Secretariat‐General Head of Unit - C2 Ethics, Good Administration & Relations with the European Ombudsman European Commission

 

 

Dear Mr X,

The Ombudsman has received a complaint against the Commission. The Ombudsman has asked me to deal with the case on her behalf.

The complaint concerns the Commission‘s failure to reply within the deadlines established by Regulation 1049/2001 to the complainant’s confirmatory application in relation to the request for public access to documents registered under EASE 2024/1102. The Commission extended the time limit for its reply to 7 June 2024, but has not provided the complainant with a reply within the extended time limit.

We would suggest, if you have not done so in the meantime, that you now reply to the complainant and inform us when it is done. We would be grateful if you could send your reply as soon as possible, and not later than 3 September 2024.

Please note that, at this stage, our inquiry is focused on securing the confirmatory decision on the complainant’s request. However, should the delay persist, we might need to ask the Commission to share a copy of the relevant documents with us.

Attached to this e‐mail, please find a copy of the complaint. Please be aware that the complaint concerns also an additional issue, which we have decided to handle separately. This inquiry only concerns the handling of the access to documents request. The Ombudsman has not yet taken a view on whether to open an inquiry into the other matter raised by the complainant.

Yours sincerely, 

Rosita Hickey

Director of inquiries

Strasbourg, 09/09/2024