The European Parliament adopted by 465 votes to
130, with 51 abstentions, a legislative resolution on the proposal
for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council
amending Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 883/2013 concerning
investigations conducted by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF)
as regards cooperation with the European Public Prosecutor's Office
and the effectiveness of OLAF investigations.
As a reminder, the proposed amendment to
Regulation 883/2013 aims to adjust OLAF's functioning to take into
account the creation of the European Public Prosecutor's Office and
to strengthen the effectiveness of OLAF's investigative
function.
The European Parliament's position adopted at
first reading under the ordinary legislative procedure amended the
Commission's proposal as follows:
- recall that OLAF will contribute to the design and
development of methods to prevent and combat fraud, corruption and
any other illegal activity or irregularity affecting the Union's
financial interests;
- abolish the distinction between external and internal
investigations, which has become obsolete, in particular with the
new focus of OLAF on administrative irregularities and recovery
;
- the right of OLAF to have access without notice and
without delay, where necessary to establish whether there has been
fraud, corruption or any other illegal activity or irregularity
affecting the financial interests of the Union, to all relevant
information and data relating to the subject matter of the
investigation, regardless of the type of medium on which they are
stored;
- possibility for OLAF to request from economic
operators duly documented information processed in accordance with
the regular standards of confidentiality and data protection.
Economic operators should cooperate with the Office;
- remove priorities from the investigation policy and
provide that the evaluation period preceding the decision to open
an investigation may not exceed two months. If the informant who
provided the underlying information is known, he or she shall be
kept informed as appropriate;
- obligation on the Director-General to send the
relevant information to the institution, body, office or agency
concerned without delay if he decides not to open an investigation
within the institutions or not to carry out on-the-spot checks or
inspections despite sufficient suspicion suggesting the existence
of acts of fraud, corruption or other illegal
activities;
- obligation on the Director-General to inform the
Supervisory Committee periodically about the cases in which he or
she has decided not to open an investigation, indicating the
reasons for that decision;
- improve the follow-up of the Director-General's
recommendations by Member States and institutions, bodies, offices
and agencies;
- faster closure of investigations: if an investigation
cannot be closed within 12 months after it has been opened, the
Director-General shall, at the expiry of that 12-month period and
every six months thereafter, report to the Supervisory Committee,
indicating in detail the reasons for the delay and the remedial
measures taken with a view to speeding up the
investigation;
- creation of a right of access to the final report
drawn up by OLAF for the persons concerned following its
investigation, as well as to any relevant document insofar as they
concern that person and if, where appropriate, neither the European
Public Prosecutor nor the national judicial authorities object
within six months;
- appointment of a controller of procedural guarantees
by the Commission after consulting the European Parliament and the
Council for a non-renewable five-year term;
- establishment of a complaints mechanism to monitor and
ensure compliance with procedural guarantees in all OLAF
activities;
- full protection for persons who report offences and
offences against the Union's financial interests to the
Office;
- the introduction of a right for data subjects to bring
an action against the Commission for annulment of the investigation
report sent to the national authorities or
institutions;
- further promote the admissibility of OLAF reports in
national judicial and administrative proceedings;
- notification without undue delay to the European
Public Prosecutor's Office of any criminal behaviour in respect of
which it could exercise its competence and obligation for OLAF to
refrain from applying any measure likely to jeopardise any future
investigations by the European Public Prosecutor's
Office;
- obligation for the Member State to explain the reasons
for its decision to OLAF when the latter makes judicial
recommendations to the national prosecuting authorities in a Member
State and these are not followed up; once a year, the Office shall
draw up a report in order to report on the assistance provided by
the Member States and the follow-up given to judicial
recommendations;
- meeting at least once a year between the Director
General of the Office and the Head of the European Public
Prosecutor's Office to discuss matters of common
interest;
- OLAF to draw up a procedural code for investigations
to be followed by the staff of the Office.
At the request of the European Parliament in
the context of its rights relating to budgetary control, the
Director General may send information on the Office's activities,
while respecting the confidentiality of investigations and
follow-up procedures.