Head of the Corporate Affairs Bureau (CAB) Department-Office of the Executive Director EUROPOL

 

Dear Mr X,

The Ombudsman has received a complaint against Europol. The complaint concerns Europol’s reply to a request for public access to documents. The complainant requested access to ‘any documents which relate to Europol's activities targeting the disruption of criminal networks organizing clandestine journeys in small boats towards the United Kingdom’. In particular, he requested access to:

1. Minutes of meetings between Europol and national authorities of the United Kingdom, Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands regarding counter-smuggling activities towards networks organising clandestine journeys in small boats towards the United Kingdom;

2. Europol Intelligence Notifications and Investigation Initiation Documents regarding organised criminal smuggling networks in the Channel; and

3. Exchanges between Europol and Frontex (documents including but not limited to emails, minutes of meetings, attachments etc.) related to counter-smuggling operations and/or migration management activities.

Following the complainant’s initial request, Europol identified 197 documents as falling within the scope of the request. It refused access to all of these documents, relying on several exceptions set out in Europol’s Management Board decision on Public Access.[1] In particular, Europol argued that public access to these documents would undermine the protection of the public interest as regards public security and international relations. In addition, Europol argued that disclosure would undermine the protection of the privacy and integrity of the individuals mentioned in the documents. Finally, Europol argued that a number of documents are marked with a specific handling code and disclosure would violate restrictions set by the sender.

Europol confirmed its refusal following a confirmatory application by the complainant, who is dissatisfied with this outcome. 

We have decided to open an inquiry into the complaint against Europol’s decision to refuse access.

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 documents at issue. I would be grateful if Europol could provide us with copies of the minutes of meetings with national governments and of the exchanges with Frontex that Europol identified, preferably in electronic format by 21 March 2025.  In addition, we would ask that Europol provide us with a list of the SIENA messages it identified to be in the scope of the complainant’s request by that date, in order to allow us to select a sample of these notifications for our review. Should any consultations with Member States or third parties on the possible disclosure of any of these documents have taken place, we would ask Europol to provide us with copies of these exchanges as well.   

The documents subject to the public access request will be treated confidentially, along with any other material Europol 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. Information or documents that Europol considers to be confidential will not be disclosed to the complainant or any other person without the prior agreement of the Commission.[2]

Europol’s position has been set out in its confirmatory reply. However, should Europol wish to provide additional views, to be taken into account by the European 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, 4 April 2025. In particular, we would be grateful if Europol could:

• elaborate on how it applied the international relations exception in Article 4(1)(a), third indent, of Regulation 1049/2001[3] (applied to Europol documents via Article 4(1)(a), third indent, of the Management Board Decision on Public Access) to its exchanges with Frontex. In this regard, it would be useful if Europol could comment on the complainant’s argument in the confirmatory application that “disclosure of documents regarding exchanges between Europol and Frontex cannot undermine Europol’s international relations as Frontex is a fellow EU agency”; and
• share additional information on its handling codes for sensitive information and, more specifically, on the handling code H2 concerning SIENA messages.

If necessary, we may request a meeting between Europol and the Ombudsman inquiry team at a later stage.

The inquiries officer responsible for this case is Mr Markus Spoerer.

Yours sincerely,

Rosita Hickey
Director of Inquiries

Strasbourg, 17/03/2025

 

[1] DECISION OF THE MANAGEMENT BOARD OF EUROPOL laying down the rules for applying Regulation 1049/2001 with regard to Europol documents, 13 December 2016, https://www.europol.europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/decision_of_the_mb_rules_applying_reg_1049_2001.pdf.

[2] Please clearly mark such material ‘Confidential’. Encrypted emails can be sent to our dedicated mailbox. In case the documents contain EU Classified Information (EUCI), please contact the responsible inquiries officer beforehand.