Redact this

Transparency advocates accuse Commission of hiding information.

Anti-tobacco critics are calling out the European Commission
for providing responses to a freedom of information request on their
trade talks with the industry that are virtually incomprehensible
because of the number of black-mark redactions.

The heavily redacted text was the Commission’s latest reply to a freedom of information request by advocacy group Corporate Europe Observatory’s Oliver
Hoedeman. He had asked in March to see details of meetings between the
Commission’s trade service and the tobacco industry.

CEO sought “all correspondence (including emails) between DG Trade
officials and representatives of the tobacco industry” from January 2014
to March 2015.

Newly released documents — made public by CEO — show that exchanges
took place between the EU’s executive body and lobbyists from British American Tobacco and Philip Morris, but not much else.

Of the 16 pages, roughly 95 percent had been redacted, removing
all names of officials and tobacco lobbyists involved, any reference to
the issues discussed or even the dates some meetings had occurred.
Thirteen pages had no content at all.