Secretariat‐General Head of Unit - C2 European Commission

 

 

Dear Mr X,

The Ombudsman has received a complaint against the European Commission.

The complainant is seeking public access to the input that the Commission received from stakeholders when drafting the proposal for a Nature Restoration Law. The Commission identified 27 documents and disclosed (parts) of seven documents, redacting personal data. As regards the remaining 20 documents, which contain input from Member States and civil society, the Commission denied access based on the need to protect the ongoing legislative procedure.[1]

On 4 March 2024, the complainant made a confirmatory application, challenging the non-disclosure of the 20 documents and arguing that there is an overriding public interest in disclosure. The Commission has not provided a confirmatory response within the prescribed time limit (which expired on 18 April 2024).

We have decided to open an inquiry into the complaint against the Commission’s decision to refuse access to 20 documents in their entirety under Regulation 1049/2001.

Regulation 1049/2001 states that applications for access should be handled promptly. It is in line with this principle that the Ombudsman also seeks to deal with cases such as this as quickly as possible.

As a first step, we consider it necessary to review the 20 documents to which access has been refused entirely as well as the four documents that have been disclosed in part. We would be grateful if the Commission could provide a copy of these 24 documents, preferably in electronic format through encrypted e-mail,[2] by 15 May 2024.  

The documents subject to the public access request will be treated confidentially, along with any other material the Commission chooses to share with us that it marks confidential. Documents of this kind will be handled and stored in line with this confidential status and will be deleted from the Ombudsman’s files shortly after the inquiry has ended.

The Commission’s position has been set out in its initial reply dated 29 February 2024. However, should the Commission wish to provide additional views, to be taken into account by the Ombudsman during this inquiry, we would be grateful if they could be provided to us within fifteen working days from the receipt of this letter, that is, by 29 May 2024.

In addition, as the complainant is concerned about the Commission’s failure to provide a confirmatory response within the prescribed time limit, we urge the Commission to adopt a final decision on the complainant’s access request without further delay, and to provide a copy of that decision to the Ombudsman.

The inquiries officer responsible for the case is Ms Michaela Gehring.

Yours sincerely,

Rosita Hickey
Director of Inquiries

Strasbourg, 03/05/2024

 

[1] In accordance with Article 4(3), first subparagraph of Regulation 1049/2001.

[2] Encrypted emails can be sent to our dedicated mailbox.