Ref. Ares(2021)5959405 - 30/09/2021
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR COMMUNICATIONS NETWORKS, CONTENT AND
TECHNOLOGY
The Director-General
Brussels
CNECT.R.4
Lora Verheecke
9 rue du Bronze
1070 Brussels
Belgium
Advance copy by e-mail:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx
REGISTERED LETTER WITH ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF RECEIPT
Subject: Your request for access to documents – GestDem 2021/2172
Dear Ms Verheecke,
We refer to your e-mail of 8 April 2021 in which you make a request for public access to
documents pursuant to 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 (hereinafter 'Regulation 1049/2001'), registered on 9 April
2021 under the above-mentioned reference number. We also refer to our holding reply,
dated 30 April 2021, our reference Ares(2021)2925658, whereby we informed you that
the time limit for handling your application was extended by 15 working days pursuant to
Article 7(3) of Regulation 1049/2001. We apologise for the delay that occurred in the
handling of this application.
1.
SCOPE OF YOUR APPLICATION
By your application to the Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry,
Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW) which was attributed to the Directorate-
General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (DG CONNECT), you
request access to the following:
GestDem 2021/2172:
‘
(…) All documentation (including but not limited to all email correspondence,
attendance lists, agendas, background papers, transcripts, recordings and
minutes/notes) relating to the meeting between Filomena Chirico and trivago on 28th
January.’
Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË - Tel. +32 22991111
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx
2.
DOCUMENTS FALLING WITHIN THE SCOPE OF THE REQUEST
We identified the following documents as falling within the scope of your request:
Back to Office Report (BTO) – Meeting between Trivago and Cabinet Breton, Online,
28 January 2021, Digital Markets Act - Ares(2021)5562288
– 10 September 2021 (
Document 1)
Email – DSA & DMA / Request for a meeting with Trivago - Ares(2020)7179522
– 29 November 2020 2021 (
Document 2)
3.
ASSESSMENT UNDER REGULATION 1049/2001
Following an examination of the identified documents under the provisions of Regulation
1049/2001 and taking into account the opinion of the third party we have arrived at the
conclusion that partial access can be granted to these two documents. Full disclosure is
prevented by exceptions to the right of access laid down in Article 4 of Regulation
1049/2001.
Partial disclosure
(i) Protection of privacy and integrity of individuals
Full disclosure of Documents 1 and 2 is prevented by the exception concerning the
protection of privacy and integrity of the individual outlined in Article 4(1)(b) Regulation
1049/2001, since they contain the following personal data:
the names/initials and contact information of Commission staff members not
pertaining to the senior management;
names, functions, and contact information of other natural persons;
other information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person.
Article 9(1)(b) of the Data Protection Regulation1 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 of 4(1)(b) Regulation 1049/2001,
access cannot be granted to the personal data contained in the requested 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.
(ii) Protection of commercial interests
Article 4(2) first indent of Regulation 1049/2001 provides that the institutions shall
refuse access to a document where disclosure would undermine the protection of
1 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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commercial interests of a natural or legal person, including intellectual property, unless
there is an overriding public interest in disclosure.
This provision must be interpreted in light of Article 339 of the Treaty of the Functioning
of the European Union (TFEU), which requires staff members of the EU institutions to
refrain from disclosing information of the kind covered by the obligation of professional
secrecy, in particular information about undertakings, their business relations or their cost
components.
Parts of Document 1 are covered by the abovementioned exception as they contain
sensitive business information relating to the concerned third party’s activities, strategies
and views. Disclosure of these parts of the document would seriously affect the third
party’s relations and positions in the market and would undermine their commercial
interests.
Consequently, the above-mentioned parts of Document 1 have been blanked out.
(iii) Protection of the decision-making process
The first subparagraph of Article 4(3) of Regulation 1049/2001 provides that ‘[a]ccess to a
document, drawn up by an institution for internal use or received by the an institution, 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.’
Parts of Document 1 contain preliminary views and reflections of the Commission services
regarding the Digital Services Act package. The above-mentioned parts of this document
were drawn up by the Commission for internal use and their content is subject to ongoing
discussions and deliberations in the inter-institutional negotiations on the Digital Services
Act package. The Commission services must be free to explore all possible options in the
run-up to ongoing legislative procedures, which are still at an early stage. The risk of
disclosing sensitive information regarding the Commission services’ preliminary views
during the ongoing inter-institutional negotiations on the legislative proposals at question
would deter them from freely expressing their opinions and having frank, internal
discussions. Speculations and misinterpretations of the public on the views and reflections
put forward in an early stage of the decision-making process would affect the exploration of
different policy options and unduly restrict the Commission’s internal space to think,
exposing the Commission to external pressure during the inter-institutional negotiations. The
risk of disclosure of these preliminary views and reflections during the ongoing inter-
institutional negotiations would therefore seriously undermine the ongoing decision-making
process. This risk is also reasonably foreseeable and not purely hypothetical.
Consequently, the above-mentioned parts of Document 1 have been blanked out.
4.
OVERRIDING INTEREST IN DISCLOSURE
The exceptions laid down in Article 4(2) and Article 4(3) of Regulation 1049/2001 apply,
unless there is an overriding public interest in the disclosure of documents. Such an
interest must, firstly, be a public interest and, secondly, outweigh the harm caused by
disclosure. We have examined whether there could be an overriding public interest in the
disclosure of the aforementioned parts of the documents but we have not been able to
identify such an interest.
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5.
REUSE OF DOCUMENTS
You may reuse public documents which have been produced by the European Commission
or by public and private entities on its behalf based on the
Commission Decision on the
reuse of Commission documents. You may reuse the disclosed Document 1 and the parts of
Document 2 originating from the Commission free of charge and for non-commercial and
commercial purposes provided that the source is acknowledged and that you do not distort
the original meaning or message of the Documents. Please note that the Commission does
not assume liability stemming from the reuse.
Please note that Document 1 was drawn up for internal use under the responsibility of the
relevant services. They solely reflect the services’ interpretation of the interventions
made and do not set out any official position of the third parties to which the documents
refer. They do not reflect the position of the Commission and cannot be quoted as such.
6.
CONFIRMATORY APPLICATION
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 within 15 working days upon receipt of
this letter to the Secretariat-General of the Commission at the following address:
European Commission
Secretariat-General
Transparency, Document Management & Access to Documents (SG.C.1)
BERL 7/076
B-1049 Bruxelles
or by email t
o: xxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx
Yours sincerely,
Electronically signed
Roberto Viola
Enclosures:
(2)
4
Electronically signed on 30/09/2021 15:39 (UTC+02) in accordance with article 11 of Commission Decision C(2020) 4482
Document Outline
