European Ombudsman’s procedures and decision making
Dear European Ombudsman,
I request the most recent documents that set out the following for Ombudsman staff
1. what procedure to use when handling a complaint.
2. criteria for all actions and decisions to be taken by the Ombudsman. (By actions and decisions I mean things like the decision to close a case, or requesting further information from a complainant, or recommend an institution take an action.)
3. the communication policy with complainants and with press.
In addition, documents (other than published Ombudsman decisions) that internal staff use when considering the Ombudsman’s ability to act in complaints against the Commission for not launching infringement procedures.
Faithfully,
Johnny Ryan
Irish Council for Civil Liberties
Link: [1]File-List
Link: [2]Edit-Time-Data
Link: [3]themeData
Link: [4]colorSchemeMapping
Sent by ve_ombu.euroombudsman (OMBU) <[European Ombudsman request email]>. All
responses have to be sent to this email address.
Envoyé par ve_ombu.euroombudsman (OMBU) <[European Ombudsman request email]>. Toutes
les réponses doivent être effectuées à cette adresse électronique.
Dear Mr Ryan,
Thank you for your request for public access to documents that you
submitted to the European Ombudsman’s Office on 29. December 2021.
Your request has been registered today under reference Ares(2022)65337
It will be dealt with in accordance with Regulation 1049/2001 regarding
public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents and
the Decision of the European Ombudsman on internal procedures for dealing
with applications for public access to documents and requests for
information.
We will deal with your request as soon as possible and reply to you no
later than 24. January 2022 (15 working days from the date of registration
of your request).
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact our Office by
telephone: + 33 (0)3 88 17 23 13 or e-mail: [5][European Ombudsman request email].
Yours sincerely,
ATD/FOI Team
[6]cid:image001.gif@01D00286.F2575FB0 European Ombudsman
FOI team
1 avenue du Président Robert Schuman
CS 30403
F - 67001 Strasbourg Cedex
[7]www.ombudsman.europa.eu
References
Visible links
1. file:///tmp/cid:filelist.xml@01D8022D.3F100CF0
2. file:///tmp/cid:editdata.mso
3. file:///tmp/~~themedata~~
4. file:///tmp/~~colorschememapping~~
5. mailto:[European Ombudsman request email]
7. European Ombudsman Home Page
http://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/
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Link: [1]File-List
Link: [2]Edit-Time-Data
Link: [3]themeData
Link: [4]colorSchemeMapping
Sent by ve_ombu.euroombudsman (OMBU) <[European Ombudsman request email]>. All
responses have to be sent to this email address.
Envoyé par ve_ombu.euroombudsman (OMBU) <[European Ombudsman request email]>. Toutes
les réponses doivent être effectuées à cette adresse électronique.
Dear Mr Ryan,
On 29 December 2021, via the platform [5]asktheeu you asked the European
Ombudsman’s Office to grant you public access to internal guidance
documents concerning (i) the handling of complaints and (ii) the
Ombudsman’s communication with complainants and the press.
Your request was registered on 5 January 2022 under the reference number
Ares(2022)65337. We have dealt with your request in accordance with
Regulation 1049/2001[6]^^[1] regarding public access to documents and the
Ombudsman’s Decision[7]^^[2] on the handling of requests for public access
to documents.
We understand your request to concern guidance documents on complaint
handling in general and complaints to the Ombudsman concerning
infringement complaints to the Commission in particular. With this in
mind, we have identified the following documents as falling within the
scope of your request:
- Statute of the European Ombudsman, available at:
[8]https://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/en/legal...
- Implementing provisions (currently under revision to take account of
Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2021/1163 of the European Parliament laying down
a new Statute for the European Ombudsman) available at:
[9]https://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/en/legal...
- Flowchart on complaint processing, available at:
[10]https://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/en/compl...
- Manual on case handling procedures
- Case-handling unit - guidance note
- Guidance note on the European Ombudsman’s approach to cases relating to
infringement proceedings
- Schematic presentation of the Ombudsman’s approaches to “infringement
complaint” cases
Please note that, at this stage, we consider that the different thematic
guidance notes, mentioned in the Manual on case handling do not fall
within the scope of your request, but if you would like us to consider
those documents please let us know.
As concerns our interactions with stakeholders, including communication
policy, they are guided by the principles enshrined in the [11]Code of
good administrative behaviour. In addition, we have identified the
following two documents:
- The European Ombudsman’s Communication strategy (February 2021)
- The European Ombudsman Internal Charter of Good Practice
Three of the above nine documents are available on our website. We have
decided to grant you full access to five of the remaining documents listed
above. We have redacted personal data in the document “Guidance note on
the European Ombudsman’s approach to cases relating to infringement
proceedings” in accordance with Article 4(1)(b) of Regulation 1049/2001
together with Regulation 2018/1725[12]^^[3]. The documents are attached to
this email.
You are welcome to contact me at [13][European Ombudsman request email] with any
questions or requests for clarifications you may have.
Should you wish to challenge this decision, you may request a review under
Article 7(2) of Regulation 1049/2001 (‘confirmatory application’
procedure). You may do so by sending an e-mail to
[14][European Ombudsman request email] within 15 working days of having received this
decision. Our Secretary-General would then handle the review request.
Yours sincerely,
Tereza Mandjukova
European Ombudsman
Tereza Mandjukova
Transparency Officer
1 avenue du Président Robert Schuman
CS 30403
F - 67001 Strasbourg Cedex
[15]T. +33 3 88 17 23 13
F. +33 3 88 17 90 62
[16]www.ombudsman.europa.eu
^^[1] ^Regulation 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council
of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and
Commission documents, available at:
[17]https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legalcontent/E...
^2 The Decision is available at:
[18]https://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/en/docum...
^3 Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council
of 23 October 2018 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the
processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and
agencies, available at:
[19]https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
------------------------
[20][1] Regulation 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council
of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and
Commission documents is available at:
[21]https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legalcontent/E...
[22][2] The Decision is available at:
[23]https://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/en/docum...
[24][3] Regulation 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council
of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and
Commission documents is available at:
[25]https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legalcontent/E...
References
Visible links
1. file:///tmp/cid:filelist.xml@01D8114E.8492E3D0
2. file:///tmp/cid:editdata.mso
3. file:///tmp/~~themedata~~
4. file:///tmp/~~colorschememapping~~
5. https://www.asktheeu.org/
6. file:///tmp/foiextract20220124-9686-f71mix#_ftn1
7. file:///tmp/foiextract20220124-9686-f71mix#_ftn2
8. https://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/en/legal...
9. https://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/en/legal...
10. https://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/en/compl...
11. https://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/en/publi...
12. file:///tmp/foiextract20220124-9686-f71mix#_ftn3
13. mailto:[European Ombudsman request email]
14. mailto:[European Ombudsman request email]
15. Click to call
file:///tmp/tel:+33388172313
16. European Ombudsman Home Page
http://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/
17. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legalcontent/E...
18. https://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/en/docum...
19. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
20. file:///tmp/foiextract20220124-9686-f71mix#_ftnref1
21. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legalcontent/E...
22. file:///tmp/foiextract20220124-9686-f71mix#_ftnref2
23. https://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/en/docum...
24. file:///tmp/foiextract20220124-9686-f71mix#_ftnref3
25. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legalcontent/E...