Ref. Ares(2021)5844062 - 24/09/2021
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR MIGRATION AND HOME AFFAIRS
The Director-General
By registered letter with acknowledgment of
receipt
Luca RONDI
via Lamarmora 16, Biella (Bi),
Italy, 13900
Advance copy by email :
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx
Subject:
Your application for access to documents – GESTDEM 2021/5051
Dear Sir,
We refer to your e-mail of 16/08/2021, in which you make a request for access to
documents, registered on 17/08/2021 under the above-mentioned reference number.
You request access to
- All available documents (final report, concept notes, summaries of the meetings, results
of questionaires etc.) concerning the Schengen evaluation of Italy in return sector. The
Commission made the evaluation from 27 June to 3 July 2021 as evidenced by the site of
Italian national police:
(https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.poliziadistato.it/articolo/170160dc7439abf3d5
91091566__;!!DOxrgLBm!SfLlcRKmv5vQnc5CU3yipTYbE6Uo0wuDCszeaB778lwdcLU
H9S1gbZqpIQGykKX0bHOFA3JeB03HFA$ )
The evaluation of Italy in the field of return is on-going. For this reason, the evaluation’s
final report is not ready and only the questionnaire for the preparation of the report is
available.
The documents which fall within the scope of your application are therefore the following
ones:
-
Document 1: Commission implementing Decision (C(2019)6863) of 30/09/2019
establishing a standard questionnaire in accordance with Article 9 of the Council
Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË - Tel. +32 22991111
Regulation (EU) No 1053/2013, and repealing Commission Implementing
Decision C(2014) 4657.
-
Document
2:
IT
answer
to
the
questionnaire
above
referred
to
ARES (2021)5602640.
For all other documents requested, as specified in Article 2(3) of Regulation (EC) No
1049/2001, the right of access as defined in that regulation applies only to existing
documents in the possession of the institution.
Given that no such documents, corresponding to the description given in your
application, are held by the Commission, the Commission is not in a position to fulfil
your request for this specific document.
As far as the document 1 is concerned, please note that it is public under the following
link:
https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/documents-
register/detail?ref=C(2019)6863&lang=en.
As far as document 2 is concerned, I regret to inform you that your application cannot be
granted to this document, as disclosure is prevented by exceptions to the right of access laid
down in Article 4(3), first subparagraph and Article 4(1)(a) first indent of the Regulation
1049/2001.
The document which you seek to obtain contains elements to be taken into account by the
Commission when preparing the evaluation report in the field of return, such as structural
and operational details about the Italian return system. This document may reveal
deficiencies of the national return system, discrepancies between the national legislation
and the Union
acquis or gaps between the legislative framework and national practice.
Disclosure of the document 2 would seriously undermine the protection of the decision-
making process of the Commission, as it would reveal preliminary views and policy options
which are currently under consideration; the Commission's services must be free to explore
all possible options in preparation of a decision free from external pressure. Therefore the
exception laid down in Article 4(3) first subparagraph (protection of public interest as
regards the on-going decision making process) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 applies to
this document.
It would also reveal sensitive elements linked to the return policy of Italy and the EU. This
information, if publically disclosed, could be instrumentally used to compromise the
return system in the Member State concerned and it could have a negative impact on
current and future relations with third countries. Therefore, the exception laid down in
Article 4(1)(a) first indent (protection of public interest as regards the public security) of
Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 also applies to this document.
Finally, the evaluation report to be adopted at the end of the process will be classified EU
restricted, within the meaning of
Commission Decision (EU, Euratom) 2015/444 of
13 March 2015 on the security rules for protecting EU classified information. This
reinforces our assessment that the elements gathered by the Commission during the
preparation of such a document are of utmost sensitivity, and that not disclosing them is
essential to preserve the functioning of the Italian and EU return systems, with the
consequent harm to the Union efforts in fighting against irregular migration.
We have considered whether partial access could be granted to the document 2. The
sensitive parts of the document appear to be entirely covered by the exceptions for the
reasons explained above. The public elements of the document are made public to you by
way of release of document 1.
The exception laid down in Article 4(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 applies unless
there is an overriding public interest in disclosure of the document 2. For the reasons stated
above, we
have not been able to identify such an interest.
You may reuse public documents, (see document 1) which have been produced by the
European Commission or by public and private entities on its behalf based on the
Commission Decision on the reuse of Commission documents. 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.
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
Yours faithfully,
(e-signed)
Monique PARIAT
Electronically signed on 24/09/2021 12:21 (UTC+02) in accordance with article 11 of Commission Decision C(2020) 4482