The complainants are non-governmental organisations, which are concerned about the practice of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) to provide assistance to non-EU countries to develop surveillance capabilities. In particular, the complainants consider that Frontex failed to properly assess the potential human rights risk or carry out impact assessments, taking into account privacy concerns, before providing such assistance.

The Ombudsman opened an inquiry and asked Frontex to reply to a set of questions.