Dear Madam,
We refer to your email of 05 March 2022, registered on 07 March 2022, wherein you submit an access to documents request.
In your request you seek access to:
a) Correspondence - including, but not limited to, letters, e-mails, and any attachments
b) Documents - including, but not limited to, evaluations, descriptions, briefing, notes, reports, analysis, presentations, list of participants
concerning meetings with the representatives of the company Thales since 2017.
Following our exchanges and in view of the broad range description of documents covered by your four parallel requests, the scope was limited to documents concerning meetings involving from EDA side the Chief Executive and/or Deputy Chief Executive as of 2019.
We have identified documents which fall within the scope of the request and we are pleased to inform you that access can be granted to the following document, which you find attached:
* Letter of EDA Chief Executive to Thales - dated 27 May 2019 (personal data redacted)
Please note that a full disclosure of some of this document 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 personal data.
Article 9(1)(b) of Regulation No 2018/1725 does not allow the transmission of these personal data, except if you prove that it is necessary to have the data transmitted to you for a specific purpose in the public interest and where there is no reason to assume that the legitimate interests of the data subject might be prejudiced. In your request, you do not put forward any arguments to establish the necessity to have the data transmitted for a specific purpose in the public interest. Consequently, we have concluded that, pursuant to Article 4(1)(b) of Regulation 1049/2001, access cannot be granted to the personal data contained in the requested 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 disclosure of the personal data concerned.
Please also be informed that we have identified further documents that correspond to the criteria given in your request and which relate to internal meeting reports.
First, please note that only some parts of those documents fall under the scope of your request as only part of the documents relate to EDA meetings with Thales.
Second, the parts of the document(s) that do correspond to the criteria given in your request are protected by the following exceptions:
1. Article 4(1)(a) second indent - defence and military matters.
The documents contain information regarding projects of the Member States relating to defence and military matters. Additionally, the projects are still ongoing.
2. Article 4(2) first indent - commercial interests of a natural or legal person, including intellectual property.
The documents contain information of commercial nature the disclosure of which could undermine and impact negatively the business activities and commercial interests of Thales. The exceptions laid down in Article 4(2) Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 apply unless there is an overriding public interest in disclosure of the document/documents.
Pursuant to Article 4(2) of Regulation 1049/2001, we have also examined to which extent the exception laid down in Article 4(2) of Regulation 1049/2001 may be waived in case of an overriding public interest in disclosure. Such an interest must firstly be a public interest and secondly outweigh the harm caused by the disclosure. Having analysed your request, we have not found any elements which could justify the existence of an overriding public interest in the sense of the Regulation, which would outweigh the exceptions stipulated in Article 4(2) mentioned above. As a result, access to these documents on the basis of overriding public interest cannot be justified.
3. Article 4(1)(b) privacy and the integrity of the individual, in particular in accordance with Union legislation regarding the protection of personal data.
Article 9(1)(b) of Regulation 2018/1725 does not allow the transmission of these personal data, except if you prove that it is necessary to have the data transmitted to you for a specific purpose in the public interest and where there is no reason to assume that the legitimate interests of the data subject might be prejudiced. In your request, you do not put forward any arguments to establish the necessity to have the data transmitted for a specific purpose in the public interest. Consequently, we have concluded that, pursuant to Article 4(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, access cannot be granted to the personal data contained in the requested 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 disclosure of the personal data concerned.
We have considered whether partial access could be granted to the documents requested. Unfortunately, even in such a case the interests protected under Article 4 would be prejudiced. Therefore, access to the entirety of the documents must be refused.
Means of redress
In accordance with Article 7(2) of Regulation 1049/2001, you are entitled to make a confirmatory application requesting EDA to review its position.
Such a confirmatory application should be addressed within 15 working days upon receipt of this email to the Chief Executive of EDA to the following email: <
<E-Mail-Adresse>><mailto:<<E-Mail-Adresse>>> .
Yours sincerely,
EDA Access to Documents
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From: ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS <
<Name und E-Mail-Adresse>>
Sent: Monday, April 4, 2022 18:48
To: Vera Deleja-Hotko [#242498] <
<Name und E-Mail-Adresse>>
Cc: ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS <
<Name und E-Mail-Adresse>>
Subject: RE: RE: Your application for access to documents - Thales since 2017 [#242498]
Dear Madam,
I refer to your latest reply of 01/04/2022, communicating your disagreement with regards to the fair solution proposed by EDA and reiterating your request for EDA to create a list of all meetings in order to allow you to select the ones you are interested in.
Firstly, I would like to point out that EDA is under no obligation to create new documents, such as drawing up the complete list of all meetings to be provided to you for further selection. The right of access to documents applies only to existing documents in the possession of the institution concerned. Regulation (EC) 1049/2001 may not be relied upon to oblige an institution to create a document which does not exist, as confirmed by the Court of Justice (cf. Judgment of 11 January 2017, Typke v Commission, C-491/15 P, ECLI:EU:C:2017:5, paragraph 31).
Furthermore, in reply to your suggestion regarding timing, I would like to clarify that EDA is indeed bound by the strict time limits stipulated by Article 7 of Regulation (EC) 1049/2001.
In order to meet our obligations under the Regulation, we have now already initiated the search of relevant documents on the basis of the redefined scope (documents concerning meetings involving from EDA side the Chief Executive and/or Deputy Chief Executive as of 2019), as confirmed in our email of 31/03/2022.
On this basis, I will revert to you in due course, within 30 working days counting from the date of registration of your initial application.
Yours sincerely,
EDA Access to Documents
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