Meetings with fertiliser industry
Dear Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs,
Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as developed in Regulation 1049/2001, I am requesting:
Any documents related to the following meetings, including (but not limited to) email correspondence, attachments shared before or after the meeting, presentations, minutes, agendas, briefings and lists of attendees.
- Yara and Kerstin Jorna (17/10/2024);
- Fertilizers Europe and Kerstin Jorna (27/09/2023);
- Fertilizers Europe and Kerstin Jorna (18/03/2022);
- Fertilizers Europe and Joan Canton, Cabinet member of Thierry Breton (22/09/2021);
- Fertilizers Europe and Joan Canton and Thierry Breton (24/03/2021);
- Fertilizers Europe and Joan Canton (04/02/2021)
I would like to receive this information electronically.
Should my request be denied wholly or partially, please explain the denial or all deletions referring to specific exemptions in the regulation.
I would prefer you to produce the documents on a rolling basis, rather than waiting until the full response is ready, and I would be pleased to receive an initial list of all documents as soon as possible.
I kindly ask you to not redact any name of professional lobbyists and the organisations and companies they work, as such data cannot be considered personal data under Regulations 1049/2001 on access to documents and 45/2001 on data protection.
My address is: 5 Brayford Square, London, E1 0SG
If anything is unclear or would benefit from further discussion please do not hesitate to contact me.
Yours faithfully,
Clare Carlile
Dear Sir or Madam,
We are writing to you concerning your request for access to documents sent
on 27/11/2024 and registered on 28/11/2024 under case number 2024/6576.
Since you have not indicated your postal address, we are not able to start
handling your request. The 15 working days to reply to your request will
start running only when you send us your postal address.
You can send your postal address by replying to this e-mail. If we do not
receive your reply we may close this case.
Please note that you can submit a request for access to Commission
documents via the portal [1]'Request a Commission document', which does
not require you to indicate your postal address.
Why do we need your personal postal address?
Since 1 April 2014, the submission of a postal address became a mandatory
feature when submitting an application for access to Commission documents
via an e-mail. We would like to explain why we need your postal address in
order to register and handle your application for access to documents when
submitted via e-mail:
• Firstly, to obtain legal certainty as regards the date you received
the European Commission reply to your application for public access to
documents. Article 297 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the
European Union (TFEU) states that 'decisions which specify to whom
they are addressed, shall be notified to those to whom they are
addressed and shall take effect upon such notification.' In line with
this provision, if the Commission does not grant full access to the
requested documents, it notifies the reply to the applicant via
registered mail with acknowledgement of receipt or via delivery
service. This requires an indication of a valid postal address by the
applicant;
• Secondly, to apply correctly the [2]Data Protection Regulation (EU)
2018/1725. Knowing whether the applicant is an EU resident (or not) is
necessary for deciding which conditions shall apply for the
transmissions of personal data to applicants for access to documents.
These conditions are not the same for recipients established in the
Union and for recipients in third countries. As the vast majority of
the documents requested contain personal data, the Commission cannot
ensure the correct application of the data protection rules in the
absence of a postal address;
• Thirdly, to apply correctly [3]Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001. Article
4(1)(b) of that Regulation refers to the protection of the privacy and
integrity of the individual and has to be applied in line with the
Data Protection Regulation;
• Fourthly, to protect the interest of other citizens and safeguard the
principle of good administration. The Commission has to treat all
citizens equally by ensuring that the legal framework for public
access to documents is respected. For example, it has to verify
whether Article 6(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 is being evaded
by introducing several requests under different identities. Indeed, in
its Ryanair judgment ([4]EU:T:2010:511), the General Court confirmed
that Article 6(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 cannot be evaded by
splitting an application into several, seemingly separate, parts. In
addition, the Commission has to make sure that the legal framework is
respected and the right of access to documents is not abused by making
requests under an invented identity.
The considerations above show that the request for and the consequent
processing of the applicant's postal address is not only appropriate, but
also strictly necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the
public interest within the meaning of Article 5(1)(a) of Data Protection
Regulation, namely providing a smooth and effective access to documents.
Yours faithfully,
Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and
SMEs - Access to Documents
European Commission
References
Visible links
1. https://www.ec.europa.eu/transparency/do...
2. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
3. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
4. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
Dear Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs,
My postal request was included in the initial request. It is 5 Brayford Square, London, E1 0SG
Yours faithfully,
Clare Carlile
Dear Sir or Madam,
We hereby acknowledge the receipt of your request for access to documents
sent on 27/11/2024 and registered on 28/11/2024 under the case number
2024/6576.
We will handle your request within 15 working days as of the date of
registration. The time-limit expires on 19/12/2024. We will let you know
if we need to extend this time limit for additional 15 working days.
To find more information on how we process your personal data, please see
[1]the privacy statement.
Yours faithfully,
Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and
SMEs - Access to Documents
European Commission
References
Visible links
1. https://ec.europa.eu/info/principles-and...
Dear Ms Carlile,
We are writing concerning your request for access to Commission documents
registered on 27/11/2024 under case number 2024/6576.
We are currently working on your request. However, we have not yet been
able to gather all the elements necessary to carry out a full analysis of
your request. As such, we will not be able to send you the reply within
the prescribed time limit expiring on 19/12/2024, as third parties are
still being consulted.
Therefore, in line with Article 7(3) of [1]Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001,
we need to extend this time limit by 15 additional working days. The new
time limit expires on 22/01/2025.
We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
Kind regards,
DG GROW ATD
References
Visible links
1. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
Dear Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs,
Many thanks for your response. I look forward to receiving the documents by 22 January.
Yours faithfully,
Clare Carlile
Dear Ms Carlile,
We refer to your e-mail dated 27/11/2024 in which you make a request for
access to documents, registered on 28/11/2024 under the above mentioned
reference number.
The reply to your request could not be finalised on the prescribed
deadline. Therefore, we are not in a position to complete the handling of
your application within the extended time limit of 15 working days, which
expired yesterday (22/01/2025). Please be reassured that your reply is
being validated and we are doing our best to be able to send it to you as
soon as possible.
We apologise for this additional delay and for any inconvenience this may
cause.
Kind regards,
DG GROW – Access to documents team
European Commission
Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and
SMEs
DG GROW/B1 – Planning and Briefings
Hello,
Please find attached a message concerning your request for access to
Commission documents registered under the above case number 2024/6576.
Please acknowledge the receipt of this message by return email.
Kind regards,
Dear Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs,
Please pass this on to the person who reviews confirmatory applications.
I am filing the following confirmatory application with regards to my access to documents request 'Meetings with fertiliser industry'.
By law, under all circumstances, a response should be now have been provided.
Yours faithfully,
Clare Carlile
Dear Ms. Carlile,
If you refer to your request EASE 2024/6576, we have sent the reply to your request the 27th of January (see email attached).
I hope this is clear and if you still wish to ask for a confirmatory request, you have the relevant contacts attached in the signed reply to do so.
Kind regards
GROW ATD team
Dear [email address],
Apologies for missing your response, which is now noted - many thanks.
Yours sincerely,
Clare Carlile