Use of v-flunce/Bonus Eventus data by EFSA
Dear European Food Safety Authority,
as you may be aware, the journalist platform Lighthouse Reports and other media partners recently published an extensive investigation about the PR company v-fluence, led by ex-Monsanto director Jay Byrne, and a network/database called Bonus Eventus, bringing together biotech executives, scientists, as well as “personalities who hold or have held influential positions” in national ministries or food authorities. According to the investigation, also EFSA experts or staff members seem to participate in this network (https://www.lemonde.fr/en/environment/ar...).
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:
• all mails, newsletters and other documents sent to EFSA executives, employees or experts by v-fluence and the Bonus Eventus network;
• all mails and other documents sent to v-fluence and the Bonus Eventus network by EFSA executives, employees or experts;
• all information regarding Testbiotech that EFSA executives, employees or experts have gathered from the Bonus Eventus database “stakeholder profiles”; the gathering of information comprises download of material, but also all logins to the Testbiotech “stakeholder profile”. Please address the number of logins as well as who called up the information.
Yours faithfully,
Andreas Bauer-Panskus
Testbiotech e.V.
Institute for Independent Impact Assessment of Biotechnology
Frohschammerstraße 14
80807 Munich
Germany
Dear Andreas Bauer-Panskus,
EFSA hereby acknowledges receipt of your application for public access to documents (PAD). Your PAD application has been registered and will be processed in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 (the “PAD Regulation”). We will revert to you within 15 working days from the date of registration of your PAD application.
PAD Application Summary
PAD Number: 00013601
Contact Name:
Subject: "access to documents request - Use of v-flunce/Bonus Eventus data by EFSA"
Request: "From: Andreas Bauer-Panskus <[Dirección de correo de la solicitud #15104]>
Sent: Tuesday, October 15, 2024 3:15 PM
To: EFSA.public.access.to.documents <[correo electrónico]>
Subject: access to documents request - Use of v-flunce/Bonus Eventus data by EFSA
Dear European Food Safety Authority,
as you may be aware, the journalist platform Lighthouse Reports and other media partners recently published an extensive investigation about the PR company v-fluence, led by ex-Monsanto director Jay Byrne, and a network/database called Bonus Eventus, bringing together biotech executives, scientists, as well as “personalities who hold or have held influential positions” in national ministries or food authorities. According to the investigation, also EFSA experts or staff members seem to participate in this network
(https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlo...).
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:
• all mails, newsletters and other documents sent to EFSA executives, employees or experts by v-fluence and the Bonus Eventus network;
• all mails and other documents sent to v-fluence and the Bonus Eventus network by EFSA executives, employees or experts;
• all information regarding Testbiotech that EFSA executives, employees or experts have gathered from the Bonus Eventus database “stakeholder profiles”; the gathering of information comprises download of material, but also all logins to the Testbiotech “stakeholder profile”. Please address the number of logins as well as who called up the information.
Yours faithfully,
Andreas Bauer-Panskus
Testbiotech e.V.
Institute for Independent Impact Assessment of Biotechnology Frohschammerstraße 14
80807 Munich
Germany
[1]Efsa Logo
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Dear Mr Bauer-Panskus,
I hereby acknowledge receipt of your e-mail of 15 October 2024, by means
of which you requested access to “documents which contain the following
information:
• all mails, newsletters and other documents sent to EFSA executives,
employees or experts by v-fluence and the Bonus Eventus network;
• all mails and other documents sent to v-fluence and the Bonus Eventus
network by EFSA executives, employees or experts;
• all information regarding Testbiotech that EFSA executives, employees
or experts have gathered from the Bonus Eventus database “stakeholder
profiles”; the gathering of information comprises download of
material, but also all logins to the Testbiotech “stakeholder
profile”. Please address the number of logins as well as who called up
the information.”
Your application for public access to documents (“PAD application”) has
been registered as PAD 2024/160 (00013601) and is being processed as
quickly as possible in accordance with [2]Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001
regarding public access to documents (hereinafter “the PAD Regulation”).
We will come back to you by 6 November 2024 at the latest.
We would like to inform you that the AsktheEU.org website you have used
for submitting your request is a third-party platform, with no link to the
institutions, agencies and bodies of the EU, including EFSA. Consequently,
EFSA cannot be held liable for any errors of any kind occurring as a
result of the use of this platform.
Additionally, please note that the third party running the AsktheEU.org
website is responsible for the processing of your personal data by means
of this platform. For further information, including on the way the third
party addresses your rights in the light of applicable data protection
legislation, please refer to the third party’s privacy policy. From our
experience with the way the platform operates, we understand that the
content of public access to documents requesters correspondence with EFSA
is usually published on the platform, including any personal data which
may be contained therein (e.g. private postal addresses). Please contact
us directly should you not wish your correspondence with EFSA to be
published on the AsktheEU.org platform. In the event that such a
communication is received from you, EFSA will then redirect all future
electronic correspondence to your private e-mail address only.
Please also be aware that Article 16 of the PAD Regulation regarding
public access to documents provides that this legal framework is
applicable without prejudice to any existing rules on copyright which may
limit a third party's right to reproduce or exploit released documents.
Finally, please note that EFSA is using an online tool for processing
public access to documents applications which can be accessed via the
[3]Connect.EFSA platform (“The PAD Tool”). In order to ensure a thorough
monitoring of PAD applications being processed by EFSA, your PAD
application has been included in this PAD tool. For this purpose, we ask
you to communicate to us your private e-mail address, so that future
communications with you can be sent via the PAD Tool. Should you be
interested in using it for eventual future PAD applications, we highly
recommend that you register in the system to better follow the processing
of your PAD applications and other queries you may submit to EFSA. Should
you wish to submit a new PAD application, please select “public access to
documents” in the ‘area’ box of the online form.
Yours sincerely,
Arnaud Jaume
Legal Officer
EFSA Public Access to Documents
Legal Affairs Services
For replying to this e-mail, please make sure you press “Reply” from your
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Please make sure you copy the EFSA
mailbox [4][email address] in all your
communications with EFSA.
[5]image001
Public Access to Documents
Legal Affairs Services
[6][email address]
[7]www.efsa.europa.eu
[8]twitter[9]linkedin[10]youtube[11]instagram
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References
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2. https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlo...
3. https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlo...
4. mailto:[email address]
6. mailto:[email address]
7. https://www.efsa.europa.eu/
8. twitter
https://twitter.com/EFSA_EU
9. linkedin
https://it.linkedin.com/company/efsa
10. youtube
https://www.youtube.com/user/EFSAchannel
11. instagram
https://www.instagram.com/one_healthenv_...
Dear Andreas Bauer-Panskus,
Further to our previous e-mail, by means of which we acknowledged receipt
of your application for access to documents with EFSA’s reference PAD
00013601, we would like to reiterate that your application is being
processed as quickly as possible in accordance with the provisions of
[1]Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 on public access to documents. However, we
regret to inform you that we have to extend the deadline in accordance
with Article 7(3) or Article 8(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, as
applicable.
We will revert to you as soon as possible, and by 11/27/2024 at the
latest.
Yours sincerely,
EFSA Public Access to Documents team
Legal & Assurance Services / Business Services Department
This e-mail and its attachments is intended for the recipient(s) named in
the message. If you are not an intended recipient, please let the sender
know immediately. Any disclosure or copying of the message content is
unauthorised and may be unlawful if you are not the intended recipient.
References
Visible links
1. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
Dear Andreas Bauer-Panskus,
Further to our previous e-mail, by means of which we acknowledged receipt
of your application for access to documents with EFSA’s reference PAD
00013601, we would like to reiterate that your application is being
processed as quickly as possible in accordance with the provisions of
[1]Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 on public access to documents. However, we
regret to inform you that we have to extend the deadline in accordance
with Article 7(3) or Article 8(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, as
applicable.
We will revert to you as soon as possible, and by 12/4/2024 at the latest.
Yours sincerely,
EFSA Public Access to Documents team
Legal & Assurance Services / Business Services Department
This e-mail and its attachments is intended for the recipient(s) named in
the message. If you are not an intended recipient, please let the sender
know immediately. Any disclosure or copying of the message content is
unauthorised and may be unlawful if you are not the intended recipient.
References
Visible links
1. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
[1]Efsa Logo
══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
Dear Mr Bauer-Panskus,
Further to our communication of 6 November 2024, by means of which we
extended the deadline to reply to your application for public access to
documents (hereinafter, "PAD application") of 15 October 2024, we would
like to inform you that, while considerable progress has been made
regarding the processing of your PAD application, additional time is still
needed to conclude the final steps in order to be in a position to provide
you with our reply in terms of substance.
We will provide you with our reply in the course of next week at the
latest. Should we finalise the requisite steps prior to this date, we will
reply to you earlier than the estimated deadline.
We hope to count on your understanding in this regard and please accept
our apologies for any inconvenience this delay may cause. Please do not
hesitate to contact us in the meantime should you need additional
information.
Yours sincerely,
Arnaud JAUME
Legal Officer
EFSA Public Access to Documents
Legal Affairs Services
For replying to this e-mail, please make sure you press “Reply” from your
e-mail management tool (Outlook, Gmail, etc)
Please make sure you copy the EFSA
mailbox [2][email address] in all your
communications with EFSA.
[3]image001
Public Access to Documents
Legal Affairs Services
[4][email address]
[5]www.efsa.europa.eu
[6]twitter[7]linkedin[8]youtube[9]instagram
This e-mail and its attachments is intended for the recipient(s) named in
the message. If you are not an intended recipient, please let the sender
know immediately. Any disclosure or copying of the message content is
unauthorised and may be unlawful if you are not the intended recipient.
References
Visible links
2. mailto:[email address]
4. mailto:[email address]
5. https://www.efsa.europa.eu/
6. twitter
https://twitter.com/EFSA_EU
7. linkedin
https://it.linkedin.com/company/efsa
8. youtube
https://www.youtube.com/user/EFSAchannel
9. instagram
https://www.instagram.com/one_healthenv_...
Dear European Food Safety Authority,
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 'Use of v-flunce/Bonus Eventus data by EFSA'.
On 15 October, I filed a request regarding the involvement of EFSA with the v-Fluence network and the Bonus Eventus database. After the announcement of several deadline extensions, you set a new deadline for 4 December.
However, this deadline has passed without any further notice from your side. Bearing in mind that a response to my request is long overdue (EU institutions should respond to an information request within 15 working days with a possible extension of another 15 working days in exceptional cases) and the fact that you didn’t even notice me after the passing of the last deadline, I am now filing a request for internal review in this case.
A full history of my request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/use_...
Yours faithfully,
Andreas Bauer-Panskus
[1]Efsa Logo
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Dear Mr Bauer-Panskus
Please find the letter of reply referenced 33138932 from Ms Luisa Venier
for EFSA Public Access to Documents at the following link:
[2]?pdf icon[3] EFSA Ref. out 33138932_PAD 2024_160 (00013601)_Reply_Your
PAD of 15 October 2024.pdf
We wish you a good reception of this letter.
Yours sincerely,
EFSA Public Access to Documents
Legal Affairs Services
For replying to this e-mail, please make sure you press “Reply” from your
e-mail management tool (Outlook, Gmail, etc)
Please make sure you copy the EFSA
mailbox [4][email address] in all your
communications with EFSA.
[5]image001
Public Access to Documents
Legal Affairs Services
[6][email address]
[7]www.efsa.europa.eu
[8]twitter[9]linkedin[10]youtube[11]instagram
This e-mail and its attachments is intended for the recipient(s) named in
the message. If you are not an intended recipient, please let the sender
know immediately. Any disclosure or copying of the message content is
unauthorised and may be unlawful if you are not the intended recipient.
--------------- Original Message