data regarding Frontex rescues in Spanish SAR waters in the years 2020 and 2021. Please provide data broken down by date of rescue - time of rescue - latitude and longitude of rescue - number of boats - number of people rescued. In order to be able to update our data bases. If possible, we ask you to provide the data in excel format, if not, in the format of your preference. Please find the document pertaining to your application herewith attached. Further pieces of information sought by you cannot be disclosed, as they contain: -     details of the operational area. 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 lives 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 unauthorised border crossings. In this light, the disclosure of documents 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. -     sensitive operational information relating to an ongoing operation. The pieces of information pertaining to the earlier periods of the ongoing are being used for the continuous adjustment of the current operation, which covers to a large extent the same area. Thus, granting access to the information regarding the requested variables for the period from 1 January 2021 to 25 August 2021 would jeopardise the European Union’s and Member State’s endeavours to counter and prevent cross-border crime and unauthorised border crossings. This would benefit criminal 1 In accordance with Article 7(3) of 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). 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

networks, enabling them to change their modus operandi and consequently result in hampering the course of ongoing and future similar operations, and would ultimately put the lives of migrants in danger. Access therefore needs to be precluded based on Article 4(1)(a) first indent of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001. In addition, information pertaining to “time of rescue”, “latitude and longitude of rescue”, “number of boats”, “number of people rescued” for the period from 1 January 2021 to 25 August 2021 cannot be released as it refers to details crucial for the situational awareness at the external borders of the European Union used by Frontex to develop risk analyses. The disclosure of such information would hamper the effectiveness of operations being conducted and jeopardise the efforts carried out by the European Union and Member States to curtail criminal activities at the external borders. This would benefit in particular criminal networks, especially those involved in people smuggling and trafficking in human beings, which would ultimately put the lives of migrants in danger. Hence, the disclosure of the information pertaining to these variables would undermine the protection of the public interest as regards public security and has to be refused based on Article 4(1)(a) first indent of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001. Moreover, the referred-to risk analyses constitute a specific form of internal decision- making process based on the intelligence derived from previous and presently ongoing activities and have a bearing on the conduct of current and future operations. Being an important base for determining the strategic orientation of the Agency, the possibility to conduct such analyses without interference is crucial for Frontex to effectively exercise its mandate. Consequently, releasing this information would enable third parties to gain insights into this decision-making process and would, with ascertainable likelihood, result in depriving Frontex of the possibility to conduct such analyses wholly independently, free from any external pressure or third-party influence. In sum, releasing this information would seriously undermine Frontex’ internal decision-making processes. As no overriding public interest that is objective and general in nature and not indistinguishable from individual or private interests for the release of this information is ascertainable in the present case, information pertaining to this variable cannot be released based on Article 4(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001. 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 1049/2001, 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 95 00 | Fax +48 22 205 95 01