Report on preparedness of DG DEFIS for the management of the European Defence Fund
Alexander Fanta made this access to documents request to Internal Audit Service Automatic anti-spam measures are in place for this older request. Please let us know if a further response is expected or if you are having trouble responding.
Dear Internal Audit Service,
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:
The IAS report on the preparedness of DG DEFIS for the management of the European
Defence Fund, as described on page 32 f. of the 2022 annual report
Yours faithfully,
Alexander Fanta
Dear Sir or Madam,
We are writing to you concerning your request for access to documents sent
on 28/08/2023 and registered on 28/08/2023 under case number 2023/5172.
Since you have not indicated your postal address, we are not able to start
handling your request. The 15 working days to reply to your request will
start running only when you send us your postal address.
You can send your postal address by replying to this e-mail. If we do not
receive your reply we may close this case.
Please note that you can submit a request for access to Commission
documents via the portal [1]'Request a Commission document', which does
not require you to indicate your postal address.
Why do we need your personal postal address?
Since 1 April 2014, the submission of a postal address became a mandatory
feature when submitting an application for access to Commission documents
via an e-mail. We would like to explain why we need your postal address in
order to register and handle your application for access to documents when
submitted via e-mail:
• Firstly, to obtain legal certainty as regards the date you received
the European Commission reply to your application for public access to
documents. Article 297 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the
European Union (TFEU) states that 'decisions which specify to whom
they are addressed, shall be notified to those to whom they are
addressed and shall take effect upon such notification.' In line with
this provision, if the Commission does not grant full access to the
requested documents, it notifies the reply to the applicant via
registered mail with acknowledgement of receipt or via delivery
service. This requires an indication of a valid postal address by the
applicant;
• Secondly, to apply correctly the [2]Data Protection Regulation (EU)
2018/1725. Knowing whether the applicant is an EU resident (or not) is
necessary for deciding which conditions shall apply for the
transmissions of personal data to applicants for access to documents.
These conditions are not the same for recipients established in the
Union and for recipients in third countries. As the vast majority of
the documents requested contain personal data, the Commission cannot
ensure the correct application of the data protection rules in the
absence of a postal address;
• Thirdly, to apply correctly [3]Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001. Article
4(1)(b) of that Regulation refers to the protection of the privacy and
integrity of the individual and has to be applied in line with the
Data Protection Regulation;
• Fourthly, to protect the interest of other citizens and safeguard the
principle of good administration. The Commission has to treat all
citizens equally by ensuring that the legal framework for public
access to documents is respected. For example, it has to verify
whether Article 6(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 is being evaded
by introducing several requests under different identities. Indeed, in
its Ryanair judgment ([4]EU:T:2010:511), the General Court confirmed
that Article 6(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 cannot be evaded by
splitting an application into several, seemingly separate, parts. In
addition, the Commission has to make sure that the legal framework is
respected and the right of access to documents is not abused by making
requests under an invented identity.
The considerations above show that the request for and the consequent
processing of the applicant's postal address is not only appropriate, but
also strictly necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the
public interest within the meaning of Article 5(1)(a) of Data Protection
Regulation, namely providing a smooth and effective access to documents.
Yours faithfully,
Internal Audit Service - Access to Documents
European Commission
References
Visible links
1. https://www.ec.europa.eu/transparency/do...
2. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
3. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
4. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
Dear Internal Audit Service,
my postal address is at Follow the Money, Auguste Ortsstraat 2, 1000 Brussel.
Yours faithfully,
Alexander Fanta
Dear Sir or Madam,
We hereby acknowledge the receipt of your request for access to documents
sent on 28/08/2023 and registered on 06/09/2023 under the case number
2023/5172.
We will handle your request within 15 working days as of the date of
registration. The time-limit expires on 27/09/2023. We will let you know
if we need to extend this time limit for additional 15 working days.
To find more information on how we process your personal data, please see
[1]the privacy statement.
Yours faithfully,
Internal Audit Service - Access to Documents
European Commission
References
Visible links
1. https://ec.europa.eu/info/principles-and...
Dear Sir or Madam,
We hereby acknowledge the receipt of your request for access to documents
sent on 06/09/2023 and registered on 06/09/2023 under the case number
2023/5189.
We will handle your request within 15 working days as of the date of
registration. The time-limit expires on 27/09/2023. We will let you know
if we need to extend this time limit for additional 15 working days.
To find more information on how we process your personal data, please see
[1]the privacy statement.
Yours faithfully,
Directorate-General for Competition - Access to Documents
European Commission
References
Visible links
1. https://ec.europa.eu/info/principles-and...
Dear Mr Fanta,
Please find enclosed the reply to your request for access to documents.
Kind regards,
IAS Access to Documents Team
Dear Sir or Madam,
We hereby acknowledge the receipt of your confirmatory request for case
2023/5189, sent on 29/09/2023 and registered on 29/09/2023.
We will handle your confirmatory request within 15 working days as of the
date of registration. The time-limit expires on 20/10/2023. We will let
you know if we need to extend this time limit for additional 15 working
days.
Yours faithfully,
Secretariat-General - Access to Documents
European Commission
Dear Sir or Madam,
We hereby acknowledge the receipt of your confirmatory request for case
2023/5189, sent on 29/09/2023 and registered on 29/09/2023.
We will handle your confirmatory request within 15 working days as of the
date of registration. The time-limit expires on 20/10/2023. We will let
you know if we need to extend this time limit for additional 15 working
days.
Yours faithfully,
Secretariat-General - Access to Documents
European Commission
Dear Internal Audit Service,
Please pass this on to the person who reviews confirmatory applications.
I am filing the following confirmatory application with regards to my access to documents request 'Report on preparedness of DG DEFIS for the management of the European Defence Fund'.
Regarding your refusal to provide access under Article 4(2) for the protection of inspections and audits, the European Ombudsman has found in several rulings that the risk of a protected interest being undermined must be reasonably foreseeable and not purely hypothetical. Furthermore, institutions need to prove, for each individual document, that disclosure would undermine the investigation (see European Ombusman cases: 3699/2006/ELB 06 April 2010; 725/2014/FOR 01 October 2015; 248/2016/PB 31 October 2016). Likewise the Court, in Franchet and Byk (T-391/03 and T-70/04), stated that this exception only applies if disclosure of the documents in question endangers the completion of the investigation.
As regards your statement that the general presumption of non-disclosure is still applicable until the validation by the internal auditor of the action taken in response to its recommendations, I would like to point you to the ruling of the General Court in Homoki v Commission (T-517/19). There, the court has made clear that the presumption of non-disclosure to protect an investigation or audit may not be made 'dependent on an uncertain, future and possibly distant event, depending on the speed and diligence of the various authorities'. I ask the Commission to clarify in what reasonable time frame the audit will be completed. If this even is not entirely foreseeable and soon, I ask to give access to the file .
Yours faithfully,
Alexander Fanta
Dear Sir or Madam,
We hereby acknowledge the receipt of your confirmatory request for case
2023/5172, sent on 02/10/2023 and registered on 03/10/2023.
We will handle your confirmatory request within 15 working days as of the
date of registration. The time-limit expires on 24/10/2023. We will let
you know if we need to extend this time limit for additional 15 working
days.
Yours faithfully,
Secretariat-General - Access to Documents
European Commission
Dear Sir or Madam,
We hereby acknowledge the receipt of your confirmatory request for case
2023/5172, sent on 02/10/2023 and registered on 03/10/2023.
We will handle your confirmatory request within 15 working days as of the
date of registration. The time-limit expires on 24/10/2023. We will let
you know if we need to extend this time limit for additional 15 working
days.
Yours faithfully,
Secretariat-General - Access to Documents
European Commission
Dear applicant,
We refer to your confirmatory application for access to Commission
documents, registered on 29/09/2023 under reference 2023/5189.
Your confirmatory application is currently being handled. However, as
internal consultations are still ongoing, we have not yet been able to
gather all the elements we need for a full examination of your
application. Unfortunately, we will not be able to reply to your request
within the prescribed deadline, 20/10/2023.
We must therefore extend the time limit by 15 working days in accordance
with Article 8(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001. The new deadline is
14/11/2023.
We apologise for any inconvenience caused by this.
Yours sincerely,
SG.C1 - Transparency, Document Management and Access to Documents
Dear Mr Fanta,
We are writing concerning your confirmatory request for access to
Commission documents for case EASE 2023/5172 registered on 03/10/2023.
We are currently working on your confirmatory request. However, we have
not yet been able to gather all the elements necessary to carry out a full
analysis of your request. Due to the need to conduct internal
consultations, we will not be able to send you the reply within the
prescribed time limit expiring on 24/10/2023.
Therefore, in line with Article 8(2) of [1]Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 we
need to extend this time limit by 15 additional working days. The new time
limit expires on 16/11/2023.
We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
Kind regards,
SG.C1 - Transparency, Document Management and Access to Documents
References
Visible links
1. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
Dear applicant,
We are writing to you concerning your confirmatory request for access to
Commission documents for case 2023/5189, registered on 29/09/2023.
On 20/10/2023, we extended the time-limit for replying to your
confirmatory request to 14/11/2023.
Unfortunately, internal consultations have not yet been finalised.
Therefore, we will not be able to send you the reply within this extended
time limit.
However, we assure you that we are doing our best to send a reply to your
confirmatory request as soon as possible.
We regret this additional delay and sincerely apologize for any
inconvenience this may cause.
Kind regards,
SG.C.1 - Access to documents team
Dear Mr Fanta,
We are writing to you concerning your confirmatory request for access to
Commission documents for case 2023/5172, registered on 03/10/2023.
On 24/10/2023, we extended the time-limit for replying to your
confirmatory request to 16/10/2023.
Unfortunately, due to the need to conduct internal consultations, we will
not be able to send you the reply within this extended time limit.
However, we assure you that we are doing our best to send a reply to your
confirmatory request as soon as possible.
We regret this additional delay and sincerely apologize for any
inconvenience this may cause.
Kind regards,
SG.C1 - Transparency, Document Management and Access to Documents
Dear Mr. Alexander FANTA,
Please find attached the electronic version of the Commission Decision
C(2024)1415 as adopted by the European Commission on 28.2.2024.
The formal notification of the decision under Article 297 TFEU is being
made only in electronic form.
Could you please confirm receipt of the attached document by return
e-mail?
Many thanks in advance.
Kind regards,
Dimitra PROTOPSALTI
SG.B2 Procédures écrites, habilitation, délégation
European Commission
Secretariat-General
BERL 005/155
B-1049 Brussels, Belgium
Tél: (+32) 2 29 56750
Dear SG, dear Transparency Unit,
I received the reply. Thank you for your well-reasoned reply.
Yours sincerely,
Alexander Fanta
Dear FANTA, Alexander,
Please find attached the electronic version of European Commission
Decision C(2024)1896 as adopted by the European Commission on 18/03/2024
concerning the request 2023/5189.
In accordance with the Terms and Conditions of this portal, please note
that this decision is being formally notified pursuant to article 297 TFEU
through this electronic platform only.
Yours sincerely,
Access to documents team - SG.C.1
Dear Sir,
Please find attached the electronic version of Commission Decision
C(2024)1896 as adopted by the European Commission on 18.03.2024.
The formal notification of the decision under Article 297 TFEU is being
made only in electronic form.
Could you please confirm receipt of the attached document by return
e-mail?
Many thanks in advance.
Kind regards,
Access to documents team - cr
SG.C.1
Transparency