Frontex Complaints Mechanism


What happens after I submit my complaint?

1.       By submitting your complaint, you consent to the Agency and the Fundamental Rights Office to process your personal data. Frontex and the Fundamental Rights Office will treat all complaints as confidential unless you explicitly waive your right to confidentiality.

2.       The Fundamental Rights Office will conduct an admissibility assessment of your complaint according to the following criteria:
- The complaint is submitted by you, as the potential victim, or by your representative.
- You, and your representative, provide contact details allowing for your identification.
- Your complaint concerns the actions or failure to act from a staff involved in a Frontex operational activity.
- The alleged facts you provide concern concrete fundamental rights violations.
- You provide sufficient information to support the complaint.
- Your complaint is submitted in writing.
- You submit the complaint within one year from the moment the facts happened.
- Your complaint does not concern working relations between the Agency and its staff, for example issues falling within the scope of Staff Regulations and Conditions of Employment.
- Your complaint is not repetitive (you should not have submitted the same complaint before).

3.       If your complaint does not meet the stated criteria, the Fundamental Rights Officer will declare it inadmissible. You will be informed about the reason for inadmissibility and, if possible, about further options for addressing your concerns.

4.       If your complaint meets all the admissibility criteria, the Fundamental Rights Officer will declare it admissible.

5.       If your complaint concerns an officer from an EU Member State deployed in a Frontex activity, it will be referred to national authorities and to a national fundamental rights institution.

6.       You need to explicitly consent to forwarding your personal data to National Authorities.

7.       If your complaint concerns a Frontex staff member, it will be referred to the Frontex Executive Director for follow up, based on the assessment of and recommendations by the Fundamental Rights Officer.

8.       The Fundamental Rights Officer will inform you which authority(ies) have received your complaint.

9.       Finally, the Fundamental Rights Officer will assess measures taken by the Agency or EU Member States and will inform you about findings and decision.