The Agency participates in the EPAC/EACN General Assembly in Dublin with the participation of more than 100 anti-corruption institutions from 30 countries

Press release

Dublin, 3 November 2023 –  The 22nd Annual Conference and General Assembly of the European Anti-Corruption Partners (EPAC) and the European Anti-Corruption Contact Point Network (EACN) took place in Dublin on 2 and 3 December. Among the highlights of the conference was the adoption of the Dublin Declaration and the election of Linas Pernavas, Director of the Lithuanian Special Investigation Service (STT), as the new Chair of the EPAC/EACN Board, while the other members of the Board were re-elected for a second term.

The EPAC/EACN conference, held for the first time in Ireland, was organised by the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, the Police Authority, the Garda Inspectorate and the Irish Department of Justice and was attended by more than 200 representatives from more than 100 institutions from 30 different countries and jurisdictions.

Members of the European Commission, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (EUROPOL), the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and national anti-corruption institutions shared their knowledge and experience in different areas of anti-corruption.

This year’s Conference focused on four main themes: whistleblowing, gender-based violence committed by state actors, safeguarding the EU’s financial interests, and how to address new challenges arising in corruption investigations.

The conference also included the presentation of the EPAC/EACN award for the most innovative anti-corruption initiative, which was awarded this year to the Polish Central Anti-Corruption Office for its ‘ABC Integrity’ project.

 

At the general assembly, the following members of the EPAC/EACN Board of Directors were elected for a period of 2 years, consisting of:

Chairman: Linas PERNAVAS, Director of the Special Investigation Service (STT), Lithuania

Vice-President (Anti-Corruption Area): Ernst SCHMID, Head of Department, Federal Anti-Corruption Office (BAK), Austria

Deputy Vice-President (Anti-Corruption Area): Traian Mihăiţă BÂRLICI, Head of the Prevention Directorate, Directorate-General Anti-Corruption (DGA), Romania

Vice-President (Police Supervision Area): Lucile ROLLAND, Deputy Head of the General Inspectorate of the French National Police (IGPN), France

Deputy Vice-President (Police Oversight): Hugh HUME, Commissioner of the Garda Ombudsman Irish Síochána (GSOC), Ireland

In addition, the General Assembly adopted the Dublin Declaration as the outcome document of the conference. This Statement will be widely disseminated by EPAC/EACN members in their respective countries and submitted to the relevant EU institutions and bodies, the Council of Europe’s GRECO, the OECD’s WGB and the UNODC.

The General Assembly also approved five new members as part of the two networks, bringing to 109 the total number of police oversight and anti-corruption bodies from 38 European countries that are members of EPAC and/or EACN. The new members are the Georgia Anti-Corruption Bureau; the Georgian Special Investigation Service; the Hungarian Integrity Authority; the Andalusian Anti-Fraud Office of Spain and the Asset Management and Recovery Agency of Ukraine

Click here to access the Dublin Declaration.

The Valencian Association of Local Administration Personnel Technicians (AVTPAL) and the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency sign a collaboration agreement

Press release

València, November 2, 2023.-  The president of the Valencian Association of Local Administration Personnel Technicians (AVTPAL), Trinidad Martínez, and the director of the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency, Joan Llinares, have signed a collaboration agreement between both institutions to implement different actions.

One of the highlights of the agreement is that AVTPAL establishes the Agency’s complaints mailbox as its external whistleblowing channel, for which it will put it in a visible place on its website and in other media and channels.

Likewise, AVTPAL will launch its internal whistleblowing channel and will appoint the person responsible for the Internal Information System, communicating this appointment within 10 days so that it can be included in the Registry of Internal Managers.

The obligation to designate a person responsible for the Internal System and its communication to the Agency is set out in Law 2/2023 on the protection of whistleblowers of corruption and the deadline expired on 13 June, except for those municipalities with fewer than 10,000 habitats, whose deadline ends on 1 December. At the moment, the majority of administrations have either not designated the person responsible for the system or have not notified the Agency.

Another of the points included in the agreement is that training actions will be carried out aimed at people who work in the human resources and people management departments of the local administrations of the Valencian Community, which will help to promote ethics and public integrity in our administrations.

In the area of prevention, the Agency will assist AVTPAL in the implementation of an integrity plan, the preparation of risk catalogues and advice on the preparation of codes of ethics.

XIII Meeting of the Network of Anti-Corruption Agencies and Offices to discuss the application of the Law on the Protection of Whistleblowers

Press release

Barcelona, october 18, 2023.- The Anti-Fraud Office of Catalonia has organized the XIII Meeting of the Network of Anti-Corruption Agencies and Offices, held in Barcelona, at the headquarters of the College of Architects of Catalonia. During the meeting, the application of the Law on the Protection of Persons Reporting Regulatory Infringements and the Fight against Corruption, which came into force on 20 February and which transposed Directive (EU) 2019/1937 on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law, was discussed during the meeting.

During the meeting, the different anti-corruption agencies and offices shared information on the volume of requests for protection received, the procedure applied, the cases of granting and the denial of protection, among others.

A number of internal presentations have been made on the above-mentioned topics. In addition to the representatives of the different agencies and offices, speakers specializing in the protection of whistleblowers from different perspectives participated.

The professor of Administrative Law at the University of Barcelona, Òscar Capdeferro, presented the paper “Implementation of Law 2/2023. Interpretative consensus”, which focused on the protection files of the aforementioned law.

Beatriz García Moreno, also a professor of Criminal Law at the University of Castilla-La Mancha, explained the “Internal Information System” focusing on the responsibility of the obliged entity and that of the person responsible for the internal system, as well as the principle of non-incrimination.

On the other hand, throughout these two days, the intelligence strategy based on data analysis has also been analysed, and representatives of the agencies and offices of the network have shared ideas, projects and achievements in this area.

The meeting was attended by representatives of the Anti-Fraud Office of Catalonia, the Agency for the Prevention and Fight against Fraud and Corruption of the Valencian Community, the Office for the Prevention and Fight against Corruption in the Balearic Islands, the Office for Transparency and Good Practices of the Barcelona City Council,  the Municipal Office against Fraud and Corruption of the Madrid City Council, the Court of Auditors of the Canary Islands, the Office of Good Practices and Anti-Corruption of the Autonomous Community of Navarre, the Council of Accounts of Galicia, the National Anti-Fraud Coordination Service of the General Intervention of the State Administration (SNCA), the Independent Office for Regulation and Supervision of Procurement of the Ministry of Finance and Public Function.