Secretariat‐General Head of Unit - C2 European Commission

 

 

Dear Mr X,

The Ombudsman has received a complaint against the European Commission from Right To Know, an Irish not-for-profit organisation.

We have decided to open an inquiry into this complaint against the Commission’s refusal to give public access to documents concerning the environmental impact of the Irish forestry programme under Regulation 1049/2001.

The Commission identified 17 documents concerning two state aid investigations as falling within the scope of the complainant’s request. The Commission granted access to one document but refused to disclose the remaining 16 documents, which concerned exchanges it had with the Irish government. In doing so, it invoked an exception under Regulation 1049/2001, arguing disclosure could undermine its state aid investigations.

Regulation 1049/2001 states that applications for access should be handled promptly. It is in line with this principle that the Ombudsman also seeks to deal with cases such as this as quickly as possible.

As a first step, we consider it necessary to review the documents at issue in the complainant’s request. I would be grateful if your services could provide us with copies of all 17 documents at issue, preferably in electronic format through encrypted e-mail,[1] by 28 February 2024.

The documents subject to the public access request will be treated confidentially, along with any other material the Commission chooses to share with us that it marks confidential. Documents of this kind will be handled and stored in line with this confidential status and will be deleted from the Ombudsman’s files shortly after the inquiry has ended.

The Commission’s position has been set out in its confirmatory response dated 14 February 2024. However, should the Commission wish to provide additional views, to be taken into account by the European Ombudsman during this inquiry, they should be provided to us within fifteen working days of receipt of this letter, that is, by 12 March 2024.

The inquiries officer responsible for the case is Mr Nicholas Hernanz.

Yours sincerely,

Rosita Hickey
Director of Inquiries

Strasbourg, 20/02/2024

 

[1] Encrypted emails can be sent to our dedicated mailbox.