Keywords
Summary

Keywords

1. European Communities – Institutions – Right of public access to documents – Regulation No 1049/2001

(Art. 6 EU; European Parliament and Council Regulations No 45/2001 and No 1049/2001, Art. 4(1)(b))

2. Approximation of laws – Protection of natural persons in relation to the processing of personal data – Processing of those data by Community institutions and bodies – Regulation No 45/2001

(European Parliament and Council Regulations No 45/2001, Arts 2(a), and 8(b), and No 1049/2001)

Summary

1. Article 4(1)(b) of Regulation No 1049/2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents, which provides for an exception to access to a document where disclosure would undermine the protection of privacy and the integrity of the individual, in particular in accordance with EU legislation regarding the protection of personal data, establishes a specific and reinforced system of protection of a person whose personal data could, in certain cases, be communicated to the public. That provision is indivisible and requires that any undermining of privacy and the integrity of the individual must always be examined and assessed in conformity with that legislation, and in particular with Regulation No 45/2001 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.

Whilst, according to Article 1(1) of Regulation No 45/2001, the purpose of that regulation is to ‘protect the fundamental rights and freedoms of natural persons, and in particular their right to privacy with respect to the processing of personal data’, that provision does not allow cases of processing of personal data to be separated into two categories, namely a category in which that treatment is examined solely on the basis of Article 8 of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights relating to that article and another category in which that processing is subject to the provisions of Regulation No 45/2001. In that regard, whilst it is clear from the first sentence of recital 15 of Regulation No 45/2001 that the Union legislature has pointed to the need to apply Article 6 EU and, by that means, Article 8 of the ECHR, where such processing is carried out by Community institutions or bodies in the exercise of activities falling outside the scope of that regulation, in particular those laid down in Titles V and VI of the EU Treaty in its version prior to the Treaty of Lisbon, such a reference has not been found necessary for processing carried out in the exercise of activities within the scope of that regulation, given that, in such cases, it is clearly Regulation No 45/2001 itself which applies.

It follows that, where a request based on Regulation No 1049/2001 seeks to obtain access to documents including personal data, the provisions of Regulation No 45/2001 become applicable in their entirety, including Articles 8 and 18 thereof, which constitute essential provisions of the system of protection established by that regulation.

(see paras 57, 59-64)

2. The list of participants at a meeting held in the context of proceedings for failure to fulfil obligations appearing in the minutes of that meeting contains personal data for the purposes of Article 2(a) of Regulation No 45/2001, since the persons who participated in that meeting can be identified.

By requiring that, in respect of persons who have not given their express consent to the disclosure of their personal data contained in those minutes, the need for transfer of those personal data be established, the Commission complies with the provisions of Article 8(b) of that regulation.

Where, in the context of a request for access to those minutes under Regulation No 1049/2001, no express and legitimate justification or any convincing argument is provided in order to demonstrate the need for those personal data to be transferred, the Commission is not able to weigh up the various interests of the parties concerned. Nor is it able to verify whether there is any reason to assume that such transfer might prejudice the data subjects’ legitimate interests, as it is required to do by Article 8(b) of Regulation No 45/2001.

(see paras 70, 77-78)