EESC Opinion on Revision of the TTD
Dear European Economic and Social Committee,
Under the right of access to documents in the EU Treaties, as developed in Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, I am requesting access to documents held by the European Economic and Social Committee. This request concerns documents related to the EESC opinion on the revision of the Tobacco Taxation Directive (interinstitutional files 2025/0580 and 2025/0581).
My request concerns documents held by the authority, irrespective of their authorship or origin, and includes, in particular:
> Minutes, summaries, attendance lists, and meeting notes of meetings (physical or virtual) where representatives of tobacco industry organisations or registered tobacco lobbyists were present and where the above-mentioned opinion was discussed.
> Draft versions of the EESC opinion, including tracked changes, annotations, comments, or other markings showing stakeholder input, suggested amendments, or external contributions.
> Meeting records, agendas, briefing notes, and internal summaries involving members of Group I (Employers’ Group) in relation to the tobacco taxation opinion and involving tobacco industry organisations.
> Correspondence (including emails and attachments) mentioning “harm reduction”, “risk-proportionate taxation”, “less harm, less tax”, or similar terminology in the context of the tobacco taxation opinion.
> Emails, correspondence, and exchanges between: Ms Elena Calistru, Mr Matteo Carlo Borsani, Ms Mariya Mincheva and representatives of tobacco industry organisations, including but not limited to registered entities in the EU Transparency Register.
> Any position papers, submissions, or briefing documents received from tobacco industry actors or their representatives concerning the above-mentioned opinion.
My request concerns documents from the period 1 January 2025 to 3 March 2026.
If parts of the requested documents are covered by exceptions under Regulation 1049/2001, I kindly request that partial access be granted to the remaining parts, in accordance with Article 4(6) of the Regulation and the principle of maximum transparency.
Given the strong public interest in transparency regarding potential interactions between EU advisory bodies and commercial actors in the field of public health policy, I respectfully submit that disclosure would serve an overriding public interest.
I am open to receiving the documents in electronic format.
Thank you for your consideration of this request.
Yours faithfully,
Marcel Hobma
Overhoeksplein 2
1031 KS Amsterdam
Dear Mr Hobma,
We hereby acknowledge receipt of your confirmatory request for access to
documents, which we registered today under ref. nr. ICD-AD-03/2026.
All requests for public access to documents are treated in compliance with
Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to
European Parliament, Council and Commission documents and the relevant
Decision of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) No
2003/603/EC of 1 July 2003 on public access to EESC documents.
In accordance with the above-mentioned rules, your application will be
handled within 15 working days upon registration of your request.
Please note that your personal data will only be processed for the purpose
of replying to your request and in accordance with the data protection
notice set out below. More information on how the EESC processes personal
information can be found on our website (section "Transparency">"Access to
EESC documents").
Your attention is drawn to the fact that you have lodged your application
via the AsktheEU.org website, which is a private website not officially
related to the EESC. Therefore, the latter cannot be held accountable for
any technical issues or problems linked to the use of this system.
Yours sincerely,
Information Centre and Document Management Sector of the EESC
-------------------
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(EU) 2018/1725 (EUDPR), we are processing your personal data in order to
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23 and 24 of the EUDPR. Any request to exercise your rights should be
addressed to the EESC at [1][EESC request email]. You may also
contact the EESC data protection officer by using the contact form [2]EESC
Data Protection, if you have any remarks regarding the way we process your
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Protection Supervisor.
Dear Mr Hobma,
We refer to your request with regard to access to documents, registered
under reference n° ICD-AD-03/2026.
Your request is currently being handled. However, due to the complexity of
the process, we will not be in a position to finalize the reply to your
application within the given time limit. Therefore, we are obliged to
extend the deadline by a further 15 working days in accordance with
article 8 of Decision 2003/603/EC regarding public access to EESC
documents.
We apologize for this delay and for any inconvenience this may cause.
Yours faithfully,
The Information Centre and Document Management Sector
-------------------------------
Data Protection Notice - According to Articles 15 and 16 of Regulation
(EU) 2018/1725 (EUDPR), we are processing your personal data in order to
reply to your request. The controller is the EESC. The legal basis for
this processing operation is Article 5(1)(b) of the EUDPR, since
processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which
the EESC is subject. The data processed include your contact details, your
request, as well as personal data that might be collected during the
handling of your request. For the EESC, administrative staff and hierarchy
involved in the request handling will have access to the case file
containing your personal data on a need-to-know basis. Your data will only
be transferred to other EU institutions and bodies or to third parties
when it is necessary to ensure the appropriate handling or follow up of
your request. Your data will be stored by the EESC in electronic files for
two years, unless legal proceedings require us to keep them for a longer
period. Afterwards, only a brief anonymous note will be included in a file
in order to keep record of the request. You have the right of access to
your personal data and to relevant information concerning how we use it.
You have the right to rectify your personal data. Under certain
conditions, you have the right to ask that we delete your personal data or
restrict its use. We will consider your request, take a decision and
communicate it to you. For more information, please see Articles 14 to 21,
23 and 24 of the EUDPR. Any request to exercise your rights should be
addressed to the EESC at [1][EESC request email]. You may also
contact the EESC data protection officer by using the relevant [2]contact
form, if you have any remarks regarding the way we process your personal
data. You have also the right to lodge a complaint with the EDPS by using
the [3]contact form.