Dear Madam, Sir,

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:

- The request made by The Netherlands for technical support under the Technical Support Instrument on setting up supervision of Artificial Intelligence systems (as announced in this press release https://reform-support.ec.europa.eu/what...)

- All other documents, including e-mails, letters, notes, minutes, related to this request

Sincerely
Peter Teffer
Follow the Money
Overtoom 197
1054HT Amsterdam

Dear Madam, Sir,

On 17 October 2023 I submitted an access to documents request, asking for:

- The request made by The Netherlands for technical support under the Technical Support Instrument on setting up supervision of Artificial Intelligence systems (as announced in this press release https://reform-support.ec.europa.eu/what...)

- All other documents, including e-mails, letters, notes, minutes, related to this request

Since then, I have not received a response, or even an acknowledgment of receipt. Please handle my request without delay, as required by Regulation 1049/2001.

Sincerely
Peter Teffer
Follow the Money
Overtoom 197
1054HT Amsterdam

REFORM-ACCESS-DOCUMENTS@ec.europa.eu,

Dear Sir or Madam,

We hereby acknowledge the receipt of your request for access to documents
sent on 17/10/2023 and registered on 09/11/2023 under the case number
2023/6675.

We will handle your request within 15 working days as of the date of
registration. The time-limit expires on 30/11/2023. 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 Structural Reform Support - Access to Documents
European Commission

References

Visible links
1. https://ec.europa.eu/info/principles-and...

REFORM-ACCESS-DOCUMENTS@ec.europa.eu, Structural Reform Support

Dear Mr. Peter Teffer,

 

We would like to inform you that DG REFORM is taking care of your request
below and it will shortly revert to you.

 

Grateful if you kindly consider sending possible future requests directly
via the EASE portal.

 

Kind regards,

 

DG REFORM - Access to documents Team

 

show quoted sections

Dear Madam, Sir,

I have tried using the EASE platform since its launch, but I find it untrustworthy (replies and documents disappearing) and lacking in user-friendliness.

Regulation 1049/2001 gives EU citizens a right to access documents by submitting an application "in any written form, including electronic form". It does not require citizens to use a method preferred by the EU institutions.

Yours sincerely,

Peter

REFORM ACCESS DOCUMENTS, Structural Reform Support

1 Attachment

Please find attached for your attention the document Ares(2023)8201233 in reply to your access to documents request EASE 2023/6675.
Best regards,
DG REFORM Access to documents team

Dear Madam, Sir,

Please pass this on to the person who reviews confirmatory applications.

I am filing the following confirmatory application with regards to my access to documents request registered as case 2023/6675.

The Commission has informed me that only one document has been identified: the request made by The Netherlands for technical support under the Technical Support Instrument on setting up supervision of Artificial Intelligence systems.

It has denied both full or partial access based on no less than three exception grounds.

First: the Commission says disclosure would undermine ‘the protection of the financial, monetary or economic policy of the Union or a Member State’.

It states that publication is "likely to have a negative impact on the design and implementation of national structural reforms or expose sensitive information that could possibly still be subject to internal discussions" without explaining what negative impact this transparency could have. It also provides a very hypothetical reason, while the Court of Justice has previously called on institutions to use non-hypothetical justifications for using article 4.

It is also very unclear why publication a request for technical support could have a negative impact on the design and implementation of that support. The two are unrelated. If I ask someone for help, and a third person hears I have asked for help, how could that transparency possibly impact how I that second person helps me?

The Commission further claims that publication is likely to "expose sensitive information that could possibly still be subject to internal discussions". This is completely unsatisfactory unless the Commission investigates WHETHER the document includes sensitive information that still IS the subject to internal discussions. If it does, the Commission should say clearly and elaborate further why that is the non-hypothetical case.

"The technical support that is provided by the Commission feeds into the political process that belongs solely to the Dutch institutions, regarding not only the design and implementation of the structural reforms in question, but also the decision of starting or not a certain reform process." This is simply not true. The political process referred to here does not belong "solely to the Dutch institutions", it belongs also to the Dutch citizens, which is why transparency is important.

This importance is in fact referred to in article 9 of Regulation (EU) 2021/240 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 February 2021 establishing a Technical Support Instrument, which makes mention of the importance that "the reforms pursued by Member States [..] gather wide support and ownership", and the suggesiton that Member States consult, where appropriate, relevant stakeholders before requesting technical support.

Furthermore, the Commission has not explained why the Dutch policies would be undermined by transparency about its request for technical support, and frankly I do not see how that can be the case.

Secondly, the Commission claims publication of the request made by the Netherlands would undermine the decision-making process of the Commission. The request is made by the Netherlands, which means the only author of information in this document can be the Netherlands, and thus it cannot "reveal policy options which are currently under consideration in relation to documents that are drawn-up by the Commission". It may contain requests from the Netherlands asking the Commission to consider policy options, but it does not reveal anything about what the Commission is actually (non-hypothetically) considering.

But the use of the decision-making process is even more incredible, when you consider that the Commission has already published a press release announcing the "European Commission is supporting the Dutch Authority for Digital Infrastructure (RDI) to speed up and set up proper supervision of Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems in compliance with the forthcoming AI Act and other relevant legislation".

Thirdly, the Commission believes publication would undermine the purpose of investigations. It speaks of "ongoing activities of the Commission in collecting and analysing technical information in order to enable the institution to adopt a final position and provide advice and recommendations in the framework of the requests for technical support" as if the request and support are in a perpetual state of ongoing-ness. Here too, this does not make sense given that the Commission has already announced it will provide the technical support. There is a final position in relation to the request: the Commission is providing technical support.

Sincerely
Peter Teffer

sg-acc-doc@ec.europa.eu,

Dear Sir or Madam,

We hereby acknowledge the receipt of your confirmatory request for case
2023/6675, sent on 12/12/2023 and registered on 14/12/2023.

We will handle your confirmatory request within 15 working days as of the
date of registration. The time-limit expires on 15/01/2024. We will let
you know if we need to extend this time limit for additional 15 working
days.

Yours faithfully,

Secretariat-General - Access to Documents
European Commission

sg-acc-doc@ec.europa.eu,

Dear applicant,

We are writing concerning your confirmatory request for access to
Commission documents for case 2023/6675, registered on 14 December 2023.

We are currently working on your confirmatory request. However, we have
not yet been able to gather all the elements necessary to carry out a full
analysis of your request. As internal consultations are still ongoing, we
will not be able to send you the reply within the prescribed time limit
expiring on 15 January 2024.

Therefore, in line with Article 8(2) 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 5 February 2024.

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

Kind regards,

SG.C.1 - Access to documents team

References

Visible links
1. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...

sg-acc-doc@ec.europa.eu,

Dear applicant,

We are writing to you concerning your confirmatory request for access to
Commission documents for case 2023/6675, registered on 14 December 2023.

On 12 January 2024, we extended the time limit for replying to your
confirmatory request to 5 February 2024.

Unfortunately, we will not be able to send you the reply within this
extended time limit. This is because internal consultations are still
ongoing and need to be finalised before we can send a reply.

However, we assure you that we are doing our best to send a reply to your
confirmatory request as soon as possible.

We regret this additional delay and sincerely apologize for any
inconvenience this may cause.

Kind regards,

SG.C.1 - Access to documents team

Peter left an annotation ()

Complained to the European Ombudsman on 8 April 2024

Sg-Acc-Doc@ec.europa.eu,

2 Attachments

Dear TEFFER, Peter,

Please find attached the electronic version of European Commission
Decision C(2024)5676 as adopted by the European Commission on 01/08/2024
concerning the request 2023/6675.

In accordance with the Terms and Conditions of this portal, please note
that this decision is being formally notified pursuant to article 297 TFEU
through this electronic platform only.

Yours sincerely,

Access to documents team - SG.C.1