry out a full analysis of
your request. We will not be able to send you the reply within the
prescribed time limit expiring on 04/06/2024.

The documents you requested require consultation of different Services.

Therefore, in line with Article 7(3) of [1]Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001,
we need to extend this time limit by 15 additional working days. The new
time limit expires on 25/06/2024.

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

Kind regards,

DG JUST/C1 Secretariat

References

Visible links
1. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...

Dear Justice and Consumers,

My request for access to Commission documents was registered on 13 May 2024 under case number 2024/2427 and a reply to my request was due by 25/06/2024.

I would be grateful therefore for an update on the status of my request.

Yours faithfully,

Laurent Pech

Dear Justice and Consumers,

Please pass this on to the person who reviews confirmatory applications.

I am filing the following confirmatory application with regards to my access to documents request 'Closure of Article 7(1) TEU procedure for Poland'.

You have failed to reply to my initial request for public access to documents
within the applicable timeframe. As this may be considered an implicit refusal, I am submitting this confirmatory application to give you one last opportunity to take a decision.

A full history of my request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/clos...

Yours faithfully,

Professor Laurent Pech

sg-acc-doc@ec.europa.eu,

Dear Sir or Madam,

We hereby acknowledge the receipt of your confirmatory request for case
2024/2427, sent on 25/07/2024 and registered on 25/07/2024.

We will handle your confirmatory request within 15 working days as of the
date of registration. The time-limit expires on 16/08/2024. We will let
you know if we need to extend this time limit for additional 15 working
days.

Yours faithfully,

Secretariat-General - Access to Documents
European Commission

sg-acc-doc@ec.europa.eu,

Dear applicant,

We are writing concerning your confirmatory request for access to
Commission documents for case 2024/2427 registered on 25 July 2024.

We are currently working on your confirmatory request. However, we have
not yet been able to gather all the elements necessary to carry out a full
analysis of your request. We will not be able to send you the reply within
the prescribed time limit expiring on 16 August 2024 due to the complexity
of the case.

Therefore, in line with Article 8(2) of [1]Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 we
need to extend this time limit by 15 additional working days. The new time
limit expires on 6 September 2024.

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

Kind regards,

Access to Documents Team

Secretariat-General of the European Commission

References

Visible links
1. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...

Case 2024/2427

Re: Confirmatory request registered on 25 July 2024

Dear Access to Documents Team (Secretariat-General of the European Commission),

I have not yet received any response to my confirmatory request (case 2024/2427) and I would be grateful if you could provide me with an update where things stand.

I would also like to inform you of an upcoming change regarding my postal address. The one which you have on record in principle still works, as forwarding is in place, but please address any future physical correspondence to me to: The Good Lobby, Rue du Commerce 72, 1000 Brussels, Belgium. I, in any event, prefer emails as before.

Many thanks in advance.

Kind regards,

Laurent Pech

JUST-ACCES-DOCUMENTS@ec.europa.eu, Justice et Consommateurs

Dear Professor Pech,

Your reply was finalized this morning and is currently being signed. You will receive the reply if not today, then at the beginning of next week.

Thank you for your patience.

Best regards,

JUST ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS

Afficher les sections citées

JUST-C1-POLICY@ec.europa.eu, Justice et Consommateurs

6 Attachments

Please find attached a reply to correspondence with the European
Commission.

 

Kind regards,

 

JUST C1 secretariat

 

European Commission
Directorate-General Justice and Consumers
Unit C1 - Rule of law

 

Rue Montoyer, 59

B-1049 Brussels, Belgium

 

E-mail:

[1][email address]

 

Afficher les sections citées

sg-acc-doc@ec.europa.eu,

1 Attachment

Dear applicant,

Please find attached a message concerning your request for access to
Commission documents registered under the above case number 2024/2427.

Kind regards,

Secretariat-General - Access to Documents

European Commission

Re: Case number 2024/2427

Dear Access to Documents Teams (DG JUST and SG),

Thank you for finally disclosing the documents requested. I am happy to confirm that the documents provided constitute the entirety of the information to which I sought access.

Please allow me to note that I find it difficult to comprehend that it would have taken such a long period of time – from 10 May until 20 September, i.e. well over four months – to conclude that the four clearly identified and not very voluminous documents, running to only 15 pages, could indeed be disclosed without any substantial redactions. Given the understandable public interest in the closure of the Article 7(1) TEU procedure, this delay meant that a Treaty-based procedure of an exceptional nature and connected to the EU's foundational values was closed without a properly informed debate and indeed on the basis of information and arguments which may well not justify the said closure.

And while I am glad to finally have received the documents, I must also express my disappointment in relation to the lack of replies to either one of my requests within the legally set deadlines. This left me with no choice but to file an action for annulment with the General Court as there seemed little hope of advancing the matter otherwise in the face of two implied refusal decisions (Case T-485/24 Pech v Commission, filed 19 September). Those proceedings evidently have become without object and I have accordingly already written to the Court to inform them that there is no longer any need to adjudicate on the action.

Yours faithfully,

Laurent Pech