Documents Regarding EU Voice & EU Video - Open Source Social Media
Dear Research and Innovation,
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:
For the period between 1 January 2019 to date, in the context of the IHI (Innovation Health Initiative):
- a list of all meetings held with the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), the Inter-Organisational Communications Committee (IOCC), and other institutions regarding EU Voice, EU Video and open source social media (Mastodon, Peertube, or other Fediverse related instances). The list should include: date of the meeting, individuals attending and their organisational affiliation, as well as the issues discussed;
- all minutes and other reports of these meetings;
- all documents prepared for the purpose of these meetings and/or exchanged during the course of these meetings, such as all reports, summaries, minutes, notes, or record-keeping
- all reports, summaries, minutes, notes, or record-keeping and documents of any kind produced by your institution of internal meetings relating to EU Voice, EU Video and open source social media (Mastodon, Peertube, or other Fediverse related instances), including date of the meeting, individuals attending and their organisational affiliation, as well as the issues discussed;
- any social media strategy documents and budget allocations related to EU Voice, EU Video and open source social media (Mastodon, Peertube, or other Fediverse related instances).
- and complaints made regarding EU Video or EU Voice, as well as decisions and outcome documents related to those complains
Yours faithfully,
[Personally Identifiable Information removed]
Dear Sir or Madam,
We are writing to you concerning your request for access to documents sent
on 04/10/2024 and registered on 11/10/2024 under case number 2024/5442.
Since you have not indicated your postal address, we are not able to start
handling your request. The 15 working days to reply to your request will
start running only when you send us your postal address.
You can send your postal address by replying to this e-mail. If we do not
receive your reply we may close this case.
Please note that you can submit a request for access to Commission
documents via the portal [1]'Request a Commission document', which does
not require you to indicate your postal address.
Why do we need your personal postal address?
Since 1 April 2014, the submission of a postal address became a mandatory
feature when submitting an application for access to Commission documents
via an e-mail. We would like to explain why we need your postal address in
order to register and handle your application for access to documents when
submitted via e-mail:
• Firstly, to obtain legal certainty as regards the date you received
the European Commission reply to your application for public access to
documents. Article 297 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the
European Union (TFEU) states that 'decisions which specify to whom
they are addressed, shall be notified to those to whom they are
addressed and shall take effect upon such notification.' In line with
this provision, if the Commission does not grant full access to the
requested documents, it notifies the reply to the applicant via
registered mail with acknowledgement of receipt or via delivery
service. This requires an indication of a valid postal address by the
applicant;
• Secondly, to apply correctly the [2]Data Protection Regulation (EU)
2018/1725. Knowing whether the applicant is an EU resident (or not) is
necessary for deciding which conditions shall apply for the
transmissions of personal data to applicants for access to documents.
These conditions are not the same for recipients established in the
Union and for recipients in third countries. As the vast majority of
the documents requested contain personal data, the Commission cannot
ensure the correct application of the data protection rules in the
absence of a postal address;
• Thirdly, to apply correctly [3]Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001. Article
4(1)(b) of that Regulation refers to the protection of the privacy and
integrity of the individual and has to be applied in line with the
Data Protection Regulation;
• Fourthly, to protect the interest of other citizens and safeguard the
principle of good administration. The Commission has to treat all
citizens equally by ensuring that the legal framework for public
access to documents is respected. For example, it has to verify
whether Article 6(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 is being evaded
by introducing several requests under different identities. Indeed, in
its Ryanair judgment ([4]EU:T:2010:511), the General Court confirmed
that Article 6(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 cannot be evaded by
splitting an application into several, seemingly separate, parts. In
addition, the Commission has to make sure that the legal framework is
respected and the right of access to documents is not abused by making
requests under an invented identity.
The considerations above show that the request for and the consequent
processing of the applicant's postal address is not only appropriate, but
also strictly necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the
public interest within the meaning of Article 5(1)(a) of Data Protection
Regulation, namely providing a smooth and effective access to documents.
Yours faithfully,
Directorate-General for Research and Innovation - Access to Documents
European Commission
References
Visible links
1. https://www.ec.europa.eu/transparency/do...
2. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
3. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
4. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
Dear Research and Innovation team,
thank you for your reply.
My postal address is:
[Personally Identifiable Information removed]
[Personally Identifiable Information removed]
[Personally Identifiable Information removed]
[Personally Identifiable Information removed]
Yours faithfully,
[Personally Identifiable Information removed]
Dear Sir or Madam,
We hereby acknowledge the receipt of your request for access to documents
sent on 04/10/2024 and registered on 17/10/2024 under the case number
2024/5442.
We will handle your request within 15 working days as of the date of
registration. The time-limit expires on 08/11/2024. We will let you know
if we need to extend this time limit for additional 15 working days.
To find more information on how we process your personal data, please see
[1]the privacy statement.
Yours faithfully,
Directorate-General for Research and Innovation - Access to Documents
European Commission
References
Visible links
1. https://ec.europa.eu/info/principles-and...
Dear Mr. Mechels,
We are writing concerning your request for access to Commission documents
registered on 17 October 2024 under case number 2024/5442.
We are currently working on your request. However, we have not yet been
able to gather all the elements necessary to carry out a full analysis of
your request.The application concerns documents held by different
Services, which must be consulted.
We will not be able to send you the reply within the prescribed time limit
expiring on 08 November 2024.
Therefore, in line with Article 7(3) of [1]Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001,
we need to extend this time limit by 15 additional working days. The new
time limit expires on 29 November 2024.
We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
Kind regards,
DG RTD - Access to Documents
References
Visible links
1. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
Dear Mr. Mechels,
Please find attached a message concerning your request for access to
Commission documents registered under the above case number 2024/5442.
Kind regards,
DG RTD - Access to Documents
Dear Research and Innovation team,
thank you for your request for clarification.
1. “in the context of the Innovation Health Initiative”:
To my understanding, you were operating an account on EU Voice with the name 'Innovative Health Initiative' and the handle '@[email address]'.
Our request relates to the activities related to this account and/or any other activities with the EU Voice/Video project.
2. “complaints made regarding EU Video or EU Voice, as well as decisions and outcome documents related to those complaints”.
Related to the EU Voice/Video pilot you participated in, have there been any complaints from users, social media managers or any other related person or entity. And if yes, have this been documented and decisions been made from this?
Please let me know if these clarifications were useful or if you need more information.
Thank you for your time and attention.
Yours faithfully,
[Personally Identifiable Information removed]
Dear Mr. Mechels,
We are contacting you regarding your application for access to Commission
documents registered on 17 October 2024, under case number 2024/5442.
On 27 November, we sent to you a clarification request concerning your
application. Please find it also attached to this email for your
convenience.
The 15 working days to reply to your request will start running only when
you reply to this message.
Kind regards,
DG RTD - Access to Documents
Dear Mr. Mechels,
We are writing concerning your request for access to Commission documents
registered on 17 October under case number 2024/5442.
On 27 November we asked you to clarify the scope of your request since it
was not clear in your request what you mean by “in the context of the
Innovation Health Initiative” [e.g. if your request concerned the activity
of Innovation Health Initiative (IHI)].
We also asked you to clarify the last point of your request regarding the
“complaints made regarding EU Video or EU Voice, as well as decisions and
outcome documents related to those complaints”, as it was not clear to
which procedure you referred to.
On 10 December we sent to you a reminder for our clarification request,
but we received no answer.
In the absence of your reply to our request and reminder, we could not
start handling the case. Therefore, as mentioned, we will proceed to close
this case. Should you so wish, you are of course welcome to submit a new
request, providing us with the necessary information.
Kind regards,
DG RTD – Access to Documents
Dear Mr. Mechels,
We would like to sincerely apologise for our delay and for any inconvenience it may have caused.
We did not receive your reply of 03/12 to our clarification request for case 2024/5442, since it had fallen in our spam folder.
We will now reopen your case with a new ref. number and proceed immediately with handling your request together with the clarification provided.
Best regards,
DG RTD Access to Documents
Dear Sir or Madam,
We hereby acknowledge the receipt of your request for access to documents
sent on 03/12/2024 and registered on 17/01/2025 under the case number
2025/0279.
We will handle your request within 15 working days as of the date of
registration. The time-limit expires on 07/02/2025. We will let you know
if we need to extend this time limit for additional 15 working days.
To find more information on how we process your personal data, please see
[1]the privacy statement.
Yours faithfully,
Directorate-General for Research and Innovation - Access to Documents
European Commission
References
Visible links
1. https://ec.europa.eu/info/principles-and...
Dear Mr. Mechels,
We are writing concerning your request for access to Commission documents
reopened on January 17 2025 under case number 2025/0279.
We are currently working on your request. However, we have not yet been
able to gather all the elements necessary to carry out a full analysis of
your request.The application concerns documents held by different
Services, which must be consulted.
We will not be able to send you the reply within the prescribed time limit
expiring on February 7th.
Therefore, in line with Article 7(3) of [1]Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001,
we need to extend this time limit by 15 additional working days. The new
time limit expires on February 28th.
We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
Kind regards,
DG RTD - Access to Documents
References
Visible links
1. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
Dear Mr. Mechels,
We are contacting you regarding your application for access to Commission
documents reopened on January 17, 2025, under case number 2025/0279.
Please note that the reply to your request is currently under validation.
However, we will not be able to send the reply to you within the
prescribed time limit, expiring on February, 28 2025.
We will send the reply to your application as soon as possible.
We apolgise for any inconvenience this delay may cause.
Kind regards,
DG RTD - Access to Documents
Dear Mr. Mechels,
With our sincerest apologies for the delay, please find attached the reply
concerning your request for access to Commission documents registered
under the above case number 2025/0279.
Please acknowledge the receipt of this message by return email.
Kind regards,
DG RTD - Access to Documents