The complainants are non-governmental organisations, which were 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 found that Frontex’s Fundamental Rights Officer, who assesses whether Frontex’s activities in the context of its cooperation with non-EU countries are compliant with fundamental rights, had established a procedure comprising the essential elements of a human rights impact assessment. The procedure should, however, be applied systematically and relevant information about it made public and, to date, this is not sufficiently the case. The Ombudsman concluded the inquiry with suggestions for improvement.