Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 883/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 September 2013 concerning investigations conducted by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1073/1999 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Council Regulation (Euratom) No 1074/1999

The term of office of members of the Supervisory Committee shall be five years and shall not be renewable. Three and two members shall be replaced alternately in order to preserve the Supervisory Committee’s expertise.

On expiry of their term of office, members of the Supervisory Committee shall remain in office until they are replaced.

If a member of the Supervisory Committee ceases to fulfil the conditions governing the performance of his duties, or if he has been found guilty of serious misconduct, the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission may, by common accord, relieve him of his duties.

In accordance with the applicable Commission rules, members of the Supervisory Committee shall receive a daily allowance and shall be reimbursed for expenses incurred by them in the course of their duties.

In carrying out their duties, the members of the Supervisory Committee shall neither seek nor take instructions from any government or any institution, body, office or agency.

The Supervisory Committee shall appoint its chair. It shall adopt its own rules of procedure, which shall, before adoption, be submitted to the European Parliament, the Council, the Commission and the European Data Protection Supervisor for information. Meetings of the Supervisory Committee shall be convened on the initiative of its chair or the Director-General. It shall hold at least 10 meetings per year. The Supervisory Committee shall take its decisions by a majority of its component members. Its secretariat shall be provided by the Commission and in close cooperation with the Supervisory Committee. Before the appointment of any staff to the secretariat, the Supervisory Committee shall be consulted and its views shall be taken into account. The secretariat shall act on the instructions of the Supervisory Committee and independently from the Commission. Without prejudice to its control over the budget of the Supervisory Committee and its secretariat, the Commission shall not interfere with the monitoring functions of the Supervisory Committee.

The Supervisory Committee shall adopt at least one report on its activities per year, covering in particular the assessment of the Office’s independence, the application of procedural guarantees and the duration of investigations. Those reports shall be sent to the European Parliament, the Council, the Commission and the Court of Auditors.

The European Parliament, the Council and the Commission shall once a year meet the Director-General for an exchange of views at political level to discuss the Office’s policy relating to methods of preventing and combating fraud, corruption or any other illegal activity affecting the financial interests of the Union. The Supervisory Committee shall participate in the exchange of views. The European Chief Prosecutor shall be invited to attend the exchange of views. Representatives of the Court of Auditors, the EPPO, Eurojust and Europol may be invited to attend on an ad hoc basis upon request of the European Parliament, of the Council, of the Commission, of the Director-General or of the Supervisory Committee.

Within the objective of paragraph 1, the exchange of views may relate to any subject the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission agree on. In particular, the exchange of views may relate to:

All institutions participating in the exchange of views shall ensure that the exchange of views does not interfere with the conduct of investigations in progress.

The institutions participating in the exchange of views shall take into account in their actions the opinions expressed in that exchange. The Director-General shall provide, in the reports referred to in Article 17(4), information on the actions, if any, taken by the Office.

The Office shall be headed by a Director-General. The Director-General shall be appointed by the Commission, in accordance with the procedure specified in paragraph 2. The term of office of the Director-General shall be seven years and shall not be renewable.

In order to appoint a new Director-General, the Commission shall publish a call for applications in the Official Journal of the European Union. Such publication shall take place at the latest six months before the end of the term of office of the Director-General in office. The Commission shall draw up a list of suitably qualified candidates. After a favourable opinion has been given by the Supervisory Committee on the selection procedure applied by the Commission, the European Parliament and the Council shall in due time agree on a shortlist of three candidates from the list of suitable candidates drawn up by the Commission. The Commission shall appoint the Director-General from that shortlist.

The Director-General shall neither seek nor take instructions from any government or any institution, body, office or agency in the performance of his or her duties with regard to the opening and carrying-out of external and internal investigations or coordination activities, or to the drafting of reports following such investigations or coordination activities. If the Director-General considers that a measure taken by the Commission calls his or her independence into question, he or she shall immediately inform the Supervisory Committee and shall decide whether to bring an action against the Commission before the CJEU.

The Director-General shall report regularly, and at least annually, to the European Parliament, to the Council, to the Commission and to the Court of Auditors on the findings of investigations carried out by the Office, the action taken and the problems encountered, whilst respecting the confidentiality of the investigations, the legitimate rights of the persons concerned and of informants, and, where appropriate, national law applicable to judicial proceedings. Those reports shall also include an assessment of the actions taken by the competent authorities of Member States and the institutions, bodies, offices and agencies, following reports and recommendations drawn up by the Office.

The Director-General shall keep the Supervisory Committee periodically informed of the Office’s activities, the implementation of its investigative function and the action taken by way of follow-up to investigations.

The Director-General may delegate in writing the exercise of certain of his functions under Article 5, Article 7(2), Article 11(7) and Article 12(2) to one or more members of the staff of the Office, specifying the conditions and limits governing such delegation.

The Director-General shall put in place an internal advisory and control procedure, including a legality check, relating, inter alia, to the respect of procedural guarantees and fundamental rights of the persons concerned and of the national law of the Member States concerned, with particular reference to Article 11(2). The legality check shall be carried out by Office staff who are experts in law and investigative procedures. Their opinion shall be annexed to the final investigation report.

The Director-General shall adopt guidelines on investigation procedures for the staff of the Office. Those guidelines shall be in accordance with this Regulation and shall cover, inter alia:

Before imposing any disciplinary penalty on the Director-General or waiving his or her immunity, the Commission shall consult the Supervisory Committee.

Any reference to the ‘Director’ of the Office in any legal text shall be read as a reference to the Director-General.

No later than five years after the date determined in accordance with the second subparagraph of Article 120(2) of Regulation (EU) 2017/1939, the Commission shall submit to the European Parliament and to the Council an evaluation report on the application and impact of this Regulation, in particular as regards the effectiveness and efficiency of the cooperation between the Office and the EPPO. That report shall be accompanied by an opinion of the Supervisory Committee.

No later than two years after the submission of the evaluation report pursuant to the first paragraph, the Commission shall, where appropriate, submit a legislative proposal to the European Parliament and to the Council to modernise the Office’s framework, including additional or more detailed rules on the setting up of the Office, its functions or the procedures applicable to its activities, with particular regard to its cooperation with the EPPO, cross-border investigations and investigations in Member States not participating in the EPPO.

This Regulation shall enter into force on the first day of the month following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

Article 15(3) shall apply to the duration of the term of office of the members of the Supervisory Committee in office at the date of entry into force of this Regulation. Immediately after the entry into force of this Regulation, the President of the European Parliament shall choose by lot, from amongst the members of the Supervisory Committee, two members whose duties are to end, by way of derogation from the first sentence of Article 15(3), upon expiry of the first 36 months of their term of office. Two new members shall be appointed automatically for a term of office of five years to replace the outgoing members, on the basis and in the order of the list set out in Article 1(2) of Decision 2012/45/EU, Euratom of the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission of 23 January 2012 appointing the members of the Supervisory Committee of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) ([^E0007]). Those new members shall be the first two persons whose names appear in that list.

The third sentence of Article 17(1) shall apply to the duration of the term of office of the Director-General in office at the date of entry into force of this Regulation.