Dear Mr. Hai,

Thank you very much for your email and your interest in the work of ECDC!

Concerning your first question, ECDC is in the possession of a few
internal documents summarizing potential consequences should no agreement
in the Brexit negotiations be reached.

Having carried out a concrete and specific examination of the documents in
question under the provisions of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 regarding
public access to documents, I regret to inform you that your application
cannot be granted in relation to these documents. Disclosure is prevented
by exceptions to the right of access laid down in Article 4 of this
Regulation.

In particular, we are not able to disclose the documents which you seek to
obtain because of the risk of negative repercussions which disclosure of
the documents might entail for the European Union's relations with the
United Kingdom. Accordingly, the exception in Article 4(1)(a), third
intent, whereby the disclosure would undermine the protection of
international relations, was found to apply.  In addition, the documents
relate to decisions which have not yet been taken. ECDC considers that
their disclosure at this stage would seriously undermine ECDC's
decision-making process by allowing to exercise undue pressure on the EU
and UK actors involved at a stage where Brexit negotiations have not been
concluded. The exception in Article 4(3), first paragraph, was thus also
found to apply. The exception laid down in  4(3) applies unless there is
an overriding public interest in disclosure of the document.  However,
ECDC cannot identify in this case an overriding public interest in the
disclosure as any conclusions on the impact of Brexit on Agencies are
purely speculative before the Brexit negotiations have been concluded.

The exception(s) referred to were found to apply to the documents as a
whole and partial disclosure is not possible.

Concerning your second question, ECDC is currently no in possession of any
document relating to your query. ECDC is not directly involved in the
Brexit negotiations, since they take place at the EU Commission level with
the EU Member States. At this point it cannot be excluded that the outcome
of the negotiations could have an impact on our work with UK public health
institutions. However, any impact study can only be concluded once the
outcome of the discussions between the UK and the EU following the Brexit
negotiations is known. 

In accordance with Article 7(2) of Regulation 1049/2001, you are entitled
to make a confirmatory application requesting ECDC to review the position
in this reply.

Such a confirmatory application should be addressed within 15 working days
upon receipt of this letter to

                ECDC

                Legal Services

                Granits väg 8

                171 65 Solna

                Sweden

or by email to: [1][email address]

You have lodged your application via the [2]AsktheEU.org website. Please
note that this is a private website which has no link with any
institution/body of the European Union. Therefore ECDC cannot be held
accountable for any technical issues or problems linked to the use of this
system.

Kind regards,

The ECDC Press office

    
[3]ECDC European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC)
Logo Postal address: Granits väg 8, 171 65 Solna, Sweden
Visiting address: Tomtebodavägen 11A, 171 65 Solna, Sweden
Phone +46 (0)8 58 60 10 00 / Fax +46 (0)8 58 60 10 01
[4]www.ecdc.europa.eu
   
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