Brussels, 04/07/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 3 July, the European Parliament plenary session approved changes to the operating rules for OLAF (the European anti-fraud office) unveiled by the European Commission in March 2011 after seven years of work and a compromise deal endorsed by the Council of Ministers in first reading in December 2012 (see EUROPE 10744), but did not amend the compromise to grant OLAF greater powers vis-a-vis closed investigations.
The changes are three-pronged: 1) increasing OLAF's accountability by boosting procedural guarantees (respect of fundamental rights) of people being investigated and through in-house checks on the legality of proceedings; 2) making investigations more effective by working more closely with national authorities (police and judicial services and better cooperation between OLAF, the OLAF Surveillance Committee and the European institutions; and 3) greater transparency and democratic control through regular progress reports to the Surveillance Committee on investigations and proceedings. The EP approved all the reforms without amendment.
EU Anti-Fraud Commissioner Algirdas Semeta welcomed the support from the EP for the changes that will come into force on 1 August 2013. He said this was only the first step to improving efficiency and operations, which will be followed by the introduction of an independent controller for the respect of fundamental rights at OLAF, and special authorisation from the European Prosecutor in the future will be required before investigations are opened into members of the EU institutions and similar persons. (FG/transl.fl)