Council of the European Union General Secretariat Directorate-General Communication and Information - COMM Directorate Information and Outreach Information Services Unit / Transparency Head of Unit Brussels, 20 November 2020 Mr Arne Semsrott ██████████████████████████████ Ref. 20/2006-rh/vk Request made on:                 03.11.2020 Dear Mr Semsrott, Thank you for your request for access to documents of the Council of the European Union.                                  1 Please find enclosed the information that you requested about SCIFA meetings and documents in 2020. Please note that all public documents are available in the Document register. Please also note that consultations for some documents are still ongoing as indicated. You will be informed about their outcome as soon as possible. SCIFA meeting 19 February Annotated agenda - attached Aide-mémoire - attached CM 1258/20 - public, in the Document register 5670/20 - attached 5672/20 - public, in the Document register 5673/20 - public, in the Document register WK 1973/20 - consultation ongoing 1 The General Secretariat of the Council has examined your request on the basis of the applicable rules: Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents (OJ L 145, 31.5.2001, p. 43) and the specific provisions concerning public access to Council documents set out in Annex II to the Council's Rules of Procedure (Council Decision No 2009/937/EU, OJ L 325, 11.12.2009, p. 35). Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat 175 - B-1048 Bruxelles/Brussel - Belgique/België Tel. +32 (0)2 281 67 10 - Fax +32 (0)2 281 63 61 - www.consilium.europa.eu - access@consilium.europa.eu                       1/4

SCIFA meeting 26 May Aide-mémoire - attached WK 4921 - attached WK 5462/20 - attached 7896/20 - attached 7897/20 - attached 7607/20 - consultation ongoing SCIFA meeting 15 + 16 July Aide-mémoire - attached CM 2906/20 - public, in the Document register 9321/20 - public, in the Document register 9322/20 - public, in the Document register 9324/20 - attached 2 IOM presentation - partially accessible version attached WK 7430/20 - consultation ongoing EASO slides - consultation ongoing SCIFA meeting 22 September Aide-mémoire - attached CM 3527/20 REV 1 - public, in the Document register 10742/20 - attached 10743/20 - attached 3 WK 9998/20 - partially accessible version attached SCIFA meeting 13 October Aide-mémoire - attached CM 3816/20 - public, in the Document register WK 10901 - attached 11186/20 - public, in the Document register 11202/20 - public, in the Document register 11224/20 - public, in the Document register 11207/20 - public, in the Document register 11205/20 - public, in the Document register 2 Pursuant to Article 4(1)(b) of Regulation 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents and Regulation (EU) No 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council 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, the personal data contained this document have been removed. 3 Pursuant to Article 4(1)(b) of Regulation 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents and Regulation (EU) No 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council 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, the personal data contained this document have been removed. . Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat 175 - B-1048 Bruxelles/Brussel - Belgique/België Tel. +32 (0)2 281 67 10 - Fax +32 (0)2 281 63 61 - www.consilium.europa.eu - access@consilium.europa.eu               2/4

SCIFA meeting 21 + 22 October CM 4090/20 - public, in the Document register 11915/20 - public, in the Document register 11917/20 - attached WK 11636/20 - attached Flash from the Presidency - consultation ongoing SCIFA meeting 30 October CM 4252/20 - public, in the Document register However, I regret to inform you that access to document 12272/20 cannot be given for the reasons set out below. Document 12272/20 of 28 October 2020 is a note from the Presidency to the Strategic Committee on Immigration, Frontiers and Asylum on A new way forward on European migration and asylum policy - Presidency discussion paper. It covers the key elements of migration and asylum reform. For the Council to reach an agreement, its Member States held consultations and exploratory talks. To reveal the content of such talks before a common position has been reached would interfere with the negotiations and would jeopardise the conclusion of an agreement within the Council. The disclosure of the text at a moment when the appropriate balance of the various interests involved has not yet been achieved within the Council's preparatory bodies would reduce the flexibility for delegations to formulate and reconsider their positions in the light of the arguments exchange in the debate. This would seriously affect the chances of finding a convergence in delegations' positions. Disclosure of the document at this stage would therefore seriously undermine the decision-making process of the Council. As a consequence, the General Secretariat has to refuse access to this 4 document. Having examined the context in which the document was drafted, on balance the General Secretariat could not identify any evidence suggesting an overriding public interest in its disclosure. 5 We have also looked into the possibility of releasing parts of the document. However, as the information contained in the document forms an inseparable whole, the General Secretariat is unable to give partial access. 4 Article 4(3), first subparagraph, of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001. 5 Article 4(6) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001. Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat 175 - B-1048 Bruxelles/Brussel - Belgique/België Tel. +32 (0)2 281 67 10 - Fax +32 (0)2 281 63 61 - www.consilium.europa.eu - access@consilium.europa.eu   3/4

Pursuant to Article 7(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, you may ask the Council to review this decision within 15 working days of receiving this reply. Should you see the need for such a review, you are invited to indicate the reasons thereof.                         6 Yours sincerely, ██████████████ Enclosures: 19 6 Council documents on confirmatory applications are made available to the public. Pursuant to data protection rules at EU level (Regulation (EU) No 2018/1725, if you make a confirmatory application your name will only appear in related documents if you have given your explicit consent. Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat 175 - B-1048 Bruxelles/Brussel - Belgique/België Tel. +32 (0)2 281 67 10 - Fax +32 (0)2 281 63 61 - www.consilium.europa.eu - access@consilium.europa.eu               4/4