Access to documents requests in 2011 and 2012

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Access Info Europe and Transparency International

Dear Sir/Madam,

In line with the right of access to EU documents, and further to ECA Decision 12/2005, we (Transparency International EU Office & Access Info Europe) are hereby writing to request access to all documents/records providing a detailed list of all the access to documents requests received by the European Court of Auditors in the calendar years 2011 and 2012, which should indicate in particular:

a) The subject of the request made (i.e. the specific document(s)/record(s) requested);

b) The (type of) requestor;

c) How the request was submitted/received (online form, direct email, via www.AsktheEU.org, phone, mail or other);

d) The initial decision on the request, including the basis upon which any refusals to grant access were made (prior to any confirmatory applications);

e) Whether the institution consulted with third parties (including other institutions and outside parties) prior to responding to the request;

f) Whether or not the initial refusal or partial refusal resulted in a confirmatory application;

g) Whether the confirmatory application was successful or partially successful (ie. it resulted in a partial revision of the initial response), or whether the confirmatory application resulted in a confirmation of the initial denial;

h) Whether or not partial access was granted to the documents;

i) Whether or not access to the entirety of the document requested was denied;

j) The time taken to deal with each request (i.e. including confirmatory applications, where applicable);

k) The number of times the deadline was extended, the amount of time it was extended for, and the reasons for the extension;

l) Whether the requester was asked to clarify or narrow their request, or to provide more information about themselves or about the reasons for their request.

Should an overview record listing the above-mentioned information for each individual request not be held by your institution, we would like to request the individual files related to all access to documents requests received in the calendar years 2011 and 2012 (i.e. the administrative correspondence providing insights to (a)-(l) above).

May we kindly request that the documents be provided in electronic format; where database records are provided, please provide these in an open, accessible format.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Yours sincerely,
Access Info Europe and Transparency International EU

Der Europäische Rechnungshof

Dear Access Omfp Eirp[e and Transparency International EU,

Thank you for your email of 11 July 2013, where you request
documents/records providing a detailed list of all the access to documents
requests received by the European Court of Auditors in the calendar years
2011 and 2012.   Under the terms of Decision No 12-2005 of the Court of
Auditors regarding public access to Court documents you will receive a
reply within 15 working days, that is by the end of the business day of 01
August 2013.

Kindest regards,

Aidas Palubinskas

From:        Access Info Europe and Transparency International EU
<[FOI #651 email]>
To:        information requests at European Court of Auditors
<[European Court of Auditors request email]>
Date:        11/07/2013 14:10
Subject:        access to information request - Access to documents
requests in 2011 and 2012

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

     Dear Sir/Madam,
   
    In line with the right of access to EU documents, and further to
    ECA Decision 12/2005, we (Transparency International EU Office &
    Access Info Europe) are hereby writing to request access to all
    documents/records providing a detailed list of all the access to
    documents requests received by the European Court of Auditors in
    the calendar years 2011 and 2012, which should indicate in
    particular:
   
    a) The subject of the request made (i.e. the specific
    document(s)/record(s) requested);
   
    b) The (type of) requestor;
   
    c) How the request was submitted/received (online form, direct
    email, via [1]www.AsktheEU.org, phone, mail or other);
   
    d) The initial decision on the request, including the basis upon
    which any refusals to grant access were made (prior to any
    confirmatory applications);
   
    e) Whether the institution consulted with third parties (including
    other institutions and outside parties) prior to responding to the
    request;
   
    f) Whether or not the initial refusal or partial refusal resulted
    in a confirmatory application;
   
    g) Whether the confirmatory application was successful or partially
    successful (ie. it resulted in a partial revision of the initial
    response), or whether the confirmatory application resulted in a
    confirmation of the initial denial;
   
    h) Whether or not partial access was granted to the documents;
   
    i) Whether or not access to the entirety of the document requested
    was denied;
   
    j) The time taken to deal with each request (i.e. including
    confirmatory applications, where applicable);
   
    k) The number of times the deadline was extended, the amount of
    time it was extended for, and the reasons for the extension;
   
    l) Whether the requester was asked to clarify or narrow their
    request, or to provide more information about themselves or about
    the reasons for their request.
   
    Should an overview record listing the above-mentioned information
    for each individual request not be held by your institution, we
    would like to request the individual files related to all access to
    documents requests received in the calendar years 2011 and 2012
    (i.e. the administrative correspondence providing insights to
    (a)-(l) above).
   
    May we kindly request that the documents be provided in electronic
    format; where database records are provided, please provide these
    in an open, accessible format.
   
    Thank you for your cooperation.
   
    Yours sincerely,
    Access Info Europe and Transparency International EU
   
    -------------------------------------------------------------------
   
    This is a request for access to information under Article 15 of the
    TFEU and, where applicable, Regulation 1049/2001 which has been
    sent via the AsktheEU.org website.
   
    Please kindly use this email address for all replies to this
    request: [FOI #651 email]
   
    If [European Court of Auditors request email] is the wrong address for information
    requests to European Court of Auditors, please tell the
    AsktheEU.org team on email [email address]
   
    This message and all replies from European Court of Auditors will
    be published on the AsktheEU.org website. For more information see
    our dedicated page for EU public officials at
    [2]http://www.asktheeu.org/en/help/officers
   
   
   
    -------------------------------------------------------------------

**********************
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sender immediately.

**********************
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References

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1. file:///tmp/www.AsktheEU.org
2. http://www.asktheeu.org/en/help/officers

Der Europäische Rechnungshof

Dear Access Info Europe and Transparency International EU,

 We are unable to provide you with the documents you requested, as they
are not held by the European Court of Auditors, i.e. a detailed list of
access to documents requests does not exist.

 According to Article 9(4) of the Court's decision regarding public access
to the Court's documents, the Court is not obliged to compile information
at the request of the applicant.

We draw your attention to the fact that, pursuant to Article 7 of Decision
No. 12/2005, you may make a request for reconsideration within 15 working
days of receiving this reply, and ask the ECA to reconsider its position.

Kindest regards,

Aidas Palubinskas

From:        Access Info Europe and Transparency International EU
<[FOI #651 email]>
To:        information requests at European Court of Auditors
<[European Court of Auditors request email]>
Date:        11/07/2013 14:10
Subject:        access to information request - Access to documents
requests in 2011 and 2012

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

     Dear Sir/Madam,
   
    In line with the right of access to EU documents, and further to
    ECA Decision 12/2005, we (Transparency International EU Office &
    Access Info Europe) are hereby writing to request access to all
    documents/records providing a detailed list of all the access to
    documents requests received by the European Court of Auditors in
    the calendar years 2011 and 2012, which should indicate in
    particular:
   
    a) The subject of the request made (i.e. the specific
    document(s)/record(s) requested);
   
    b) The (type of) requestor;
   
    c) How the request was submitted/received (online form, direct
    email, via [1]www.AsktheEU.org, phone, mail or other);
   
    d) The initial decision on the request, including the basis upon
    which any refusals to grant access were made (prior to any
    confirmatory applications);
   
    e) Whether the institution consulted with third parties (including
    other institutions and outside parties) prior to responding to the
    request;
   
    f) Whether or not the initial refusal or partial refusal resulted
    in a confirmatory application;
   
    g) Whether the confirmatory application was successful or partially
    successful (ie. it resulted in a partial revision of the initial
    response), or whether the confirmatory application resulted in a
    confirmation of the initial denial;
   
    h) Whether or not partial access was granted to the documents;
   
    i) Whether or not access to the entirety of the document requested
    was denied;
   
    j) The time taken to deal with each request (i.e. including
    confirmatory applications, where applicable);
   
    k) The number of times the deadline was extended, the amount of
    time it was extended for, and the reasons for the extension;
   
    l) Whether the requester was asked to clarify or narrow their
    request, or to provide more information about themselves or about
    the reasons for their request.
   
    Should an overview record listing the above-mentioned information
    for each individual request not be held by your institution, we
    would like to request the individual files related to all access to
    documents requests received in the calendar years 2011 and 2012
    (i.e. the administrative correspondence providing insights to
    (a)-(l) above).
   
    May we kindly request that the documents be provided in electronic
    format; where database records are provided, please provide these
    in an open, accessible format.
   
    Thank you for your cooperation.
   
    Yours sincerely,
    Access Info Europe and Transparency International EU
   
    -------------------------------------------------------------------
   
    This is a request for access to information under Article 15 of the
    TFEU and, where applicable, Regulation 1049/2001 which has been
    sent via the AsktheEU.org website.
   
    Please kindly use this email address for all replies to this
    request: [FOI #651 email]
   
    If [European Court of Auditors request email] is the wrong address for information
    requests to European Court of Auditors, please tell the
    AsktheEU.org team on email [email address]
   
    This message and all replies from European Court of Auditors will
    be published on the AsktheEU.org website. For more information see
    our dedicated page for EU public officials at
    [2]http://www.asktheeu.org/en/help/officers
   
   
   
    -------------------------------------------------------------------

**********************
Disclaimer: If you have received this message in error, please contact the
sender immediately.

**********************
Avertissement : Si ce message vous a été adressé par erreur, nous vous
prions de vous mettre immédiatement en rapport avec l’expéditeur.

References

Visible links
1. file:///tmp/www.AsktheEU.org
2. http://www.asktheeu.org/en/help/officers

Access Info Europe and Transparency International

Dear Mr Palubinskas,

Following your refusal to our request for access to documents containing a list of requests for the access to documents and the answers/decisions given/made by the Court of Auditors for the years 2011-12, and following our telephone conversation in which you clarified that extracting the individual files that we requested alternatively would be an excessive task given the lack of a separate centralised register for this type of documents, we would propose a solution in line with Article 6.4 of Decision No 12/2005 of the Court of Auditors, including the prolongation of the time period for a reply by 15 working days

We wanted to ask whether it would be helpful for you if we narrowed down or adapted our request, e.g. to request documents relating to access to documents requests received by the Court of Auditors in the past year (for instance 1 July 2012 to 30 June 2013).

This request is meant to provide us a more objective and detailed view on the scope of requests and decisions to grant/refuse access received by all EU institutions, but we are open to discuss potential options for modification or to clarify what we are looking for with each institution, understanding that all have different ways of storing the documents and information we requested. (The Transparency International EU Office is looking at these issues in the context of our study on the integrity of EU Institutions.)

Thank you for your attention and we look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,
Mark Perera

on behalf of
Access Info Europe and the Transparency International EU Office

Der Europäische Rechnungshof

Dear Mark Perera,

We hereby acknowledge the receipt of your email today, which we consider
as your request for reconsideration of your request for access to
documents, which we received from you on 11 July and replied on 22 July
2003.

Please be informed that due to the vacation period the initial deadline of
15 working days (ending on 26 August 2013) must be exceptionnally extended
by another 15 working days pursuant to Article 8(3) of Decision 12-2005 of
the Court of Auditors regarding public access to Court documents.

You will receive a reply by the end of the business day on 16 September
 2013.

Kind regards,
ECA Info

From:        Access Info Europe and Transparency International EU
<[FOI #651 email]>
To:        [European Court of Auditors request email]
Date:        02/08/2013 14:49
Subject:        Internal review of access to information request - Access
to documents requests in 2011 and 2012

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Mr Palubinskas,

Following your refusal to our request for access to documents containing a
list of requests for the access to documents and the answers/decisions
given/made by the Court of Auditors for the years 2011-12, and following
our telephone conversation in which you clarified that extracting the
individual files that we requested alternatively would be an excessive
task given the lack of a separate centralised register for this type of
documents, we would propose a solution in line with Article 6.4 of
Decision No 12/2005 of the Court of Auditors, including the prolongation
of the time period for a reply by 15 working days

We wanted to ask whether it would be helpful for you if we narrowed down
or adapted our request, e.g. to request documents relating to access to
documents requests received by the Court of Auditors in the past year (for
instance 1 July 2012 to 30 June 2013).

This request is meant to provide us a more objective and detailed view on
the scope of requests and decisions to grant/refuse access received by all
EU institutions, but we are open to discuss potential options for
modification or to clarify what we are looking for with each institution,
understanding that all have different ways of storing the documents and
information we requested.  (The Transparency International EU Office is
looking at these issues in the context of our study on the integrity of EU
Institutions.)

Thank you for your attention and we look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,
Mark Perera

on behalf of
Access Info Europe and the Transparency International EU Office

Zitate anzeigen

Der Europäische Rechnungshof

Dear Mr. Perera,

Thank you for your request.  While it is related to your previous request,
it cannot be held to be a request to review the previous decision, as you
have modified the request.  You have now requested documents relating to
access to documents requests received by the Court of Auditors in the past
year (for instance 1 July 2012 to 30 June 2013).

We are unable to provide you with the documents you requested, as they are
not held by the European Court of Auditors, i.e. a detailed list of
 access to documents requests does not exist. According to Article 9(4) of
the Court's decision regarding public access  to the Court's documents,
the Court is not obliged to compile information at the request of the
applicant.

We draw your attention to the fact that, pursuant to Article 7 of Decision
 No. 12/2005, you may make a request for reconsideration within 15 working
days of receiving this reply, and ask the ECA to reconsider its position.

For your information, we are presently looking at the options regarding
how access to information requests could be reported on.  In the future,
if we have something akin to a register, you will, naturally, have access
to it.

Kindest regards,

Aidas Palubinskas

From:        Access Info Europe and Transparency International EU
<[FOI #651 email]>
To:        [European Court of Auditors request email]
Date:        02/08/2013 14:49
Subject:        Internal review of access to information request - Access
to documents requests in 2011 and 2012

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Mr Palubinskas,

Following your refusal to our request for access to documents containing a
list of requests for the access to documents and the answers/decisions
given/made by the Court of Auditors for the years 2011-12, and following
our telephone conversation in which you clarified that extracting the
individual files that we requested alternatively would be an excessive
task given the lack of a separate centralised register for this type of
documents, we would propose a solution in line with Article 6.4 of
Decision No 12/2005 of the Court of Auditors, including the prolongation
of the time period for a reply by 15 working days

We wanted to ask whether it would be helpful for you if we narrowed down
or adapted our request, e.g. to request documents relating to access to
documents requests received by the Court of Auditors in the past year (for
instance 1 July 2012 to 30 June 2013).

This request is meant to provide us a more objective and detailed view on
the scope of requests and decisions to grant/refuse access received by all
EU institutions, but we are open to discuss potential options for
modification or to clarify what we are looking for with each institution,
understanding that all have different ways of storing the documents and
information we requested.  (The Transparency International EU Office is
looking at these issues in the context of our study on the integrity of EU
Institutions.)

Thank you for your attention and we look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,
Mark Perera

on behalf of
Access Info Europe and the Transparency International EU Office

Zitate anzeigen

Access Info Europe and Transparency International

Dear Mr Palubinskas,

Thank you for your reply to our message of 2 August. We are hereby writing to request reconsideration of the Court's position, under Art. 7 of ECA Decision No. 12/2005, with regard to our narrowed request for access to the individual files related to all access to documents requests received by the Court in the period 1 July 2012 to 30 June 2013. We ask you kindly to forward this to the President of the Court.

Refusal to both the original request and our narrowed request was predicated upon the non-existence of an overview record (or 'detailed list', as indicated in your responses) of access to documents requests. However our original request anticipated that in the case that no overview record exists, we would wish to receive the individual files related to requests made. Self-evidently, these files must exist, provided access to documents requests have been made. In the spirit of Art. 6.4 of ECA Decision No. 12/2005, we sought to narrow this request to a single twelve-month period in view of the potential workload involved in gathering these files. We are duly seeking reconsideration of the refusal to grant access to these files: moreover, the files requested, should not per se fall under the exceptions listed in Art. 4 of Decision No. 12/2005.

We remain available to discuss this request further and hope to reach a mutually amenable solution.

Thank you.

With kind regards,

Mark Perera
on behalf of

Access Info Europe and the Transparency International EU Office

Der Europäische Rechnungshof

Dear Mr. Perera,

We hereby acknowledge the receipt of your request for consideration, which
you submitted to the ECA by email of5 September 2013.  

Under the terms of Decision No 12-2005 of the Court of Auditors regarding
public access to Court documents you will receive a reply within 15
working days, that is by the end of business on 26 September 2013.

Kindest regards,

Aidas Palubinskas

From:        Access Info Europe and Transparency International EU
<[FOI #651 email]>
To:        [European Court of Auditors request email]
Date:        05/09/2013 10:13
Subject:        Internal review of access to information request - Access
to documents requests in 2011 and 2012

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Mr Palubinskas,

Thank you for your reply to our message of 2 August.  We are hereby
writing to request reconsideration of the Court's position, under Art. 7
of ECA Decision No. 12/2005, with regard to our narrowed request for
access to the individual files related to all access to documents requests
received by the Court in the period 1 July 2012 to 30 June 2013.  We ask
you kindly to forward this to the President of the Court.

Refusal to both the original request and our narrowed request was
predicated upon the non-existence of an overview record   (or 'detailed
list', as indicated in your responses) of access to documents requests.
 However our original request anticipated that in the case that no
overview record exists, we would wish to receive the individual files
related to requests made.  Self-evidently, these files must exist,
provided access to documents requests have been made.  In the spirit of
Art. 6.4 of ECA Decision No. 12/2005, we sought to narrow this request to
a single twelve-month period in view of the potential workload involved in
gathering these files.  We are duly seeking reconsideration of the refusal
to grant access to these files: moreover, the files requested, should not
per se fall under the exceptions listed in Art. 4 of Decision No. 12/2005.

We remain available to discuss this request further and hope to reach a
mutually amenable solution.

Thank you.

With kind regards,

Mark Perera
on behalf of

Access Info Europe and the Transparency International EU Office

Zitate anzeigen

Der Europäische Rechnungshof

Dear Mr. Perera,

By your last email of 5 September 2013, you request reconsideration of the
Court´s refusal to grant access to documents that you requested by emails
of 11 July and 2 August 2013. You accept the fact that the Court does not
possess any overview record of all requests for access to documents for
the last 3 years. You also recall that, in your initial request of 11 July
2013, you asked alternatively to be granted access to individual files
related to all requests for access to documents received in the calendar
years 2011 and 2012.

However, in this request for reconsideration dated 5 September 2013 you
refer to individual files related to requests for documents received by
the Court between 1 July 2012 and 30 June 2013.  You also explicitly asks
us forward your request for reconsideration to the President of the Court.

Given that you have changed the period relevant for the documents
requested, it is appropriate to consider your last email as a new
application in the meaning of Article 5 of Decision No. 12-2005.  

I have begun compiling our responses to access to documents requests in
for the period you have requested.  I expect that I will be able to meet
the deadline of end of business of 26 September.  

Regards,

Aidas Palubinskas

From:        Access Info Europe and Transparency International EU
<[FOI #651 email]>
To:        [European Court of Auditors request email]
Date:        05/09/2013 10:13
Subject:        Internal review of access to information request - Access
to documents requests in 2011 and 2012

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Mr Palubinskas,

Thank you for your reply to our message of 2 August.  We are hereby
writing to request reconsideration of the Court's position, under Art. 7
of ECA Decision No. 12/2005, with regard to our narrowed request for
access to the individual files related to all access to documents requests
received by the Court in the period 1 July 2012 to 30 June 2013.  We ask
you kindly to forward this to the President of the Court.

Refusal to both the original request and our narrowed request was
predicated upon the non-existence of an overview record   (or 'detailed
list', as indicated in your responses) of access to documents requests.
 However our original request anticipated that in the case that no
overview record exists, we would wish to receive the individual files
related to requests made.  Self-evidently, these files must exist,
provided access to documents requests have been made.  In the spirit of
Art. 6.4 of ECA Decision No. 12/2005, we sought to narrow this request to
a single twelve-month period in view of the potential workload involved in
gathering these files.  We are duly seeking reconsideration of the refusal
to grant access to these files: moreover, the files requested, should not
per se fall under the exceptions listed in Art. 4 of Decision No. 12/2005.

We remain available to discuss this request further and hope to reach a
mutually amenable solution.

Thank you.

With kind regards,

Mark Perera
on behalf of

Access Info Europe and the Transparency International EU Office

Zitate anzeigen

Access Info Europe and Transparency International

Dear Mr Palubinskas,

Many thanks for your message and for handling this request. We look forward to hearing from you on 26 September.

Yours faithfully,
Mark Perera
on behalf of
Access Info Europe and the Transparency International EU Office

Der Europäische Rechnungshof

2 Attachments

Dear Mr. Perea,

Please find attached the documents you have requested.  You will note that
information that is covered by data protection has been blacked out (i.e.
names and electronic addresses that could be used to identify
individuals).  However, nothing material to the request has been redacted.

Kindest regards,

Aidas Palubinskas

From:        Access Info Europe and Transparency International EU
<[FOI #651 email]>
To:        [European Court of Auditors request email]
Date:        13/09/2013 17:44
Subject:        Re: Internal review of access to information request -
Access to documents requests in 2011 and 2012

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Mr Palubinskas,

Many thanks for your message and for handling this request.  We look
forward to hearing from you on 26 September.

Yours faithfully,
Mark Perera
on behalf of
Access Info Europe and the Transparency International EU Office

Zitate anzeigen

Access Info Europe and Transparency International

Dear Mr Palubinskas,

Many thanks for handling the request and providing us with these documents.

Yours faithfully,
Mark Perera

on behalf of
Access Info Europe and the Transparency International EU Office