Meetings of members of the General Department ENV with the unregistered lobbyfirm EUTOP
Nina Katzemich made this access to documents request to Environment This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.
Dear DG ENV,
my name is Lisa Hirdes and I am working with Nina Katzemich from LobbyControl.
Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as developed in Regulation 1049/2001, I am requesting a list of all meetings held with EUTOP consultancy in the past twelve month between the lobbyfirm and DG ENV or within DG ENV concerning EUTOP.
This list should include the date of the meeting, the topics discussed, and the names of all attendees from the Commission and EUTOP. We would also like to receive any minutes or meeting reports.
At the time of writing, EUTOP remains outside the EU lobby transparency register; We would like the list of meetings taken place between EUTOP and ALL DG officials – including the Commissioner, his Cabinet and Director General (because we understand that meetings between these individuals and unregistered lobbyists cannot be physically uploaded to the Commission’s published lobby meetings lists).
Yours faithfully,
Lisa Hirdes
I hereby send you our valid postal address as to enable you to duly register and deal with my initial enquiry.
Nina Katzemich
LobbyControl e. V.
Am Justizzentrum 7
50939 Köln
Germany
Yours faithfully,
Lisa Hirdes
Dear Mrs Katzemich,
I would like to inform you that all the Members of the Commission, their
Cabinets and Directors General must not meet professional organisations or
self-employed individuals which are not registered in the Transparency
Register. As of 1 December 2014, the respective web pages of Commissioners
and Directors General report all the contacts and meetings held in their
capacity with professional organisations or self-employed individuals on
any matter relating to EU policymaking and implementation, unless
compelling reasons of public interest, such as those provided for in
Article 4 of Regulation 1049/2001 (access to documents), require
confidentiality. Therefore, this part of your request is without object.
The other part of your request ('I am requesting a list of all meetings
held with EUTOP consultancy in the past twelve month between the lobbyfirm
and DG ENV or within DG ENV concerning EUTOP') is generic and could
generate a disproportionate burden of DG ENV units. We therefore invite
you, pursuant to Article 6(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 regarding
public access to documents, to provide us with more detailed information
on the documents which you seek to obtain. In particular, could you
clarify the substantive topic(s) of your interest or the matter(s) of
action of EUTOP in order to limit the number of DG ENV units involved in
your application.
The 15 working days the time limit for handling your application will
start running when we receive the requested clarification.
Thank you in advance for your understanding.
Yours faithfully,
ENV ACCESS DOCUMENT TEAM
Dear DG ENV,
we understand that you are committed to a high standard of data protection.
In your answer you emphasize that the Commissioners and their cabinet
members as well as director generals have to report all contacts and
meetings unless there are compelling reasons of public interest which
require confidentiality.
Did such meetings with the lobbyfirm EUTOP, which require
confidentiality, take place during the past twelve months? And if so,
how many of these and on which topics?
Regarding your concerns that our request for a list of all meetings
between DG ENV officials and EUTOP would generate a disproportionate burden, we do
not expect that such a great number of meetings have taken place. Hence we ask
you again to check your database for any documents or reports of all
meetings held between all officials not covered by the transparency initiative and EUTOP consultancy in the past twelve months.
Yours faithfully,
Lisa Hirdes
Dear Madam,
Thank you for your e-mail dated 17/10/2016. We hereby acknowledge receipt of your application for access to documents, which was registered on 20/10/2016 under reference number GestDem 2016/5887.
In accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents, your application will be handled within 15 working days. The time limit will expire on 14/11/2016. In case this time limit needs to be extended, you will be informed in due course.
Yours faithfully,
ELC
DG ENVIRONMENT
ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS TEAM
Dear Madame,
Please find attached an advance copy referring to your Access to Documents request GestDem 2016/5887.
Best regards,
DG ENVIRONMENT
ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS TEAM
European Commission
DG Environment
Directorate E-Implementation & Support to Member StatesUnit
Unit E4 - Compliance & Better Regulation
BU-9 02/15
B-1049 Brussels/Belgium