The complainant asked the European Commission to give public access to documents concerning exchanges with an organisation and with the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) related to combatting child sexual abuse online. The Commission identified 14 documents as falling within the scope of the request, granting access to parts of eleven and refusing access to three. In doing so, it invoked various exceptions under the EU legislation on access to documents. The complainant contested the Commission's decision by making a 'confirmatory application' but did not receive a reply.

The Ombudsman opened an inquiry and asked the Commission to reply to the complainant as soon as possible. In the absence of a timely reply, she sought to inspect the documents at issue.

The Commission eventually replied to the complainant and granted wider access to the documents. As a result, the Ombudsman closed the inquiry but expressed regret over the Commission’s delay in handling the access request.