Brussels, 12/11/2014 (Agence Europe) - In an opinion published on Wednesday 12 November, the European Court of Auditors (ECA) supports the European Commission's proposal to strengthen procedural guarantees for persons under investigation by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) by establishing an independent external watchdog, to be known as the “Controller of procedural guarantees”.
OLAF is a directorate general within the European Commission but is operationally independent in its investigations.
The Court recommends amending the proposal to enhance the Controller's independence and better define the scope of his/her intervention.
The Court recommends, too, that the Controller should deal with any potential violation of fundamental rights and procedural guarantees in connection with ongoing OLAF investigations. Furthermore, the Controller should authorise certain investigative steps, e.g. OLAF's on-the-spot checks and inspections on businesses or EU institutions.
The Court recommends lastly that prior written authorisation must systematically be obtained from the Controller when OLAF is looking to carry out checks.
Dr Louis Galea, the ECA Member responsible for the opinion, commented: “…a strong OLAF is needed. However, experience shows that any justifiable investigative act can be seriously undermined if people feel that there are insufficient safeguards for the respect of individual rights”. (LC)