Ref. Ares(2024)4635461 - 27/06/2024
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR MOBILITY AND TRANSPORT
Directorate B - Investment, Innovative & Sustainable Transport
B.4 - Sustainable & Intelligent Transport
Brussels
MOVE.DDG1.B.4/
Ms Rose Harris
1 Long Lane
London
United Kingdom
E-mail:
ask+request-14664-
xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx
Subject:
Your application for access to documents – EASE 2024/3279
Dear Ms Harris,
We refer to your request for access to European Commission documents registered on 19
June 2024 under the above-mentioned reference number.
You request access to:
All documentation, including but not limited to attendance lists, agendas,
background papers, minutes/notes and email correspondence about or
summarising, the following meetings:
(…)
- Between FuelsEurope and cabinet members of Adina Vălean (Pablo Fabregas
Martinez and Filip Alexandru Negreanu Arboreanu) on 15/05/2024 regarding
'Climate neutrality'
Please note that as your request covers also areas falling under the responsibility of other
Directorates-General, parts of your request have been attributed to other Directorates-
General (1). This reply relates only to the documents held by the Directorate-General for
Mobility and Transport. You either already received or will receive the replies from the
other respective Directorates-General in due course.
We have identified the following documents as falling within the scope of your
application:
(1) Registered under EASE 2024/3277 (SG) and EASE 2024/3278 (DG CLIMA).
Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË - Tel. +32 22991111
- Annex 1: E-mail exchange between representatives of Fuels Europe and
members of the Cabinet of Commissioner Vălean, concerning a request
for a meeting, dated between 25 April and 20 June 2024, registered under
Ares(2024)4480098, and containing the following attachment:
o
Annex 1_1: Presentation on proposals for the new Institutional Cycle
-
Annex 2: Minutes of the meeting held on 15 May 2024 between
representatives of Fuels Europe and members of the Cabinet of
Commissioner Vălean, registered under Ares(2024)4480098.
Having examined the documents requested under the provisions of Regulation (EC) No
1049/2001 regarding public access to documents (2), we have come to the conclusion that
they may be partially disclosed. A complete disclosure of the identified documents 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 they
contain the following personal data:
- the names/initials and contact information of Commission staff members not
pertaining to the senior management;
- the names/initials and contact details of other natural persons;
- other information relating to identified or identifiable natural persons, in
particular references to their functions, to the extent that these would enable
their identification.
Pursuant to Article 4(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, access to a document has
to be refused if its disclosure would undermine the protection of privacy and the integrity
of the individual, in particular in accordance with European Union legislation regarding
the protection of personal data.
The applicable legislation in this field is 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 (3) (hereinafter ‘Regulation (EU) 2018/1725’,
or ‘Data Protection Regulation’).
In particular, Article 3(1) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 provides that personal data
‘means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person […]’. The
Court of Justice has specified that any information, which by reason of its content,
purpose or effect, is linked to a particular person is to be considered as personal data (4).
(2) 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).
(3) 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 (OC L 205 of 21.11.2018, p. 39).
(4) Judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union of 20 December 2017 in Case C-434/16,
Peter
Nowak v Data Protection Commissioner, ECLI:EU:C:2017:994, paragraphs 33-35.
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In its judgment in Case C-28/08 P (Bavarian Lager) (5), the Court of Justice ruled that
when a request is made for access to documents containing personal data, the Data
Protection Regulation becomes fully applicable (6).
In your application, you indicate that your address is in the United Kingdom. Transfers of
personal data from the Commission to countries that are not members of the European
Economic Area (EEA) or to international organisations are regulated under Chapter V of
the Data Protection Regulation.
According to Article 47(1) of this Regulation, a transfer of personal data to a third
country or an international organisation may take place where the Commission has
decided that the third country, a territory or one or more specified sectors within that
country, or the international organisation in question ensures an adequate level of
protection and where the personal data are transferred solely to allow tasks within the
competence of the controller to be carried out.
Based on the information available, the country of your residence / your international
organisation is recognised by the Commission as ensuring an adequate level of
protection. However, we would further like to inform you that, pursuant to Article
9(1)(b) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725, ‘personal data shall only be transmitted to
recipients established in the Union other than Union institutions and bodies if ‘[t]he
recipient establishes that it is necessary to have the data transmitted for a specific purpose
in the public interest and the controller, where there is any reason to assume that the data
subject’s legitimate interests might be prejudiced, establishes that it is proportionate to
transmit the personal data for that specific purpose after having demonstrably weighed
the various competing interests’.
Only if these conditions are fulfilled and the processing constitutes lawful handling, in
accordance with the requirements of Article 5 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725, can the
transmission of personal data occur.
According to Article 9(1)(b) of the Regulation (EU) 2018/1725, the European
Commission has to examine the further conditions for a lawful processing of personal
data only if the first condition is fulfilled, namely if the recipient has established that it is
necessary to have the data transmitted for a specific purpose in the public interest. It is
only in that case that the European Commission has to examine whether there is a reason
to assume that the legitimate interests of the data subject might be prejudiced and, in the
affirmative, establish the proportionality of the transmission of the personal data for that
specific purpose after having demonstrably weighed the various competing interests.
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. Therefore, the European
Commission does not have to examine whether there is a reason to assume that the data
subjects’ legitimate interests might be prejudiced.
(5) Judgment of 29 June 2010 in Case C-28/08 P,
Commission v Bavarian Lager, ECLI:EU:C:2010:378,
paragraph 63.
(6) Whereas this judgment specifically related to Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament
and of the Council of 18 December 2000 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing
of personal data by the Community institutions and bodies and on the free movement of such data, the
principles set out therein are also applicable under the new data protection regime established by
Regulation (EU) 2018/1725.
3
Notwithstanding the above, please note that there are reasons to assume that the
legitimate interests of the data subjects concerned would be prejudiced by disclosure of
the personal data reflected in these 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.
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 these 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 the disclosure of their personal data.
Please note that the documents originating from third parties are disclosed to you based
on Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001. However, this disclosure is without prejudice to the
rules on intellectual property, which may limit your right to reproduce or exploit the
released documents without the agreement of the originator, who may hold an intellectual
property right on them. The European Commission does not assume any responsibility
from their reuse.
Please also note that the disclosed minutes of a meeting was drawn up for internal use
under the responsibility of the relevant services of the European Commission. It solely
reflects the authors’ interpretation of the considerations made and does not set out any
official position of the third parties to which the document refers, which was not
consulted on its content. It also does not reflect the position of the Commission, and
cannot be quoted as such.
If you disagree with this position, you are entitled, in accordance with Article 7(2) of
Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, to submit 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:
by mail, to:
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 sincerely,
Moumen HAMDOUCH
Head of Unit
Enclosure: 3 annexes
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Electronically signed on 27/06/2024 09:42 (UTC+02) in accordance with Article 11 of Commission Decision (EU) 2021/2121
