Public Access to Documents

The principle of transparency and the rights of individuals to access documents of EU bodies are laid down in both Article 15 of the TFEU and Article 42 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU and implemented through Regulation (EC)  No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents (Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001).

The link of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 with the Frontex framework is reemphasized in Article 114 of the European Border and Coast Guard Regulation.

The internal framework for Public Access to Documents held by Frontex is set by Frontex Management Board Decision  No 25/2016 of 21 September 2016.

Any EU citizen, as well as any natural or legal person residing or having a registered office in the EU has the right to access documents held by Frontex, subject to the conditions laid down in Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001.

To confirm that you have the right to apply for access to the documents, you need to provide a form of identification/proof of your proxy for a legal person residing or having a registered office in the EU in the form of PDF, ASICE, ADOC, BDOC or EDOC format, signed electronically through a qualified esignature in line with the eDIAS Regulation (Regulation (EU) No 910/2014). If this means of identification is unavailable to you, please provide an ID card/passport/residence permit for the EU (natural persons) or submit the registration of your entity in an EU Member State and a proxy authorizing you to act on behalf of this entity (legal persons). Such proof of eligibility could constitute any copy of an official document/statement of a EU Member State authority indicating - solely - your name and EU citizenship/domicile.

To enable the identification of the document(s) you applied for, please ensure that your application is as precise as possible. 

Before applying, please verify whether the document(s) you are applying for is/are not already available in Frontex Public Register of Documents.

Please submit your application here or by mail to:

Transparency Office
Frontex
Pl. Europejski 6
00-844 Warsaw
Poland

• Your application, containing the required proof of eligibility, will be acknowledged and processed within 15 working days starting from the registration of your application.
• In exceptional cases, this time limit may be extended by 15 working days.
• In case Frontex has to refuse access to a document in a full or partially, a justification will be provided.
  
• In case of a full or partial refusal of your application, Frontex will provide you with a justification.
• Within 15 working days of receiving Frontex’s reply you can apply for a reconsideration of such initial decision through a confirmatory application.
  

In 2019, Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency held 151 sensitive documents not included in the public register.

Data Controller is the Transparency Office established by Management Board Decision No 25/2016 of 21 September 2016. Physical and mail address: Pl. Europejski 6 (00-844 Warsaw- PL); email: pad@frontex.europa.eu.

The Data Protection Officer can be contacted at dataprotectionoffice@frontex.europa.eu.

Compliance with Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 necessities the processing of personal data by the controller.

Recipients of the data are dedicated Frontex staff members processing an application for public access to documents. There will be no international data transfer. The data will be stored for a period of five years, from the moment of the closure of the file.

Applicants have the right to access, rectify, restrict, object and erase their data, as well as to claim data portability. Applicants are able to exercise their rights through the Transparency Office and can lodge a complaint with the European Data Protection Supervisor.

The provision of the data is a statutory requirement of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001. Failure to provide data will render an application inadmissible.

An automated decision-making process or profiling are not undertaken.