Ref. Ares(2023)6658960 - 02/10/2023

EUROPEAN COMMISSION

LEGAL SERVICE
  The Director-General
By email
Mr Bram Vranken

ask+request-13452-
xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx
Subject:
Request for access to documents
Ref.:
Your request of 1 September 2023 registered under reference 2023/5103.
Dear Mr Vranken,
I refer to your request under Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 regarding public access to European
Parliament, Council and Commission documents1.
You request access to:” All minutes, agendas, summaries, notes or memos issued before or after;
documents  prepared  for,  issued  in  preparation  for,  or  exchanged  during;  as  well  as  all
correspondence  including  attachments  by  either  of  the  meeting  parties  related  to  the  meeting
between  Director-General  Daniel  Calleja  Crespo  and  Amazon  on  08/06/23  and  the  meeting
between Director-General Daniel Calleja Crespo and Apple on 16/03/23.”
1.
IDENTIFICATION OF THE DOCUMENTS
In reply to your request, I would first like to inform you that both meetings you refer to in your
request  were  courtesy  visits.  Therefore,  no  agenda,  minutes  or  other  documents  have  been
prepared or exchanged.
In  the  light  of  the  above  and  after  examination  of  the  Legal  Service’s  files,  the  following
documents have been identified as matching the terms of your request:
1.
E-mail exchanges with Apple (Ref: Ares(2023)6469590);
2.
E-mail from Amazon (Ref: Ares(2023)6469432).
2.
ASSESSMENT OF DOCUMENTS 1 AND 2
As  far  as  the  parts  of the documents  (e-mails)  originating  from third  parties  are  concerned, the
European  Commission  has  consulted  their  respective  authors  -  representatives  of  Apple  and
Amazon  -  on  disclosure,  in  accordance  with  article  4(4)  of  Regulation  (EC)  1049/2001.  They
have agreed to the disclosure.
After  a  concrete  assessment  of  the  documents  by  the  Commission,  I  am  pleased  to  inform  you
that access can be granted to them, with the exception of some personal data in accordance with
Article 4 (l)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, as will be explained below.
Accordingly, please find enclosed a redacted copy of documents 1 and 2.
Please  note  that  the  e-mails  drawn  up  under  the  responsibility  of  the  Legal  Service  of  the
European  Commission  do  not  set  out  any  official  position  of  the  Commission  and  cannot  be
quoted as such. As regards the e-mails originating from third parties, access to them is granted for
information only and they cannot be re-used without the agreement of the originators.

1     Official Journal L 145, 31.05.2001, page 43.

European Commission, B-1049 Brussels / Europese Commissie, B-1049 Brussel - Belgium. Telephone: (32-2) 299 11 11.

3.
PROTECTION OF PERSONAL DATA
As stated above, some personal data has been redacted in the documents disclosed since they are
covered  by  the  exception  provided  for  in  Article  4  (l)(b)  of  Regulation  (EC)  No  1049/2001,  in
accordance with the European Union legislation regarding the protection of personal data.
The redacted information consists of:
−  the name and function of the Commission’s official not forming part of senior
management (document 1 and 2);
−  the contact details of the Commission’s officials (documents 1 and 2);
−  the names, the function and contact details of the representatives of Apple (document 1);
−  the  names,  the  function  and  contact  details  of  the  representatives  of  Amazon
(document 2).
In the present case, it has not been established that it is necessary to have these data transmitted
for any specific purpose in the public interest (Article 9(1)(b) of the Data Protection Regulation,
i.e.  Regulation  (EU)  No  2018/17252).  Therefore,  the  European  Commission  does  not  have  to
examine whether there is a reason to assume that the data subject’s legitimate interests might be
prejudiced.
Notwithstanding  the  above,  please  note  that  there  are  reasons  to  assume  that  the  legitimate
interests  of  the  data  subject  concerned  would  be  prejudiced  by  disclosure  of  the  personal  data
reflected in the documents, as there is a real and non-hypothetical risk that such public disclosure
would harm their privacy and subject them to unsolicited external contacts.
Please also note that the exception of Article 4(1)(b), concerning the protection of personal data,
has an absolute character and does not envisage the possibility of demonstrating the existence of
an overriding public interest.
4.
MEANS OF REDRESS
Should  you  wish  this  position  to  be  reconsidered,  you  should  present  in  writing,  within  fifteen
working  days  from  receipt  of  this  letter,  a  confirmatory  application  to  the  Commission's
Secretariat-General at the following address:
European Commission
Secretariat-General

Transparency, Document Management & Access to Documents (SG.C.1)

BERL 7/076

B-1049 Brussels
or by email to: xxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx
Yours sincerely,

[signed electronically]

Daniel CALLEJA
Attachments:  2

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 205 of 21.11.2018, page 39).

2
Electronically signed on 02/10/2023 14:27 (UTC+02) in accordance with Article 11 of Commission Decision (EU) 2021/2121

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