To: Secretariat General of the European Commission
From: Belen Balanya, Corporate Europe Observatory
Rue d’Edimbourg 26, 1050 Brussels
25 October 2023 RE: Confirmatory application, request to DG Clima on COP28

Dear sirs,

I am filing the following confirmatory application with regards to my access to documents request to DG clima on documents regarding COP28, submitted on 20 September 2023.

In conformity with Article 7(4) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents (hereafter “the Regulation”), I hereby submits a confirmatory application regarding the Commission's implied refusal to provide the information requested.

I accordingly urge you to disclose the requested information in the shortest time possible.

I submitted the access to documents request to DG Clima (through the Ask the EU site), you can see it here: https://www.asktheeu.org/r/279b5b61-b9e5... and pasted below

Kind regards,
Belén Balanyá

****** original request****

To DG Clima,
From: Belen Balanya, Corporate Europe Observatory
Rue d’Edimbourg 26, 1050 Brussels.
20 September 2023 RE: Access to Documents related to COP28

Dear sirs,
Referring to Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 on public access to EU documents and to the 'Aarhus Regulation', I would herewith like to ask for access to the following:

1- All correspondence exchanged since 1 May 2023 (including SMS & any other type of messages processed through phone apps - eg., WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram etc, recorded voice messages, emails, letters and attached documents) between Commissioner Timmermans, his cabinet and/or DG Clima director general and representatives of companies and/or industry associations Dii Desert Energy, the MENA Hydrogen Alliance, Hydrogen Europe, the African Hydrogen Partnership Trade Association (AHP), Green Hydrogen Organisation (GH2), Shell, Total, Equinor, BP, Eni, Hydrogen Council, FTI Consulting and/or Baker McKenzie, (including lobby consultancies and law firms working for them) in which the issue of COP28 was discussed.

2. Any records, minutes or notes of meetings/discussions, (including those held face to face, online, by telephone etc) that have taken place since 1 May 2023 between officials from DG Clima on one hand and representatives from Dii Desert Energy, the MENA Hydrogen Alliance, Hydrogen Europe, the African Hydrogen Partnership Trade Association (AHP), the Hydrogen Council, Green Hydrogen Organisation (GH2), Shell, Total, Equinor, BP, Eni, FTI Consulting and/or Baker McKenzie, on the other, in which the issue of COP28 was discussed .

3. Any briefings prepared for these meetings.

In the interests of good administration, Corporate Observatory Europe requests that the response clearly identifies the documents held by the Commission in relation to each of these categories and clearly indicates to which category the disclosed documents relate.

To the extent possible, our preference is to receive documents in electronic format. Documents that cannot be sent in electronic format should be sent to Corporate Europe Observatory, Rue d’Edimbourg 26, 1050 Brussels – to the attention of Belén Balanyá. Should you transmit documents to us by regular post, we kindly ask you to announce us in advance in this regard.

I would like to make clear I prefer you produce the documents on a rolling basis.
At no point should the Commission’s search for—or deliberations concerning—certain documents delay the production of others that the Commission has already retrieved and elected to produce.

Should my request be denied wholly or partially, please explain the denial or all deletions referring to specific exemptions in the regulation. Also I expect the partial release of documents, in case of partial exemption according to article 4.6.
I reserve the right to appeal.

Please confirm having received this application. I look forward to your reply within 15 business days, according to the regulation.

Thank you for your assistance.

Belen Balanya
Corporate Europe Observatory