DOIs Members of Expert Group on liability and new technologies

Greta Rosén Fondahn a fait une demande de Accès à l'information à Justice et Consommateurs

Automatic anti-spam measures are in place for this older request. Please let us know if a further response is expected or if you are having trouble responding.

En attente d'une révision interne par Justice et Consommateurs a propos de leur gestion de la demande.

Greta Rosén Fondahn

Dear Justice and Consumers,

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:

All declarations of independence (DOI) submitted by Type A members of the Expert Group on liability and new technologies (E03592).

I am aware that the expert group in question is closed, but according to the Data Protection Officer, the "[t]he declarations of interest are however kept by the Commission service managing the expert group for five years after the group is closed."

I have provided my address below. However, I prefer electronic communication.

Please do not hesitate to contact me should you have any questions regarding my request.

Yours faithfully,

Greta Rosén Fondahn
Cava de San Miguel 8, 4º c.
28005 Madrid

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

Dear Madam,

 

Thank you for your e-mail of 22 March 2022.

We hereby acknowledge receipt of your application for access to documents,
which was registered on 22 March 2022 under reference number GESTDEM
2022/1626.

 

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 12
April 2022. In case this time-limit needs to be extended, you will be
informed in due course.

 

For information on how we process your personal data visit our page
[1]Privacy statement – access to documents.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

Access to Documents Team

 

Afficher les sections citées

Greta Rosén Fondahn

Dear Justice and Consumers Access to Documents Team,

I am following up on my access to documents request, registered on 22 March 2022 under reference number GESTDEM 2022/1626.

As the time-limit expired on 12 April 2022, I am kindly requesting an update.

Yours sincerely,

Greta Rosén Fondahn

JUST A2, Justice et Consommateurs

1 Attachment

Greta Rosén Fondahn

Dear Justice and Consumers,

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

Dear Secretariat-General of the European Commission,

I am filing the following confirmatory application with regards to my access to documents request ‘DOIs Members of Expert Group on liability and new technologies’, GESTDEM 2022/1626.

The request was processed by DG JUST, and the decision received 5 May 2022.

On 22 March 2022 I requested, under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as developed in Regulation 1049/2001, the DOIs submitted by Type A members of the Expert Group on liability and new technologies (E03592). While the group in question has been closed, I noted in the request that as specified by the Data Protection Officer, the ‘[t]he declarations of interest are however kept by the Commission service managing the expert group for five years after the group is closed.'

The request was denied by DG JUST on the basis that ‘[t]he information contained in the documents you request constitutes personal data according to Art. 3 (1) of the Regulation 2018/1725.’

I am kindly asking you to review this decision, and grant access to the declarations of interest, on the following grounds:

1) The requested information is necessary for a specific public interest, and its release needs to be examined the further under Article 9(1)(b) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725.

In the refusal DG JUST cites Article 9(1) of the Data Protection Regulation, which states that ‘personal data shall only be transmitted to recipients established in the Union other than Union institutions and bodies […] if the recipient establishes that it is necessary to have the data transmitted for a specific purpose in the public interest and the controller, where there is any reason to assume that the data subject’s legitimate interests might be prejudiced, establishes that it is proportionate to transmit the personal data for that specific purpose after having demonstrably weighed the various competing interests’.

I argue that there exists a specific public interest in being able to access declarations of interest of expert group members.

EU policy making is a long process. Years may pass between initial conceptual discussions in expert groups to negotiations of regulations in trilogues. In this context, an expert group may close before the outputs of the group have ceased to impact policy making. For journalists, civil society and citizens trying to scrutinise actions of the Commission and other EU institutions in their entirety, it is crucial to be able to access DOIs of expert groups members – even of recently closed groups.

Commission expert groups also play a significant and specific role within EU policy making. While Type A members are appointed in their own capacity, they also have unique access to shape the direction of Commission policy. It is therefore important for the public to be able to analyse composition of expert groups systematically and retroactively – not least for the public to be able to duly confide in the decisions of the Commission and its expert groups. In this context it is necessary for journalists, civil society, and citizens to be able to access the declarations also of recently closed groups.

In this respect, I believe the disclosure of personal data under the Data Protection Regulation is indeed necessary for a specific public interest and this should be examined further by the Commission.

2) Legitimate interests of the person will not be prejudiced.

Recital 28 of Regulation 2018/1725 specifically requires that when recipients demonstrate that the transmission is necessary for a specific purpose in the public interest, then ‘the controller should establish whether there is any reason to assume that the data subject’s legitimate interests might be prejudiced. In such cases, the controller should demonstrably weigh the various competing interests in order to assess the proportionality of the requested transmission of personal data.’

For this assessment, I would like to point your attention to the Commission decision C(2016)3301, establishing horizontal rules on the creation and operation of Commission expert groups, which states that when applying to an expert group Type A members are required to disclose their potential conflict of interests‘[i]n order to ensure the highest level of integrity of experts, as well as public confidence in the Commission's activities’. Following this, the same decision creates additional transparency provisions for appointed Type A members, stating that ‘DOI forms shall be made publicly available on the Register of expert groups, where the experts in question are Type A members of an expert group or sub-group.’

By applying to the expert group in question, and when disclosing personal data, the experts would have been aware of this additional transparency requirement following from the responsibility of the position and would also have consented to the handling of their personal information. Therefore, as there is a specific public interest in these documents, and due to the fact that they have consented to the processing of their personal data, releasing these documents to me would not prejudice their legitimate interests. It is a proportionate way to ensure transparency and accountability of expert groups and their contribution of the formation of EU policy.

I believe that I have established that there is a need for the transfer of this personal data, that processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest. I also believe that I have demonstrated that the transfer of the requested documents could not affect the legitimate interests of the person concerned.

I ask you to take these arguments into consideration when you weigh the various competing interests and assess whether it would be proportionate to send the personal data for the pursued objective.

3) Partial access could be considered.

To fulfil my watchdog role, as outlined in point 1, partial access may be sufficient. While the disclosure of CV details is crucial information for analysis of expert group composition, handwritten signatures is less significant for the public interest and could be redacted. This would further assure that the disclosure of the documents could not affect the legitimate interests of the person concerned.

4) Documents were already in the public domain.

The requested documents were already in the public domain, as they have previously been published on the Commission website in the Register of Commission Expert Groups and Other Similar Entities.

5) Previous Commission decisions granted partial access to DOIs of closed expert groups.

In a reply to a confirmatory application of a similar request, GESTDEM 2021/2490, the Secretariat General granted partial access to DOIs for type A members of the HLEG on Artificial Intelligence, and stated that it ‘observes that more transparency is provided to certain documents related to persons who hold an expert group member function in line with Commission decision C(2016)3301 establishing horizontal rules on the creation and operation of Commission expert groups, and that the requested documents had indeed been made public by the European Commission during the existence of the former High-Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence (E03591) pursuant to the privacy statement. Finally, the Secretariat-General takes into account the principle recognised in the case law that disclosure of certain documents cannot be withheld if comparable documents are in the public domain.’

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

Please do not hesitate to contact me should you have any questions regarding the request.

Yours faithfully,

Greta Rosén Fondahn

SG ACCES DOCUMENTS, Justice et Consommateurs

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Dear Madam,

 

Thank you for your email dated 10/05/2022 by which you request, pursuant
to Regulation No 1049/2001 regarding public access to European Parliament,
Council and Commission documents, a review of the position taken by DG
JUST in reply to your initial application GESTDEM 2022/1626.

 

We hereby acknowledge receipt of your confirmatory application for access
to documents which was registered on 10/05/2022 ([5]Ares(2022)3558855).

 

Your application will be handled within 15 working days (02/06/2022). In
case this time limit needs to be extended, you will be informed in due
course.

 

Please be informed that the answer to your confirmatory application is a
formal Commission decision that will be notified to you by express
delivery. Thank you for providing your contact phone number, so that the
external delivery service can contact you in case of absence.

 

Please note that the Commission will not use your phone number for any
other purpose than for informing the delivery service, and that it will
delete it immediately thereafter.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

 

 

ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS TEAM (IC)

 

[6]cid:image001.gif@01D46531.06A8B6B0

 

European Commission

Secretariat-General

SG.C1 (Transparency, Document Management and Access to Documents)

[7][email address]

 

 

 

 

Afficher les sections citées

SG ACCES DOCUMENTS, Justice et Consommateurs

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Dear Ms Fondahn,

 

I am writing to you in reference to your email of 8 April 2022, registered
on the same day, by which you submitted a confirmatory application in
accordance with Article 7(2) of Regulation 1049/2001 regarding public
access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents (hereafter
Regulation 1049/2001).

 

I also refer to our holding reply dated 5 May 2022, by which the time
limit for replying to your confirmatory request was extended by 15 working
days, pursuant to Article 8(2) of the Regulation. This extended time limit
expired on 30 May 2022.

 

Unfortunately, we are not yet in a position to provide you with our final
position within the above-mentioned deadline, given the ongoing internal
consultations between the Commission services concerned. Following this
consultation, the draft confirmatory decision needs to be reviewed by the
Commission's Legal Service, after which it will be formally adopted within
the Secretariat-General and sent to you. However, I can assure you that we
are doing our utmost to provide you with a final reply within the upcoming
days.

 

Finally, please note that your other four confirmatory applications for
access to documents, submitted by the emails of 22 and 29 April and 5 and
10 May 2022, are being treated jointly with the one referred above, due to
the similarity of their subject matter. Consequently, the
Secretariat-General will soon adopt a single decision encompassing all
five confirmatory applications at issue.

 

I regret this additional delay and sincerely apologise for any
inconvenience this may cause.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Mariusz Daca, Ph.D.
Deputy Head of Unit
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European Commission

Secretariat General

Unit C.1 (Transparency, Document Management and Access to Documents)

 

References

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