Reply request Ares 2022 1539190.docx.pdf

Ref. Ares(2022)1958775 - 17/03/2022

Directorate D: General Affairs
Mr Maximilian HENNING

Cava de San Miguel 8
Director
4º centro
28005 Madrid
Spain

Email: ask+request-10760-
xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx

Via  email only

Brussels

Subject: Your application for public access to documents Ares(2022)1539190
Dear Mr Henning,
We refer to your application for public access to documents Regulation (EC) No 1049/20011,
dated 23 February 2022, registered under reference number Ares(2022)1539190.
You have requested public access to the following documents:
“A list of all investigations OLAF has conducted against companies contracted by
the European Union for providing security services, for example for EU delegations
abroad or as part of the Common Security and Defence Policy, between 2015 and
2021.”
We  regret  to  inform  you  that  OLAF  was  not  able  to  identify  any  documents  that  would
correspond to the description given in your application. OLAF does not hold such a “list of
investigations”.
In this context, I would like to point out that the question regarding the possible status of
information stored in databases as a document within the meaning of Regulation (EC) No
1049/2001 has already been subject to an assessment by the General Court, which in its
ruling in Case T-214/13 established that ‘in the event of an application for access designed
to have the Commission carry out a search of one or more of its databases using search
criteria  specified  by  the  applicant,  the  Commission  is  obliged,  subject  to  the  possible
application of Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, to accede to that request, if the
requisite  search  can  be  carried  out  using  the  search  tools  which  it  has  available  for  the
database in question’ 2.

1 Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2001 regarding public
access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents. Official Journal L 145 , 31/05/2001 P. 0043
- 0048
2
Judgment of the General Court of 2 July 2015, Typke v European Commission, T-214/13, EU:T:2015:448,
paragraph 56.

OLAF  Rue Joseph II, 30  B-1049 Brussels (Belgium)  Tel: +32 (0)2 299 11 11  Web: http://ec.europa.eu/anti_fraud

With this judgement, the General Court confirmed the previous judgment in the Dufour case,
where the Court stated that ‘anything that can be extracted from a database by means of a
normal or routine search may be the subject of an application for access’ 3.
Furthermore,  I  would  like  to  bring  to  your  attention  the  most  recent  judgement  in  case
C-491/15P,  where  the  Court  of  Justice  took  the  position  that  the  routine  character  of  an
operation which determines whether information extracted from a database is a document,
is determined by whether the operation has been made available to final users for general
use4.
The information requested by you is stored in the OLAF’s database known as OCM, which is
used for case and document management and supports the activity of OLAF in all aspects of
investigative  work.  In  this  sense,  each  investigation  and  so  each  file  containing  each
registered  document  is  independent  one  from  the  other.  As  a  result,  the  information
requested by you, if it exist, would be located in different documents, registered in different
files  of  different  investigations  carried  out  by  different  investigators  independently.  In
addition, each document is registered in a way that is useful for the investigator in charge,
but not necessarily for other searching purposes.
For all these reasons, the data range concerned can therefore not be extracted from the OCM
by means of a routine search operation using the search tools available.
For these reasons, the information requested is not included in any existing document.
As specified in Article 2(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, the right of access as defined
in that regulation applies only to existing documents in the possession of the institution.

Given that no such documents, corresponding to the description given in your application,
are held by OLAF, we are not in a position to fulfil your request.


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
Your attention is drawn to the privacy notice below.

Yours sincerely,

3
Judgment  of  the  General  Court  of  22  October  2011,  Dufour  v  European  Central  Bank,  T-436/09,
EU:T:2011:634, paragraph 153.
4
Judgment  of  the  Court  of  Justice  of  11  January  2017,  Typke  v  European  Commission  ,  C-491/15P,
EU:C:2017:5, paragraph 36.

2

Beatriz SANZ REDRADO.
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.
The retention period for public access to documents which do not concern OLAF investigations is a maximum of
10 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
Electronically signed on 16/03/2022 16:57 (UTC+01) in accordance with Article 11 of Commission Decision (EU) 2021/2121