[Corp. Watch] European trade officials hide contacts with corporate lobbyists

[Corporation Watch]

EU Officials Warned to Be Careful About Email Content

  By Honor Mahony

(EU Observer, April 9) -- New rules on public access to European Union  
(EU) documents have prompted one of the European Commission's key  
departments to circulate a memo warning officials to be careful about  
what they write in emails, and advising them on how to narrowly  
interpret requests for information.

	The 15-page handbook was circulated in January to officials working  
in the Commission's Directorate General (DG) for Trade, one of the  
EU's most important policy areas affecting millions of people both  
within and beyond the EU.

	The instructions "make it easier to get reports out" and "avoid  
having to go through blanking out" documents, says the Commission  
[which serves as the "federal" government of the European Union].

	It reminds DG Trade employees that all documents, including emails,  
are "in principle subject to disclosure" and asks them to think of the  
regulation when they are producing documents.

	"Each official must be aware that all his/her documents, including  
meeting reports and e-mails can potentially be disclosed. You should  
keep this in mind when writing such documents.

	This is particularly the case for meeting reports and emails with  
third parties (e.g., industry), which are favorite "targets" of  
requests for access to documents, especially by NGOs" [non- 
governmental organizations], reads the memo.

	It asks officials to draft documents "with the utmost care" while  
telling them to avoid making references to informal contacts, such as  
meals or drinks, with lobbyists.

	"Don't refer to the great lunch you have had with an industry  
representative privately or add a PS asking if he/she would like to  
meet for a drink."

	The document also tips off officials on how to narrow down the  
interpretation of a request for information.

	It points to a past example where a request referred to DG Trade  
meetings with individual companies, meaning the department could avoid  
making public its contacts with business lobbyists.

Separating the factual from the subjective

	"Recent cases concern requests for information about meetings with  
'individual companies' on our FTAs [free trade agreements], which  
allowed us to exclude [mentioning] business federations" in response  
to the request, "or about meetings [between corporate lobbyists and]  
'DG Trade officials', which allowed us to exclude [mentioning]  
meetings on the same point with the Commissioner or the cabinet," it  
notes.

	As a way of avoiding officials having to blank out parts of documents  
they release to the public, the transparency guide suggests writing  
two accounts of meetings -- a "factual" or neutral one that can be  
released to the public, and a more "personal/subjective" one with  
assessments and recommendations for follow up that need not be  
disclosed.

	It also explains that briefings should not be made public if still  
considered "newsworthy" -- a derogation allowed under EU regulations  
for documents concerning a decision still in progress -- with DG Trade  
working on a series of key issues including making free trade  
agreements with poor countries (something NGOs are always keen to have  
an insight into) and sensitive World Trade Organization decisions.

	DG Trade's take on the transparency regulations -- which members of  
the European Parliament (MEPs) recently voted to expand to cover all  
documents, including electronic ones -- has come in for criticism.

	The Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO), a transparency NGO, said the  
instructions appear to "directly contravene the spirit and content of  
the regulation."

Scandalous

	It is a "scandalous" attempt to "legitimize DG Trade's recurrent  
attempts to shield evidence of its liaisons with corporate lobbyists  
from information requests," said CEO campaigner Pia Eberhardt.

	For its part, the European Commission defended the memo. A  
spokesperson told the EU Observer: "Actually we think these are good  
instructions. It makes clear that no category of documents is excluded  
[from the regulation]."

	The spokesperson also said that the instructions "make it easier to  
get reports out" and "avoid having to go through blanking out"  
documents.

	The transparency regulation dates back to 2001, but the Commission  
recently proposed to overhaul it after complaints from the EU  
ombudsman and several court cases.

	Following MEPs' vote last month, the regulation has gone back to  
committee for discussion on sensitive issues such as the extent to  
which commercial data can be excused from disclosure.

	The updated law is expected to be approved in the second half of this  
year, under the Swedish presidency of the EU.