Dear European Ombudsman,

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:

1. MOTIVATION OF THE APPLICATION – DG INFSO EXTERNAL FINANCIAL AUDITS

1.1. Applications under Regulation 1049/2001

In the last 7 months there have been a few applications lodged to the Ombudsman under Regulation 1049/2001 for granting access to documents about the DG INFSO external financial audits. It appears that two applicants have been very skeptical about how the Ombudsman has dealt with applications under Regulation 1049/2001 and the handling of one particular complaint lodged in 2013, http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/forme... and http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/revie....

For two replies to applications under Regulation 1049/2001 http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/583/r... and http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/1097/... , it appears that the Ombudsman has taken issue with the skepticism of two applicants, and has forewarned them that they might risk legal action for defamatory statements by unspecified members of her staff.

Remarkably, the Ombudsman hinted at article 24 of the Staff Regulations. The following two cases are noteworthy for requests of officials under article 24: T-308/10 P, §58 §74; T-48/05 §24. It is also probable that the legal action for the defamation referred to in §93 of case T-474/10 entailed a financial support under article 24.

1.2. Redress procedure

According to the letter of the Ombudsman of 6/2/2014, ‘The Ombudsman has established a procedure for complainants who wish to contest the Ombudsman’s decisions on their cases’.
More information about the procedure is provided at the link http://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/en/atyour....

However, this ‘redress procedure’ is not provided for under the Ombudsman Implementing Provisions. This gives rise to question like:

When the ‘redress procedure’ was first established?

What is the basis of the ‘redress procedure’ vis-à-vis the Implementing Rules?

Did the Ombudsman inform complainants whose complaint was rejected without a full-inquiry about the ‘redress procedure’?

What is the time-limit for contesting the Decision about a complaint?

II. APPLICATION FOR DOCUMENTS

I would appreciate if the Ombudsman grants full access to the following documents:

1. The decision according to which the Ombudsman established the ‘redress procedure’ for complainants wishing to contest the decision closing a complaint for maladministration.

2. The documents establishing the rationale for implementing the ‘redress procedure’. Such documents may be some sort of an analysis of post-decision correspondence with complainants.

3. The template letter (or the part of the template) that has been used to inform complainants about their rights under the ‘redress procedure’.

4. Referring to every single Ombudsman decision from 1/1/2008 onwards concerning a complaint about a DG INFSO/CNECT external financial audit, the few lines of the decision addressed to the complainant informing him/her about his/her rights under the ‘redress procedure’.

III. ANOTHER HIGHLY RELEVANT APPLICATION

It is noted that earlier today another citizen lodged an application for the same subject matter
http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/proce....

Yours faithfully,

Mr. Charilaos. DROSOS

Dear Madam,

I would like to sincerely thank you for the comprehensive reply of 12/2/2013, OUT2014-003065, to the application under Regulation No 1049/2001.

Yours sincerely,

Mr. Charilaos DROSOS