The complainant sought public access from the European Commission to a document concerning the export of breeding cattle to non-EU countries. The Commission granted access to only parts of the document concerned, despite having previously provided full access to a similar document. The complainant asked the Commission to review its decision. The Commission failed to take a decision by the applicable deadline, which is considered an implicit refusal of access under the EU's rules on public access to documents.

In the course of the inquiry, the Commission gave the complainant unrestricted access to the requested document, settling the matter. The Ombudsman therefore closed the inquiry, but called on the Commission to avoid similar delays in responding to such requests in future.