Meetings
Dear DG SANTE,
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:
- a list of all meetings between DG SANTE staff (below the level of Commissioner, cabinet, and Director-General, which are already available online) and the American Chamber of Commerce to the European Union (AmCham EU), McKinsey & Company, and/or McKinsey Global Institute, since 1 January 2020;
- minutes of, and correspondence relating to, those meetings.
Yours faithfully,
Rachel Knaebel
Alter-médias
5, avenue Paul Langevin
93100, Montreuil
France
Dear Madam,
Thank you for your e-mail of 20 May 2021. We hereby acknowledge receipt
of your application for access to documents, which was registered on 27
May 2021 under reference number GESTDEM 2021/3467.
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 17
June 2021. In case this time limit needs to be extended, you will be
informed in due course.
You have lodged your application via a private third-party 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.
Please note that the private third party running the AsktheEU website is
responsible and accountable for the processing of your personal data via
that website, and not the Commission. For further information on your
rights, please refer to the third party’s privacy policy.
We understand that the third party running the AsktheEU.org website
usually publishes the content of applicants’ correspondence with the
Commission on that website. This includes the personal data that you may
have communicated to the Commission (e.g. your private postal address).
Similarly, the third party publishes on that website any reply that the
Commission will send to the email address of the applicants generated by
the AsktheEU.org website.
If you do not wish that your correspondence with the Commission is
published on a private third-party website such as AsktheEU.org, you can
provide us with an alternative, private e-mail address for further
correspondence. In that case, the Commission will send all future
electronic correspondence addressed to you only to that private address,
and it will use only that private address to reply to your request. You
should still remain responsible to inform the private third-party website
about this change of how you wish to communicate with, and receive a reply
from, the Commission.
For information on how we process your personal data visit our page
[1]Privacy statement – access to documents.
Yours faithfully,
Access to Documents Team
Dear Madam,
We refer to your request dated 20 May 2021 in which you make a request
for access to documents, registered on 27 May 2021 under the above
mentioned reference number.
Your application is currently being handled. However, we will not be in a
position to complete the handling of your application within the time
limit of 15 working days, which expires today on 17 June 2021.
An extended time limit is needed due to internal consultations and a
thorough analysis of your request.
Therefore, we have to extend the time limit with 15 working days in
accordance with Article 7(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 regarding
public access to documents. The new time limit expires on 8 July 2021
We apologise for this delay and for any inconvenience this may cause.
Yours faithfully,
SANTE ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS
[1]cid:image001.gif@01D3FF48.374A49E0
European Commission
Health and Food Safety
References
Visible links
Dear DG SANTE,
Further to your email of 17 June, in which you extended the deadline for responding to my request GESTDEM 2021/3467 to 8 July 2021, I would like to note that I have still not received your reply, as of 26 July 2021. I would therefore like to urgently request a response from you either with the information requested, or with an indication of when I can expect to receive your reply.
I look forward to your prompt response.
Yours sincerely,
Rachel Knaebel.
Dear Ms Knaebel,
Thank you for your email of 27 July 2021 regarding your request for access
to documents.
We acknowledge that the time limit expired on 8 July 2021 and apologize
for the delay.
We would like to inform you that your request is being handled.
During the process were identified some more documents this is why we
needed some more time, but please be reassured that the process is moving
and that we are doing our utmost to provide you with the required
documents as soon as possible.
Thank you very much for your understanding.
Best regards,
SANTE ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS
[1]cid:image001.gif@01D3FF48.374A49E0
European Commission
Health and Food Safety
References
Visible links
Dear DG SANTE,
Further to your email of 17 June, in which you extended the deadline for responding to my request GESTDEM 2021/3467 to 8 July 2021, I would like to note that I have still not received your reply, as of 24 August 2021. I would therefore like to urgently request a response from you either with the information requested, or with an indication of when I can expect to receive your reply.
I look forward to your prompt response.
Yours sincerely,
Rachel Knaebel
Dear Madam,
Please find enclosed the reply from DG SANTE.
According to standard operational procedure, the reply is usually also sent to you by registered post. Please note, however, that due to the extraordinary health and security measures currently in force during to the COVID-19 epidemics, which include the requirement for all Commission non-critical staff to telework, we are unfortunately not in a position to follow this procedure until further notice. We would therefore appreciate if you could confirm receipt of the present e-mail.
Yours faithfully,
SANTE ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS TEAM
Dear Secretariat-General (SG.C.1),
Further to the letter I received from Sandra Gallina, Director-General of DG Sante, on 24 August 2021, replying to my access to documents request GestDem 2021/346, I would hereby like to submit a confirmatory application for the complete disclosure (except for personal data) of:
Documents No. 9, 11, 13, 15 and 16, which were only partially released on the grounds of the exception concerning the protection of the commercial interests of a legal person, as laid down in the Article 4(2), first indent, of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001. Namely, it was stated that the Commission considers that granting access to this information could undermine the protection of the commercial interests of Mc Kinsey.
Document No 19.1, which was also partially withheld due to the exception concerning the protection of the commercial interests of a legal person. It was noted that the third party has objected to the disclosure of document No 19.1 invoking the argument that its disclosure may undermine the commercial interest of a legal person as the documents contains details which allow for drawing conclusions about McKinsey’s strategic focus and approach in their client work.
The documents 10, 12, 14, which were refused on the grounds that they contain information whose disclosure may undermine the commercial interest of a legal person, and it may include business sensitive information and information covered by intellectual property. It was also stated that documents 10, 12, 14 include information that originated with the third party; informed of the present request for this access to documents, the third party has been consulted and has objected to the disclosure of the documents in question, alleging that disclosure would put in the public domain business sensitive information and risk resulting in potential adverse impacts on their competitive position on the market.
Doc. 19.2, which was refused on the grounds that it contains details which allow for drawing conclusions about McKinsey’s strategic focus and approach in their client work which is commercially sensitive, proprietary and confidential to McKinsey.
As noted in the reply letter to my request, the exceptions to the right of access provided for in the first indent of Article 4(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 must be waived if there is an overriding public interest in disclosing the requested document. It was stated that in my application, I did not submit any grounds concerning a public interest, and that the Commission could not identify any such ground either.
I therefore hereby submit the following grounds that there is an overriding public interest in full disclosure of these documents:
there is a strong public interest in transparency around the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic by EU public institutions, which as of 2 September 2021, has caused 1.246 million deaths in Europe alone, according to the ECDC;*
the public interest is particularly evident when it comes to transparency over the role and influence of a consultancy firm which has private healthcare clients, including hospitals and healthcare providers, as well as pharmaceutical and medtech companies,** which could therefore constitute the appearance of an actual or potential conflict of interest;
the subjects of several of the heavily redacted emails with McKinsey included ‘Testing’ and ‘COVID-19 outbreaks’, which makes it clear that the topics discussed relate to the COVID-19 pandemic.
I therefore ask you to reconsider your position, taking due note of the severity of the ongoing public health crisis, and the increased responsibility this places on the European Commission to be as open and transparent as possible.
Yours sincerely,
Rachel Knaebel.
Link: [1]File-List
Link: [2]themeData
Link: [3]colorSchemeMapping
Dear Madam,
Thank you for your email dated 06/09/2021 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
SANTE in reply to your initial application GESTDEM 2021/3467.
We hereby acknowledge receipt of your confirmatory application for access
to documents which was registered on 06/09/2021 (Ares(2021)5469017).
Your application will be handled within 15 working days (27/09/2021). 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 (cr)
SG.C.1
Transparency
Link: [1]File-List
Link: [2]Edit-Time-Data
Link: [3]themeData
Link: [4]colorSchemeMapping
[5]Your confirmatory application for access to documents under Regulation
(EC) No 1049/2001 - GESTDEM 2021/3467 - 1st holding letter -
Ares(2021)5863805 (Please use this link only if you are an Ares user –
Svp, utilisez ce lien exclusivement si vous êtes un(e) utilisateur d’Ares)
Dear Ms Knaebel,
I refer to your email of 6 September 2021, registered on the same day, by
which you submit a confirmatory application in accordance with Article
7(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 regarding public access to European
Parliament, Council and Commission documents ("Regulation (EC) No
1049/2001"), registered under reference number above.
Your confirmatory application is currently being handled. Unfortunately,
we have not yet been able to gather all the elements needed to carry out a
full analysis of your request and to take a final decision. Therefore, we
are not in a position to reply to your confirmatory request within the
prescribed time limit which expires on 27 September 2021. Consequently, we
have to extend this period by another 15 working days in accordance with
Article 8(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001. The new deadline expires on
18 October 2021. However, I can assure you that we are doing our utmost to
provide you with a final reply within the next 15 working days.
I regret this additional delay and sincerely apologize for any
inconvenience this may cause.
Yours sincerely,
María OLIVÁN AVILÉS
Head of Unit
European Commission
Secretariat General
Unit C.1 (Transparency, Document Management and Access to Documents)
References
Visible links
1. file:///tmp/cid:filelist.xml@01D7B381.65297D90
2. file:///tmp/cid:editdata.mso
3. file:///tmp/~~themedata~~
4. file:///tmp/~~colorschememapping~~
5. https://webgate.ec.testa.eu/Ares/documen...
Link: [1]File-List
Link: [2]Edit-Time-Data
Link: [3]themeData
Link: [4]colorSchemeMapping
[5]Your confirmatory application for access to documents under Regulation
(EC) No 1049/2001 - GESTDEM 2021/3467 - 2nd holding letter -
Ares(2021)6349920 (Please use this link only if you are an Ares user –
Svp, utilisez ce lien exclusivement si vous êtes un(e) utilisateur d’Ares)
Dear Ms Knaebel,
I refer to your email of 6 September 2021, registered on the same day, by
which you submit a confirmatory application in accordance with Article
7(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 regarding public access to European
Parliament, Council and Commission documents ("Regulation (EC) No
1049/2001"), registered under reference number above.
I also refer to our holding reply of 27 September 2021, by which the time
limit for replying to your confirmatory application was extended by 15
working days, pursuant to Article 8(2) of Regulation 1049/2001. This
extended time limit expires on 18 October 2021.
I regret to have to inform you that we are not able to respond within the
extended time-limit, as we have not yet finalised internal consultations.
I can assure you that we are doing our utmost to provide you with a final
reply as soon as possible.
I regret this additional delay and sincerely apologise for any
inconvenience this may cause.
Yours sincerely,
María OLIVÁN AVILÉS
Head of Unit
[6]cid:image001.gif@01D13362.41D673C0
European Commission
Secretariat General
Unit C.1 (Transparency, Document Management and Access to Documents)
References
Visible links
1. file:///tmp/cid:filelist.xml@01D7C410.38712920
2. file:///tmp/cid:editdata.mso
3. file:///tmp/~~themedata~~
4. file:///tmp/~~colorschememapping~~
5. https://webgate.ec.testa.eu/Ares/documen...
From: SG ACCES DOCUMENTS <[email address]>
Sent: Tuesday, November 30, 2021 12:02 PM
To: ask <[email address]>
Subject: GESTDEM 2021-3467 - holding letter - Ares(2021)7369135
[1]GESTDEM 2021-3467 - holding letter - Ares(2021)7369135 (Please use
this link only if you are an Ares user – Svp, utilisez ce lien
exclusivement si vous êtes un(e) utilisateur d’Ares)
Dear Ms Knaebel,
We refer to your email of 6 September 2021, registered on the same day, by
which you submit a confirmatory application in accordance with Article
7(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 regarding public access to European
Parliament, Council and Commission documents ("Regulation (EC) No
1049/2001"), registered under reference number above.
We sincerely apologise for the delay in the processing of you request.
We would like to reassure you that we are doing our utmost to handle your
confirmatory application as promptly as possible, given our limited human
resources in light of the workload generated by other pending requests.
We thank you very much for your kind understanding in the meantime.
Yours sincerely,
ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS TEAM
[2]cid:image001.gif@01D13362.41D673C0
European Commission
Secretariat-General
SG C.1 – Transparency, Document Management & Access to Documents
[3][email address]
References
Visible links
1. https://webgate.ec.testa.eu/Ares/documen...
3. mailto:[email address]