EUROPEAN COMMISSION
Brussels, 4.10.2018
C(2018) 6630 final
Mr Arun DOHLE
Against Child Trafficking
c/o Crown Business Center Schiphol-
Hoofddorp
Planetenweg 5
NL 2132 HN Hoofddorp
DECISION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION PURSUANT TO ARTICLE 4 OF THE
IMPLEMENTING RULES TO REGULATION (EC) N° 1049/20011
Subject: Your confirmatory application for access to documents – Gestdem 2018/4222
Dear Mr Dohle,
I am writing in reference to your email of 29 August 2018, registered on the same day, by
which you lodge a confirmatory application in accordance with Article 7(2) of Regulation
1049/2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission
documents2 (hereafter ‘Regulation 1049/2001’).
Through your initial application of 2 August 2018, you requested access to:
- ‘[a]ll documents, correspondence, internal and external, about "factsheet 22 - Focus
on deinstitutionalisation of children", which was sent out on 25 May 2018 to the EU
Delegations in the NEAR area, [i]ncluding, but not limited to, the drafting process,
as well as internal and external consultations'.
On 28 August 2018, the Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement
Negotiations granted full access to ‘factsheet 22 - Focus on deinstitutionalisation of
children’ and informed you that this was the only document identified as falling under the
scope of the request.
1
Official Journal L 345 of 29.12.2001, p. 94.
2 Official Journal L145 of 31.05.2001 p.43
Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË - Tel. +32 229 91111
In your confirmatory application, you question the absence of any further documents. You
take the view that there must be other documents and refer to ‘a decision/request to prepare
such a [f]actsheet’, ‘internal consultations’, ‘agreement by the hierarchy and ‘circulation
sheets, in Ares’. You conclude that you ‘request a review, so that in the public interest there
is transparency and accountability on how these policy processes take place.’
Against this background, the European Commission has carried out a renewed, thorough
search for the documents requested. Following this renewed search, I confirm that the
Commission does not hold any further documents that would correspond to the description
given in your application other than the one already identified by the Directorate-General for
Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations in its initial reply. The public links to the
documents on which the disclosed factsheet was based are indicated in the footnotes of the
factsheet.
I would also like to inform you that the factsheet was drafted by the European Commission's
Centre of Thematic Expertise on Rule of Law, Fundamental Rights and Democracy. This
factsheet was prepared for internal use of the Commission services. As this factsheet merely
states facts, it does not entail policy proposals or announce any new policy initiatives, no
consultations took place with the Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement
Negotiations. Furthermore, as this factsheet is not an official document of the European
Commission and does not represent an official position of the European Commission, there has
not been any formal, nor informal consultation with other Directorates-General on this
document either.
Indeed, as specified in Article 2(3) of Regulation 1049/2001, the right of access as defined
in that regulation applies only to existing documents in the possession of the institution.
Given that the European Commission does not hold any other documents corresponding to
the description given in your application, it is not in a position to fulfil your request.
Finally, I draw your attention to the means of redress available against this decision. You
may either bring proceedings before the General Court or file a complaint with the
European Ombudsman under the conditions specified respectively in Articles 263 and 228
of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
Yours sincerely,
For the Commission
Martin SELMAYR
Secretary-General
2