6 European Anti-Fraud Office
| (35215)
12554/13
COM(13) 533
| Commission Communication: Improving OLAF's governance and reinforcing procedural safeguards in investigations: A step-by-step approach to accompany the establishment of the European Public Prosecutor's Office
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| Legal base | —
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| Department | HM Treasury
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| Basis of consideration | Minister's letter of 21 September 2013
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| Previous Committee Report | HC 83-xv (2013-14) chapter 3 (11 September 2013)
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| Discussion in Council | Not known
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| Committee's assessment | Politically important
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| Committee's decision | Not cleared
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Background and previous scrutiny
6.1 We considered this Commission Communication on the future
reform of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), its relevance
to the draft Regulations in relation to the creation of a European
Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO)[20]
and reform of Eurojust[21]
and the Government's view of the document, in our previous Report
under reference.[22]
6.2 In the Conclusions to that Report, we said
that while we welcomed the Minister's approach in questioning
provision for Member States not participating in the EPPO proposal
in any future OLAF reform and the need for a "Controlled
of procedural safeguards" (CPS) office, we recommended that
this document be considered as part of the opt-in debate offered
by the Government in respect of the Eurojust and EPPO proposal.
6.3 We also asked the then Financial Secretary
to the Treasury (Greg Clark) to confirm, prior to the debate taking
place:
a) what his strategy was for pre-empting any
legislative proposals on the CPS office and its attendant costs
(which we considered to be doubly surprising given the recent
rejection of a similar proposal by Member States and the proposed
reduction in OLAF's remit); and
b) when the Commission was likely to bring forward
legislative proposals to make further changes to OLAF's regulatory
and operational framework, in particular whether these proposals
will be progressed in parallel to the EPPO and Eurojust proposals).
Minister's letter
6.4 In his letter of 21 September, the Minister
responds to these questions as follows:
"On what the Government's strategy is for pre-empting
any legislative proposal on the CPS office and its attendant costs,
it should be noted that this is only a communication at this stage.
The Government plans to engage early with allied Member States
ahead of any legislative proposal from the Commission on the CPS
and its attendant costs.
"With regards to when the Commission is likely
to bring forward legislative proposals on the issue, we have received
no further communication from the Commission on a timetable for
bringing forward legislative proposals at this stage.
"Our understanding is that this proposal will
not be progressed in parallel with the EPPO and Eurojust proposals.
This is based on the Communication from the Commission covering
the EPPO and Eurojust proposals, which indicates that legislative
proposals on OLAF will only be made once the EPPO negotiations
have neared completion."
Conclusion
6.5 We thank the Minister for his concise
response to our Report in time for the opt-in Lidington debate
on the floor of the House on the draft EPPO and Eurojust Regulations
(the timing of which has yet to be formally confirmed).
20 (35217) 12588/13 Draft Council Regulation on the
establishment of a European Public Prosecutor's Office. Back
21
(35216) 12566/13 Draft Regulation on the EU Agency for Criminal
Justice Co-operation (Eurojust). Back
22
See headnote. Back
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