Any EU or Schengen country national or resident, including legal persons residing or having a registered office in these countries, is eligible to apply for public access to documents held by Frontex.
Public Access to Documents

How to apply for documents?
Before you apply, please use the search function first at Frontex’s public register of documents – your documents may be already published there. If not, please formulate your application as precisely as possible to allow for a quick identification of the documents. You may submit your application online or send it by traditional mail to:
Transparency Office
Frontex
Pl. Europejski 6
00-844 Warsaw
Poland
For first-time applicants
Whether you are a natural person or you act on behalf of a legal person, when you apply for the first time, we will have to confirm your eligibility.
If you are a natural person, you will be asked to provide:
- a form of identification in a PDF, ASICE, ADOC, BDOC or EDOC format
- signed electronically through a qualified e-signature as specified in eDIAS Regulation 910/2014, or
- a copy of your ID/passport/residence permit issued by an EU/Schengen country. It is sufficient to display only your full name and the country of issuance – any other data may be redacted.
If you are acting on behalf of a natural or legal person, you will be asked for:
- a registration certificate of the legal person from an EU/Schengen country’s competent body;
- an authorisation to act on behalf of that natural or legal person, including:
- for the natural person giving authorisation: the information required for natural persons, as listed above.
How long does it take?
All applications are acknowledged and handled promptly. We inform applicants about the decision within 15 working days from registration. In exceptional cases, this time limit may be extended by additional 15 working days.
If your application is imprecise or more information is required, we will ask you to provide clarifications and guide you along.
If it relates to a very long document or to a large number of documents, Frontex may confer with you informally with a view to finding a fair solution.
What happens if Frontex has to refuse access?
As part of our two-stage administrative procedure, you may – within 15 working days of receiving our decision – make a confirmatory application asking us to reconsider our position.
Further to our decision following your confirmatory application, you may institute court proceedings and/or make a complaint to the European Ombudsman.
Data protection
Data controller is the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex). The responsible entity is the Public Access to Documents Team established by Management Board Decision No 19/2024 of 18 April 2024. Physical and mail address: Pl. Europejski 6, 00-844 Warsaw – Poland; email: pad@frontex.europa.eu.
The Data Protection Officer (DPO) may be contacted at dataprotectionoffice@frontex.europa.eu regarding issues related to the processing of your personal data.
The personal data is collected and processed to handle applications for public access to documents (PAD) and ensure compliance with Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001. The provision of the data is a statutory requirement of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001. Failure to provide data will render the application inadmissible.
Mandatory metadata in relation to any document stored in the dedicated document management system are anonymised 10 years after closure of the file. The only personal data necessary for the purpose of establishing eligibility of the right of access to documents are the name and citizenship of an applicant, remaining personal data should not be provided. All received copies of eligibility-establishing IDs are immediately destroyed upon receipt.
Recipients of the data are dedicated Frontex staff members processing an application for public access to documents. There will be no international data transfer. Your personal data will not be used for automated decision-making, including profiling.
Applicants have the right to access, rectify, restrict, object, and request erasure of their data. Applicants can exercise their rights through the Public Access to Documents Team or the DPO.
You have the right to lodge a complaint with the European Data Protection Supervisor if you consider that your data protection rights have been infringed. The EDPS may be contacted at edps@edps.europa.eu or through the EDPS Complaint Form: https://edps.europa.eu/data-protection/our-role-supervisor/complaints/edps-complaint-form_en.