European Ombudsman

Summary of decision on complaint 2073/2010/AN (confidential) against the European Commission

The complainant requested access to documents relating to an infringement procedure concerning environmental issues in Spain. Following the Commission's rejection of his initial request, the complainant submitted a confirmatory application. The Commission extended the deadline for its reply to his confirmatory application on two occasions, and, on the second occasion, it did not provide the complainant with an estimated date for its decision. After the Ombudsman had opened his inquiry into the complaint, the Commission eventually granted the complainant access to some of the requested documents, while refusing access to others.

The Ombudsman found that the Commission's refusal to grant access to certain documents originating from the Spanish authorities was justified, in light of the exceptions invoked by the latter which the Commission duly conveyed to the complainant. As regards the handling of the request for access to the remaining documents, the Ombudsman found maladministration and made critical remarks to the effect that the Commission (i) wrongly refused to disclose some of its internal documents to the complainant, (ii) failed to assess the possibility of granting the complainant partial access to the internal documents that it refused to disclose, (iii) failed duly to assess the existence of an overriding public interest in the disclosure of its internal documents, (iv) did not provide a sufficient justification for its failure to deal with the complainant's confirmatory application within the time-limit foreseen by Regulation 1049/2001, and (v) infringed Article 8(2) of Regulation 1049/2001 by twice extending the deadline for its reply to the complainant's confirmatory application and by not providing the complainant, at the time of the second holding reply, with an estimated date for its decision.