Executive Director ENISA / Coordinator EUAN

 

Dear Mr X,

I have decided to open a wide-ranging own-initiative inquiry into how some EU agencies, including yours, handle revolving door cases concerning their staff members. These include senior and managerial staff members, and can also include Members of the Management Board[1]. In conducting this inquiry, I will draw on relevant developments in this area, such as the useful measures that the European Banking Authority introduced following a related Ombudsman inquiry.^[2]

Managing revolving door cases has been described as ”the greatest challenge of all conflict of interest issues”. ^[3] While the right to engage in work is a fundamental right and every case should be examined individually, the public needs to be sure that staff in EU agencies, and especially those who have occupied senior management positions or have been Board Members, work solely in the public interest, and not to further any personal or other interests.

As a first step, I would invite your Agency to provide my Office with:

1. A list of cases dealt with by your Agency, covering the period from 2023 to the end of June 2025, regarding authorisations granted, refusals issued and/or restrictions imposed, concerning:

• post-mandate activities of (former) Members of the Management Board;
• post-service activities of (former) senior and managerial and other staff members[4];
• external occupational activities of staff members, to be undertaken while on unpaid leave on personal grounds^[5].

2. Copies of applicable policies that are in force, for example the:

• rules or decisions, if any, giving guidance on the application of the EU Staff Regulations on the issue of intended post-service activities of (former) staff members, as well as on external occupational activities while on unpaid leave;
• rules on intended post-mandate activities of (former) Management Board Members (such as codes of conduct), if any;
• criteria for, and guidance on, the assessment of post-employment restrictions and prohibitions, if any; and
• rules related to mitigating measures for staff members who have notified their intention to take up employment in the private sector, but who are still in public office, such as withdrawing access rights to non-public information.

I would be grateful if you could provide my Office with the list and copies of the above requested documents within one month of receiving this letter.

Coordinator EUAN

ENISA is currently the chair of the EU Agencies Network (EUAN). Could you, in your capacity as EUAN chair, please share with your fellow EUAN members that any Agency that is not addressed directly by the Ombudsman should feel free to submit information that is of interest in the context of this inquiry, to the European Ombudsman pro-actively?

Should your staff have any queries, they may contact the responsible Inquiries Officers in my office, Ms Ludovica Aquino or Mr Koen Roovers.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Yours sincerely,

Teresa Anjinho
European Ombudsman

Strasbourg, 10/07/2025

 

The same opening letter has been sent to the following agencies:

 

• European Banking Authority (EBA)
• European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA)
• Single Resolution Board (SRB)
• European Medicines Agency (EMA)
• European Food Safety Authority (EFSA)
• European Chemicals Agency (ECHA)
• European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA)
• European Defence Agency (EDA)
• Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER)
• Agency for Support for Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC Office)
• Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA)
• European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT)
• European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO)
• Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA).

 

 

[1] To the extent that the Agency assesses post-mandate activities of Management Board Members that are notified.

[2] See: https://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/en/decision/en/135141.

[3] ‘The Effectiveness of Conflict of Interest Policies in the EU- Member States’, study commissioned by the EP’s JURI committee, see: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=IPOL_STU%282020%29651697.

[4] For example, executive directors/chief executives, directors, senior advisors, heads of division and unit.

[5] In accordance with Articles 11 and 17 of the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants, see: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/1962/31(1)/2014-05-01/eng.