Audits of CAP (EAGF) spending by the Netherlands
Dear DG Agriculture and Rural Development,
Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as developed in Regulation 1049/2001, I am requesting the following documents held by the Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development:
- Reports concerning the certifying audits of Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland as a paying agency of the European agricultural guarantee fund (EAGF), submitted by the Dutch Audit Authority (Auditdienst Rijk) or other Netherlands authorities, for the budgetary years 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022.
- Documents containing the findings of a conformity audit of EAGF spending by the Netherlands, which was carried out by the European Commission in three tranches in the year 2020.
Yours faithfully,
Daniël van Kessel
Dear Sir or Madam,
We are writing to you concerning your request for access to documents sent
on 10/08/2023 and registered on 21/08/2023 under case number 2023/4922.
Since you have not indicated your postal address, we are not able to start
handling your request. The 15 working days to reply to your request will
start running only when you send us your postal address.
You can send your postal address by replying to this e-mail. If we do not
receive your reply we may close this case.
Please note that you can submit a request for access to Commission
documents via the portal [1]'Request a Commission document', which does
not require you to indicate your postal address.
Why do we need your personal postal address?
Since 1 April 2014, the submission of a postal address became a mandatory
feature when submitting an application for access to Commission documents
via an e-mail. We would like to explain why we need your postal address in
order to register and handle your application for access to documents when
submitted via e-mail:
• Firstly, to obtain legal certainty as regards the date you received
the European Commission reply to your application for public access to
documents. Article 297 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the
European Union (TFEU) states that 'decisions which specify to whom
they are addressed, shall be notified to those to whom they are
addressed and shall take effect upon such notification.' In line with
this provision, if the Commission does not grant full access to the
requested documents, it notifies the reply to the applicant via
registered mail with acknowledgement of receipt or via delivery
service. This requires an indication of a valid postal address by the
applicant;
• Secondly, to apply correctly the [2]Data Protection Regulation (EU)
2018/1725. Knowing whether the applicant is an EU resident (or not) is
necessary for deciding which conditions shall apply for the
transmissions of personal data to applicants for access to documents.
These conditions are not the same for recipients established in the
Union and for recipients in third countries. As the vast majority of
the documents requested contain personal data, the Commission cannot
ensure the correct application of the data protection rules in the
absence of a postal address;
• Thirdly, to apply correctly [3]Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001. Article
4(1)(b) of that Regulation refers to the protection of the privacy and
integrity of the individual and has to be applied in line with the
Data Protection Regulation;
• Fourthly, to protect the interest of other citizens and safeguard the
principle of good administration. The Commission has to treat all
citizens equally by ensuring that the legal framework for public
access to documents is respected. For example, it has to verify
whether Article 6(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 is being evaded
by introducing several requests under different identities. Indeed, in
its Ryanair judgment ([4]EU:T:2010:511), the General Court confirmed
that Article 6(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 cannot be evaded by
splitting an application into several, seemingly separate, parts. In
addition, the Commission has to make sure that the legal framework is
respected and the right of access to documents is not abused by making
requests under an invented identity.
The considerations above show that the request for and the consequent
processing of the applicant's postal address is not only appropriate, but
also strictly necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the
public interest within the meaning of Article 5(1)(a) of Data Protection
Regulation, namely providing a smooth and effective access to documents.
Yours faithfully,
Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development - Access to
Documents
European Commission
References
Visible links
1. https://www.ec.europa.eu/transparency/do...
2. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
3. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
4. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
Dear DG Agriculture and Rural Development,
See beneath for my postal address. I would like to request that you confirm that you have received this information correctly. Thank you in advance.
Postal address:
Follow the Money t.a.v. Daniël van Kessel
Postbus 3033
1001 AC Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Yours faithfully,
Daniël van Kessel
Dear Sir or Madam,
We hereby acknowledge the receipt of your request for access to documents
sent on 10/08/2023 and registered on 21/08/2023 under the case number
2023/4922.
We will handle your request within 15 working days as of the date of
registration. The time-limit expires on 11/09/2023. We will let you know
if we need to extend this time limit for additional 15 working days.
To find more information on how we process your personal data, please see
[1]the privacy statement.
Yours faithfully,
Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development - Access to
Documents
European Commission
References
Visible links
1. https://ec.europa.eu/info/principles-and...
Hello,
Please find attached a message concerning your request for access to
Commission documents registered under the above case number 2023/4922.
Kind regards,
AGRI ATD Team
Dear Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development,
Thank you for your response.
To clarify to which audit I was referring: the description I provided is based on a description of an ongoing audit mentioned in the financial report for the financial year 2020 of the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, which I will quote translated to English below.
'In three tranches, the European Commission conducted a compliance audit of the Grazing Animal Premium and land-based subsidies in 2020. This audit, due to the constraints of the COVID pandemic, took place entirely digitally and was a follow-up audit to a previous one conducted in 2017. Findings for land-based subsidies were received by the end of 2020 (grazing animal premium to follow). The preliminary conclusion of the European Commission is that the Netherlands does not fully comply with 7 key controls in the implementation of the land-based schemes EAGF. In accordance with the applicable guideline, the European Commission proposes a flat-rate correction of 10%. An adversarial process will now follow and a bilateral meeting is scheduled for June 15, 2021.'
The original Dutch text can be found through this link: https://www.rijksfinancien.nl/jaarversla....
To enable me to specify my request further, please provide me with more information concerning and/or a list of the audits of the Netherlands that you mentioned.
Yours faithfully,
Daniël van Kessel
Dear Mr Van Kessel,
Thank you for your clarification.
Kind regards,
AGRI Access Documents team
Dear Sir,
Subject: Your application for access to documents – Extension of the
Time Limit
We are writing concerning your request for access to Commission documents
registered on 21/08/2023 under case number 2023/4922.
Your application is currently being handled. However, we will not be in a
position to complete the handling of your application within the time
limit of 15 working days, which expires on 15/09/2023.
An extended time limit is needed as part of the documents requested
originate from third parties, which have been consulted.
Therefore, we have to extend the time limit by 15 working days in
accordance with Article 7(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 regarding
public access to documents. The new time limit expires on 6/10/2023.
We apologise for this delay and for any inconvenience this may cause.
Yours faithfully,
AGRI ATD Team
Dear AGRI ATD Team,
Thank you for letting me know. I would appreciate it if you could keep me updated on the status of my request.
Best,
Daniël van Kessel
Dear Mr Van Kessel,
Thank you for your message. As announced in our previous message some of
identified documents relating to your request come from Netherlands
authorities. We consulted them and are waiting for their feedback
regarding the disclosure of concerned documents.
Kind regards,
AGRI ATD Team
Good morning,
You have missed the extended deadline. Would you please inform me of the reason for this delay?
You mentioned Netherlands authorities that were asked for feedback. Could you let me know which authorities this is referring to? Is this feedback the reason for the delay?
Please also let me know by when you expect to comply with my request. Thank you in advance.
Yours sincerely,
Daniël van Kessel
[1]access to documents request - Audits of CAP (EAGF) spending by the
Netherlands - Ares(2023)6835609 (Please use this link only if you are an
Ares user – Svp, utilisez ce lien exclusivement si vous êtes un(e)
utilisateur d’Ares)
Dear Mr Van Kessel,
We apologize for the delay, due to technical issue in our system linked to
the size of the documents, we are not yet able to send you the documents.
We hope the issue will be resolved in upcoming hours and you will still
today receive the response.
Kind regards
AGRI Access Documents Team
Hello,
Please find attached a message concerning your request for access to
Commission documents registered under the above case number 2023/4922.
Please acknowledge the receipt of this message by return email.
Kind regards,
AGRI ATD Team
Hello,
Please find attached a message concerning your request for access to
Commission documents registered under the above case number 2023/4922.
Please acknowledge the receipt of this message by return email.
Kind regards,
AGRI ATD Team
Hello,
Please find attached a message concerning your request for access to
Commission documents registered under the above case number 2023/4922.
Please acknowledge the receipt of this message by return email.
Kind regards,
AGRI ATD Team
Hello,
Please find attached a message concerning your request for access to
Commission documents registered under the above case number 2023/4922.
Please acknowledge the receipt of this message by return email.
Kind regards,
AGRI ATD Team
Hello,
Please find attached a message concerning your request for access to
Commission documents registered under the above case number 2023/4922.
Please acknowledge the receipt of this message by return email.
Kind regards,
AGRI ATD Team
Hello,
Please find attached a message concerning your request for access to
Commission documents registered under the above case number 2023/4922.
Please acknowledge the receipt of this message by return email.
Kind regards,
AGRI ATD Team
Hello,
Please find attached a message concerning your request for access to
Commission documents registered under the above case number 2023/4922.
Please acknowledge the receipt of this message by return email.
Kind regards,
AGRI ATD Team
Hello,
Please find attached a message concerning your request for access to
Commission documents registered under the above case number 2023/4922.
Please acknowledge the receipt of this message by return email.
Kind regards,
AGRI ATD Team
Hello,
Please find attached a message concerning your request for access to
Commission documents registered under the above case number 2023/4922.
Please acknowledge the receipt of this message by return email.
Kind regards,
AGRI ATD Team
Hello,
Please find attached a message concerning your request for access to
Commission documents registered under the above case number 2023/4922.
Please acknowledge the receipt of this message by return email.
Kind regards,
AGRI ATD Team
Hello,
Please find attached a message concerning your request for access to
Commission documents registered under the above case number 2023/4922.
Please acknowledge the receipt of this message by return email.
Kind regards,
AGRI ATD Team
Hello,
Please find attached a message concerning your request for access to
Commission documents registered under the above case number 2023/4922.
Please acknowledge the receipt of this message by return email.
Kind regards,
AGRI ATD Team
Dear Agriculture and Rural Development,
I hereby confirm the that I have received 10 documents (including your letter to me), for which I would like to thank you.
I do however have two further questions I would request you answer.
1) We have found that the attachments to all the supplied reports from Auditdienst Rijk (ADR) are lacking, even though our request does not exclude them. Could you provide us with the attachments?
2) You refused access to reports from the Auditdienst Rijk (ADR) concerning the financial years 2020, 2021 and 2023. However, all ADR reports that you did supply, have a publishing date in February of the year after the financial year reported on. Assuming this is also the case for the financial years 2020, 2021 and 2023, ADR should have submitted these reports already. If the reports have been finalized by ADR they should contain their final findings.
I understand that ongoing audit activities might fall under the mentioned exception. However, that does not seem to be the case for the ADR reports containing their finalized findings. I would therefore ask for an explanation why you state that these contain 'preliminary' findings and as such cannot be put in the public domain.
Yours faithfully,
Daniël van Kessel
Link: [1]File-List
Link: [2]themeData
Link: [3]colorSchemeMapping
[4]Reply to applicant's questions - Case 2023/4922 - VAN KESSEL : access
to documents request - Audits of CAP (EAGF) spending by the Netherlands
access to documents request - Audits of CAP (EAGF) spending by the
Netherlands - Ares(2023)6935193 (Please use this link only if you are an
Ares user – Svp, utilisez ce lien exclusivement si vous êtes un(e)
utilisateur d’Ares)
Dear Mr Van Kessel,
Thank you for your message. Please find below the replies to your
requests:
1) We have found that the attachments to all the supplied reports from
Auditdienst Rijk (ADR) are lacking, even though our request does not
exclude them. Could you provide us with the attachments?
In the case of the Auditdienst Rijk (ADR) reports, DG AGRI received the
annexes separately from the reports. DG AGRI thus prepared the reports in
reply to your request but did not prepare the annexes. Those annexes
contain several personal data (samples), and documents already summarized
in the reports, and even more general data (acronyms and Paying Agency’s
structure). We will request a confirmation from the Dutch authorities that
those documents can be forwarded, and prepare them before transmission, as
soon as possible.
2) You refused access to reports from the Auditdienst Rijk (ADR)
concerning the financial years 2020, 2021 and 2023. However, all ADR
reports that you did supply, have a publishing date in February of the
year after the financial year reported on. Assuming this is also the case
for the financial years 2020, 2021 and 2023, ADR should have submitted
these reports already. If the reports have been finalized by ADR they
should contain their final findings.
I understand that ongoing audit activities might fall under the mentioned
exception. However, that does not seem to be the case for the ADR reports
containing their finalized findings. I would therefore ask for an
explanation why you state that these contain 'preliminary' findings and as
such cannot be put in the public domain.
The Auditdienst Rijk (ADR) reports for FY2020, FY2021 and FY2022 are key
documents examined in ongoing conformity procedures, and for some of them
ongoing court cases. Those reports are part of the elements examined in
those procedures. In accordance with the case law of the Court of
Justice/General Court, DG AGRI considers that there is a general
presumption of non-accessibility based on Article 4(2), third indent. DG
AGRI considers that the needs to protect both the confidential character
of the audit process and the trust of the audited entities also justify
this presumption of inaccessibility.
Yours sincerely,
AGRI Access Documents Team
Dear DG Agriculture and Rural Development,
First of all I would like to thank you for your quick response to my question about the missing annexes to ADR's reports, and for committing to transmitting those as soon as possible. Assuming you follow through with this, I'm satisfied with this part of your answer.
However, I would like to ask for an internal review concerning the second question I posed (missing Auditdienst Rijk (ADR) reports for FY2020, FY2021 and FY2022). Therefore I request you pass this message on to the person who reviews confirmatory applications.
- Confirmatory application -
I am filing the following confirmatory application with regards to my access to documents request 'Audits of CAP (EAGF) spending by the Netherlands'.
DG AGRI denied access to reports from Auditdienst Rijk (ADR) for the financial years 2020, 2021 and 2022. DG AGRI states that the documents are being 'examined' in conformity procedures and court cases. However, these procedures are by definition separate from the audits by Auditdienst Rijk, which have been finalized and reported to DG AGRI. The contents of these reports can in that light not be assumed to 'undermine the protection of [..] the purpose of inspections, investigations and audits' (Article 4(2), third indent) in the sense that the audits reported in the documents are not ongoing anymore.
Would DG AGRI not change their view that the exception in Article 4(2), third indent is applicable, I would ask you review if the conclusion is justified that the documents are in their whole not accessible, or if this exception is applicable to parts of the documents. If so, in review the conclusion should be that the rest of the documents will be accessible based on Article 4(6).
I also request to review if public scrutiny of spending of EU funds does not constitute an overriding public interest in the sense of Article 4(2) that justifies access to the documents (fully or partially).
A full history of my request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/audi...
Yours faithfully,
Daniël van Kessel
Dear Sir or Madam,
We hereby acknowledge the receipt of your confirmatory request for case
2023/4922, sent on 12/10/2023 and registered on 12/10/2023.
We will handle your confirmatory request within 15 working days as of the
date of registration. The time-limit expires on 06/11/2023. We will let
you know if we need to extend this time limit for additional 15 working
days.
Yours faithfully,
Secretariat-General - Access to Documents
European Commission
Dear Sir or Madam,
We hereby acknowledge the receipt of your confirmatory request for case
2023/4922, sent on 12/10/2023 and registered on 12/10/2023.
We will handle your confirmatory request within 15 working days as of the
date of registration. The time-limit expires on 06/11/2023. We will let
you know if we need to extend this time limit for additional 15 working
days.
Yours faithfully,
Secretariat-General - Access to Documents
European Commission
Dear DG Agriculture and Rural Development,
Thank you for your acknowledgement.
I hope it is acceptable that I add one point to my request for internal review, that has just come to my attention.
Concerning the audit carried out by the European Commission, you have transmitted three letters from DG AGRI to Netherlands authorities. However, the letter dated 14/09/2022 lists on page 1 and 2 the complete correspondence. These documents are part of the audit but have not been supplied, and I would request to review this decision.
Since I hereby added information to my request I suggest to agree that the time-limit for this request be postponed 1 day, to 07/11/2023.
Would you please confirm that you will add this point to your internal review? Thank you in advance.
Yours faithfully,
Daniël van Kessel
Dear Sir or Madam,
We hereby acknowledge the receipt of your request for access to documents
sent on 12/10/2023 and registered on 17/10/2023 under the case number
2023/6134.
We will handle your request within 15 working days as of the date of
registration. The time-limit expires on 09/11/2023. We will let you know
if we need to extend this time limit for additional 15 working days.
To find more information on how we process your personal data, please see
[1]the privacy statement.
Yours faithfully,
Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development - Access to
Documents
European Commission
References
Visible links
1. https://ec.europa.eu/info/principles-and...
Good evening,
I think something went wrong. Unlike you state in your email, I did not send a new request for access to documents. I emailed to add information to my earlier request for internal review in concern to request 2023/4922.
Yours faithfully,
Daniël van Kessel
Link: [1]File-List
Link: [2]themeData
Link: [3]colorSchemeMapping
[4]reply - access to documents request - Audits of CAP (EAGF) spending by
the Netherlands - annexes to ADR's reports - Case 2023/6134 -
Ares(2023)7117115 (Please use this link only if you are an Ares user –
Svp, utilisez ce lien exclusivement si vous êtes un(e) utilisateur d’Ares)
Dear Mr Van Kessel,
Thank you for your message. Actually, the request 2023/4922 was closed on
9 October 2023 and the annexes to ADR’s reports requested in your previous
message were not covered by it. For this reason, we registered your
request about mentioned annexes as a new request 2023/6134.
Yours sincerely,
AGRI ATD Team
Dear Mr Van Kessel,
We are writing concerning your confirmatory request for access to
Commission documents for case EASE 2023/4922 registered on 12/10/2023.
We are currently working on your confirmatory request. However, we have
not yet been able to gather all the elements necessary to carry out a full
analysis of your request. We will not be able to send you the reply within
the prescribed time limit expiring on 06/11/2023.
Therefore, in line with Article 8(2) of [1]Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 we
need to extend this time limit by 15 additional working days. The new time
limit expires on 27/11/2023
We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
Kind regards,
SG.C1 - Transparency, Document Management and Access to Documents
References
Visible links
1. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
Dear Sir,
Subject: Your application for access to documents – Extension of the
Time Limit
We are writing concerning your request for access to Commission documents
registered on 17/10/2023 under case number 2023/6134.
Your application is currently being handled. However, we will not be able
to complete the handling of your application within the time limit of 15
working days, which expires on 9/11/2023.
An extended time limit is needed as the documents requested originate from
third parties, which have been consulted.
Therefore, we have to extend the time limit by 15 working days in
accordance with Article 7(3) of [1]Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 regarding
public access to documents. The new time limit expires on 30/11/2023.
We apologise for this delay and for any inconvenience this may cause.
Yours faithfully,
AGRI ATD Team
References
Visible links
1. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
Hello,
Please find attached a message concerning your request for access to
Commission documents registered under the above case number 2023/6134.
Please acknowledge the receipt of this message by return email.
Kind regards,
AGRI ATD Team
Hello,
Please find attached a message concerning your request for access to
Commission documents registered under the above case number 2023/6134.
Please acknowledge the receipt of this message by return email.
Kind regards,
AGRI ATD Team
Hello,
Please find attached a message concerning your request for access to
Commission documents registered under the above case number 2023/6134.
Please acknowledge the receipt of this message by return email.
Kind regards,
AGRI ATD Team
Dear Mr Van Kessel,
We are writing to you concerning your confirmatory request for access to
Commission documents for case 2023/4922, registered on 12/10/2023.
On 06/11/2023, we extended the time-limit for replying to your
confirmatory request to 27/11/2023.
Unfortunately, due to the need to conduct internal consultations, we will
not be able to send you the reply within this extended time limit.
However, we assure you that we are doing our best to send a reply to your
confirmatory request as soon as possible.
We regret this additional delay and sincerely apologize for any
inconvenience this may cause.
Kind regards,
SG.C1 - Transparency, Document Management and Access to Documents
Good morning,
Thank you very much for supplying me with these anexes. I have two more points I would request you tend to:
1) Some of the files have become unreadable, for example large parts of file 1.
2) Something seems wrong with file 1 and 4, as they do not open in common pdf-readers.
Yours faithfully,
Daniël van Kessel
Dear Mr Van Kessel,
Thank you for your message. We attach once again the document nr 4.
Due to the size of the requested documents the document number 1 will be sent to you separately.
We apologize for this inconvenient.
Kind regards,
AGRI ATD Team
Dear Mr Van Kessel,
Please find attached the document 1 in better quality. It appears the quality of the document deteriorated during the transmission operation, without our knowledge.
We apologize for this inconvenient.
Kind regards,
AGRI ATD Team
Good afternoon,
Thank you for delivering these two files quickly. I hereby confirm that request 2023/6134 has been completed to my satisfaction. Thank you very much.
I note that I am still waiting for the confirmatory request in case 2023/4922.
Yours sincerely,
Daniël van Kessel
Dear VAN KESSEL, Daniël ,
Please find attached the electronic version of European Commission
Decision C(2024)2622 as adopted by the European Commission on 16/04/2024
concerning the request 2023/4922.
In accordance with the Terms and Conditions of this portal, please note
that this decision is being formally notified pursuant to article 297 TFEU
through this electronic platform only.
Yours sincerely,
Access to documents team - SG.C.1