FRONT=X

1. The minutes of the 21st, 22nd and 23rd Consultative Forum meetings.

2. All Fundamental Rights Officer reports to the Management Board issued from 01 October 2019
until 08 January 2021.

3. The operational plan for RBI Evros 2020.
4. The handbook to the operational plan for RBl Evros 2020.
5. Serious Incident Report no. 1719/2019.

6. All Serious Incident Reports related to JO FOA Land on Border Surveillance at the Greek-Turkish
border submitted between 1 July 2020 and 31 December 2021.

7. All Serious Incident Reports related to RBl Evros 2020 submitted between 1 July 2020 and 31
December 2021.

8. Management Board meeting, 10 November, Agenda item: Rapid Border Intervention in Greece,
Document Ref. BMD/GRP-2018-00017/899751/2020, dated 05/11/2020.

Please find attached the documents pertaining to your points 1, 2, 5 and 6.

Kindly be informed that with regard to your points 3 and 4, Frontex has identified 2 documents, access
to which must be refused pursuant to Article 4(1)(a) first indent of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001' as
while RBl Evros 2020 has already been concluded, the evaluation phase is currently ongoing. Findings of
evaluations flow into the adjustment of currently ongoing joint operations and planned for the near
future. Thus, granting access to the Operational Plan and the Handbook to the Operational Plan of RBl
Evros 2020 at this stage would hamper its evaluation and ultimately jeopardize the European Union’s
and Member States’ endeavours to counter and prevent cross-border crime and unauthorized border

crossings. This would benefit criminal networks, enabling them to change their modus operandi and

' Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission
documents (OJ L 145, 31.5.2001, p. 43)

an

Frontex - European Border and Coast Guard Agency
www.frontex.europa.eu | Pl. Europejski 6, 00-844 Warsaw, Poland | Tel. +48 22 205 95 00 | Fax +48 22 205 95 01

FRONTSX

consequently result in hampering the course of ongoing and future similar operations, which would
ultimately put the life of migrants in danger. Consequently, releasing the Operational Plan and the
Handbook to the Operational Plan of RBI Evros 2020 at this stage would undermine the protection of the
public interest as regards public security as laid down in Article 4(1)(a) first indent of Regulation (EC)

No 1049/2001.

In addition, with regard to your point 8, kindly note that the requested document contains sensitive
operational information and refers to details of the operational area and thus cannot be released. As
Ongoing operations tend to cover similar operational areas as the operations conducted in preceding
years, disclosing details of previous operational areas would be tantamount to disclosing the current
state of play. This would provide smuggling and other criminal networks with intelligence, enabling
them to change their modus operandi, which would ultimately put the life of migrants in danger.
Consequently, the course of ongoing and future operations of similar nature would be hampered by
depriving the operations of any strategy and element of surprise, ultimately defeating their purpose to
counter and prevent cross-border crime and unauthorized border crossings. In this light, the disclosure
of a document containing such information would undermine the protection of the public interest as
regards public security within the meaning of Article 4(1)(a) first indent of Regulation (EC) No

1049/2001.

Apartial release of the document(s) could not be undertaken, as the redacting would be disproportional

in relation to the parts that are eligible for disclosure, simultaneousiy undermining the principle of

sound administration, More specifically, the administrative burden necessary to identify and redact the

releasable materials would be disproportionate to the public interest in the disclosure exercise itself,
while the released documents would not convey any informative value due to their significantly reduced

form. Consequently, the partial disclosure of the document(s) at issue must be refused owing to the

particular circumstances of the Present case.
Regarding your point 7, please be informed that Frontex does not hold any documents,

Kindly be reminded that the copyright of the document/s rests with Frontex and making this/these

work/s, available to third parties in this or another form without prior authorisation of Frontex is

prohibited. Please also note that Frontex does not assume liability stemming from the use of the

document/s.

Pursuant to Article 7(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, within 15 working days of the receipt of this
letter, you may submit a confirmatory application to Frontex to reconsider its position. Based on Article
8 of Regulation (EC) No 1 049/2001, Frontex will reply to you within 15 working days from the registration
of such application. You can submit your confirmatory application by post or electronically.

Frontex - European Border and Coast Guard Agency
www.frontex,europa.eu | Pl, Europejski 6, 00-844 Warsaw, Poland | Tel, +48 22 205 9500 | Fax +48 22 205 95 01