"defeat devices" in Commission Directive 2001/27/EC

Dear Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs,

Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as developed in Regulation 1049/2001, I am requesting documents which contain the following information:

I am looking for all information related to "defeat devices" or "cycle beating" in relation to Commission Directive 2001/27/EC.

This includes among all other information letters, memos, drafts, minutes, input from third parties, protocols, records and test data.

If information is held by another DG, I want this information to be included in this request.

Yours faithfully,

Mathias Schindler

Marché intérieur, Industrie, Entrepreneuriat et PME

Dear Mr Schindler,

Thank you for your request for access to documents.

Unfortunately you have not indicated your postal address that is required for registering and handling your request in line with the procedural requirements. Please send us your full postal address at your earliest convenience. Pending your reply, we reserve the right to refuse the registration of your request.

You may, of course, use directly the electronic form for entering your request: http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regdoc/...

Best regards,

Access to Documents team
European Commission
DG for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs
A5/ Communication, Access to Documents and Document Management

Afficher les sections citées

Dear Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs,

Unfortunately the European Commission is still insisting on a policy introduced in 2014 that contradicts more than 10 years of experience with Regulation 1049/2001 and any other best practice for freedom of information.

As you might know, the requirement for a postal address is a bogus one that does not serve any legitimate purpose and is used as a deterrent against freedom of information requests by the European Commission. The most obvious way to back this statement up is the official statement by the Commission explaining that there are no examples of abuse of Regulation 1049/2001 on record that could be prevented with a postal address requirement (http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getA...)

Please confirm that your request for a postal address was sent in error and is void.

In the interest of not letting you stall this request for information, I will provide you with a postal request without any acknowledgement of any requirement to do so. The postal address is

Mathias Schindler
Bundestagsbüro Julia Reda, MdEP
Unter den Linden 50
11011 Berlin
Germany

Yours faithfully,

Mathias Schindler

Marché intérieur, Industrie, Entrepreneuriat et PME

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Schindler,

 

Thank you for your e-mail dated 17/02/2016. We hereby acknowledge receipt
of your application for access to documents, which was registered on
18/02/2016 under reference number GestDem 2016/0817.

 

In accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 regarding public access to
European Parliament, Council and Commission documents, your application
will be handled within 15 working days. The time limit will expire on
10/03/2016. In case this time limit needs to be extended, you will be
informed in due course.

 

You have lodged your application via the AsktheEU.org website. Please note
that this is a private website which has no link with any institution of
the European Union. Therefore the European Commission cannot be held
accountable for any technical issues or problems linked to the use of this
system.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

 

Access to Documents team
[1]cid:image001.gif@01CDA6CD.F9067970
European Commission

DG for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs
A5/ Communication, Access to Documents and Document Management

 

 

References

Visible links

Marché intérieur, Industrie, Entrepreneuriat et PME

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Schindler,

We refer to your e-mail dated 17/02/2016 in which you make a request for
access to documents, registered on 18/02/2016 under the above mentioned
reference number, as well as to your email dated 18/02/2016.

We would like to invite you, pursuant to Article 6(2) of Regulation (EC)
No 1049/2001 regarding public access to documents, to provide us with more
detailed information on the documents which you seek to obtain, such as
dates or periods during which the documents would have been produced.

If you need assistance in clarifying or specifying your application, you
can contact us by email to: [1][DG GROW request email]

With respect to your questions regarding the provision of a postal
address, please find our explanations below.

On 1 April 2014, the postal address became a mandatory feature for the
purpose of introducing a request for access to documents.

The decision to ask for a postal address from applicants for access to
documents was triggered by the following considerations:

·         The need to obtain legal certainty as regards the date of
receipt of the reply by the applicant under Regulation 1049/2001. Indeed,
as foreseen by Article 297 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the
European Union (TFEU), […] 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. Replies triggering the possibility for
administrative or judicial redress are therefore transmitted via
registered mail with acknowledgement of receipt. This requires an
indication of a valid postal address by the applicant;

·         The need to direct the Commission's scarce resources first of
all to those requests which have been filed by "real" applicants. With
only a compulsory indication of an e-mail address, applicants can easily
introduce requests under an invented identity or under the identity of a
third person. Asking for a postal address helps the Commission to protect
the administration, as well as other citizens and legal persons, from
abuse;

·         For similar reasons, asking for a compulsory indication of a
postal address enables the Commission services to verify whether Article
6(3) of the Regulation, on voluminous requests, is being evaded by
introducing several requests under different identities. Indeed, in its
Ryanair judgment, the General Court confirmed that Article 6(3) cannot be
evaded by splitting the application into a number of applications. The
Commission would like to point out that, in 2012/2013, it received some 57
confirmatory requests from what it suspects to be one single applicant
operating under 13 different identities;

·         Knowing whether the applicant is an EU resident in the sense of
Article 2(1) of Regulation 1049/2001 is a precondition for the purpose of
correctly applying the exception in Article 4(1)(b) of Regulation
1049/2001 (protection of the privacy and integrity of the individual),
which has to be interpreted in accordance with Data Protection Regulation
45/2001. Article 9 of Regulation 45/2001 requires the adequacy of the
level of protection afforded by the third country or international
organisation when transmitting personal data to third-country residents or
legal persons. It follows that, in case of requests for documents which
include personal data, the correct application of the data protection
rules cannot be ensured in the absence of a postal address enabling the
Commission to ascertain that the minimum data protection standards will be
respected.

All of these considerations show that the request for and the consequent
processing of a 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 (a) of Data Protection Regulation 45/2001,
namely providing a smooth and effective access to documents.

The Commission has been applying this approach since 1 April 2014, because
of numerous problems encountered by the Commission in its previous
practice (legal uncertainty, false identities used etc.). We also would
like to point out that other institutions, such as the Court of Justice,
already ask for the address in their respective electronic forms for
access to documents requests.

Thank you in advance for your understanding.

Kind regards,

 

Access to Documents team
[2]cid:image001.gif@01CDA6CD.F9067970
European Commission

DG for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs
A5/ Communication, Access to Documents and Document Management

 

 

 

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[DG GROW request email]

Dear Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs,

thank you for your email.

you wrote:

"The Commission has been applying this approach since 1 April 2014, because of numerous problems encountered by the Commission in its previous practice (legal uncertainty, false identities used etc.). "

This response contradicts the Commission statement to MEP Julia Reda to a Written Question under Rule 130 of the European Parliament's Rules of Procedure in which only one case could be elaborated: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getA... , subquestion 2.

I am curious whether you can reconcile these seemingly contradictory statements and avoid the impression that the Commission withheld information from a Member of the European Parliament.

Secondly, your invitation to provide more information on the access for documents request appears misplaced as every information needed to produce the information requested was sent in the initial request. In case the process of narrowing down the request for "defeat devices" and "cycle beating" is deemed to cumbersome, I suggest to broaden the request for all information the Commission holds in relation to the crafting process of Commission Directive 2001/27/EC. Your assistance is appreciated.

Yours faithfully,

Mathias Schindler

Marché intérieur, Industrie, Entrepreneuriat et PME

Dear Mr Schindler,

Thank you for your prompt reply.

To make sure that we are looking for the correct documents, we would kindly request you to confirm that the scope of your request is "All information the Commission holds in relation to the crafting process of Commission Directive 2001/27/EC" (which means documents originating from before 10 April 2001).

Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

Best regards,

Access to Documents team
European Commission
DG for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs
A5/ Communication, Access to Documents and Document Management

Afficher les sections citées

Dear Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs,

thank you for your email, which I gladly confirm.

Yours faithfully,

Mathias Schindler

Marché intérieur, Industrie, Entrepreneuriat et PME

2 Attachments

Dear Mr Schindler,

 

Please find attached the reply to your e-mail dated 17th February 2016.

 

Best regards,

 

 
European Commission
DG GROW
Unit C4

BREY 10/54
B-1049 Brussels/Belgium
+32 2 2958173
Automotive Industry on Europa
[1]http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sectors/a...

 

 

References

Visible links
1. http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sectors/a...