Head of Unit - C2 Secretariat‐General European Commission

 

Dear Mr X,

The Ombudsman has received a complaint against the European Commission.

The complaint concerns the Commission’s refusal to disclose documents it obtained from a US-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) in the context of its preparation of a legislative proposal on preventing and combatting child sexual abuse.

The Commission has identified 20 documents. It granted the complainant full access to five documents and refused to give access to (parts of) the remaining documents, relying on the need to protect personal data, the need to protect the commercial interests of the NGO concerned and the need to protect the public interest as regards public security.

The complainant is dissatisfied with the Commission’s refusal to disclose (parts of) documents 13, 14, 17 and 20, based on the need to protect commercial interests. He considers that the relevant exception under Regulation 1049/2001 was applied too broadly. He also argues that there is an overriding public interest in disclosure, in that the technical information provided by the NGO concerned will allow for a critical assessment of the Commission’s legislative proposal.

We have decided to open an inquiry into the complaint against the Commission’s decision to refuse access to parts of documents 13, 14 and 17 and to document 20 in its 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 documents at issue in the complaint as well as any third-party exchanges the Commission had with the NGO concerned in relation to the complainant’s access request. We would be grateful if the Commission could provide these documents, preferably in electronic format through encrypted e-mail,[1] by 19 October 2023.  

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 confirmatory response dated 3 October 2023. 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 16 November 2023.

The inquiries officer responsible for the case is Michaela Gehring.

Yours sincerely,

Rosita Hickey
Director of Inquiries

Strasbourg, 12/10/2023

 

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