Dear Sir or Madam,

We are coming back to you concerning the Commission’s failure to reply to the complainant’s confirmatory application in the above case. The Commission had extended the time limit for its reply to 15 February 2023, but did not provide the complainant with a reply within the extended time limit.

We asked the Commission, on 2 June 2023, to reply to the complainant’s confirmatory application by 20 June 2023, and to inform us when it is done.

Following two reminders, the Commission informed us on 29 June 2023 that it is currently working on the treatment of the documents concerned and their format in order to proceed with the Commission’s analysis and possible third party consultations.

Given the ongoing delay in replying to the complainant´s confirmatory application, we now consider it necessary to inspect the documents at issue in the complainant’s request.

We would be grateful to receive copies of the requested documents, along with any documentation relating to the third party consultations (to the extent that it already exists), preferably in electronic format through encrypted e-mail^[1], by 25 August 2023.

Please feel free to contact Mr Nicholas Hernanz, who is in charge of this inquiry, if you have any question.

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 European Ombudsman’s files shortly after the inquiry has ended.

Yours sincerely,

Rosita Hickey
Director of Inquiries

Strasbourg, 10/07/2023

 

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