Reply Ms Moeller Schilder.pdf

OCM(2023)8176 - 13/03/2023
Directorate D - Legal, Resources and Partnerships
Ms Lise MØLLER SCHILDER
The Director
Vestre Kvartergade 2A, 2650
Hvidovre, Denmark
E-mail: ask+request-12585-
xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx
Via e-mail only
Brussels
olaf.d.2(2023)8514
Subject:
Your application for public access to documents
Dear Ms Møller Schilder,
We refer to your applications dated 9 February 2023 for public access to documents under
Regulation  (EC)  No  1049/20011,  registered  in  OLAF  under  reference  numbers
Ares(2023)1036377,  Ares(2023)1036130  and    Ares(2023)1035862.  By  email  dated  15
February 2023, you indicated your postal address. This was necessary for registering and
handling  your  request  in  line  with  the  procedural  requirements.  By  email  dated  3  March
2023, we informed you that OLAF was not in a position to complete the handling of your
application  within  the  time  limit  of  15  working  days  as  an  extended  time  limit  was
necessary for consultations with other services.
1. Scope of your application
You have requested public access to the following documents concerning:
- ‘cases reviewed by the European Anti-Fraud Office, pertaining to illegal use of EU funds
[..] from the allocated funds of the Eastern Partnership programme’ in Moldova, Ukraine
and Georgia.
2. Preliminary remarks
OLAF wishes to recall, firstly, that it is legally bound to treat all information it obtains during
its investigations as confidential and subject to professional secrecy, in particular pursuant to
Article 339 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, Article 10 of Regulation
1 OJ L145, 31.05.2001, page 43.
OLAF  Rue Joseph II, 30  B-1049 Brussels (Belgium)  Tel: +32 (0)2 299 11 11  Web: http://ec.europa.eu/anti_fraud
Office: J-30 06/069 Tel: +32 (0)2 2962302 E-mail: xxxxx.xxxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx

(EU, Euratom) No 883/20032 and Article 17 of the Staff Regulations.
3. Assessment of your application
We regret to inform you that OLAF is not in the position to confirm or deny the existence
of  the  documents  and  cases  as  such  information  would  undermine  the  protection  of
purpose of inspections, investigations and audits in accordance with the third indent of the
Article 4(2) of Regulation 1049/2001.
The  General  Court  has  recognised3  the  existence  of  a  general  presumption  of  non-
accessibility  under  which  disclosure  to  the  public  under  Regulation  1049/2001  of
documents  related  to  OLAF  investigations  could  fundamentally  undermine  the  objectives
of the investigative activities both now and in the future. The presumption is based on the
consideration  that,  to  determine  the  scope  of  Regulation  1049/2001,  account  must  be
taken  of  relevant  sectoral  rules  governing  the  administrative  procedure  under  which  the
documents requested under Regulation 1049/2001 were gathered4. Regulation 883/2013,
which governs OLAF's administrative activity, provides for an obligation of confidentiality
with regard to all information gathered during investigations.
The protection of confidentiality of information in the legal framework applicable to OLAF
investigations  aims,  on  the  one  hand,  at  safeguarding  the  successful  conduct  of  an
investigation in the public interest and, on the other hand, at safeguarding the legitimate
interests  of  the  individuals,  so  that  the  information  they  provide  is  used  only  for  the
purposes of the investigation. The protection of confidentiality extends to closed cases. In
particular,  it  is  constant  that  the  protection  of  OLAF’s  investigations  extends  to  their
follow-up, to the extent that that follow-up takes place within a reasonable period5.
4. Confirmatory application
In accordance with Article 7(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, you are entitled to make a
confirmatory  application  requesting  OLAF  to  review  this  position.  Pursuant  to  Article  4  of
Commission Decision 2001/937/EC, ECSC, Euratom, such a confirmatory application should
be  addressed  within  15  working  days  upon  receipt  of  this  letter  to  the  Director  General  of
OLAF.
Any confirmatory application to OLAF should be sent to the following address:
Mr Ville ITÄLÄ
Director General OLAF
European Commission
Rue Joseph II, 30
B-1049 BRUXELLES
or by email to: xxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx
2 OJ L 248, 18.9.2013, page 1.
3 Judgments of 26 May 2016, IMG v Commission, T-110/15, ECLI:EU:T:2016:322, paragraphs 28-39; and of 1
September 2021, Homoki v Commission, T-517/19, EU:T:2021:529, paragraph 55.
4 Judgments of 28 June 2012, Agrofert Holding v Commission, C-477/10 P, EU:C:2012:394, paragraphs 50-59;
of 29 June 2010, Commission v Technische Glaswerke Ilmenau, C-139/07 P, EU:C:2010:376, paragraph 55; and
of 26 May 2016, IMG v Commission, cited above, paragraphs 29-34.
5 Judgments of 26 May 2016, IMG v Commission, cited above, paragraphs 33 and 35; of 6 July 2006, Franchet
and Byk v Commission, T-391/03 and T-70/04, EU:T:2006:190, paragraphs 108-113; of 26 April 2016, Strack v
Commission, T-221/08, EU:T:2016:242, paragraph 162; and of 1 September 2021, Homoki v Commission, cited
above, paragraph 63.
2

Your attention is drawn to the privacy statement below.
Yours sincerely,
Signed Electronically
on 13/03/2023 at 18:44 by KNEUER Petra,
Director
Privacy Notice
Pursuant to Articles 15 and 16 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 on the protection of natural persons with regard to
the processing of personal data by Union Institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and of the free movement of
such data, please be informed that your personal data are stored in OLAF’s electronic and paper files concerning
this  matter  for  the  purposes  of  ensuring  conformity  with  the  requirements  of  Regulation  1049/2001  and
Commission Decision 2001/937/EC.
The categories of your personal data being processed are identification and contact data and any other personal
data  provided  by  or  to  you  in  relation  to  your  request.  Officials  within  OLAF  and  other  Commission  services
responsible for dealing with requests for access to documents, and third parties, within the meaning of Articles
4(4) and 3(b) of Regulation 1049/2001, and Article 5 of Commission Decision 2001/937/EC, have access to your
personal  data.  Personal  data  that  appear  on  the  requested  document  may  only  be  disclosed  to  the  applicant
following  an  assessment  under  Article  9(b)  of  Regulation  (EU)  2018/1725.  There  is  no  automated  decision
process by OLAF concerning any data subject.
All  documentation  concerning  OLAF  investigations  are  stored  in  the  relevant  OLAF  investigation  files  and  are
retained for a maximum of 15 years. Thus personal data contained in requests for public access to documents
concerning OLAF investigations are retained for a maximum of 15 years.
You have the right to request access to your personal data, rectification or erasure of the data, or restriction of
their  processing.  Any  request  to  exercise  one  of  those  rights  should  be  directed  to  the  Controller  (OLAF-FMB-
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx).  You  may  contact  the  Data  Protection  Officer  of  OLAF  (OLAF-FMB-
xxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx) with regard to issues related to the processing of your personal data under Regulation (EU)
2018/1725.
You have the right to have recourse to the European Data Protection Supervisor (xxxx@xxxx.xxxxxx.xx) if you
consider that your rights under Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 have been infringed as a result of the processing of
your personal data by OLAF.
The complete privacy statements for this and all other OLAF personal data processing operations are available at
http://ec.europa.eu/anti_fraud.
3