Information about four (4) H2020 projects at the field of border management in Greece

The request was partially successful.

Eleftherios Chelioudakis

Dear Research Executive Agency,

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

1. The pilot implementation of the project iBorderCtrl ("Intelligent Portable Control System") in Greece and any related publications (https://www.iborderctrl.eu/Greek-Pilot),
2. The pilot implementation of the project TRESSPASS (“robusT Risk basEd Screening and alert System for PASSengers and luggage”) in Greece and any related publications (https://www.tresspass.eu/Pilot-3),
3. The trials of the project FOLDOUT (“Through-foliage detection, including in the outermost regions of the EU”) in Greece and any related publications (https://foldout.eu/wp-content/uploads/20...)
4. Any publication related to the project ROBORDER (“autonomous swarm of heterogeneous RObots for BORDER surveillance”) (https://roborder.eu/the-project/demonstr...)

My full postal address is:
Ahniadon 17-19, Postal Code: 11854, Athens, Greece

Many thanks for your time on my request.

Yours faithfully,

Eleftherios Chelioudakis

ve_rea.rea access documents (REA), Research Executive Agency

[1]Ares(2019)7474364 - RE: access to documents request - Information about
four (4) H2020 projects at the field of border management in Greece

Sent by ve_rea.rea access documents (REA)
<[email address]>. All responses have to be sent to this
email address.
Envoyé par ve_rea.rea access documents (REA)
<[email address]>. Toutes les réponses doivent être
effectuées à cette adresse électronique.

Dear Mr Chelioudakis,

We refer to your Access to Documents request submitted to the Research
Executive Agency on 03/12/2019 via the website AskTheEU.org and registered
on the 4/12/2019 under reference number Ares(2019)7461893.

In accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 regarding public access to
European Parliament, Council and Commission documents, your application
will be handled within 15 working days. The time limit will expire on
06/01/2020. In case this time limit needs to be extended, you will be
informed in due course.

You have lodged your application via the AsktheEU.org website. Please note
that this is a private third-party website which has no link with any
institution of the European Union. Therefore, the European Commission or
REA cannot be held accountable for any technical issues or problems linked
to the use of this system.

Please note that the private third party running the AsktheEU.org website
is responsible and accountable for the processing of your personal data
via that website, and not the European Commission or REA. For further
information on your rights, please refer to the third party’s privacy
policy.

We understand that the third party running that website usually publishes
the content of applicants’ correspondence with the European Commission or
REA on that website. This includes the personal data that you may have
communicated to the European Commission or REA (e.g. your private postal
address).

Similarly, the third party publishes on that website any reply that REA
will send to the email address of the applicants generated by the
AsktheEU.org website.

If you do not wish your correspondence with REA to be published on the
AsktheEU.org website, you can provide us with an alternative, private
e-mail address for further correspondence. In that case, REA will send all
future electronic correspondence addressed to you only to that private
address.

Yours faithfully,

REA ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS

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Eleftherios Chelioudakis

Dear Research Executive Agency (REA),

Happy new year!
I would like to remind you that I have not yet received a response to my request. By law, you should normally have responded promptly by 03.01.2020. Please, proceed to the necessary actions as soon as possible. Many thanks for your time on my request.

Yours sincerely,

Eleftherios Chelioudakis

ve_rea.rea access documents (REA), Research Executive Agency

[1]Ares(2020)29107 - Access to documents request - Information about four
(4) H2020 projects at the field of border management in Greece -
Ares(2019)7474364

Sent by ve_rea.rea access documents (REA)
<[email address]>. All responses have to be sent to this
email address.
Envoyé par ve_rea.rea access documents (REA)
<[email address]>. Toutes les réponses doivent être
effectuées à cette adresse électronique.

Dear Mr Chelioudakis,

First of all, please accept best New Year's wishes from our side.

We refer to your access to documents request submitted to the Research
Executive Agency (REA) on 03/12/2019 via the website AskTheEU.org and
registered on the 4/12/2019 under reference number Ares(2019)7461893.

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 today -  06/01/2020 and not on
03/01/2020 as previously mentioned in the e-mail dated 04/12/2019.

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 with 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 27/01/2020.

We apologise for this delay and for any inconvenience this may cause.

Yours faithfully,

REA ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS

show quoted sections

Eleftherios Chelioudakis

Dear ve_rea.rea access documents (REA),

Many thanks for the wishes and the detailed reply! I am looking forward to receiving the information by the extended deadline (27/01/2020). Have a nice week!

Yours sincerely,

Eleftherios Chelioudakis

ve_rea.rea access documents(REA), Research Executive Agency

3 Attachments

Dear Mr Chelioudakis,

Please find attached REA reply (Ares(2020)499764) to your request for access to documents registered under reference number: Ares(2019)7461893, regarding projects iBorderCtrl (700626), TRESSPASS (787120), FOLDOUT (787021) and ROBORDER (740593).

Please acknowledge receipt of this e-mail and let us know whether you would like to receive a paper version of the attached letter and annexes.

Best regards,

REA ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS

All responses have to be sent to this email address [REA request email]

Eleftherios Chelioudakis

Dear ve_rea.rea access documents(REA),

Dear Director of the Research Executive Agency Mr. Marc Tachelet,

I am submitting today, 09/02/2020 this confirmatory application following the reply of Ms. Barbara Kampis received on 27/01/2020 with regards to my access to documents request under reference number Ares(2019) 7461893 - Information about four H2020 projects at the field of border management in Greece. My application respects the 15 days deadline that REA has set.

I am sending this email to your email address, and also I am publishing it at https://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/info... , where my request is available, so that the public can follow-up. Please, reply to the asktheeu platform.

As to the protection of privacy and personal data, I fully endorse and accept all personal data to be blanked out from the requested deliverables. However, REA has refused access to many deliverables based on this argument, while it should have made them at least partially accessible by crossing out any personal data in these documents.

As to the protection of commercial interests, public access to the documents requested does not undermine the protection of commercial interests and there is an overriding public interest in disclosure. All of the projects related to my request, are publicly funded projects. Thus, the public has a legitimate interest in accessing the results of publicly funded research. Maybe some of the deliverables could be protected under this argument, but the 4 projects cannot in their entirety be considered to be protected the IP rights of the private actors involved. Especially reports on use cases and scenarios, risk indicators, evaluation reports and analysis of the pilots, do not (or not mostly) contain commercial interests protected by Copyright.

But more importantly, projects such as iBorderCtrl, TRESSPASS, and FOLDOUT are related to intrusive technologies that could lead to unlawful interferences with the rights to privacy and data protection. Moreover, the research from projects such as ROBORDER (a project that aims at developing an autonomous border surveillance system with unmanned mobile robots including aerial, water surface, underwater and ground vehicles) could easily been used in a later stage for military purposes, especially if you consider the fact that stakeholders from the defense field, such as the Hellenic Ministry of Defense, are involved in this project. Therefore, access to the requested documents is needed so that the public will be informed about the context and the results of the pilots of such research projects. Only in this way, we could form a democratic debate on the proposed technology-led systems and their alleged added value in safeguarding the security of our communities. I intend to use the requested information in media reporting, as well as in advocacy actions of Homo Digitalis, a Greek civil society organisation focused on the promotion and protection of human rights in the digital age.

Having in mind the above, I would like to request:

- access to the Deliverable “4.2 Use Cases and scenarions” of the project FOLDOUT, that REA denied,

- adequate access to the Deliverable “D6.4 Evaluation report of final prototype pilot deployment and Best Practices - Analysis of pilot feedback on final prototype” of the project iBorderCtrl. This deliverable is now partially accessible, but REA has crossed out almost everything in the text, including tables of results/ evaluation of the pilots, which do not in my opinion fall under the protection of the provisions that REA is calling,

- access to the Deliverable “Annex 1 - Description of Action” of the project iBorderCtrl, that REA denied,

- access to the Deliverable “Annex 1 - Description of Action” of the project TRESSPASS, that REA denied,

- access to the Deliverable “D1.1. Draft of concept of operation, use cases and requirements” of the project ROBORDER. REA did not include this document to its reply. This deliverable summarizes the planned concept of operations, initial use cases and user, ethical, legal and security requirements. The legal and ethical requirements cannot be part of an EU Restricted document.

- access to the Deliverable “D6.2 Evolving CONOPS framework” of the project TRESSPASS, that REA denied. The development of an initial concept of operations (CONOPS) framework normally includes also assessments on ethical and legal issues and not just technical and organisational issues. Thus such a document cannot be EU RESTRICTED, but at least the part of the ethical and legal analysis should be open to scrutiny.

- access to the Deliverable “D2.2 Risk indicators” of the project TRESSPASS that REA denied.

Yours faithfully,

Eleftherios Chelioudakis

Eleftherios Chelioudakis

Dear Research Executive Agency,

Please pass this on to the Director of the Research Executive Agency Mr. Marc Tachelet

I submitted yesterday, 09/02/2020, via email this confirmatory application following the reply of Ms. Barbara Kampis received on 27/01/2020 with regards to my access to documents request under reference number Ares(2019) 7461893 - Information about four H2020 projects at the field of border management in Greece. My application respects the 15 days deadline that REA has set.

A full history of my request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/info...

As to the protection of privacy and personal data, I fully endorse and accept all personal data to be blanked out from the requested deliverables. However, REA has refused access to many deliverables based on this argument, while it should have made them at least partially accessible by crossing out any personal data in these documents.

As to the protection of commercial interests, public access to the documents requested does not undermine the protection of commercial interests and there is an overriding public interest in disclosure. All of the projects related to my request, are publicly funded projects. Thus, the public has a legitimate interest in accessing the results of publicly funded research. Maybe some of the deliverables could be protected under this argument, but the 4 projects cannot in their entirety be considered to be protected the IP rights of the private actors involved. Especially reports on use cases and scenarios, risk indicators, evaluation reports and analysis of the pilots, do not (or not mostly) contain commercial interests protected by Copyright.

But more importantly, projects such as iBorderCtrl, TRESSPASS, and FOLDOUT are related to intrusive technologies that could lead to unlawful interferences with the rights to privacy and data protection. Moreover, the research from projects such as ROBORDER (a project that aims at developing an autonomous border surveillance system with unmanned mobile robots including aerial, water surface, underwater and ground vehicles) could easily been used in a later stage for military purposes, especially if you consider the fact that stakeholders from the defense field, such as the Hellenic Ministry of Defense, are involved in this project. Therefore, access to the requested documents is needed so that the public will be informed about the context and the results of the pilots of such research projects. Only in this way, we could form a democratic debate on the proposed technology-led systems and their alleged added value in safeguarding the security of our communities. I intend to use the requested information in media reporting, as well as in advocacy actions of Homo Digitalis, a Greek civil society organisation focused on the promotion and protection of human rights in the digital age.

Having in mind the above, I would like to request:

- access to the Deliverable “4.2 Use Cases and scenarions” of the project FOLDOUT, that REA denied,

- adequate access to the Deliverable “D6.4 Evaluation report of final prototype pilot deployment and Best Practices - Analysis of pilot feedback on final prototype” of the project iBorderCtrl. This deliverable is now partially accessible, but REA has crossed out almost everything in the text, including tables of results/ evaluation of the pilots, which do not in my opinion fall under the protection of the provisions that REA is calling,

- access to the Deliverable “Annex 1 - Description of Action” of the project iBorderCtrl, that REA denied,

- access to the Deliverable “Annex 1 - Description of Action” of the project TRESSPASS, that REA denied,

- access to the Deliverable “D1.1. Draft of concept of operation, use cases and requirements” of the project ROBORDER. REA did not include this document to its reply. This deliverable summarizes the planned concept of operations, initial use cases and user, ethical, legal and security requirements. The legal and ethical requirements cannot be part of an EU Restricted document.

- access to the Deliverable “D6.2 Evolving CONOPS framework” of the project TRESSPASS, that REA denied. The development of an initial concept of operations (CONOPS) framework normally includes also assessments on ethical and legal issues and not just technical and organisational issues. Thus such a document cannot be EU RESTRICTED, but at least the part of the ethical and legal analysis should be open to scrutiny.

- access to the Deliverable “D2.2 Risk indicators” of the project TRESSPASS that REA denied.

Yours faithfully,

Eleftherios Chelioudakis

ve_rea.rea access documents (REA), Research Executive Agency

Link: [1]File-List
Link: [2]themeData
Link: [3]colorSchemeMapping

[4]Ares(2020)1330867 - Request for access to documents (iBorderCtrl,
TRESSPASS, FOLDOUT, ROBORDER )- confirmatory application - time limit
extension

Sent by ve_rea.rea access documents (REA)
<[email address]>. All responses have to be sent to this
email address.
Envoyé par ve_rea.rea access documents (REA)
<[email address]>. Toutes les réponses doivent être
effectuées à cette adresse électronique.

Dear Mr. Chelioudakis,

 

Your confirmatory application in subject, registered by the Research
Executive Agency on 11/02/2020 under reference number REA/Ares
(2020)880939, is currently being handled. However, an extended time limit
is needed as your application requires a thorough analysis of the
documents.

 

Therefore, we have to extend the time limit with 15 working days in
accordance with Article 8(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 regarding
public access to documents. The new time limit expires on 24/03/2020.

 

We apologize for this delay and for any inconvenience this may cause.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

REA ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS

 

References

Visible links
1. file:///tmp/cid:filelist.xml@01D5F14F.FE20A3C0
2. file:///tmp/~~themedata~~
3. file:///tmp/~~colorschememapping~~
4. https://webgate.ec.testa.eu/Ares/documen...

ve_rea.rea access documents(REA), Research Executive Agency

3 Attachments

Dear Mr Chelioudakis,

Please find enclosed the electronic version of REA reply to your confirmatory application, signed by Mr Tachelet on 24/03/2020 (Ares(2020)1730255).

Due to the current circumstances, REA staff is working in teleworking mode, therefore the original version of the reply will be sent to you once the normal working conditions are resumed.

REA will consider that the deadlines for the means of redress will apply as from the receipt of the original version.

Kind regards,

REA ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS