Executive Director European Food Safety Authority

 

Dear Dr X,

Thank you for your letter of 31 March 2023, in which you informed me about EFSA’s progress in implementing the measures it committed to take in reply to my recommendations in the above case, with a view to improving how EFSA handles requests for public access to documents. I very much welcome EFSA’s efforts to implement fully this new approach by the end of July 2023.

In this regard, it is encouraging to note that EFSA has now developed a guidance document for those interested in requesting public access to documents held by EFSA, and that it organised a webinar to present further information on that guidance document. I would be grateful if your staff could inform my Office once the guidance document and the recordings of the webinar are published on EFSA’s website.

I also welcome EFSA’s commitment to update its Management Board Decision on the practical arrangements for implementing Regulation 1049/2001, and I would be grateful if EFSA could keep my Office informed about any progress in this regard.

Finally, I would like to thank your staff for meeting with my inquiry team on 22 March and for presenting EFSA’s new IT tool for handling access to document requests. My inquiry team considered the meeting very useful and I welcome EFSA’s proposal to update my Office by the end of October on how the tool is working in practice.

Yours sincerely, 

Emily O'Reilly
European Ombudsman

Strasbourg, 21/04/2023