Date: Monday, 08 December 2025

Remote inspection arrangements

The inspection was carried out electronically. The Commission sent the documents to be inspected to the Ombudsman by e-mail.

Parties involved

European Commission

- Secretariat-General

European Ombudsman

- Tina Nilsson, Head of the Case-handling Unit

- Pablo González Pérez, Inquiries Officer - Case-handling Unit

Purpose of the inspection of documents

The purpose of the inspection of documents was for the Ombudsman inquiry team to examine the timeliness of the Commission’s actions when dealing with the assessment of infringement complaint CHAP(2018)03728 and when conducting the EU Pilot dialogue with Spain in the context of the said complaint.

The Ombudsman’s inquiry team asked the Commission to provide a copy of its full file concerning the infringement complaint CHAP(2018)03728, including copies of any internal assessment made of the infringement complaint (including documents that may not have been registered) and copies of all correspondence and relevant documents (including documents that may not have been registered) exchanged between the Commission and Spain since the submission of the infringement complaint in November 2018 (including correspondence and documents exchanged in the context of the EU Pilot dialogue launched in April 2021).

Documents inspected

The Commission provided the Ombudsman inquiry team with the documents listed below. The Commission asked the Ombudsman to treat all documents confidentially. The Ombudsman will not disclose any information identified by the Commission as confidential, neither to the complainant nor to any other person outside the Ombudsman’s Office, without the Commission’s prior consent.

1. Letter of 18 April 2021 sent by DG GROW to Spain in the context of the EU Pilot dialogue EUP(2021)9949 (confidential);

2. Letter of 30 July 2021 and its four annexes sent by Spain to DG GROW in the context of the EU Pilot dialogue EUP(2021)9949 (confidential);

3. Letter of 22 November 2021 sent by DG GROW to Spain in the context of the EU Pilot dialogue EUP(2021)9949 (confidential);

4. Letter of 20 December 2021 sent by Spain to DG GROW in the context of the EU Pilot dialogue EUP(2021)9949 (confidential);

5. E-mail thread containing e-mails exchanged between representatives of DG MOVE between 31 May 2022 and 1 June 2022 and between DG GROW and DG MOVE between 7 June 2022 and 20 September 2022 (confidential);

6. Internal note written by DG GROW, dated 27 October 2022 and entitled “EU Pilot 2021/9949 - Spanish maritime “concessions”” (confidential);

7. E-mail thread containing e-mails exchanged between DG GROW and DG MOVE on 6 December 2022 (confidential);

8. Reply of 20 July 2023 from Spain to the letter of formal notice sent by the Commission on 15 February 2023 in the context of the infringement proceedings INFR(2022)4121 (confidential);

9. E-mail sent by one representative of DG GROW to other representatives of DG GROW on 8 August 2023 (confidential);

10. E-mail thread containing e-mails exchanged between DG GROW and DG MOVE between 19 December 2024 and 12 May 2025 (confidential).

11. Letter of 1 December 2025 sent by DG MOVE to the complainant (partly confidential vis-à-vis third parties).

 

Brussels, 8 December 2025

Tina Nilsson                                                                                                                                      Pablo González Pérez

Head of Case-handling Unit                                                                                                              Inquiries Officer