MiFID II - Gestdem 2017/4398 follow up

La demande est partiellement réussie.

Georgios Vassalos

Dear madams and sirs,

I will reply separately on Gestdem 2017/4394 and 4396

This response is limited in Gestdem 2017/4398.

It is completely incomprehensible and out of line with the letter and spirit of 1049/2001 (points 3 and 4 of Article 7 and point 3 of Article 6) that it took you 32 working days (from August 16 to September 29) just to repeat to me the same proposal you made in August 14 to which I made a counter-proposal in August 16 (giving 30 extra working days from the 120 you calculated you would need in a quite detailed manner).

Nonetheless, I will accept to limit my request to the period between April 2009 and October 2011. But I would like to ask you agreeing on a deadline of no more than 50 working days.

I’m looking forward to a swift reply from your side, so that we can conclude this process provided by point 3 of Article 6 in 1049/2001.

Best regards,
Georgios Vassalos

On 9/29/2017 4:05 pm, EC ARES NOREPLY wrote:
Ares(2017)4765132 - Your requests for access to documents w/ref 2017/4394, 4396 and 4398

Sent by ve_fisma.c.3 (FISMA) <[email address]>. All responses have to be sent to this email address.
Envoyé par ve_fisma.c.3 (FISMA) <[email address]>. Toutes les réponses doivent être effectuées à cette adresse électronique.

Dear Mr Vassalos,
Gestdem 2017/4398: all correspondence (including emails) and meeting records of [various Commission top management] with Industry, Associations, Trade Unions and Academics on all issues concerning MiFID/MiFIR II (drafting and implementation including Delegated and Implementing Acts) between April 2009 and June 2017
The amount of work entailed in considering a request for access depends not only on the number of documents referred to in the request and their volume, but also on their nature and the diversity of the tasks required to find these documents. The process does not only include searching, extracting, printing and sending documents from a database, but also requires an in-depth analysis of the documents, consultation of third parties, redaction of personal data and finally the elaboration of a draft answer.
We confirm that the workload led by dealing with your request is disproportionate, as compared with the objectives of the application, and will substantially impair the activities of unit C3, which is a small unit with a huge amount of legislative work. Due to this everyday heavy workload, we are not in a position to assign colleagues to deal full time with your request for several months.
Hence, we invite you again to reduce the scope of your request, its temporal scope (which currently encompasses 2009 to 2017) and the list of authors.
Such a narrowed-down scope would cover a more manageable number of documents including the preparation of the redacted versions thereof.
Thank you in advance for your understanding.
Yours sincerely,
European Commission
FISMA C3
Securities markets
On 9/8/2017 2:18 pm, Georgios Vassalos wrote:
Dear Unit C3,

You have kindly contacted me in the framework of Article 6.3 ("Ιn the event of an application relating to a very long,document or to a very large number of documents..) in view of finding a fair solution.

17 working days have passed since my last proposal to you (fixing the deadline at April 3) and I haven't heard back.

I'd like to kindly remind you that "failure by the institution to reply within the prescribed time-limit shall entitle the applicant to make a confirmatory application" (Article 7.4)

Are you counting replying me or do you advise to introduce a confirmatory application?

yours sincerely,
Georgios

On 8/26/2017 1:01 pm, VASSALOS Georgios (DIR) wrote:
Dear Unit C3,

I'm looking forward to your reaction on this last suggestion of mine I sent you ten days ago.

greetings,
G. Vassalos

Le Mercredi 16 Août 2017 23:21 CEST, VASSALOS Georgios (DIR) <[email address]> a écrit:

Dear Unit C3,

Unfortunately, the purposes of my research do not allow me to limit my request to specific stakeholders or in time. I aim - among others - at making statistics on what types of stakeholders competent Commission officials met on this dossier in all different phases from the drafting to the implementing one (Level 2).

After the explanations you kindly provided me with, I would suggest that we fix April 3, 2018 (or around 150 working days) as the agreed deadline.

best regards,
Georgios Vassalos

Le Lundi 14 Août 2017 15:04 CEST, EC ARES NOREPLY <[email address]> a écrit:

Ares(2017)4034506 - Your request to access documents on MiFID

Sent by FISMA C3 <[email address]>. All responses have to be sent to this email address.
Envoyé par FISMA C3 <[email address]>. Toutes les réponses doivent être effectuées à cette adresse électronique.

Dear Mr Vassalos,

Thank you for your reply dated 3 August 2017.

Your request is not limited to precise stakeholders, as suggested in our previous answer, and not limited in time. This means that we have to conduct a very extensive search in our archives.

As regards to your question: if we have received documents from third parties which are not public (this is normally the case), those third parties have to be consulted on their own documents in accordance with the regulation on access to documents. In our answer we have to take into account the opinions of the third parties on the release of their documents.

We have to assess all documents, erase personal data in the documents and check if other parts of the documents should be erased.

According to our first estimates, a first search indicates that your request could cover about 1000 documents only for correspondence with all Director Generals.

The handling of your request would take about 120 working days, broken down as follows:

- identification of the documents falling under your request (including coordination between the different units involved in DG FISMA if necessary), retrieval and establishment of a complete list of the documents identified: 30 working days;

- assessment of the content of the documents in light of the exceptions of Article 4 of Regulation 1049/2001 and drafting of the third party consultation documents: 30 working days;

- third-party consultations under Article 4(4) of Regulation 1049/2001: 20 working days;

- final assessment of the documents in light of the comments received: 5 working days;>
- drafting of the reply(ies): 10 working days;

- redaction of those parts of the documents to which one or several exceptions apply(ies): 15 working days;

- internal approval of the draft decision(s) on your request: 10 working days.

Furthermore, we have to take into account regular "business as usual" tasks that the staff concerned have to deal with during the same period as well as other requests for access to documents.

For this reason, at his stage, we estimate that the treatment of your request, would represent a disproportionate workload and would have a negative impact on the operational performance of the Commission services (unit FISMA C3).

We would therefore kindly invite you to narrow down the scope of your request (the subject matter(s), the timeframe covered as well as the persons covered by your request), so as to reduce it to a more manageable amount of documents.

If you have any questions, you can contact us at: [email address]

Thank you in advance for your understanding.

Yours sincerely,

European Commission
FISMA C3
Securities markets

On 8/3/2017 11:10 am, VASSALOS Georgios (DIR) wrote:
Dear Unit C3,

Many thanks for your swift response.

I understand my request involves a considerable workload for you and it cannot be carried out within the time limits set out in Regulation 1049/2001. Right now, I'm not in a position to know what documents require a consultation with third parties in accordance with Article 4(4), but I trust you will explain. Would mid-October be a realistic deadline for you? If not, please suggest one.

My request includes all electronic and written correspondance with interest groups (trying to represent private and special interests or the pubic interest) and reports or minutes of meetings with them.

I'm interested in all non-governemental stakeholders that interacted with the fore mentioned Commission officials on MiFID/MiFIR II. I mention some as examples, but my request is not limited to them: trade associations such as AFME, EFAMA, ICMA, FESE, FIA Europe, FIA-EPTA, ISDA, FOA, EACH, ECSDA, Invest Europe, EFET, FEFAC, EuropeanIssuers and their members (companies be it banks or other financial or non-financial corporations), as well as their extra-EU counterparts. Financial industry companies such as LSEG and Chi-X or Reuters and Bloomberg. Accounting and consulting firms such PWC, Deloitte, EY etc. Pubic affairs consultancies and law firms representing stakeholders. SMEs trade associations. Trade unions such as Uni-Europa, Nordic financial unions or any other unions that had contacts with these officials on MiFID/R II. Retail investor associations such as Better Finance or others including national ones. NGOs such as Finance Watch, Oxfam, Global Justice, SOMO, WEED etc. Any academics that might have exchanged ideas on MiFID issues with the fore mentioned Commission officials.

I would like to include in my request all subject matters of MiFID/MiFIR II. I mention some as examples, without my request being limited to them: market structure rules (on RMs, MTFs, OTFs, SIs and OTC trading), scope of the trading obligation on oragnised venues, transparency waivers, market data publication and consolidated tape, rules on HFT, rules on commodity derivatives, investors' protection and third coutries regime.

Please write me back in case you need more specifications.

best regards,
Georgios Vassalos

On Tuesday, August 1, 2017 16:32 CEST, EC ARES NOREPLY <[email address]> wrote:

Ares(2017)3856033 - Your request to access documents on MiFID

Sent by FISMA C3 <[email address]>. All responses have to be sent to this email address.
Envoyé par FISMA C3 <[email address]>. Toutes les réponses doivent être effectuées à cette adresse électronique.

Dear Mr Vassalos,

We refer to your e-mail from 27th July 2017, registered on 28th July 2017 under the above-mentioned reference number in which you a requested the access to the European Commission documents.

"I would hereby like to ask all correspondance (including emails) and meeting records of:

- Jörgen Holmquist, director general of DG MARKT (2009-2010)

- David Wright, deputy director general of DG MARKT (2009-2010)

- Jonathan Faul, director general of DG MARKT and DG FISMA (2010-2015)

- Nadia Calviño Deputy Director General of DG MARKT (2010-2014)

- Olivier Guersent, deputy director general of DG FISMA (2014-2016) and then director general of DG FISMA

- John Berrigan, deputy director general of DG FISMA

- Emil Paulis, Director G (2009-2014)

- Martin Merlin, responsible of relation with Council (2011-2012) Director G and C (2012-2016)

- Ugo Bassi, Director C

with Industry, Associations, Trade Unions and Academics on all issues concerning MiFID/MiFIR II (drafting and implementation including Delegated and Implementing Acts) between April 2009 and June 2017".

In order to process your request, could you please specify the required documents, the name of the stakeholders involved and the precise subject matters discussed in the drafting and implementation of the MiFID II rules.

Secondly, your application concerns a very broad period of time with respect to the MIFID file and potentially involves a very large number of documents which would need to be assessed individually. Such a detailed analysis cannot be carried out within the time limits set out in Article 7 of Regulation 1049/2001. In addition, the handling of your request would involve the assessment of a large number of documents originating from third parties or sent to third parties and other documents linked to your request.

The analysis of these documents, together with the need to consult the third parties concerned in accordance with Article 4(4) of Regulation 1049/2001, cannot be expected to be completed within the time limits set out in Article 7 of Regulation 1049/2001. However, article 6(3) of Regulation 1049/2001 provides that in the event of an application relating to a very long document or to very large number of documents, the institution concerned may confer with the applicant informally, with a view to finding a fair solution.

In order to enable us to respect the time-limits of Regulation 1049/2001, we would highly appreciate a swift reply.

If you have any questions, you can contact us: [email address]

Thank you in advance for your understanding.

Yours sincerely,

Unit C3
Securities Markets

On 7/26/2017 2:50 pm, Georgios Vassalos wrote:
Dear Mr Boulouque,
Dear madams and sirs,

I would hereby like to ask all correspondance (including emails) and meeting records of:

- Jörgen Holmquist, director general of DG MARKT (2009-2010)
- David Wright, deputy director general of DG MARKT (2009-2010)
- Jonathan Faul, director general of DG MARKT and DG FISMA (2010-2015)
- Nadia Calviño Deputy Director General of DG MARKT (2010-2014)
- Olivier Guersnent, deputy director general of DG FISMA (2014-2016) and then director general of DG FISMA
- John Berrigan, deputy director general of DG FISMA

- Emil Paulis, Director G (2009-2014)
- Martin Merlin, responsible of relation with Council (2011-2012) Director G and C (2012-2016)
- Ugo Bassi, Director C

with Industry, Associations, Trade Unions and Academics on all issues concerning MiFID/MiFIR II (drafting and implementation including Delegated and Implementing Acts) between April 2009 and June 2017.

Georgios Vassalos

Georgios Vassalos

Dear Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union,

This is just a reminder of our commonly agreed deadline of the 22 December 2017.

Yours faithfully,

Georgios Vassalos

-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: Ares(2017)5041205 - Your request for access to documents w/ref 2017/4398
Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2017 14:46:00 +0200
From: EC ARES NOREPLY <[email address]>
To: vassalos

Ares(2017)5041205 - Your request for access to documents w/ref 2017/4398

Sent by ve_fisma.c.3 (FISMA) <[email address]>. All responses have to be sent to this email address.
Envoyé par ve_fisma.c.3 (FISMA) <[email address]>. Toutes les réponses doivent être effectuées à cette adresse électronique.

Dear Mr Vassalos,

We thank you for your message of 12 October and your agreement to limit the timeframe covered by your request to the years 2009 to 2011.

We have already started to work on your request and will do our best to handle it within the given deadline, i.e. 22 December 2017.

In case this time limit would need to be extended, you will be informed in due course.

Yours sincerely,

European Commission

FISMA C3

Securities markets

Stabilité financière, services financiers et union des marchés des capitaux

Dear Mr Vassalos,

Thank you for your reminder.

We are well aware of the agreed deadline and are working hard in order to be able to respect it.

With kind regards,

European Commission
FISMA C3
Securities markets

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