Ref. Ares(2022)5427031 - 28/07/2022
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT
The Director-General
Brussels,
AGRI.H.1
Ms Greata Rosén FONDAHN
Cava de San Miguel 8, 4º c.
28005 Madrid
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx
Subject:
Request for access to documents – ref. Gestdem 2022/3500
Dear Ms. Fondahn,
Thank you for your prompt reply and agreeing to the fair solution proposed in the latest
correspondence.
You request access to:
1) DG AGRI's Process for handling potential irregularities found
in the Common Agricultural Policy funds statistics reported by Member States to the
DG; 2) DG AGRI's Process for handling reports of potential irregularities or fraud
concerning Common Agricultural Policy funds recipients; 3) Reports of irregularities or
fraud concerning Common Agricultural Policy funds recipients, sent to, held or created
by DG AGRI; 4) Correspondence sent to DG AGRI regarding potential irregularities
or fraud concerning Common Agricultural Policy funds recipients, from 1.01.2022 to
17.06.2022 and concerning Finland, Germany and Malta.
Your application concerns the following documents:
No Title/kind (email, Author
of Ares no and AGRI
Comment
or
note)
of the
date of the decision
justification in
document
document
document
case of refusal
Ex.
Give
access,
Refuse,
Consult MS
1
DG AGRI Anti-
DG AGRI
Ares(2020)
Give access
fraud
Strategy,
5099349
–
Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË - Tel. +32 22991111
Office: L130 03/158 - Tel. direct line +32 229-83614
Version 4.0
29/09/2020
2
Internal rules for DG AGRI
Ares(2020)5
Give access
the handling of
940920
–
allegations
of
26/10/2020
fraud and other
irregularities, and
OLAF cases
3
Annual Activity DG AGRI
Ares(2022)3
Give access
Report 2021 with
212493
–
Annexes
25/04/2022
4
Correspondence
N/A
N/A
Refuse
Protection of the
sent to DG AGRI
access
purpose
of
regarding
ongoing
irregularities and
investigations
fraud cases
(Article
4(2),
third indent)
4a
‒‖‒
N/A
Ares(2022)5
Refuse
Considered
357269
access
ongoing
investigations
4b
‒‖‒
N/A
Ares(2022)5
Refuse
Considered
357357
access
ongoing
investigations
4c
‒‖‒
N/A
Ares(2022)5
Refuse
Considered
357458
access
ongoing
investigations
Documents under 1), 2) and 3)
We enclose a copy of the documents requested under 1) and 2). The document requested
under 3) can be accessed on this page:
https://ec.europa.eu/info/publications/annual-
activity-report-2021-agriculture-and-rural-development_en (information relevant to
irregularities and fraud can be found in Annex 7).
You may reuse public documents, which have been produced by the European
Commission based on the
Commission Decision on the reuse of Commission
documents1. You may reuse the documents disclosed free of charge and for non-
commercial and commercial purposes provided that the source is acknowledged and that
you do not distort the original meaning or message of the documents. Please note that the
Commission does not assume liability stemming from the reuse.
Documents under 4)
1
2011/833/EU: Commission Decision of 12 December 2011 on the reuse of Commission documents,
OJ L 330, 14.12.2011, p. 39
2
Having examined the documents requested under the provisions of Regulation (EC)
1049/2001 regarding public access to documents, I regret to inform you that your
application cannot be granted, as disclosure is prevented by exception to the right of
access laid down in Article 4 of this Regulation.
The documents which you seek to obtain relate to ongoing investigations concerning
irregularities or possible fraud in connection with recipients of the Common Agricultural
Policy funds.
As such, these documents fall under the protection of Article 4(2), third indent, of
Regulation 1049/2001, based on a general presumption of non-disclosure, as confirmed
by the General Court2 as regards documents concerning OLAF investigations. In order to
ensure the effectiveness of investigations led by OLAF into cases of possible fraud, it is
essential to preserve a climate of mutual trust between all parties involved in the
investigations, and hence the confidentiality of these investigations is of high importance.
The investigations led by OLAF – and the underlying evidence and information sources –
therefore require strict protection from the public. It follows that disclosure of the
documents requested would undermine the protection of the purpose of investigations by
OLAF. Therefore, the exception laid down in Article 4(2), third indent of Regulation
(EC) 1049/2001 applies to these documents.
We have considered whether partial access could be granted to the documents requested.
However, at the present moment, the entire document falls under the above-mentioned
exceptions to the right of access to documents provided for by Regulation (EC)
1049/2001.
The exception laid down in Article 4(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 applies unless
there is an overriding public interest in disclosure of the documents. The services of the
Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development have examined whether
there could be an overriding public interest in disclosure at this stage of the process, but
we have not been able to identify such an interest.
In accordance with Article 7(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, you are entitled to make
a confirmatory application requesting the Commission to review this position.
Such a confirmatory application should be addressed within 15 working days upon receipt
of this letter to the Secretary-General of the Commission at the following address:
European Commission
Secretariat-General
Transparency, Document Management & Access to Documents (SG.C.1)
BERL 7/076
B-1049 Bruxelles
or by email to:
xxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx
2
See in particular the judgment in
Strack v Commission, T-221/08, EU:T:2016:242, paragraphs 159 to
164.
3
Yours faithfully,
p.o. Michael NIEJAHR
in absence of
Wolfgang BURTSCHER
4
Electronically signed on 27/07/2022 16:50 (UTC+02) in accordance with Article 11 of Commission Decision (EU) 2021/2121
