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

[4]AtD request - Border Security Systems [Nestor and Andromeda] - F.
SCHMITZ - Ares(2025)473278  (Please use this link only if you are an Ares
user – Svp, utilisez ce lien exclusivement si vous êtes un(e) utilisateur
d’Ares)

Dear Mr Schmitz,

 

We refer to your identical requests for access to documents submitted to
European Commission (addressed to different directorates) on 10/1/2025:

‘’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: All contracts, (technical arrangements),
memorandums of understanding, or agreements signed or held by the
Commission and/or Frontex, as well as all studies, reports, analysis,
evaluations, briefings, and/or proposals or recommendations by third
parties or stakeholders of any kind regarding the border security systems
‘Nestor’ and ‘Andromeda’ used at the Greece-Turkey land border.’’

 

As the requests were identical and all coming from the same requestor,
they are being treated as one and only request. This request was
attributed on 21/1/2025 to the European Research Executive Agency (REA)
and has been registered by REA on the same day under reference number
Ares(2025)472516.

 

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
11/2/2025. In case this time limit needs to be extended, you will be
informed in due course.

 

We would like also to note that you submitted your identical requests via
the @asktheeu.org website, via different email addresses. Please note that
we will be using only this email address for our correspondence:
[5][FOI #15386 email].

 

 

Regards,

REA ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS

For information related to the processing of your personal data by REA,
you may consult the relevant [6]Data Protection Notice

 

 

References

Visible links
1. file:///tmp/cid:filelist.xml@01DB6C1D.BF3EB1D0
2. file:///tmp/~~themedata~~
3. file:///tmp/~~colorschememapping~~
4. https://webgate.ec.testa.eu/Ares/documen...
5. mailto:[FOI #15386 email]
6. https://rea.ec.europa.eu/system/files/20...

Dear Sir,

Thank you for your email requesting access to documents.
Please note that the requested documents fall within the remits of REA (European Research Executive Agency) therefore you will receive a reply from them.

Best regards,

HOME Access to documents team

show quoted sections

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

[4]Wide scope request - AtD request - Border Security Systems [Nestor and
Andromeda] - F. SCHMITZ - Ares(2025)473278 - Ares(2025)931754  (Please use
this link only if you are an Ares user – Svp, utilisez ce lien
exclusivement si vous êtes un(e) utilisateur d’Ares)

Dear Mr Schmitz,

 

We refer to your request for access to documents registered by REA on
21/1/2025 under the reference number Ares(2025)472516.

 

We have identified 15 documents that fall under your scope of interest.
Those documents need to be assessed individually, and third parties need
to be consulted. Such a detailed analysis and consultation cannot be
carried out within the normal time limits set out in Regulation 1049/2001
regarding public access to documents.

 

Article 6(3) of the Regulation provides that, in the event of an
application relating to very long documents or a very large number of
documents, the institution concerned may extend the time limit by
additional 15 working days and confer with the applicant with a view to
finding a fair solution. In accordance with the case law of the EU Courts,
such a solution can only concern the content, or the number of documents
applied for, not the deadline for replying[1]. This means that the
requestor should reduce the scope of their request in a way that would
enable its treatment by the institution within the extended deadline of 15
+ 15 working days from the registration of the request.

Based on those provision, we inform you that we need to extend the time
limit to respond to your request, which means that we will respond to your
request by 4/3/2025. Als, we kindly ask you to narrow down the scope of
your request to reduce it to a more manageable number of documents, by
specifying the objective of your request and your specific interest in the
requested documents[2].

 

In order to help you narrow down your request, please find a list and a
short description of the 15 documents falling within the scope of your
request:

1.            ANDROMEDA Deliverable - Report

2.            ANDROMEDA Deliverable - Requirements & Technical
Specifications

3.            ANDROMEDA Deliverable - Scenarios and Trials

4.            ANDROMEDA Deliverable - Trial Configurations

5.            ANDROMEDA Deliverable - Test Plan

6.            ANDROMEDA Deliverable - Test Report

7.            ANDROMEDA Deliverable - Trial approach and plan

8.            ANDROMEDA Deliverable - Results Report

9.            ANDROMEDA - Description of action

10.         NESTOR Deliverable - Scenarios and Trials

11.         NESTOR Deliverable - Deployment and maintenance

12.         NESTOR Deliverable - methodology and planning

13.         NESTOR Deliverable - Results Report

14.         NESTOR Deliverable - stakeholder community

15.         NESTOR - Description of action

 

The length of these documents in total varies widely, from 30 to around
370 pages, and the total amount of pages exceeds 1500 pages.

 

According to our first estimates and taking into account the other tasks
that the concerned staff are likely to have to deal with during the same
period, the handling of your request [broken down as follows: individual
and specific assessment of the content of each documents in light of the
exceptions of Article 4 of the Regulation; third-party consultations under
Article 4(4) of the Regulation; final assessment of the documents in light
of the received comments; redaction of those parts of the documents to
which one or several exceptions apply; drafting of the reply; internal
approval of the draft decision on your request; preparation of the reply
and of the documents for dispatch (administrative treatment,…)] would be
impossible within the remaining days from the extended deadline of 30
working days counting from the date of registration of you application.

 

It follows that, according to our estimates, a maximum of 10 documents
could possibly be dealt with within this period.

In order to enable us to respect the time-limits of the Regulation
1049/2001, we would like to ask you for a swift reply by email to this
invitation to propose a fair solution, within three (3) working days at
the latest.

 

In the absence of a reply within three working days, we will unilaterally
restrict the scope of your application to those parts that can be dealt
with within the extended deadline of 30 working days counting from the
registration of your application (the new deadline being 4/3/2025).

 

Thank you in advance for your understanding.

 

Yours sincerely,

REA ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS

 

 

[1] Judgment of the Court of Justice of 2 October 2014 in case C-127/13,
Guido Strack v Commission, paragraphs 26-28.

[2] Ibid, paragraph 28; Judgment of the General Court (then 'Court of
First Instance') of 22 May 2012 in case T-344/08, EnBW Energie
Baden-Württemberg v Commission, paragraph 105.

References

Visible links
1. file:///tmp/cid:filelist.xml@01DB78AF.F65F4410
2. file:///tmp/~~themedata~~
3. file:///tmp/~~colorschememapping~~
4. https://webgate.ec.testa.eu/Ares/documen...

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

[4]RE: Wide scope request - AtD request - Border Security Systems [Nestor
and Andromeda] - F. SCHMITZ - Ares(2025)473278 - Ares(2025)931754 -
Ares(2025)1066348  (Please use this link only if you are an Ares user –
Svp, utilisez ce lien exclusivement si vous êtes un(e) utilisateur d’Ares)

Dear Mr. Schmitz,

 

Regarding your request (Ares(2025)472516) for access to documents received
on 21/1/2025, we requested on 6/2/2025 that you narrow down the scope of
your interest within three working days. Unfortunately, we have not
received a response.

 

If we do not hear from you by tomorrow, we will unilaterally restrict the
scope of your request to ensure it can be processed within the extended
deadline, which is set for 4/3/2025.

 

We appreciate your understanding.

 

Sincerely,

REA ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS

 

 

From: REA ACCESS DOCUMENTS <[email address]>
Sent: Thursday, February 6, 2025 4:01 PM
To: [FOI #15386 email]
Cc: REA ACCESS DOCUMENTS <[email address]>
Subject: Wide scope request - AtD request - Border Security Systems
[Nestor and Andromeda] - F. SCHMITZ - Ares(2025)473278 - Ares(2025)931754

 

[5]Wide scope request - AtD request - Border Security Systems [Nestor and
Andromeda] - F. SCHMITZ - Ares(2025)473278 - Ares(2025)931754  (Please use
this link only if you are an Ares user – Svp, utilisez ce lien
exclusivement si vous êtes un(e) utilisateur d’Ares)

 

Dear Mr Schmitz,

 

We refer to your request for access to documents registered by REA on
21/1/2025 under the reference number Ares(2025)472516.

 

We have identified 15 documents that fall under your scope of interest.
Those documents need to be assessed individually, and third parties need
to be consulted. Such a detailed analysis and consultation cannot be
carried out within the normal time limits set out in Regulation 1049/2001
regarding public access to documents.

 

Article 6(3) of the Regulation provides that, in the event of an
application relating to very long documents or a very large number of
documents, the institution concerned may extend the time limit by
additional 15 working days and confer with the applicant with a view to
finding a fair solution. In accordance with the case law of the EU Courts,
such a solution can only concern the content, or the number of documents
applied for, not the deadline for replying[1]. This means that the
requestor should reduce the scope of their request in a way that would
enable its treatment by the institution within the extended deadline of 15
+ 15 working days from the registration of the request.

Based on those provision, we inform you that we need to extend the time
limit to respond to your request, which means that we will respond to your
request by 4/3/2025. Als, we kindly ask you to narrow down the scope of
your request to reduce it to a more manageable number of documents, by
specifying the objective of your request and your specific interest in the
requested documents[2].

 

In order to help you narrow down your request, please find a list and a
short description of the 15 documents falling within the scope of your
request:

1.            ANDROMEDA Deliverable - Report

2.            ANDROMEDA Deliverable - Requirements & Technical
Specifications

3.            ANDROMEDA Deliverable - Scenarios and Trials

4.            ANDROMEDA Deliverable - Trial Configurations

5.            ANDROMEDA Deliverable - Test Plan

6.            ANDROMEDA Deliverable - Test Report

7.            ANDROMEDA Deliverable - Trial approach and plan

8.            ANDROMEDA Deliverable - Results Report

9.            ANDROMEDA - Description of action

10.         NESTOR Deliverable - Scenarios and Trials

11.         NESTOR Deliverable - Deployment and maintenance

12.         NESTOR Deliverable - methodology and planning

13.         NESTOR Deliverable - Results Report

14.         NESTOR Deliverable - stakeholder community

15.         NESTOR - Description of action

 

The length of these documents in total varies widely, from 30 to around
370 pages, and the total amount of pages exceeds 1500 pages.

 

According to our first estimates and taking into account the other tasks
that the concerned staff are likely to have to deal with during the same
period, the handling of your request [broken down as follows: individual
and specific assessment of the content of each documents in light of the
exceptions of Article 4 of the Regulation; third-party consultations under
Article 4(4) of the Regulation; final assessment of the documents in light
of the received comments; redaction of those parts of the documents to
which one or several exceptions apply; drafting of the reply; internal
approval of the draft decision on your request; preparation of the reply
and of the documents for dispatch (administrative treatment,…)] would be
impossible within the remaining days from the extended deadline of 30
working days counting from the date of registration of you application.

 

It follows that, according to our estimates, a maximum of 10 documents
could possibly be dealt with within this period.

In order to enable us to respect the time-limits of the Regulation
1049/2001, we would like to ask you for a swift reply by email to this
invitation to propose a fair solution, within three (3) working days at
the latest.

 

In the absence of a reply within three working days, we will unilaterally
restrict the scope of your application to those parts that can be dealt
with within the extended deadline of 30 working days counting from the
registration of your application (the new deadline being 4/3/2025).

 

Thank you in advance for your understanding.

 

Yours sincerely,

REA ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS

 

 

[1] Judgment of the Court of Justice of 2 October 2014 in case C-127/13,
Guido Strack v Commission, paragraphs 26-28.

[2] Ibid, paragraph 28; Judgment of the General Court (then 'Court of
First Instance') of 22 May 2012 in case T-344/08, EnBW Energie
Baden-Württemberg v Commission, paragraph 105.

References

Visible links
1. file:///tmp/cid:filelist.xml@01DB7C94.C0353C80
2. file:///tmp/~~themedata~~
3. file:///tmp/~~colorschememapping~~
4. https://webgate.ec.testa.eu/Ares/documen...
5. https://webgate.ec.testa.eu/Ares/documen...

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

[4]RE: Wide scope request - AtD request - Border Security Systems [Nestor
and Andromeda] - F. SCHMITZ - Ares(2025)473278 - Ares(2025)931754 -
Ares(2025)1066348 - Ares(2025)1294034  (Please use this link only if you
are an Ares user – Svp, utilisez ce lien exclusivement si vous êtes un(e)
utilisateur d’Ares)

Dear Mr. Schmitz,

 

Regarding your request (Ares(2025)472516) for access to documents received
on January 21, 2025, we reached out to you on February 6, 2025, asking you
to narrow the scope of your request within three working days and we
explained in detail why the scope should be reduced (Ares(2025)931754). On
February 11, 2025, we sent you a gentle reminder, encouraging you to
specify which documents are most relevant to your interests
(Ares(2025)1066348). We informed you that, in the absence of a response,
we would need to unilaterally restrict your request's scope to meet the
time limits set in the Regulation.

 

Since you have not replied to our proposal for a fair solution, please be
informed that processing your application, considering the volume and
complexity of the requested documents, third-party consultations, average
reading time, and additional time required for internal validation, would
impose an inappropriate administrative burden and be disproportionate.

 

To uphold good administrative practices and instead of assuming that you
are no longer interested in receiving a response, we are obliged to
balance your interest in access against the workload that your request
entails. This approach aligns with EU Courts case law, specifically the
Strack judgment (C-127/2013, paragraphs 27-28).

 

As previously indicated, we have thus proceeded to unilaterally restrict
the scope of your application to six documents (Deliverables) that can be
processed within 30 working days from the date of registration, i.e.,
until March 4, 2025. Your application is now considered to cover those six
deliverables held by REA concerning the border security systems 'Nestor'
and 'Andromeda,' tested at the Greece-Turkey land border, as best
corresponding to your request.

 

You will soon receive our response to your request, examined in accordance
with the Regulation 1049/2001 on public access to documents.

 

Kind regards,

REA ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS

 

 

From: REA ACCESS DOCUMENTS <[email address]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 11, 2025 2:57 PM
To: [FOI #15386 email]
Cc: REA ACCESS DOCUMENTS <[email address]>
Subject: RE: Wide scope request - AtD request - Border Security Systems
[Nestor and Andromeda] - F. SCHMITZ - Ares(2025)473278 - Ares(2025)931754
- Ares(2025)1066348

 

[5]RE: Wide scope request - AtD request - Border Security Systems [Nestor
and Andromeda] - F. SCHMITZ - Ares(2025)473278 - Ares(2025)931754 -
Ares(2025)1066348  (Please use this link only if you are an Ares user –
Svp, utilisez ce lien exclusivement si vous êtes un(e) utilisateur d’Ares)

 

Dear Mr. Schmitz,

 

Regarding your request (Ares(2025)472516) for access to documents received
on 21/1/2025, we requested on 6/2/2025 that you narrow down the scope of
your interest within three working days. Unfortunately, we have not
received a response.

 

If we do not hear from you by tomorrow, we will unilaterally restrict the
scope of your request to ensure it can be processed within the extended
deadline, which is set for 4/3/2025.

 

We appreciate your understanding.

 

Sincerely,

REA ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS

 

 

From: REA ACCESS DOCUMENTS <[6][email address]>
Sent: Thursday, February 6, 2025 4:01 PM
To: [7][FOI #15386 email]
Cc: REA ACCESS DOCUMENTS <[8][email address]>
Subject: Wide scope request - AtD request - Border Security Systems
[Nestor and Andromeda] - F. SCHMITZ - Ares(2025)473278 - Ares(2025)931754

 

[9]Wide scope request - AtD request - Border Security Systems [Nestor and
Andromeda] - F. SCHMITZ - Ares(2025)473278 - Ares(2025)931754  (Please use
this link only if you are an Ares user – Svp, utilisez ce lien
exclusivement si vous êtes un(e) utilisateur d’Ares)

 

Dear Mr Schmitz,

 

We refer to your request for access to documents registered by REA on
21/1/2025 under the reference number Ares(2025)472516.

 

We have identified 15 documents that fall under your scope of interest.
Those documents need to be assessed individually, and third parties need
to be consulted. Such a detailed analysis and consultation cannot be
carried out within the normal time limits set out in Regulation 1049/2001
regarding public access to documents.

 

Article 6(3) of the Regulation provides that, in the event of an
application relating to very long documents or a very large number of
documents, the institution concerned may extend the time limit by
additional 15 working days and confer with the applicant with a view to
finding a fair solution. In accordance with the case law of the EU Courts,
such a solution can only concern the content, or the number of documents
applied for, not the deadline for replying[1]. This means that the
requestor should reduce the scope of their request in a way that would
enable its treatment by the institution within the extended deadline of 15
+ 15 working days from the registration of the request.

Based on those provision, we inform you that we need to extend the time
limit to respond to your request, which means that we will respond to your
request by 4/3/2025. Als, we kindly ask you to narrow down the scope of
your request to reduce it to a more manageable number of documents, by
specifying the objective of your request and your specific interest in the
requested documents[2].

 

In order to help you narrow down your request, please find a list and a
short description of the 15 documents falling within the scope of your
request:

1.            ANDROMEDA Deliverable - Report

2.            ANDROMEDA Deliverable - Requirements & Technical
Specifications

3.            ANDROMEDA Deliverable - Scenarios and Trials

4.            ANDROMEDA Deliverable - Trial Configurations

5.            ANDROMEDA Deliverable - Test Plan

6.            ANDROMEDA Deliverable - Test Report

7.            ANDROMEDA Deliverable - Trial approach and plan

8.            ANDROMEDA Deliverable - Results Report

9.            ANDROMEDA - Description of action

10.         NESTOR Deliverable - Scenarios and Trials

11.         NESTOR Deliverable - Deployment and maintenance

12.         NESTOR Deliverable - methodology and planning

13.         NESTOR Deliverable - Results Report

14.         NESTOR Deliverable - stakeholder community

15.         NESTOR - Description of action

 

The length of these documents in total varies widely, from 30 to around
370 pages, and the total amount of pages exceeds 1500 pages.

 

According to our first estimates and taking into account the other tasks
that the concerned staff are likely to have to deal with during the same
period, the handling of your request [broken down as follows: individual
and specific assessment of the content of each documents in light of the
exceptions of Article 4 of the Regulation; third-party consultations under
Article 4(4) of the Regulation; final assessment of the documents in light
of the received comments; redaction of those parts of the documents to
which one or several exceptions apply; drafting of the reply; internal
approval of the draft decision on your request; preparation of the reply
and of the documents for dispatch (administrative treatment,…)] would be
impossible within the remaining days from the extended deadline of 30
working days counting from the date of registration of you application.

 

It follows that, according to our estimates, a maximum of 10 documents
could possibly be dealt with within this period.

In order to enable us to respect the time-limits of the Regulation
1049/2001, we would like to ask you for a swift reply by email to this
invitation to propose a fair solution, within three (3) working days at
the latest.

 

In the absence of a reply within three working days, we will unilaterally
restrict the scope of your application to those parts that can be dealt
with within the extended deadline of 30 working days counting from the
registration of your application (the new deadline being 4/3/2025).

 

Thank you in advance for your understanding.

 

Yours sincerely,

REA ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS

 

 

[1] Judgment of the Court of Justice of 2 October 2014 in case C-127/13,
Guido Strack v Commission, paragraphs 26-28.

[2] Ibid, paragraph 28; Judgment of the General Court (then 'Court of
First Instance') of 22 May 2012 in case T-344/08, EnBW Energie
Baden-Württemberg v Commission, paragraph 105.

References

Visible links
1. file:///tmp/cid:filelist.xml@01DB8209.142F1CB0
2. file:///tmp/~~themedata~~
3. file:///tmp/~~colorschememapping~~
4. https://webgate.ec.testa.eu/Ares/documen...
5. https://webgate.ec.testa.eu/Ares/documen...
6. mailto:[email address]
7. mailto:[FOI #15386 email]
8. mailto:[email address]
9. https://webgate.ec.testa.eu/Ares/documen...

[1]RE: Wide scope request - AtD request - Border Security Systems [Nestor
and Andromeda] - F. SCHMITZ - Ares(2025)473278 - Ares(2025)931754 -
Ares(2025)1066348 - Ares(2025)1294034 - Ares(2025)1533887  (Please use
this link only if you are an Ares user – Svp, utilisez ce lien
exclusivement si vous êtes un(e) utilisateur d’Ares)

Dear Mr. Schmitz,

Thank you for your message.

Considering the constraints of Regulation 1049/2001 on access to
documents, the broad scope of your request, and our operational
capacities, we have, in compliance with the regulation’s procedures,
unilaterally limited the scope of your request to ensure a fair balance
between your interests and the interests of the institution
[Ares(2025)1294034].

Unfortunately, the Regulation does not permit an extension of the response
time. As such, we are unable to accommodate your kind proposal to receive
a response by mid-April. We are currently working on fulfilling your
request within its new limited scope.

You will soon receive our response based on provisions of the Regulation.
Please review the documents and information we provide. Should you find
them unsatisfactory or if you wish to request additional documents, you
may consider submitting a new request in the future.

Best regards,
REA ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS

show quoted sections

Dear Mr. Schmitz,

Please find attached the REA reply, registered under registration number Ares(2025)1708919 to your request for access to documents registered under registration number Ares(2025)472516.

Please acknowledge receipt of this message by return email to [email address]

Yours faithfully,

REA ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS