The complaint concerned the decision by the European Commission to no longer publish the names of all EU staff members, but henceforth only senior managers, in its online directory of EU staff (Whoiswho). The complainant argued that this undermines transparency and accountability.

The Ombudsman found deficiencies in how the Commission took the decision on an important issue affecting the transparency of the institution. To address this she made a solution proposal that the Commission carry out a new decision-making process, taking account of both the need to protect staff from undue influence and the need for transparency. The Commission failed to accept the solution proposal.

The Ombudsman closed the case, considering that no further inquiries were justified but expressed regret with how the Commission had taken the decision on such a wide-reaching issue for the transparency of the institution.