Ban of flavoured tabacco products by the Danish government
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:
- Letters of formal notice or draft letters of formal notification by the European Commission or any other communication between the European Commission and the Danish government, regarding the ban of flavoured tabacco products (here is a link to the ban: https://www.sik.dk/en/business/legal-gui...).
- A list of meetings and communications (including E-mails) between the European Commission and representatives of the tabacco industry such as the Danish Vapers Association (DADAFO), regarding the above mentioned Danish government‘s ban of flavoured tabacco products.
The transparency rules as set out in the Lisbon Treaty oblige the EU institutions to work as openly and as closely as possible to citizens. Tabacco consumption continues to be a major public health issue throughout the European Union. Thus, there is a clear public interest in the disclosure of these information, in order for citizens to better comprehend the democratic decision making process of their national government.
Yours faithfully,
Moritz Neujeffski
Heidebrinker Straße 10
13357 Berlin
Dear Sir,
Thank you for your e-mail of 11/09/2022. We hereby acknowledge receipt of your application for access to documents, which was registered on 12/09/2022 under reference number GESTDEM 2022/5111.
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 03/10/2022. 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 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 Privacy statement – access to documents.
Yours faithfully,
Access to Documents Team
Dear Sir,
We refer to your e-mail dated 11/09/2022 in which you make a request for
access to documents, registered on 12/09/2022 under the above-mentioned
reference number.
The description given in your application does not enable us to identify
concrete documents which would correspond to your request. We therefore
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 that you seek to obtain.
In particular:
- In the first point of your request, could you precise the meaning
of “letter of formal notice” and “draft of formal notification”, if you
are referring to documents falling under specific procedure, and which
procedures with which reference numbers.
- In the second point of your request, please precise the levels of
meeting and communications targeted within the European Commission, and
please confirm that you wish to have access to an existing list as a
document request under this second point.
If you need assistance in clarifying or specifying your application,
please let us know.
In accordance with Article 2, third paragraph of the Implementing Rules to
Regulation 1049/2001[1], the 15 working days time limit for handling your
application will start running when we receive the requested
clarifications.
Thank you in advance for your understanding.
Kind regards,
DG GROW – Access to documents team
European Commission
Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and
SMEs
DG GROW/B1 – Planning and Briefings
Dear [email address],
Thank you very much for your prompt reply. Regarding the two points of clarification:
1. "In the first point of your request, could you precise the meaning of “letter of formal notice” and “draft of formal notification”, if you are referring to documents falling under specific procedure, and which procedures with which reference numbers".
In terms of my first question I am requesting any and all correspondence (including email) between DG GROW and the Danish government regarding the ban of flavoured tabacco products by the Danish government. This may or may not include (draft) letters of formal notice sent by the Commission as part of potential EU infringement procedures (https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-making...).
2. "In the second point of your request, please precise the levels of meeting and communications targeted within the European Commission, and please confirm that you wish to have access to an existing list as a document request under this second point".
- Regarding the levels of meeting and communications please focus on DG GROW. In case such a list of meetings and correspondence does not exist, I believe that composing such an overview list is within the scope of a FOI request.
Yours sincerely,
Moritz Neujeffski
Dear Sir,
Thank you for your additional precision and reply to clarification request sent to us on 19/09/2022 for this request GESTDEM 2022/5111, it is noted.
Kind regards,
DG GROW – Access to documents team
European Commission
Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs DG GROW/B1 – Planning and Briefings
Dear Sir,
We refer to your request for access to documents, registered on 12/09/2022
under the above mentioned reference number.
Your application is currently being handled. However, we are not in a
position to complete the handling of your application within the time
limit of 15 working days, which expires today.
An extended time limit is needed as the request covers a broad scope and a
voluminous amount of documents.
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 21/10/2022.
We apologize for this delay and for any inconvenience this may cause.
Yours sincerely,
DG GROW – Access to documents team
European Commission
Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and
SMEs
DG GROW/B1 – Planning and Briefings
Dear Mr Neujeffski,
Please find enclosed the reply to your request to access to documents registered under GestDem 2022/5106.
Kind regards,
GROW E3
European Commission
DG Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs
Unit E3 – Notification of Regulatory Barriers
Avenue des Nerviens 105
B-1049 Brussels/Belgium
E-mail: [email address]
Dear Sir,
Please find attached a message concerning your request for access to
Commission documents registered under the above case number 2022/5108.
Kind regards,
DG GROW ATD Team
Dear Mr. Neujeffski,
Please find attached a message concerning your request for access to
Commission documents registered under the above case number 2022/5111
(Ref. Ares(2022)7541713 - 31/10/2022).
Kind regards,
Access to Documents DG GROW