Access to Documents

Legal framework

The principle of transparency and the right of individuals to access documents of EU Bodies and Institutions are laid down in both Article 15 of the Treaty of the Functioning of the EU and Article 42 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU. These are implemented through Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 regarding public access to documents (hereinafter, the "Access to Documents Regulation").

eu-LISA gives issues of transparency and public access to documents the utmost importance. Article 34 of eu-LISA Establishing Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2018/1726) underlines that the Access to Documents Regulation shall apply to the Agency in its entirety, with particular regard to the EU legal acts governing the development, establishment, operation and use of large-scale IT-systems.

The Decision 2022-090 of the Management Board of eu-LISA establishes the practical arrangements for the application of the Access to Documents Regulation as regards documents held by the Agency, in such a way as to ensure good administrative practices and high standards of public access to documents, taking into account the specific nature of the Agency and its mandate (hereinafter, the "Management Board Decision 2022-090").

Applications

According to Article 2 of the Access to Documents Regulation, any EU citizen, as well as any natural or legal person residing or having a registered office in a Member State, has the right to access documents held by eu-LISA, subject to the principles, conditions and limits defined in the Regulation itself.

Applications for access to document(s) are made in writing, preferably in electronic form.

When submitting a request, as required by the Access to Documents Regulation, please ensure that your application is drafted in a sufficiently precise manner to enable the Agency to identify the requested document(s). The Agency may request more detailed information from the applicant in order to clarify the application and guarantee a smoother process. The applicant is not obliged to state reasons for the application.

In accordance with Article 5(3) of the Management Board Decision 2022-090, all initial applications must be accompanied by an identity document or, in the case of legal persons, the proof of registered office along with the proof of the link between the individual presenting the application and the legal person.

Applications should be submitted:

• By e-mail:
  pad@eulisa.europa.eu
• By post:
  European Union Agency for the Operational Management of Large-Scale IT Systems in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice
  Vesilennuki 5
  10415 Tallinn,
  Estonia

Processing

The Agency will acknowledge, process and reply to your application in accordance with the Access to Documents Regulation and the Management Board Decision 2022-090, within fifteen (15) working days starting from the registration of the application. In exceptional cases, for example, due to the necessity of processing a large quantity of documents, this time limit may be extended.

Taking into account the Access to Documents Regulation, eu-LISA can decide to grant full or partial access or to refuse access to the document(s) requested.

Within fifteen (15) working days of receiving eu-LISA's reply giving partial access or refusing access to the document(s) requested, it is possible to file a confirmatory application, inviting the Agency to reconsider its initial decision. The confirmatory application can be submitted in the same way as the original request. You should be aware of the fact that failure by eu-LISA to reply within the prescribed time limit (explained above) allows the applicant to make a confirmatory application.

If the confirmatory application to the Agency is not successful and you still disagree with its assessment, you can consider instituting court proceedings against eu-LISA before the Court of Justice of the European Union and/or making a complaint to the European Ombudsman.

Publicly available documents

Many documents produced by eu-LISA are regularly made available to the public in an effort to keep its work as transparent as possible. Consequently, it might be possible that the document(s) you are interested in are already accessible in our Public Register.

We recommend checking our Public Register before submitting a request, as a faster and easier way of accessing any document(s) that may be of your interest.

Data Protection

Please refer to the Privacy notice relating to public access to documents for further information on the processing of your personal data during the handling of a public access to documents request.

Additional information

In case you would like to know more about the Public Access to Documents procedure, its rules, exceptions and any other details of interest, please refer to the EU Ombudsman's Q&A on the right of public access to documents and guide on the right of public access to EU documents for additional information.