The State Network of Anti-Fraud Offices and Agencies asks the legislator to take them into account in the processing of the Whistleblower Directive Transposition Bill
Cartagena, September 30, 2022.- The State Network of Anti-Fraud Offices and Agencies has held its XI Meeting within the framework of the VII International Congress of Transparency held in Cartagena.
The meeting took place in two sessions during which the offices and agencies debated and reflected on different issues related to their field of action and especially on the situation in which the processing of the transposition of the European Directive 2019/1937, commonly called the Whistleblowers, is located, since recently the Council of Ministers has approved the Draft law regulating the protection of persons who report on regulatory and anti-corruption violations, and has sent it for parliamentary processing to the Congress of Deputies (BOCG No. 123-1 of September 23, 2022).
As a result of the work carried out by the Network in this XI Meeting, an Institutional Declaration has been approved, since despite the progress made by the aforementioned Bill, it does not offer complete coverage of the expectations created or the commitments acquired by the Spanish State in 2006 with the ratification of the United Nations Convention.
The Declaration has been signed by the Antifrau Office of Catalonia, the Transparency Agency of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona, the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency, the Office of Prevention and Fight against Corruption of the Balearic Islands, the Andalusian Anti-Fraud Office and the Office of Good Practices and Anticorruption of the Autonomous Community of Navarre.
The transposition of the Directive cannot constitute, under any circumstances, a reason to reduce the level of protection already guaranteed in Spain in the areas that the Directive itself regulates, and that are in force in many parts of our territory.
For this reason, in the Declaration the agencies and offices recommend that this bill recognize the demands and proposals of the authorities and bodies, autonomous and local, that have been carrying out functions of prevention and fight against fraud and corruption and the promotion of good practices, since the autonomous anti-fraud authorities (Catalonia, Comunitat Valenciana, Balearic Islands, Andalusia and Navarre) have an important experience that should be taken into account by the legislator. The Office of Good Practices and Anti-Corruption of the Autonomous Community of Navarre participated in this Meeting for the first time through its director, Edurne Eginoa.
It has also had the participation of the professor of the University of Barcelona, Óscar Capdeferro, who has presented the study he has carried out on anti-fraud offices and agencies, and on transparency and access to information in relation to the protection of people who whistleblowers of corruption.
Once the meeting was over, the Institutional Declaration was read within the framework of the International Transparency Congress followed by a seminar workshop on “The regulation of whistleblower protection”, in which the directors of the regional anti-fraud agencies and offices participated and was moderated by the Director of the Anti-Corruption Office of the Madrid City Council, Carlos Granados.
The offices and agencies that have participated in the XI Meeting both in face-to-face and online mode are the following:
– Antifrau Office of Catalonia
– Consello de Contas de Galicia
– National Anti-Fraud Coordination Service
– Transparency Agency of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona
– Management of the Analysis Services of the Barcelona City Council, managing body of the Ethical and Good Governance Mailbox
– Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency
– Office for the Prevention and Fight against Corruption in the Balearic Islands
– Municipal Office against Fraud and Corruption of the Madrid City Council
– Hearing of Accounts of the Canary Islands
– Independent Office for the Regulation and Supervision of Procurement
– Andalusian Office against Fraud and Corruption and Protection of the Whistleblower
– Office of Good Practices and Anti-Corruption of the Autonomous Community of Navarre
– National Commission on Markets and Competition
Institutional Declaration Document: 08_E8_Declaracion institucional Red_XI_CIT