Ref. Ares(2023)4784486 - 10/07/2023
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR JUSTICE AND CONSUMERS
The Director-General
Brussels
JUST.H.1.001/
Margarida DA SILVA
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx
Subject:
Your application for access to documents 2023/2610
Dear Ms. DA SILVA,
I refer to your request for access to European Commission documents registered on 4 May
2023 under the above-mentioned reference number.
You request access to :
“documents which contain the following information:
- minutes and any other reports of meetings held by DG JUST and OpenAI
- all correspondence (i.e. any emails, correspondence or telephone call notes)
between DG JUST and Open AI.”
In your reply to our clarification request of 4 May 2023, you have specified that you were
“interested in documents drawn up since January 2021”.
The following document falls within the scope of your application:
- Request CAB REYNDERS/1384 - Bilderberg - Visit Washington 04/06/2022
Having examined the document requested under the provisions of Regulation (EC) No
1049/2001 regarding public access to documents (1), I have come to the conclusion that
document may be
partially disclosed.
A complete disclosure 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 it contains the following personal data :
- the name of a Commission staff member not pertaining to the senior management
(1) Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2001 regarding
public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents, OJ L 145, 31.05.2001, p.
43 - 48.
Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË – Tel. +32 22991111
- the names of other natural persons
- other information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (curriculum
vitae)
Article 9(1)(b) of the Data Protection Regulation (2) 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 requested
document.
In addition, some parts of the document have been blanked out as their disclosure is
prevented by an exception to the right of access laid down in Article 4(3) first subparagraph
of this Regulation.
According Article 4(3), first subparagraph, of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001:
“Access to a document, drawn up by an institution for internal use […], which
relates to a matter where the decision has not been taken by the institution, shall be
refused if disclosure of the document would seriously undermine the institution’s
decision-making process, unless there is an overriding public interest in
disclosure.”
The redacted parts of the document relate to the Commission’s legislative proposals on
political advertising, on artificial intelligence, and on strategic lawsuits against public
participation (so-called “SLAPP”). The legislative processes pertaining to the adoption of
these acts are still pending: they will have to be negotiated and adopted by the European
Parliament and the Council before they can become EU law. More specifically, the trilogue
negotiations with the co-legislators are either ongoing or haven’t started yet. The proposals
are therefore part of an ongoing interinstitutional decision-making process where no formal
agreement has been reached yet. Disclosure of the redacted parts of the document at this
stage would reveal internal views and policy considerations in relation to the adoption of
highly sensitive pieces of legislation which would undermine this inter-institutional
decision-making process.
The exception laid down in 4(3), first subparagraph of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001
applies unless there is an overriding public interest in disclosure of the document.
In your application, you do not put forward any reasoning pointing to an overriding public
interest in disclosing the document requested, and I have not been able to identify any
(2) Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the
protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions,
bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Regulation (EC) No
45/2001 and Decision No 1247/2002/EC, OJ L 295, 21.11.2018, p. 39.
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public interest capable of overriding the public interests protected by Article 4(3) of
Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 either.
Please note that this document is an internal document, which does not reflect the position
of the Commission and cannot be quoted as such.
In accordance with Article 7(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, you are entitled to make
a confirmatory application requesting the Commission to review this position.
Such a confirmatory application should be addressed to the Secretariat-General of the
Commission within 15 working days upon receipt of this letter. You can submit it in one
of the following ways:
- by asking for a review
via your portal account (available only for initial requests
submitted via the portal account),
-
or by mail:
European Commission
Secretariat-General
Transparency, Document Management & Access to Documents (SG.C.1)
BERL 7/076
B-1049 Bruxelles
-
or by email to: xxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx
Yours faithfully,
Ana GALLEGO
Enclosure:
Request CAB REYNDERS/1384 - Bilderberg - Visit Washington
3
Electronically signed on 10/07/2023 10:58 (UTC+02) in accordance with Article 11 of Commission Decision (EU) 2021/2121
