Votes (including votes on guidelines, opinions, and decisions)

Johnny Ryan a fait une demande de Accès à l'information à Le Comité Européen de la Protection des Données

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La demande a été rejetée par Le Comité Européen de la Protection des Données.

Dear colleagues,

Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, I am requesting documents which contain the following information:

Records of how each EDPB Member voted (for, against, abstain, etc.) on each guideline, opinion, and decisions, and any other items that may have been voted upon by the board.

Yours faithfully,

Johnny Ryan

European Data Protection Board, Le Comité Européen de la Protection des Données

Thank you for your message and for your interest in data protection. We
will look into your request and get back to you within due time.
The EDPB Secretariat

European Data Protection Board, Le Comité Européen de la Protection des Données

Dear Mr Ryan,

We are contacting you concerning the two access to documents requests that you made on Monday, 28th March 2022.

On your first request, you asked for "[a] record of the votes by Members of the EDPB on all guidelines, opinions, and decisions from 25 May 2018 to the present day."

On your second request, sent shortly after, you asked for "[r]ecords of how each EDPB Member voted (for, against, abstain, etc.) on each guideline, opinion, and decisions, and any other items that may have been voted upon by the board."

When assessing these requests, it was not clear to us, given the overlapping in scope, whether you aimed at making two different requests, or whether your second request aimed to be a broader version of your first request (and, as a result, replace it). We therefore invite you, in accordance with Article 6(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 regarding public access to documents, to provide us with more detailed information on the scope of your request(s).

Thank you very much in advance and please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any queries.

Best regards,
The EDPB Secretariat

-----Original Message-----
From: Johnny Ryan <[FOI #10908 email]>
Sent: 28 March 2022 09:29
To: European Data Protection Board <[EDPB request email]>
Subject: access to documents request - Votes (including votes on guidelines, opinions, and decisions)

Dear colleagues,

Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, I am requesting documents which contain the following information:

Records of how each EDPB Member voted (for, against, abstain, etc.) on each guideline, opinion, and decisions, and any other items that may have been voted upon by the board.

Yours faithfully,

Johnny Ryan

-------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a request for access to information under Article 15 of the TFEU and, where applicable, Regulation 1049/2001 which has been sent via the AsktheEU.org website.

Please kindly use this email address for all replies to this request: [FOI #10908 email]

If [EDPB request email] is the wrong address for information requests to European Data Protection Board, please tell the AsktheEU.org team on email [email address]

This message and all replies from European Data Protection Board will be published on the AsktheEU.org website. For more information see our dedicated page for EU public officials at https://www.asktheeu.org/en/help/officers

Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will be delayed.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

cacher les sections citées

Dear colleagues

Please forgive me. I was not sure that the first request went through correctly. Please disregard the first request.

Johnny

European Data Protection Board, Le Comité Européen de la Protection des Données

Dear Mr Ryan,

Thank you for your email and clarification. We have disregarded your first email, as requested. However, the broad description given in your request does not enable us to adequately determine the scope of your request and, as a result, the concrete documents you are seeking access to.

In accordance with Article 6(1) of Regulation 1049/2001, applications for access to a document shall be made in a sufficiently precise manner to enable the institution to identify the document(s) falling within the scope of a request.

Based on your request, it seems that you are requesting access to any document containing “[r]ecords of how each EDPB Member voted (for, against, abstain, etc.)”, on “on each guideline, opinion, and decisions and any other items that may have been voted upon by the board”. This would amount, in practice, to any voting record of any item voted upon by the Board since May 2018, i.e. for a period of almost four years.

Following a preliminary assessment based on your request, the EDPB would incur a disproportionate workload in order to carry out the preliminary research required to identify the documents potentially related to your request, based on the information you have provided in your message below.

In this regard, we would like to draw your attention to the EU case law enabling the institution to not proceed with the preliminary research when the request is not precise (F-121/07, Strack v Commission), or on the possibility to refuse to identify the documents falling under the scope of a request if the identification would lead to a disproportionate workload (T-653/16, Malta v Commission).

We therefore kindly ask you to narrow the scope of your request, e.g. by limiting it to certain categories of documents which were voted upon, and/or to within a certain date range so that we may provide you with a reply within the deadlines foreseen in Regulation 1049/2001.

While you are not required to provide any reasoning for your request, it may be helpful if you could provide us with any information on your interest in obtaining the documents, insofar as this would help us to determine the documents in scope of your request.

Thank you very much in advance for your cooperation.

Best regards,
The EDPB Secretariat

-----Original Message-----
From: Johnny Ryan <[FOI #10908 email]>
Sent: 31 March 2022 19:52
To: European Data Protection Board <[EDPB request email]>
Subject: Re: Access to documents request - Votes (including votes on guidelines, opinions, and decisions) - request for clarification

Dear colleagues

Please forgive me. I was not sure that the first request went through correctly. Please disregard the first request.

Johnny

-----Original Message-----

Dear Mr Ryan,

We are contacting you concerning the two access to documents requests that you made on Monday, 28th March 2022.

On your first request, you asked for "[a] record of the votes by Members of the EDPB on all guidelines, opinions, and decisions from 25 May 2018 to the present day."

On your second request, sent shortly after, you asked for "[r]ecords of how each EDPB Member voted (for, against, abstain, etc.) on each guideline, opinion, and decisions, and any other items that may have been voted upon by the board."

When assessing these requests, it was not clear to us, given the overlapping in scope, whether you aimed at making two different requests, or whether your second request aimed to be a broader version of your first request (and, as a result, replace it). We therefore invite you, in accordance with Article 6(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 regarding public access to documents, to provide us with more detailed information on the scope of your request(s).

Thank you very much in advance and please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any queries.

Best regards,
The EDPB Secretariat

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #10908 email]

This message and all replies from European Data Protection Board will be published on the AsktheEU.org website. For more information see our dedicated page for EU public officials at https://www.asktheeu.org/en/help/officers

Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will be delayed.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

cacher les sections citées

Dear colleagues

Thank you.

In that case I narrow my request to votes on adopting opinions, guidance, and internal documents.

Johnny

European Data Protection Board, Le Comité Européen de la Protection des Données

Dear Mr Ryan,

Thank you very much for your clarification. However, the broad description given in your reply still does not enable us to adequately determine the scope of your request and, as a result, the concrete documents you are seeking access to. In accordance with Article 6(1) of Regulation 1049/2001, applications for access to a document shall be made in a sufficiently precise manner to enable the institution to identify the document(s) falling within the scope of a request.

Furthermore, following a preliminary assessment based on the information you have provided in your message below, the EDPB would incur a disproportionate workload in order to carry out the preliminary research required to identify the documents potentially related to your request. Please note that, since the Board's inception, more than 200 documents have been adopted within the categories that you indicated in your revised request. In the assumption that there is at least one voting record available per document (e.g. please note that voting occurs for both pre- and post-public consultation guidelines and recommendations), this would potentially lead to a very significant number of documents.

At the moment, the EDPB Secretariat does not have the resources to carry out an assessment of this number of documents within the deadlines provided for in Regulation 1049/2001. We are currently dealing with several requests, and a few with a very significant number of documents, and all with the same set of deadlines. We therefore ask you to further narrow the scope of your request, e.g. by limiting it to certain categories of documents, to voting records within a certain date range or concerning a specific topic, and/or to post-public consultation voting records, so that we may provide you with a reply within the deadlines foreseen in Regulation 1049/2001.

While you are not required to provide any reasoning for your request, it may be helpful if you could provide us with any information on your interest in obtaining the documents, insofar as this would help us to determine the documents in scope of your request.

Thank you very much in advance for your understanding.

Best regards,
The EDPB Secretariat

-----Original Message-----
From: Johnny Ryan <[FOI #10908 email]>
Sent: 01 April 2022 18:03
To: European Data Protection Board <[EDPB request email]>
Subject: RE: Access to documents request - Votes (including votes on guidelines, opinions, and decisions) - request for clarification

Dear colleagues

Thank you.

In that case I narrow my request to votes on adopting opinions, guidance, and internal documents.

Johnny

-----Original Message-----

Dear Mr Ryan,

Thank you for your email and clarification. We have disregarded your first email, as requested. However, the broad description given in your request does not enable us to adequately determine the scope of your request and, as a result, the concrete documents you are seeking access to.

In accordance with Article 6(1) of Regulation 1049/2001, applications for access to a document shall be made in a sufficiently precise manner to enable the institution to identify the document(s) falling within the scope of a request.

Based on your request, it seems that you are requesting access to any document containing “[r]ecords of how each EDPB Member voted (for, against, abstain, etc.)”, on “on each guideline, opinion, and decisions and any other items that may have been voted upon by the board”. This would amount, in practice, to any voting record of any item voted upon by the Board since May 2018, i.e. for a period of almost four years.

Following a preliminary assessment based on your request, the EDPB would incur a disproportionate workload in order to carry out the preliminary research required to identify the documents potentially related to your request, based on the information you have provided in your message below.

In this regard, we would like to draw your attention to the EU case law enabling the institution to not proceed with the preliminary research when the request is not precise (F-121/07, Strack v Commission), or on the possibility to refuse to identify the documents falling under the scope of a request if the identification would lead to a disproportionate workload (T-653/16, Malta v Commission).

We therefore kindly ask you to narrow the scope of your request, e.g. by limiting it to certain categories of documents which were voted upon, and/or to within a certain date range so that we may provide you with a reply within the deadlines foreseen in Regulation 1049/2001.

While you are not required to provide any reasoning for your request, it may be helpful if you could provide us with any information on your interest in obtaining the documents, insofar as this would help us to determine the documents in scope of your request.

Thank you very much in advance for your cooperation.

Best regards,

The EDPB Secretariat

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:

[FOI #10908 email]

This message and all replies from European Data Protection Board will be published on the AsktheEU.org website. For more information see our dedicated page for EU public officials at https://www.asktheeu.org/en/help/officers

Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will be delayed.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

cacher les sections citées

Dear colleagues,

I understand. In that case I request votes on guidelines and opinions, but not on other documents. Would that work?

Johnny

European Data Protection Board, Le Comité Européen de la Protection des Données

Dear Mr Ryan,

Thank you very much for your email and clarification.

In line with article 6(3) of Regulation 1049/2001, we would like to kindly ask you if you would be available for a quick phone call, either tomorrow or Friday. The purpose of the phone call would be to discuss your request in more detail in order to reach a fair solution.

If you are available, we would like to propose a quick call period between 10:30 and 12:00 Brussels time, or between 17:00 and 17:30 Brussels time tomorrow (Thursday, 7th April). An alternative timing would be this Friday, 8th April, between 14:30 and 15:00 Brussels time. Would any of these be suitable for you? If not, could we kindly ask you to suggest a suitable timing for you?

We would also be grateful if you could provide us with a direct email address or another way of communication, which we would use solely for the purpose of sending you the call details (any communication concerning your access to documents request will continue to be sent to this email address).

Many thanks in advance for your availability.

Best regards,
The EDPB Secretariat

-----Original Message-----
From: Johnny Ryan <[FOI #10908 email]>
Sent: 05 April 2022 16:29
To: European Data Protection Board <[EDPB request email]>
Subject: RE: Access to documents request - Votes (including votes on guidelines, opinions, and decisions) - request for clarification

Dear colleagues,

I understand. In that case I request votes on guidelines and opinions, but not on other documents. Would that work?

Johnny

-----Original Message-----

Dear Mr Ryan,

Thank you very much for your clarification. However, the broad description given in your reply still does not enable us to adequately determine the scope of your request and, as a result, the concrete documents you are seeking access to. In accordance with Article 6(1) of Regulation 1049/2001, applications for access to a document shall be made in a sufficiently precise manner to enable the institution to identify the document(s) falling within the scope of a request.

Furthermore, following a preliminary assessment based on the information you have provided in your message below, the EDPB would incur a disproportionate workload in order to carry out the preliminary research required to identify the documents potentially related to your request. Please note that, since the Board's inception, more than 200 documents have been adopted within the categories that you indicated in your revised request. In the assumption that there is at least one voting record available per document (e.g. please note that voting occurs for both pre- and post-public consultation guidelines and recommendations), this would potentially lead to a very significant number of documents.

At the moment, the EDPB Secretariat does not have the resources to carry out an assessment of this number of documents within the deadlines provided for in Regulation 1049/2001. We are currently dealing with several requests, and a few with a very significant number of documents, and all with the same set of deadlines. We therefore ask you to further narrow the scope of your request, e.g. by limiting it to certain categories of documents, to voting records within a certain date range or concerning a specific topic, and/or to post-public consultation voting records, so that we may provide you with a reply within the deadlines foreseen in Regulation 1049/2001.

While you are not required to provide any reasoning for your request, it may be helpful if you could provide us with any information on your interest in obtaining the documents, insofar as this would help us to determine the documents in scope of your request.

Thank you very much in advance for your understanding.

Best regards,
The EDPB Secretariat

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #10908 email]

This message and all replies from European Data Protection Board will be published on the AsktheEU.org website. For more information see our dedicated page for EU public officials at https://www.asktheeu.org/en/help/officers

Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will be delayed.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

cacher les sections citées

Dear colleagues,

Certainly. Let’s speak on Monday.

Would 1pm Dublin time suit you?

I am at [email address]

Johnny

European Data Protection Board, Le Comité Européen de la Protection des Données

Dear Mr Ryan,

Thank you very much once again for your availability to discuss this matter with us.

Following our discussion, it was agreed to narrow down the scope of this specific request to votes on EDPB guidelines since May 2018. We will register your request shortly.

Thank you and kind regards,
The EDPB Secretariat

-----Original Message-----
From: Johnny Ryan <[FOI #10908 email]>
Sent: 06 April 2022 22:15
To: European Data Protection Board <[EDPB request email]>
Subject: RE: Access to documents request - Votes (including votes on guidelines, opinions, and decisions) - request for clarification

Dear colleagues,

Certainly. Let’s speak on Monday.

Would 1pm Dublin time suit you?

I am at [email address]

Johnny

-----Original Message-----

Dear Mr Ryan,

Thank you very much for your email and clarification.

In line with article 6(3) of Regulation 1049/2001, we would like to kindly ask you if you would be available for a quick phone call, either tomorrow or Friday. The purpose of the phone call would be to discuss your request in more detail in order to reach a fair solution.

If you are available, we would like to propose a quick call period between 10:30 and 12:00 Brussels time, or between 17:00 and 17:30 Brussels time tomorrow (Thursday, 7th April). An alternative timing would be this Friday, 8th April, between 14:30 and 15:00 Brussels time. Would any of these be suitable for you? If not, could we kindly ask you to suggest a suitable timing for you?

We would also be grateful if you could provide us with a direct email address or another way of communication, which we would use solely for the purpose of sending you the call details (any communication concerning your access to documents request will continue to be sent to this email address).

Many thanks in advance for your availability.

Best regards,

The EDPB Secretariat

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:

[FOI #10908 email]

This message and all replies from European Data Protection Board will be published on the AsktheEU.org website. For more information see our dedicated page for EU public officials at https://www.asktheeu.org/en/help/officers

Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will be delayed.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

cacher les sections citées

European Data Protection Board, Le Comité Européen de la Protection des Données

2 Attachments

Dear Mr Ryan,

 

We confirm registration of your access to documents request and registered
it today under reference 2022/30. Please use this reference for further
correspondence.

 

We are currently assessing your request and will provide you with a reply
within 15 working days (05/05/2022).  

 

Please note that the EDPB specific privacy statement regarding the
processing of personal data for the purposes of handling requests for
access to documents is available on the EDPB website and can be viewed via
this link: [1]https://edpb.europa.eu/edpb-specific-pri...

 

Should you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to contact us.

 

Best regards,

 

The EDPB Secretariat

 

┌─────────────────────────────────────╥───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ ║European Data Protection Board │
│ ║ │
│ ║Postal address: Rue Wiertz 60, B-1047 Brussels │
│[2]cid:image001.png@01D42EFC.C1379A70║ │
│ ║Office address: Rue Montoyer 30, B-1000 Brussels │
│ ║ │
│ ║[3]cid:image003.png@01D42EFC.C1379A70 [4]edpb.europa.eu│
└─────────────────────────────────────╨───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

 

 

 

References

Visible links
1. https://edpb.europa.eu/edpb-specific-pri...
4. https://www.edpb.europa.eu/

European Data Protection Board, Le Comité Européen de la Protection des Données

3 Attachments

Dear Mr. Ryan,

 

Please find enclosed the reply to your request for access to documents
(ref. 2022-30) signed by Mr Ventsislav Karadjov, Vice-Chair of the EDPB.

 

Best regards,

 

The EDPB Secretariat

 

┌─────────────────────────────────────╥───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ ║European Data Protection Board │
│ ║ │
│ ║Postal address: Rue Wiertz 60, B-1047 Brussels │
│[1]cid:image001.png@01D42EFC.C1379A70║ │
│ ║Office address: Rue Montoyer 30, B-1000 Brussels │
│ ║ │
│ ║[2]cid:image003.png@01D42EFC.C1379A70 [3]edpb.europa.eu│
└─────────────────────────────────────╨───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

 

 

References

Visible links
3. https://www.edpb.europa.eu/