Documents related to the evaluation of Frontex operations in 2010, 2011, 2012

The request was partially successful.

Dear European Border and Coast Guard Agency,

Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as developed in Regulation 1049/2001, I am requesting:

For all Frontex operations conducted during the years 2010, 2011 and 2012:
All documents related to the evaluation of Frontex operations, including:

- The final evaluation document, including all annexes;

- All correspondence - including, but not limited to, letters, e-mails, and any attachments - exchanged between Frontex and Member States representatives in the framework of the evaluation process;

- A list of all meetings held by Frontex and Member States representatives in the framework of the evaluation process; and

- For any and all of the above-mentioned meetings: all minutes of these meetings, or any kind of record of the proceeding of these meetings.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you need any clarification in regards to any aspect of my request.

Thank you in advance.
Yours faithfully,

Arne Semsrott

PAD, European Border and Coast Guard Agency

Dear Mr Semsrott,

We acknowledge receipt of your application CMS-2018-00009-0432 for public access to Frontex documents. Before we are able to process your application, we have to inform you that this and you application (CMS-2018-00009-0431) pertain to a significant number of documents (a preliminary estimate concluded upper several ten thousand pages). We would thus invite you to develop with us a fair solution in order to reconcile your needs with those of good administration.

Furthermore, by adhering to the principle of good administration and in the interest of transparency, we would like to inform you that the redaction required from Frontex under Article 4 of Regulation (EC) 1049/2001 and the hardcopies that are going to be produced in its course, oblige us to charge 20 cent per page plus postage. Should you agree with these conditions, we would proceed carrying out an approximate calculation of the expected costs and communicate it to you beforehand in order to allow you to make the disbursement of the fees.

We are looking forward to finding a fair solution that would accommodate your needs and enable us to organize. We would in any case welcome a phone conversation in this regard.

Yours sincerely,

Transparency Office
Corporate Governance
Tel: +48 22 205 95 00

Frontex - European Border and Coast Guard Agency

www.frontex.europa.eu
Plac Europejski 6, 00-844 Warsaw, Poland · Tel: +48 22 205 9500 · Fax: +48 22 205 9501
DISCLAIMER: This e-mail message, including any attachments, cannot be construed as automatically constituting any form of commitment by Frontex, unless its contents clearly indicate otherwise. It is intended solely for the use of the addressee(s). Any unauthorised disclosure, use or dissemination, either in whole or in part, is prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately via e-mail and delete the e-mail from your system.

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Dear Frontex,

Thank you for your message. While I understand that my application covers a large number of documents, and while I may be willing to find a fair solution (in line with the solutions Frontex has agreed to before, in multiple occasions - for an overview please see: https://www.asktheeu.org/en/body/frontex ) that would enable you to handle the processing of my request in a proportionate manner, I cannot agree to costs that you are suggesting.

I am absolutely sure that Frontex can find a way to redact the documents falling under the scope of my application without having to produce hard copies. You have demonstrated well in past requests that you are using the digital tools necessary for this.

As a matter of fact, in the year 2018, to adhere to the principle of good administration rather means to find an effective, digital way of redacting documents that does not require the printing and scanning of pages, thus avoiding the unnecessary environmental cost and the loss of time the production of hard copies entail, let alone putting a price to EU citizens' exercise of their fundamental right of access to EU documents.

Wishing that Frontex will reconsider its initial offer, I remain at your disposal for an alternative fair solution.

Yours sincerely,
Arne Semsrott

Dear PAD,

I would like to narrow down the scope of my application as follows:

For the year 2010, all documents related to the evaluation of Frontex operations, including:

- The final evaluation document, including all annexes;

- All correspondence - including, but not limited to, letters, e-mails, and any attachments - exchanged between Frontex and Member States representatives in the framework of the evaluation process;

- A list of all meetings held by Frontex and Member States representatives in the framework of the evaluation process; and

- For any and all of the above-mentioned meetings: all minutes of these meetings, or any kind of record of the proceeding of these meetings.

Yours sincerely,

Arne Semsrott

PAD, European Border and Coast Guard Agency

Dear Mr Semsrott,

Thank you for your proposal. However, the documents identified regarding your applications CMS-2018-00009-0432 concerning the evaluation of Frontex operations in 2010 amount to at least 7,500 pages (based on a preliminary appraisal). Notwithstanding the fact that we would have to levy the costs for producing and sending the copies for those parts requiring redaction under Article 4 of Regulation (EC) 1049/2001, this amount of pages would still very substantially paralyse the proper working of several units within Frontex, as well as impact on our possibility to exercise our mandate. Moreover, it would deprive other EU citizens or residents from exercising their fundamental right of access to EU documents and jeopardise fair treatment of all applicants which Frontex is committed to.

Were you able to consider a possible narrowing down//or focussing in regard to your application CMS-2018-00009-0431.

We are thus inviting you to again to consider a further narrowing down and/or focussing on a specific topic to commonly determine a fair solution.

Yours sincerely,

Transparency Office
Corporate Governance
Tel: +48 22 205 95 00

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PAD, European Border and Coast Guard Agency

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Dear Mr Semsrott,

 

Further to our email of 3 October 2018 for which we have not received a
reply, please see below an overview of the documents with a closer
approximation:

 

1. Air Borders

  JO Focal Point JO Hammer JO Hubble JO Hydra JO Agelaus
extended JO Meteor
2010 2009 2010 2010 2010
2010
Invitation Letters/correspondence: Letters/correspondence: Invitation Invitation Invitation Invitation
letters with 56 Pages to MS/TC: 39 Pages to MS/TC: letters: 6 letters: 5 letters: 3 letters: 3
all annexes answers 169 pages answers 141 pages Pages to 21 Pages to 18 Pages to Pages to
to MS MS: 126 MS: 90 pages 11 MS: 33 11 MS: 33
Letter Invitation Invitation Briefings: 5 pages pages
Briefings: 5 Pages Pages 126 x 2 Invitation
Phases: 252 Briefings:    
pages 10 Pages x 2
phases: 20
Invitation Pages
Briefings:
13 Pages x
2 phases:
26 Pages
PPTs of all 89 Pages (5 PPT): 68 Pages (4 PPT) Briefings: Briefings: 27 Pages 27 Pages
stakeholders 128 Pages 146 Pages (7 (2 PPT) (2 PPT)
during     (4 PPT) x 2 PPT)
evaluation Phases    
meetings Briefing: X 2 phases:
256 (8 PPT) 292 pages
(14 PPt)
Debriefing:
28 Pages (3 Debriefings:
PPT) x 2 21 pages (2
phases: 56 PPT) x 2
pages (6 phases: 42
PPT) Pages (4
PPt)
Total 200 200 200 200 200 200
             

 

2. Sea Borders

  EPN-Hera EPN-Indalo EPN-Minerva EPN-Hermes JO
Poseidon
2010 2010 2010 2010
2010 Sea
Invitation 9 pages (to 5 pages (to 15 pages 10 pages (to Common
letters with all 35 35 sent to 12 15 with
annexes to MS recipients) recipients) recipients recipients) Indalo
PPTs of all 200 pages 200 pages 200pages 200 pages 200
stakeholders pages
during
evaluation
meetings

 

3. Land Borders

(very rough estimation) of the amount of pages involved in the following
categories for evaluation on land operations in 2010: JO Poseidon

2010 Land, JO Focal Points 2010 Land, JO Jupiter 2010, JO Neptune 2010, JO
Mars 2010

 

3.1 correspondence related to evaluation

- communication with the internal stakeholders representing different
entities participating in the evaluation    - 30 pages (without the PPTs)

- invitation package - 3 separate sets 20 pages each (to Host MSs, to Home
MSs, to Third Countries)=60 pages plus 2 packages to IOs (10 pages
each)=20 pages and 1 package to CIES – 20 pages, in total 100 pages

- attendance lists with the registration forms including the content of
registration communication - 100 pages plus 50 pages more related to
registration additional communication – 150 pages

- reimbursement claims with the supporting financial documents - the
average number of the pages in the financial claim package is about 10
pages -in total approx. 300 pages (including FX checklist for payment,
application for reimbursement, reimbursement rules, flight e-ticket,
flight invoice, boarding passes, hotel invoices, credit card payment
proof,  additional statements on mileage reimbursement etc)

3.2  number of meetings related to evaluation - 1 meeting for all land
border operations 2015

- minutes of evaluation meetings – 8 pages document

- powerpoint presentations – 200 pages

 

4. Final Evaluation Reports

The total final evaluation reports amount to approximately 800 pages

 

 

As indicated in our earlier correspondence and notwithstanding the fact
that we would have to levy the costs for producing and sending the copies
for those parts requiring redaction under Article 4 of Regulation (EC)
1049/2001, this amount of pages would still very substantially paralyse
the proper working of several units within Frontex, as well as impact on
our possibility to exercise our mandate. Moreover, it would deprive other
EU citizens or residents from exercising their fundamental right of access
to EU documents and jeopardise fair treatment of all applicants which
Frontex is committed to.

 

Based on this information, we are thus inviting you to reconsider a
further narrowing down and/or focussing on a specific topic to commonly
determine a fair solution.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Transparency Office

Corporate Governance

Tel: +48 22 205 95 00

 

 

Frontex - European Border and Coast Guard Agency · Plac Europejski 6,
00-844 Warsaw, Poland · Tel: +48 22 205 9500 · Fax: +48 22 205 9501 ·
[1]www.frontex.europa.eu

DISCLAIMER: This e-mail message, including any attachments, cannot be
construed as automatically constituting any form of commitment by Frontex,
unless its contents clearly indicate otherwise. It is intended solely for
the use of the addressee(s). Any unauthorised disclosure, use or
dissemination, either in whole or in part, is prohibited. If you have
received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately via
e-mail and delete the e-mail from your system.

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Dear Frontex,
thank you very much for your response. I would like to therefore further narrow down the scope of my initial request to the following documents:

For Joint Operation Focal Point 2010:
- a sample invitation letter with annex to MS;
- all PPTs of all stakeholders during evaluation meetings; and
- the final evaluation report.

Yours sincerely,

Arne Semsrott

PAD, European Border and Coast Guard Agency

Dear Mr Semsrott,

Kindly indicate whether you would be interested in documents pertaining to JO Focal Points Air or JO Focal Points Land.

Yours sincerely,

Transparency Office
Corporate Governance
Tel: +48 22 205 95 00

Frontex - European Border and Coast Guard Agency

www.frontex.europa.eu
Plac Europejski 6, 00-844 Warsaw, Poland · Tel: +48 22 205 9500 · Fax: +48 22 205 9501
DISCLAIMER: This e-mail message, including any attachments, cannot be construed as automatically constituting any form of commitment by Frontex, unless its contents clearly indicate otherwise. It is intended solely for the use of the addressee(s). Any unauthorised disclosure, use or dissemination, either in whole or in part, is prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately via e-mail and delete the e-mail from your system.

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Dear Transparency Office,

the Land operation. Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

Arne Semsrott

PAD, European Border and Coast Guard Agency

Dear Mr Semsrott,

Further to your application for access to Frontex documents, and our common endeavour to find a fair solution you clarified that you are applying for the following:

For Joint Operation Focal Point Land 2010:
- a sample invitation letter with annex to MS;
- all PPTs of all stakeholders during evaluation meetings; and
- the final evaluation report.

We herewith register your application and would like to inform you that since your application falls under the regime of 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, we will now commence the processing of your application and will reply within 15 working days.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if this does not reflect your application and with any question you may have.

Yours sincerely,

Transparency Office
+48 22 205 9500
[email address]

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PAD, European Border and Coast Guard Agency

3 Attachments

Dear Mr. Semsrott,

Please find enclosed our response to your application for access to documents.

Please do not hesitate to contact us with any question you may have.

Yours sincerely,

Transparency Office
+48 22 205 9500
[email address]

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