Dear Environment,

Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as developed in Regulation 1049/2001, I am requesting documents which contain the following information:

Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as developed in Regulation 1049/2001, and Regulation 1367/2006, I am requesting the following information:

All documents between 10 May 2024 and 24 October 2024 – including but not limited to (draft versions of) minutes, (hand-written) notes, audio recordings, verbatim reports, operational conclusions, briefings, e-mails, attachments, letters, text messages, phone call notes, (powerpoint) presentations – related to the Dutch Nationaal Programma Landelijk Gebied (NPLG, National Programme for Rural Areas) and/or the Transitiefonds, Landelijk Gebied en Natuur (also known as ‘stikstoffonds’).

Since the information might at least partly also concern "activities affecting or likely to affect" the "state of the elements of the environment", I believe Regulation 1367/2006 applies.

Should you encounter any difficulties in interpreting or processing my request, I am ready to discuss ways to clarify or amend it to keep the effort required on your part to the necessary minimum.

Please send me an acknowledgement of receipt for this request, as foreseen by Article 7 (1) of Regulation 1049/2001. I would appreciate it if you could send a list of documents that correspond to my request. Please note I prefer to receive the documents in digital format, not by physical mail. I also kindly request you make and digital files searchable using OCR.

Yours faithfully,

Jan Daalder

Follow the Money
Overtoom 197-1
1054HT Amsterdam
The Netherlands

ENV-ACCESS-DOCUMENTS@ec.europa.eu,

Dear Sir or Madam,

We hereby acknowledge the receipt of your request for access to documents
sent on 24/10/2024 and registered on 25/10/2024 under the case number
2024/5691.

We will handle your request within 15 working days as of the date of
registration. The time-limit expires on 18/11/2024. 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 Environment - Access to Documents
European Commission

References

Visible links
1. https://ec.europa.eu/info/principles-and...

Dear Environment,

I am writing to you concerning my request for access to documents related to the NPLG and the Transitiefonds, sent on 24/10/2024 and registered on 25/10/2024 under the case number 2024/5691.

On October 25, 2024 you acknowledge my request and said the time-limit would expire on 18/11/2024. I have not received the documents yet, can you let me know when you expect to send them?

Yours faithfully,

Jan Daalder

Dear Environment,

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 'Schrappen van NPLG en Transitiefonds' (case number: 2024/5691).

24/10/2024: I sent my request
25/10/2024: DG ENVI acknowledged my request and replied: ‘The time-limit expires on 18/11/2024.’
25/11/2024: I sent a reminder but did not receive a reply.

A full history of my request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.asktheeu.org/request/schrapp...

Yours faithfully,

Jan Daalder

sg-acc-doc@ec.europa.eu,

Dear Sir or Madam,

We hereby acknowledge the receipt of your confirmatory request for case
2024/5691, sent on 17/02/2025 and registered on 17/02/2025.

We will handle your confirmatory request within 15 working days as of the
date of registration. The time-limit expires on 10/03/2025. We will let
you know if we need to extend this time limit for additional 15 working
days.

Yours faithfully,

Secretariat-General - Access to Documents
European Commission

sg-acc-doc@ec.europa.eu,

Dear applicant,

We are writing concerning your confirmatory request for access to
Commission documents for case 2024/5691 registered on 17 February 2025.

We are currently working on your confirmatory request. However, we have
not yet been able to gather all the elements necessary to carry out a full
analysis of your request. We will not be able to send you the reply within
the prescribed time limit expiring on 10 March 2025 due to the complexity
of the file.

Therefore, in line with Article 8(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 we
need to extend this time limit by 15 additional working days. The new time
limit expires on 31 March 2025.

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

Kind regards,

Secretariat-General - Access to documents

European Commission

sg-acc-doc@ec.europa.eu,

Dear applicant,

We are writing to you concerning your confirmatory request for access to
Commission documents for case 2024/5691, registered on 17 February 2025.

On 10 March 2025, we extended the time-limit for replying to your
confirmatory request to 31 March 2025.

Unfortunately, we will not be able to send you the reply within this
extended time limit due to the complexity of the file.

However, we assure you that we are doing our best to send a reply to your
confirmatory request as soon as possible.

We regret this additional delay and sincerely apologize for any
inconvenience this may cause.

Kind regards,

Secretariat-General - Access to documents

European Commission

Dear Environment,

Thank you for your message regarding my confirmatory request for access to
Commission documents for case 2024/5691, registered on 17 February 2025.

I understand that the file is complex. I would however like to get a new deadline so I know when I have to get back to you. What is a realistic timeline for you to send me a reply?

Yours faithfully,

Jan Daalder

env-d01-ares@ec.europa.eu, Environment

20 Attachments

Hello,

 

Please find attached a message concerning your request for access to
Commission documents registered under the above case number 2024/5691.

 

Please acknowledge the receipt of this message by return email.

 

Kind regards,

 

ENV.D1

sg-acc-doc@ec.europa.eu,

1 Attachment

Dear applicant,

Please find attached a message concerning your request for access to
Commission documents registered under the above case number 2024/5691.

Kind regards,

Secretariat-General - Access to documents

European Commission

Dear Environment,

Thank you for the documents. Because it took you so long to provide me with these documents, I wil file another request for all the documents that were created since October 2024.

Yours faithfully,

Jan Daalder

ENV-ACCESS-DOCUMENTS@ec.europa.eu,

Dear Sir or Madam,

We are writing to you concerning your request for access to documents sent
on 20/06/2025 and registered on 23/06/2025 under case number 2025/3254.

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 Environment - 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/...

ENV-ACCESS-DOCUMENTS@ec.europa.eu,

Dear Sir or Madam,

We hereby acknowledge the receipt of your request for access to documents
sent on 20/06/2025 and registered on 23/06/2025 under the case number
2025/3254.

We will handle your request within 15 working days as of the date of
registration. The time-limit expires on 14/07/2025. 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 Environment - Access to Documents
European Commission

References

Visible links
1. https://ec.europa.eu/info/principles-and...

ENV-ACCESS-DOCUMENTS@ec.europa.eu,

Dear Mr Daalder

Please ignore our previous correspondence of today under this case number.

We apologise for the inconvenience.

Best regards

DG ENVIRONMENT