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1. The Agency shall set up a complaints mechanism to ensure that fundamental rights are respected in all of the Agency’s activities.

2. Any person who is directly affected by the actions of an expert participating in an asylum support team, and who considers that his or her fundamental rights have been violated due to those actions, or any party representing such a person, may submit a complaint in writing to the Agency.

3. Only substantiated complaints involving concrete fundamental rights violations shall be admissible. Complaints which challenge a national authority’s decision on an individual application for international protection shall be inadmissible. Complaints which are anonymous, abusive, malicious, frivolous, vexatious, hypothetical or inaccurate shall also be inadmissible.

4. The fundamental rights officer shall be responsible for handling complaints received by the Agency and shall do so in accordance with the right to good administration. For that purpose, the fundamental rights officer shall:

(a) review the admissibility of a complaint;

(b) register admissible complaints;

(c) forward all registered complaints to the Executive Director;

(d) forward complaints concerning experts participating in an asylum support team to the home Member State;

(e) inform the relevant authority or body competent for fundamental rights in a Member State of a complaint; and (f) register and ensure follow-up by the Agency or the Member State concerned.

5. In accordance with the right to good administration, where a complaint is admissible, the complainant shall be informed that a complaint has been registered, that an assessment has been initiated and that a response may be expected as soon as it becomes available. Where a complaint is forwarded to a national authority or body, the complainant shall be provided with the contact details of that authority or body. Where a complaint is inadmissible, the complainant shall be informed of the reasons for the inadmissibility and, where possible, provided with further options for addressing his or her concerns. Any decision shall be in writing and reasoned.

6. In the case of a registered complaint concerning a staff member of the Agency, the Executive Director shall ensure appropriate follow-up, in consultation with the fundamental rights officer, including disciplinary measures as necessary. The Executive Director shall report within a determined timeframe to the fundamental rights officer on the findings and follow-up made by the Agency in response to a complaint, including any disciplinary measures.

7. Where a complaint is related to data protection issues, the Executive Director shall involve the Agency’s data protection officer. The fundamental rights officer and the data protection officer shall establish, in writing, a memorandum of understanding specifying the division of tasks between them and the way in which they cooperate as regards complaints received.

8. In the case of a complaint concerning an expert of a Member State, including seconded national experts, the home Member State shall ensure appropriate follow-up, including disciplinary measures as necessary or other measures in accordance with national law. The home Member State shall report to the fundamental rights officer on the findings and follow-up made in response to a complaint within a determined time period and, if necessary, at regular intervals thereafter. The Agency shall follow the matter up where no report is received from the home Member State.

9. Where an expert deployed by a Member State, including seconded national experts, is found to have violated fundamental rights or international protection obligations, the Executive Director shall request the Member State to remove that expert or seconded national expert immediately from the activities of the Agency. Where an expert deployed by the Agency is found to have violated fundamental rights or international protection obligations, the Executive Director shall remove that expert from the activities of the Agency.

10. The fundamental rights officer shall report to the Executive Director and to the Management Board on the findings and follow-up made by the Agency and the Member States concerned in response to a complaint. The Agency shall include information on the complaints mechanism in its annual report on the situation of asylum in the Union referred to in Article 69.

11. The Agency, including the fundamental rights officer, shall handle and process any personal data contained in a complaint in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2018/1725. Member States shall handle and process any personal data contained in a complaint in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2016/679 or Directive (EU) 2016/680, as appropriate. When a complainant submits a complaint, that complainant shall be deemed to have consented to the processing of his or her personal data by the Agency and the fundamental rights officer within the meaning of Article 5(1), point (d), of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725. In order to safeguard the interests of complainants, the fundamental rights officer shall deal confidentially with complaints in accordance with national and Union law unless the complainant explicitly waives his or her right to confidentiality. Where a complainant waives his or her right to confidentiality, that complainant shall be deemed to have consented to the disclosure, where necessary, by the fundamental rights officer or the Agency of his or her identity to the competent authorities or bodies in relation to the subject of the complaint.