Ref. Ares(2022)4680643 - 27/06/2022
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
DIRECTORATE-GENERAL
CLIMATE ACTION
Directorate A – Strategy, Analysis and Planning
CLIMA.A.1 – Strategic Coordination, Legal & Institutional
Brussels
CLIMA.A.1
Frida Kieninger
Rue d’Edimbourg 26
1050 Ixelles
Belgium
By email t
o: ask+request-11046-
xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx
Subject:
Your access to documents request with reference Gestdem 2022/3179
Dear Ms Kieninger,
We refer to your e-mail dated 20 April 2022 in which you make a request for access to
documents, registered on 1 June 2022 under the above-mentioned reference number.
You requested access to:
i)
All correspondence (including email, SMS, private twitter and WhatsApp)
since 1st February 2022 between Commissioner Timmermans, and/or his
cabinet and/or officials from DG Climate Action with representatives from the
oil and gas industry, namely the following associations: Eurogas, GIE,
Gas4Climate, IOGP, Marcogaz, FuelsEurope and GasNaturally in which the
EU’s response to Ukraine invasion, particularly the RePowerEU
communication was discussed.
ii)
Any briefings prepared for Commissioner Timmermans, and/or his cabinet
and/or officials from DG Climate Action for meetings since 1st February
2022 with representatives from the oil and gas industry, namely the following
associations: Eurogas, GIE, Gas4Climate, IOGP, Marcogaz, FuelsEurope
and GasNaturally in which the EU’s response to Ukraine invasion,
particularly the RePowerEU communication was discussed.
iii)
List of meetings since since since 1st February 2022 between Commissioner
Timmermans, and/or his cabinet and/or officials from DG Climate Action
with representatives from the oil and gas industry, namely the following
associations: Eurogas, GIE, Gas4Climate, IOGP, Marcogaz, FuelsEurope
Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË - Tel. +32 22991111
and GasNaturally in which the EU’s response to Ukraine invasion,
particularly the RePowerEU communication was discussed.
iv)
Minutes of the meetings mentioned above
v)
Any briefings prepared ahead of meetings between Commissioner
Timmermans, and/or his cabinet and/or officials from DG Climate Action
with representatives from the oil and gas industry, namely the following
associations: Eurogas, GIE, Gas4Climate, IOGP, Marcogaz, FuelsEurope
and GasNaturally in which the EU’s response to Ukraine invasion,
particularly the RePowerEU communication was discussed”
Your application for access to documents covers topics falling under the responsibility of
different Commission services. In that regard, your request was split into two separate
requests, whereby each part is attributed to the respective Commission service under a
separate Gestdem reference number1. Each service provides its own, separate reply, which
relates only to the documents held by that service. In this regard, this request corresponds
only to documents held by the Directorate General for Climate Action.
The Directorate General for Climate Action has identified two documents within the scope
of the application:
1. Ares(2022)2259339: email exchange of GasNaturally dated 25 March 2022
2. Ares(2022) 2259339. Annex to Document 1. Letter from GasNaturally.
Following an examination of the documents under the provisions of Regulation (EC)
No 1049/2001, I regret to inform you that a complete disclosure of the identified documents
is prevented by the exception concerning the protection of privacy and the integrity of the
individual outlined in Article 4(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, because they
contain contact details of natural persons and other information relating to identified or
identifiable natural persons.
Article 9(1)(b) of the Data Protection Regulation does not allow the transmission of these
personal data, except if you prove that it is necessary to have the data transmitted to you for
a specific purpose in the public interest and where there is no reason to assume that the
legitimate interests of the data subject might be prejudiced. In your request, you do not
express any particular interest to have access to these personal data nor do you put forward
any arguments to establish the necessity to have the data transmitted for a specific purpose
in the public interest.
Consequently, I conclude that, pursuant to Article 4(1)(b) of Regulation (EC)
No 1049/2001, access cannot be granted to the personal data contained in the documents, as
the need to obtain access thereto for a purpose in the public interest has not been
substantiated and there is no reason to think that the legitimate interests of the individuals
concerned would not be prejudiced by disclosure of the personal data concerned.
1
Gestdem 2022/3187 is being treated by the Secretariat General of the Commission.
2
As regards point iii) of your request, the list of meetings of the Director-General of
Directorate-General for Climate Action with organisations and self-employed individuals
is available in the link enclosed below:
http://ec.europa.eu/transparencyinitiative/meetings/meeting.do?host=d41e42be-7ff1-4635-
bb4f-e47d38f886ed
In your application you request access to a list of meetings of meetings of all staff in the
Directorate-General for Climate Action. Please note that the officials of the European
Commission having the status of Director-General shall make public information on all
meetings held by them with organisations or self-employed individuals on issues relating
to policy-making and implementation in the Union in accordance with the Commission
Decision 2104/838/EU, Euratom of 25 November 20142. However, the same obligation
does not apply to lower-ranking officials, such as the remaining members of the
Directorate-General for Climate Action.
As specified in Article 2(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, the right of access as
defined in that regulation applies only to existing documents in the possession of the
institution, that is to say, documents drawn up or received by it and in its possession, in
all areas of activity of the European Union.
The Court of Justice held that ‘the right of access to documents of the institutions applies
only to existing documents in the possession of the institution concerned and […]
Regulation No 1049/2001 may not be relied upon to oblige an institution to create a
document which does not exist. It follows that, […], an application for access that would
require the Commission to create a new document, even if that document were based on
information already appearing in existing documents held by it, falls outside the
framework of Regulation No 1049/2001’3.
In the present case, the Directorate-General for Climate Action does not hold any list of
all meetings of its staff with the specific organisations and self-employed individuals
concerned by your request in addition to the publicly available information on meetings
of the Director-General, which is accessible via the abovementioned links. In this
respect, I would like to confirm that compiling such a list in order to fulfil your request
would equal to the creation of a new document, as neither can such a list be extracted
from a database by means of a normal or routine search.
In case you would disagree with this position, you are entitled, in accordance with Article
7(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, to submit a confirmatory application requesting the
Commission to review this position.
2
OJ L 343, 28.11.2014, p. 19–21
3
Judgment of the Court of Justice of 11 January 2017,
Typke v
European Commission, C-491/15 P,
EU:C:2017:5, paragraph 31.
3
Such a confirmatory application should be addressed within 15 working days upon receipt
of this letter to the Secretariat-General of the Commission at the following address:
European Commission
Secretariat-General
Unit C.1. ‘Transparency, Document Management and Access to Documents’
BERL 7/076
B-1049 Brussels, or by email to:
xxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx
Yours faithfully,
(Electronically signed)
Luca DE CARLI
Head of Unit
Electronically signed on 24/06/2022 15:38 (UTC+02) in accordance with Article 11 of Commission Decision (EU) 2021/2121
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