Commission Staff Working Document: Annual overview with information on the results of the Hercule III Programme in 2016, accompanying the document "Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council: Protection of the European Union's financial interests - Fight against Fraud Annual Report 2016"
Inhoudsopgave van deze pagina:
Council of the European Union
Brussels, 25 July 2017 (OR. en)
11503/17 ADD 5
GAF 40 FIN 496
COVER NOTE
From: Secretary-General of the European Commission, signed by Mr Jordi AYET PUIGARNAU, Director
date of receipt: 24 July 2017
To: Mr Jeppe TRANHOLM-MIKKELSEN, Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union
No. Cion doc.: SWD(2017) 269 final
Subject: Commission Staff Working Document: Annual overview with information on the results of the Hercule III Programme in 2016, accompanying the
document "Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council: Protection of the European Union's financial interests - Fight against Fraud Annual Report 2016"
Delegations will find attached document SWD(2017) 269 final.
Encl.: SWD(2017) 269 final
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
Brussels, 20.7.2017 SWD(2017) 269 final
COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT
Annual overview with information on the results of the Hercule III Programme in 2016
Accompanying the document
REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLEMENT AND
THE COUNCIL
Protection of the European Union's financial interests - Fight against Fraud
Annual Report 2016
{COM(2017) 383 final i} {SWD(2017) 266 final} {SWD(2017) 267 final} {SWD(2017) 268 final} {SWD(2017) 270 final} 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 2
1.1 Hercule III Programme ................................................................................................ 2
1.2 Hercule III: eligible actions, beneficiaries and budget ................................................ 3
1.3 Purpose and scope of this overview ............................................................................ 3
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2.Budget implementation in 2016 ...................................................................................................... 4
2.1 Budget implementation by type of financial intervention ........................................... 4
2.2 Budget implementation by type of eligible action ....................................................... 6
2.2.1 Technical Assistance grants ................................................................................. 7
2.2.2 IT Support: Databases, IT-tools and analyses of samples from tobacco seizures 7
2.2.3 Conferences, seminars and digital forensic training ........................................... 9
2.2.4 Legal training and studies .................................................................................. 10
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3.Achievements 2016 ...................................................................................................................... 10
3.1 To improve the prevention and investigation of fraud and other illegal activities
beyond current levels by enhancing transnational and multi-disciplinary cooperation ....... 11
3.2 To increase the protection of the financial interests of the Union against fraud by facilitating the exchange of information, experiences and best practices, including staff exchanges ............................................................................................................................. 12
3.3 Strengthening the fight against fraud and other illegal activities by providing technical and operational support to national investigation, and in particular customs and law enforcement, authorities ................................................................................................ 13
Examples of operational results obtained from the use of the AMT and CONTRAFFIC-
SAD tools and the tobacco analyses laboratory (developed with the JRC). ........................ 15
3.4 To limit the currently known exposure of the financial interests of the Union to fraud, corruption and other illegal activities with a view to reducing the development of an illegal economy in key risk areas such as organised fraud, including cigarette smuggling and counterfeiting ................................................................................................................. 17
3.5 To enhance the degree of development of the specific legal and judicial protection of
the financial interests of the Union against fraud by promoting comparative law analysis . 17
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4.Communication ............................................................................................................................ 18
4.1 Informing potential applicants ................................................................................... 18
4.2 Dissemination of results ............................................................................................ 18
4.3 Publicity ..................................................................................................................... 19
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5.Feedback from participants of the programme ............................................................................. 19
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6.Conclusions and way forward ...................................................................................................... 19
Annex 1: Grants and contracts awarded and finalised under the 2016 Financing Decision ................. 21
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1.Introduction
1.1 Hercule III Programme
The aim of the Hercule III Programme (hereinafter referred to as “the Programme”) is to protect the financial interests of the European Union by fighting fraud, corruption and irregularities. The Programme provides support to national and regional administrations in Member States which “promote the strengthening of action at Union level to protect the financial interests of the Union”. The financial support mostly consists of grants awarded to competent authorities in the Member States to strengthen their operational and technical capacity to carry out investigations into activities detrimental to the financial interests of the Union. The financial support is used for the purchase of technical equipment, such as x-rays scanners, soft- and hardware for securing evidence from computers or smartphones (digital forensics examinations) or the purchase and installation of integrated systems for number plate recognition (Automated Number Plate Recognition Systems-ANPRS). To a lesser extent, the Programme also serves to finance trainings and conferences for Member States' authorities.
The legal basis 1 of the Programme requires the Commission to adopt an annual work programme for the implementation of the Programme and to submit a report 2 on the main
results and achievements every year to the European Parliament and to the Council. This is the third annual overview of the achievements and results and its structure is based on the
third annual work programme 3 .
The Programme shall be implemented in accordance with Regulation (EU, Euratom) No.
966/2012 4 .
The Programme is the only instrument specifically dedicated to protecting the Union’s financial interests and is administered by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), which, in the field of antifraud policy operates as a Directorate-General of the European Commission.
The general objective of the Programme “shall be to protect the financial interests of the Union thus enhancing the competitiveness of the Union's economy and ensuring the
protection of the taxpayers' money” 5 , whereas the Programme’s specific objective shall be “to
prevent and combat fraud, corruption and any other illegal activities affecting the financial
1 Regulation 250/2015 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2015, OJ L 84 of 20 March 2015. The Regulation entered into force on 21 March 2015 and was applicable from 1 January 2015 onwards.
2 Article 13 of Regulation 250/2015 (Monitoring and Evaluation) requires the Commission “to provide
the European Parliament and the Council, on an annual basis, with information on the implementation of the Programme, including on the achievement of the objectives of the Programme and the results”.
3 The third annual work programme was adopted by Financing Decision C(2016)868 final of 17 February 2016. The annual work programme for 2014 and 2015 were adopted by Financing Decisions C(2014)3391 of 26 May 2014 respectively C(2015)2234 of 8 April 2015. The annual overviews for the first two years of the Programme were adopted as Commission Staff Working Documents SWD(2015)151 final of 31 July 2015 for the year 2014 and SWD(2016)238 final of 14 July 2016 for the year 2015.
4 Regulation (EU, Euratom) 966/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union (Financial Regulation – FR), OJ L 298 of 26 October 2012, as amended by Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2015/1929 of 28 October 2015, OJ L 286 of 30 October 2015 and Commission Delegated Regulation 1268/2012 i of 29 October 2012 on the rules of application of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No. 966/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union, OJ L 362 of 31 December 2012 (Rules of Application – RAP), as amended by Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2462 of 30 October, L 342 of 29 December 2015.
5 Article 3 of Regulation 250/2015.
interests of the Union” 6 . The five operational objectives 7 of the Programme are described in
section 3 of this report, together with an overview of the main results of the actions carried out under the Programme and the contribution the actions made to achieve the operational objectives.
1.2 Hercule III: eligible actions, beneficiaries and budget
There are three types of eligible actions 8 supported by the Programme:
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1.“Technical Assistance” 9 : this type relates to support aimed at providing specific
knowledge, equipment and information technology tools to national authorities as well as providing specific databases and IT tools facilitating data access and analysis;
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2.“Training”, which relates to support for training activities, conferences and legal studies focused on the protection of the Union’s financial interests;
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3.“Any other action”: actions necessary for attaining the general, the specific and the operational objectives of the Programme.
The beneficiaries 10 of the Programme are eligible bodies that are:
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1.National or regional administrations of a Member State; 2. Research and educational institutes and non-profit-making entities in the Member States.
Both types of beneficiaries shall “promote the strengthening of action at Union level to protect the financial interests of the Union”. Costs incurred for persons from third countries to enable their participation in an event funded under the Programme, such as conferences, seminars or training sessions, can be considered eligible for funding under certain conditions.
The budget for the implementation of the Programme in 2016 amounted to EUR 14.5 million in commitment appropriations and EUR 20.1 million in payment appropriations and is
financed under item 24.0201 of the European Union budget for 2016 11 .
1.3 Purpose and scope of this overview
The annual overview is intended to fulfil the requirement under Article 13.1 of Regulation (EU) 250/2015 to "provide the European Parliament and the Council, on an annual basis, with information on the implementation of the Programme, including on the achievement of the objectives of the Programme and the results". To that end, this overview covers information on actions for which financial commitments were made under the 2016 work programme (section 2) as well as the results of actions that were finalised in 2016, but committed under the Hercule Programmes in previous years (section 3).
6 Article 4 of Regulation 250/2015.
7 Article 5 of Regulation 250/2015.
8 Article 8 of Regulation 250/2015. Article 8(a) lists 7 types of actions for Technical Assistance and Article 8(b) lists 7 types of actions for Training.
9 It is important to underline that “Technical Assistance” as defined in Regulation 250/2015 differs from
the term “Technical Assistance” used in Article 121 (7) of the Rules of Application, which defines Technical Assistance as “support and capacity-building activities necessary for the implementation of a programme or an action, in particular preparatory, management, monitoring, evaluation, audit and control activities”.
10 Article 6 of Regulation 250/2014 i. Article 7 of Regulation 250/2015 defines the geographical scope of
the Programme. The participation of national and regional administrations from non-EU countries, such as EEA countries, Switzerland, candidate countries and European Neighbourhood Policy countries is subject to an agreement between the respective countries and the Union on the former’s participation in Union Programmes. For the time being, no such agreement is in force.
11 OJ L 48 of 24 February 2016, p. 1454-1455.
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2.Budget implementation in 2016
The budget for the implementation of the Programme amounted to EUR 14.5 million in commitment appropriations. Table 1 gives an overview of the available budget and the commitments made in 2016.
Table 1: Available budget and commitments made in 2016
TYPES OF ELIGIBLE ACTIONS 2016 BUDGET 12 COMMIT 13 %
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE (min. 70%) 10 850 000 11 560 377 106.5
Grants: Cigarettes and Investigation support Grants 8 800 000 9 454 616 107.4
IT Databases Procurement 1 250 000 1 150 000 92.0
IT tools and tobacco analysis (JRC) Procurement 750 000 905 791 120.8
Purchase of technical equipment Procurement 50 000 49 970 99.9
ANTI-FRAUD TRAINING (max. 25%) 3 650 000 2 970 823 81.4
Grants: Anti-fraud training Grants 900 000 900 000 100
Procured conferences Procurement 1 000 000 693 605 69.4
Digital Forensics Training sessions Procurement 950 000 883 811 93.0
Grants: Legal Training and Studies Grants 500 000 493 407 98.7
Study: Illicit tobacco trade Procurement 300 000 0 0
OTHER ACTIONS (max. 5%) 42 300 4 604 10.9
P.M. P.M. 42 300 4 604 10.9
TOTAL 2016 14 542 300 14 535 805 99.96
The information in the table above only relates to commitments made in 2016. The payments under the grant agreements and most of the contracts cannot be reported as most of the payments will only be made in 2017 and beyond.
2.1 Budget implementation by type of financial intervention
The Programme was implemented by making use of public procurement (for contracts) and
calls for proposals (for grants) 14 . The Commission concluded contracts for the purchase of
goods or services, such as access to databases, the development of IT-systems or the organisation of training and conferences. The contracts were concluded on the basis of
existing framework contracts (FWC) 15 , the purpose of which is to establish the terms
governing specific contracts to be awarded during a given period. In 2016, the overall amount spent on contracts was EUR 3 616 228 (as shown in graph 1).
Grants are direct financial contributions to finance an action intended to help achieving a Union policy objective. The overall budget spent on grants was EUR 10 846 808. Grants are awarded following a call for proposals, inviting applicants to submit a proposal for an action that contributes to the achievement of the objectives of the Programme. The beneficiary of a grant becomes the legal and economic owner of the goods or services that are purchased with the help of the grant. Under the Programme, grants may cover up to 80% of the eligible
12 The budget corresponds to the Summary Table in the Annual Work Programme 2016 as adopted by the Financing Decision 2016 (C(2016)868 of 17 February 2016).
13 Commitments cover the total costs in 2016 of legal obligations (contracts, grant agreements/decisions) entered into for operations extending over more than one year (Article 7, FR). The total amount for the commitments cannot exceed the budget allocated in the Financing Decision. The amounts are rounded.
14 Article 10 of Regulation 250/2015. Title V of Regulation 966/2012 i, as amended. Title V (Articles 101- 120) determines the rules on public procurement, whereas Title VI (Articles 121-137) contains the rules in relation to the award of grants.
15 Article 101 (2) FR.
costs 16 of the action and up to 90% in exceptional and duly justified cases. In 2016, the
Commission twice used the possibility to award a grant covering 90% of the eligible costs.
In April 2016, the Commission launched three calls for proposals: Technical Assistance, Legal Training and Training & Conferences. The deadline for submission of applications was
set for June 2016. The Commission published a notice on the calls in the Official Journal 17
and on its website. Moreover, it informed the members of the Advisory Committee for the Coordination of Fraud Prevention (COCOLAF) and invited them to inform potential applicants about the Programme's funding opportunities. Under the three calls, the
Commission received 122 applications 18 that were subsequently examined by three different Evaluation Committees. Each application was examined on the basis of four sets of criteria 19
that were listed in the technical specifications of the call and ranked on the basis of the scores obtained on the award criteria (the fourth set of criteria):
• Added value of the application for the protection of the financial interests of the Union;
• Conformity with the operational objectives of the Programme; • Quality; • Value for money.
The examination of the applications eventually led to the award of 46 grants 20 at the end of
2016. Tables 10, 11 and 12 provides an overview of the successful and rejected applications, broken down by Member State, call, amount requested and awarded grant.
Graph 1 below gives a breakdown of the budget (planned) and achieved commitments in 2016 by type of financial intervention (grants and procurement).
Graph 1: Hercule III budget and commitments in 2016 by type of financial intervention
Budget 2016 (Planned) Commitements 2016 (Achieved)
4,300,000, 3.616.228 30% 25%
Grants Grants
Procurement Procurement
10,200,000
70% 10.846.808 75%
16 Article 10 (4) of Regulation 250/2015. The annual work programme 2016 contained the criteria as
required under Article 11 of Regulation 250/2014 i for the definition of these cases and applicants for a Technical Assistance and a Legal Training grant were given the possibility to indicate whether or not their applications should be considered for the maximum co-financing percentage of 90%. The Commission received 72 applications for Technical Assistance and 22 applications for Legal Training grants, 12 applicants for TA grants requested a 90% funding.
17 OJ C148 of 27 April 2016, p. 2-7.
18 Technical Assistance: 72; Legal Training: 22 and Training & Conferences: 28.
19 Eligibility, exclusion, selection and award criteria.
20 Technical Assistance: 23; Legal Training: 10 and Training & Conferences: 13.
2.2 Budget implementation by type of eligible action
Graph 2 below gives a breakdown of the budget (planned) and achieved commitments in 2016 by type of action. The "Technical Assistance" actions identified in Regulation 250/2014 i encompass "Technical Assistance" activities as well as "IT-support", whereas the "Training Actions" include "Anti-fraud Training" and "Legal Training". The planned budget for technical assistance represented 74.6% of the total and the commitments represented 79.9%. These percentages are well above the minimum percentage of 70% to be spent on technical assistance actions as provided for in the annex to Regulation 250/2014 i.
Graph 2: Hercule III budget and commitments in 2016 by type of eligible action
Budget 2016 (Planned) Commitments 2016 (Achieved)
500.000 2.406.863 493.407
3.150.000 3,44% 42,300 16,64%
3,41% 4.604
0.29% 0,03%
21,66%
2.054.791
2.000.000 8.850.000 14,21% 9.503.371 13,75% 60,86% 65,71%
Technical assistance IT Support Technical assistance IT Support Anti-fraud Training Legal Training Anti-fraud Training Legal Training Other actions Other actions
Graph 3 gives an overview of the committed budget as well as the number of awarded grants for technical assistance (TA) and training actions (Antifraud training, TRAIN) and Legal training (LEGAL) in 2016. The information is broken down by Member State. The graph shows that grants were awarded to applications from 20 Member States. There were no grants awarded to applications from: DK, IE, CY, AT, SI, FI, SE and UK.
Graph 3: Hercule III commitments (in EUR) and number of grants in 2016 by Member
State and by sector of activity
1.400.000
6 7 1
1.200.000 1
1
1.000.000
3
800.000 1 LEGAL
TRAIN
600.000 1 TA
400.000 3 2 2 4 1 2 1
200.000 2 2 2 1 1
0
RO PL HR EL ES FR HU PT LT BG SK IT MT EE BE LV DE CZ NL LU
2.2.1 Technical Assistance grants
The budget for technical assistance grants was EUR 8 800 000. It was available for funding actions proposed by national and regional authorities. Examples of actions for which funding
could be requested were 21 :
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1.The purchase and maintenance of investigation tools and methods used in the fight against irregularities, fraud and corruption perpetrated against the financial interests of the Union, including specialised training needed to operate the investigation tools;
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2.The purchase and maintenance of devices and animals to carry out inspections of containers, trucks, railway wagons and vehicles at the Union's external borders and within the Union in order to detect smuggled and counterfeited goods imported into the Union with the aim or consequence to evade custom duties and excises (detection devices);
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3.The purchase, maintenance and interconnection of systems for the recognition of vehicle number plates (Automated Number Plate Recognition Systems – ANPRS) or container codes for purposes related to the protection of the financial interests of the Union, including specialised training needed to operate these systems;
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4.The purchase of services to support Member States’ capacity to store and destroy seized cigarettes and tobacco.
The Commission received 72 applications from 20 Member States by the deadline of 9 June 2016. The total budget of the proposed actions was EUR 36 million and the requested financial support amounted to EUR 28 million. This amount exceeded the available budget of EUR 8.8 million more than three times. The Evaluation Committee set up for the examination of the applications adopted its recommendations in October 2016 and the decision to award a grant to 23 applications was adopted end October 2016. All applicants were informed of the outcome of the evaluation procedure and the reasons that led to the acceptance or rejection of
their application. The overall amount for the grants was of EUR 9.5 million 22 . The average co-financing percentage for the awarded grants amounted to 79.4% of the eligible costs 23 of
the action. The grants were awarded for the purchase of investigation equipment (including forensics equipment), the purchase of x-rays scanners, the purchase and training of sniffer dogs and Automated Number Plate Recognition Systems (ANPRS). Table 1 in Annex 1 gives an overview of the grants and co-financing rate, the beneficiaries and the supported action.
2.2.2 IT Support: Databases, IT-tools and analyses of samples from tobacco seizures
Databases
The Programme provides funds to procure databases or subscription to databases for law enforcement authorities in the Member States in order to support their operations and investigations. The Commission procures and manages the access to databases thus enabling substantial economies of scale.
21 See section 2.1 of the specifications of the call:
http://ec.europa.eu/anti-fraud/policy/hercule/hercule-iii_en .
22 This amount was higher than the earmarked budget in the annual work programme. At the end of 2015, appropriations that were not committed for other types of eligible actions were transferred to technical assistance.
23 The maximum co-financing percentage is 80%, but the Commission may award in exceptional and duly justified cases a grant covering up to 90% of the eligible costs. Around one third of the applicants in 2015 applied for a "90%-grant". Following a careful examination of the reasons put forward by the applicants and taken account of the available budget, only one applicant eventually was awarded a grant covering 90% of the eligible costs.
OLAF staff makes a limited use of these databases within the framework of investigations that are jointly undertaken by OLAF and its partners in the Member States. The databases were purchased in 2016 by concluding specific contracts under framework contracts, which
were concluded in 2012 24 and 2013 25 . Table 4 in Annex I gives an overview of the awarded
contracts in 2016.
Development of specific IT tools for data analyses
Two projects for the analysis of “big data” that were already initiated under the Hercule II Programme were continued in 2016. The Automated Monitoring Tool (AMT, for an amount of EUR 498 000 for two years) project and a project which follows up the earlier Container Traffic project (ConTraffic-REG-2, for an amount of EUR 222 791) are carried out by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) in Ispra (Italy) under administrative arrangements.
The AMT generates automated alerts for outliers in trade data and can be used to monitor trade flows relevant for intelligence analyses and targeted controls by Member State customs, providing more realistic and effective scenarios for joint customs operations. The AMT has improved authorities’ ability to detect the undervaluation of imported goods and made them more efficient, freeing up human resources and time for other investigation work. The administrative arrangement for the AMT project has been renewed in 2016 to further develop and implement specific statistics for analysis of trade data and tools for the statistical detection of patterns of fraud to support Member States, especially in view of the amended
Regulation (EC) No 515/97 i 26 .
The ConTraffic Single Administrative Document (ConTraffic-SAD) analysis system is a pilot project run by the Commission (OLAF and JRC) in collaboration with customs authorities in Member States. This project has evaluated the feasibility and demonstrated the effectiveness of using Container Status Messages (CSMs) data to identify imports of containerized goods where the origin country is wrongly declared. The project is based on the ConTraffic technology developed at the JRC in collaboration with OLAF. The administrative arrangement for a new project to promote the systematic use of the CSMs based on the amended Regulation (EC) No 515/97 i (ConTraffic-REG-2) with the JRC was launched in 2016 and runs until the end of 2017. The aim of the project is to assist Member States, together with the Commission, by providing support for verifying carriers' compliance with the obligation to report CSMs to national customs authorities, as well as by providing support for the detection of customs fraud through the implementation of an EU-wide system for the automatic and systematic origin verification of import declarations (SAD) based on CSMs. Section 3 contains examples of the results obtained in 2016 with the AMT and ConTraffic tools.
Tobacco analyses
The work programme provided for financial support to enable Member States' customs to carry out an analysis of samples taken from cigarettes and tobacco seizures. In 2016, the Commission renewed the administrative arrangement started in 2015 for an amount of EUR 185 000 with the JRC's Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements in Geel
24 OLAF/2012/D5/022 for manifest data.
25 OLAF/2013/D5/020 for trade data, OLAF/2013/D5/021 and OLAF/2013/D5/022 for company data.
26 Regulation (EU) No 2015/1525 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 September 2015 amending Council Regulation (EC) No 515/97 i on mutual assistance between the administrative authorities of the Member States and cooperation between the latter and the Commission to ensure the correct application of the law on customs and agriculture matters (OJ L 243, 18 September 2015, p. 1).
(Belgium) for carrying out chemical analyses on samples from tobacco and cigarettes seizures at the request of Member States.
2.2.3 Conferences, seminars and digital forensic training
Conferences organised under grants
The training activities supported under the Programme aim at providing grants to beneficiaries in the Member States for the organisation of targeted specialised and risk analysis training workshops, seminars and conferences. The training activities are also aimed at the strengthening of cross-border cooperation and the creation of networking activities between experts and law enforcement staff to facilitate exchange of information on best practices in relation to the protection of the financial interests of the Union. The priority topics addressed during seminars and conferences were defined in the specifications of the call for proposals launched in April 2016. These topics covered the exchange of experiences and best practices between the relevant authorities on fraud issues or the dissemination of knowledge and awareness raising on risks and red flags in, for example, the area of the management structural funds.
The Commission received 28 applications from 13 Member States by the deadline of 23 June 2016. The aggregated budget of the 28 applications amounted to EUR 2.7 million, and the Commission was asked to contribute EUR 2.2 million, whereas only EUR 900 000 was available. The Commission awarded a grant to the 13 highest scoring applications for the amount of EUR 900 000, whereas 15 applications could not receive a grant as their score remained below the threshold needed for a grant. Table 5 in Annex 1 gives an overview of the grants and co-financing rate, the beneficiaries and the supported actions.
Conferences organised under procurement
In addition to grants, the Programme also gives financial support for the organisation by the Commission of high-level conferences and ad-hoc training activities focused on protection of
the Union’s financial interests. The Commission used the services of one firm 27 specialised in
organising events under framework service contracts for the organisation of its conferences. The overall budget for conferences under procurement was EUR 1.1 million.
Table 6 in Annex 1 provides an overview of the six events that were procured by the Commission in 2016. It should be observed that two events took place at the beginning of 2017: the debriefing of the Joint Customs Operation (JCO) in Bangkok (January 2017) and the conference for the evaluation of Regulation 883/2013 i in Brussels (March 2017).
Training organised under procurement: Computer forensics training
The Commission signed a specific contract for the organisation of a two-week training session for 12 different digital forensic training courses in October 2016 for an amount of almost EUR 900 000. The training was organised in Zagreb by a service provider under a framework service contract concluded in 2013. The training session is organised for technical staff in law enforcement agencies that have to secure evidence in a lawful manner from digital information carriers, such as computers, smartphones, tables or network equipment. The twoweeks training courses were given by 27 experts and attended by 172 participants per week. The courses are developed by an international organisation of computer forensic experts, which also provided the trainers and ensured the quality control. At the end of the training sessions, the participants had to pass an exam to assess the newly acquired skills and competences. Most participants succeeded in passing these tests.
27 MCI Benelux S.A located in Brussels
The training sessions also gave the participants an opportunity to network and to exchange information and best practices in relation to computer forensic examinations.
2.2.4 Legal training and studies
The legal training and studies are part of the overall training actions and aim at enhancing the development of the legal and judicial protection of the financial interests of the Union by promoting comparative law analyses. In 2016, the Commission awarded grants to applications that proposed actions covering the following topics:
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1.Development of high-profile research activities, including studies in comparative law;
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2.Improvement of the cooperation between practitioners and academics (through actions such as conferences, seminars and workshops), including the organisation of the annual meeting of the Presidents of the Associations for European Criminal Law and for the Protection of the Union's financial interests;
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3.Awareness raising of the judiciary and other branches of the legal profession for the protection of the financial interests of the Union, including the publication of scientific knowledge concerning such protection.
The Commission received 22 applications from 12 Member States by the deadline of the call for proposals on 16 June 2016. The aggregated budget of the 22 actions amounted to EUR 1.7 million and the Commission was asked to contribute for an amount of EUR 1.3 million (80% co-funding), where only EUR 500 000 was available. The Commission decided to award a grant to 10 applications for an overall amount of EUR 493 400 with an average cofinancing rate of 70%. The grants were awarded, amongst others, for conducting studies on the preventive role of judiciary in protecting the financial interest of the European Union, the liability of legal persons for abuse of EU funds, as well as for the publication of a periodical on the protection of the Union’s financial interests. Table 8 in Annex 1 gives an overview of the awarded grants in 2016.
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3.Achievements 2016
This section provides an overview of the main results achieved by beneficiaries by implementing the action for which the grant was awarded. Grant beneficiaries have to submit a final technical report with an overview of the main achievements as condition for the final payment. The report has to show how the results of the action contributed to the achievement of the objectives of the Programme. Beneficiaries of technical assistance grants shall, in addition to the final technical report, submit a final implementation report one year after the closing date of the action. This requirement has been introduced because beneficiaries are often not able to report on the achievements at the end of an action: technical assistance grants are awarded for the purchase and installation of technical equipment that, by the end of an action, has only been operational for a short period of time. The first tangible results of the use of technical equipment, such as the seizures of cigarettes, arrests made of suspected persons or estimates of prevented losses to the national or the Union budget can only be reported upon several months after the closing date of the action for which the grant was awarded.
Beneficiaries of grants for training activities (conferences, seminars and training sessions) have to organise a survey among the participants to measure the relevance and quality of the event as well as overall user satisfaction. The final report of a training grant has to indicate how the action contributed to the achievement of the objectives of the Programme.
All beneficiaries (grants and contracts) have to report on any problems encountered during the implementation of the action, such as delays in procurement procedures or staff changes. The report has to indicate how these problems were addressed and whether or not the problems eventually had an impact on the outcome or the results. This section mainly discusses the results of actions that came to an end in 2016, but that were initiated before 2016. The results will be examined in the light of the contribution made to the achievement of the operational objectives of the Programme.
3.1 To improve the prevention and investigation of fraud and other illegal activities beyond current levels by enhancing transnational and multidisciplinary
cooperation 28
The results of the activities undertaken in all of types of actions contributed to achieving this operational objective. The specialised anti-fraud trainings ensured a far-reaching anti-fraud and anti-corruption campaign across the EU and allowed a wide dissemination of anti-fraud measures affecting the EU's financial interests. The training seminars covered a wide range of disciplines, from combating irregularitities in the EU funds and VAT fraud to fight against illigal trade and smuggling, and combating financial crime. A total of 1 256 persons attended the anti-fraud trainings and conferences. 1026 feedback questionnaires were received after the events; they indicate that 97% of the participants assessed the organised events as 'excellent'
or 'good' 29 . Participants seemed to particulary appreciate events that have pratical impact on
their daily work. Some participants observed that the lack of direct contact, discussions and exchange of information with participants from other countries, in spite of the international character of the event, was considered as one of the reasons for expressing dissatisfaction with the event. The Commission will take account of this observation during the examination of grant applications to ensure that conferences and training sessions will lead to strengthening of networks and the exchange of information on best practices. To this end, grant beneficiaries and contractors for the organisation of these events will be requested to organise a "post-event" survey 6 months after the event to assess the mid-term impact of the event.
Grant beneficiaries often indicated the need for more flexibility during the preparation of an event. The administrative requirements before changes to the agenda of an event, the list of participants or the venue could be implemented were considered as burdensome. The Commission will adapt the forms for the submission of grant applications to enable this flexibility and will stress that adjustments cannot modify the purpose of the event for which the grant was awarded. A further simplification of the reporting requirements will be introduced as of 2017, for example by the introduction of an electronic grant management system enabling a smoother and faster reporting on the grant.
The main results of these actions are:
• Improved investigation abilities of law enforcement officials involved in the protection of the financial interests of the European Union through the acquisition of new skills, knowledge and competence;
• Increased awareness on fraud risk indicators and EU anti-fraud policy.
• More widespread of specialised methodologies, tools and techniques to fight against fraud affecting the Union’s financial interests.
28 Article 5 (a) of Regulation 250/2014 i.
29 Participants are asked to give their opinion on several statements, where there replies may vary between
'excellent', 'good', 'average', 'below average', and 'poor'.
A comprehensive overview of the finalised training events is given in Annex 1, table 7 (antifraud training) and table 9 (legal training).
The Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies (RUSI) organised a two-day conference in November 2016, in Brussels. Participants came from police forces, customs authorities and other law-enforcement agencies. Nine Member States: (BE, FR, EL, IT, NL, PL, RO, ES and UK) were represented to assess the scale and scope of illicit trade across the region and the extent of organised criminal involvement.
The conference played a part in:
-
-sharing experience between the member states;
-
-strengthening the position of customs and other law enforcement practitioners to design and implement more effective strategies and tactics to combat illicit trade, which will ultimately help EU member states to reduce both the harm caused by criminal groups and the financial burden of lost revenue associated with illicit trade;
-
-establishing close relationships between the customs and law enforcement agencies of participant countries, as well as between these agencies, academics and private sector organisations across the three sectors of tobacco, alcohol and pharmaceutical products.
3.2 To increase the protection of the financial interests of the Union against fraud by facilitating the exchange of information, experiences and best practices, including staff exchanges 30
The anti-fraud and legal training activities in particular contributed to achieving this objective, though the exchange of information through the AMT and CONTRAFFIC tools which increasingly support customs in drawing up risk analyses as the basis for their targeted controls.
The Dutch "Asser" Institute organised a conference on the topic "The establishment of a European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) - Legal challenges and remaining questions", which took place in July 2016 in the Hague. The key objective of the conference was to bring together legal scholars and legal practitioners in order to discuss the legislative framework for the establishment of the EPPO and to take stock of the main elements of the EPPO legislative framework, including: the constitutional dimensions of the legislative framework, questions related to the competences and organisational make-up of the office, cooperation relations with OLAF and Eurojust and specific criminal law issues. The event facilitated the exchange of concepts and ideas and the event's design (panels and sessions covering the specified topics, alternated by discussion intervals) made it possible to obtain fruitful ideas and suggestions.
The annual AFCOS seminar organised by OLAF took place in Tirana (Albania) from 1 st to
3 rd of June 2016.
Its mains objectives were to: (1) bring together AFCOS and other relevant authorities from Candidate Countries, potential Candidate Countries, as well as Eastern Partnership Countries, with whom the EU has concluded association agreements, in order to (2) present the work of OLAF and AFCOS authorities, to (3) discuss challenges in their cooperation, and to (4) share best practices and experience in the areas of the protection of the EU's financial interests and fight against fraud.
The seminar's impact was:
30 Article 5 (b) of Regulation 250/2014 i.
-
-a better understanding among participants of OLAF's mandate, legal framework and practices, as well as of the obligations regarding the protection of the EU's financial interests; - improved cooperation and coordination between OLAF and enlargement/ Eastern
Partnership countries in carrying out investigative activities;
-
-Candidate Countries taking steps in preparing and adopting national antifraud strategies;
-
-improved reporting of irregularities through the Irregularity Management System (IMS).
3.3 Strengthening the fight against fraud and other illegal activities by providing technical and operational support to national investigation, and in
particular customs and law enforcement, authorities 31
Beneficiaries received grants for the purchase of technical equipment in order to:
-
a)Strengthen the operational and investigative capacity by improving the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of technical hardware and technical support used in detecting and monitoring any illegal activity affecting the EU budget. It aims at a faster and more efficient detection of e.g. smuggled cigarettes and tobacco, illicit goods or the identification of new fraud schemes and modi operandi;
-
b)improve skills and qualifications of the beneficiary's staff that tasked with the daily operations of the new equipment;
-
c)improve the quality of evidence gathered during operations in support of fraud investigations. The improvements should speed-up legal proceedings in Member States and to reduce the number of dismissals during the prosecution or trial stages.
The grants can also cover the expenditure for the maintenance of equipment as well as specific technical training for operational staff to ensure its optimal usage and management. Beneficiaries of technical assistance grants send a final implementation report on the results one year after the closing date of the agreement, thus enabling a better overview and understanding of the longer term impact of the Programme. Beneficiaries report, for example, on the number and amount of cigarettes and tobacco seizures, estimates of the prevented losses to the national and the Union’s budget, the emergence of new fraud schemes, the detection of networks of organised crime (OC) groups or the number of arrests made. This information contributes to improving the transparency of the Programme’s implementation, for as far as this transparency does not endanger on-going operations and investigations, and helps identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the Programme’s implementation.
The Commission received reports on the implementation of grants that were funded under the Hercule II and Hercule III budgets of previous years. Even though it is difficult and sometimes impossible to establish a direct causal relationship between the grant, on the one hand, and the results achieved with the equipment purchased with financial support from the grant, on the other hand, it can certainly be assumed that without the financial support a substantially lower number of arrests, seizures and convictions would have been made. The seizures made with the help of x-rays scanners, for example, allow for a clear demonstration of this relationship, whereas this relationship is more difficult to demonstrate for support given for the purchase of digital forensics software or devices to monitor vehicles or persons suspected of involvement in illicit activities. The equipment nevertheless enables the beneficiaries to improve the overall efficiency and effectiveness of the operations they carry out in support of investigations to protect the Union's financial interests, as shown in the examples below.
31 Article 5 (c) of Regulation 250/2014 i.
French customs finalized a project in 2016 where a grant for the purchase of digital forensic equipment was used during operations in support of investigations into the smuggling of cigarettes, tobacco and drugs as well as the identification of VAT-carrousels. The beneficiary managed to put the equipment in use in a fairly short period of time and to seize substantial amounts of cigarettes (three tons) in Calais that were ready for illegal shipment into the UK.
The Romanian National anti-corruption directorate within the Prosecutor's Office attached to the High Court finalized the implementation of an action consisting of the purchase of investigation tools, such as recording devices and digital forensic soft- and hardware. These tools were primarily used for monitoring suspects during operations and investigations into irregularities and corruption perpetrated against the financial interests of the Union. The operations eventually led to detection of documents that were falsified in order to obtain EU funds for an amount of almost EUR 4.8 million. A second operation into similar allegations led to the detection of irregularities amounting to EUR 2.7 million. The latter could be established as the result of the digital forensic hard- and software and the subsequent analyses that could be made on the data that were retrieved from seized devices. The substantial amounts that were detected during the operations demonstrate that a modest financial contribution enables substantial results and provides a clear demonstration of the contribution made to the achievement of the objectives of the Programme.
Examples of procured access to external databases
The Commission procured access to external databases for use by law enforcement authorities in the Member States. The databases containing trade information, company data or container movements provide essential operational information for joint investigations of Member States' law enforcement agencies and OLAF. The databases also provide input for risk analyses used by customs to target their controls.
A commercial database of worldwide trade statistics with aggregated figures is used by both the Member States and OLAF to analyse trade flows (imports and exports), identify potentially suspicious trade and cross-check allegations of customs fraud. The statistics database is an essential part of a risk analysis system and is in regular use by customs analysts and investigators, enabling them to confirm or remove any doubts about misdescription of origin declared of goods imported into the EU and circumvention of antidumping duties.
Trade statistics data are used by a Member State customs service in a system of reference prices, which aims to fight undervaluation of textile products from China. The so called reference price calculated through an automated risk analysis system, and also taking into account other information (such as the AMT cleaned average prices), is an indication for a customs officer conducting clearance that a price is suspiciously low and that the customs value should be questioned. As direct effects of using that system, in a series of customs proceedings since 2014 the customs service was able to recover customs duties and VAT. As indirect effects of a preventive nature, the reference price system led to significant increase of customs values declared and therefore increased amount of customs duties and VAT collected.
Databases with information on companies are very useful tools in the investigations carried out by customs in the fight against fraud that affect the financial interests of the EU, including smuggling of counterfeit goods and cigarettes, leading to seizures. One operation, for example, led to the seizure of a large quantity of tobacco with a significant value. Another operation revealed a tax fraud on undervaluation of goods and false invoices.
Customs investigation offices in one Member State have recently investigated a large-scale smuggling of counterfeit textiles and perfumes, as well as of tobacco products, cooperating with the authorities in several countries. This led to large seizures with a significant estimated amount of evaded duties and taxes and several individuals charged.
Following information from different sources and checks of companies on the database, customs officers found and seized containers with large quantities of untaxed cigarettes imported into the EU in several cases, and thus prevented significant potential losses of tax revenue.
Examples of operational results obtained from the use of the AMT and CONTRAFFIC- SAD tools and the tobacco analyses laboratory (developed with the JRC).
The Automated Monitoring Tool (AMT) is used as part of a suite of risk analysis tools by the Member States customs for risk management purposes. The signals produced by the AMT tool using analysis of trade data allow the Member States and OLAF to identify new cases of potential fraud. Estimates for EU import prices for any product, country of origin and Member State of destination, known as cleaned average prices, are being produced on the basis of sound statistical principles which make them suitable reference EU prices for the determination of the customs value of imported goods. Member States customs use the estimated cleaned average prices, for example, in a-posteriori controls where they have doubts concerning the declared customs value of the goods, for the detection of value based irregularities related to the imported goods. In particular, the use of cleaned average prices has helped with more effective targeting of possible undervaluation and thus helped to reduce fraud, for example:
-
-In 2016, a joint customs operation was conducted by several Member States customs authorities and targeted criminal networks for importing textile and footwear from China into one Member State. The operation found that several of the trucks controlled participated in fraud circuits, five criminal networks were identified and several shell companies were closed in several countries. The value of imported goods was significantly understated, leading to substantial losses to the EU and Member States' budgets in customs duties and taxes. The operation determined that significant value frauds were committed during customs clearance in the Member State of importation (undervaluation) and were prolonged by non-payment of VAT in the countries of destination. This also revealed that these large-scale frauds were the result of very organized circuits, extremely reactive and having an excellent knowledge of the faults of controls, logistic circuits, false invoice systems and clandestine financial flows.
-
-Another operation took place in 2016 and was carried out by the customs authorities of 23 EU Member States in close cooperation with the tax authorities. It targeted goods originating from non-EU countries imported into one Member State and released into free circulation. More than 200 physical controls, 390 documentary controls and 50 on-the-spot checks were made during the operational phase. This led to customs officers uncovering several instances of undervaluation and misclassification of goods at import, as well as a string of missing traders who "disappeared" in order to evade customs duties and VAT.
-
-A Member State has recently used THESEUS tools as part of an exercise to target potentially undervalued goods. The results revealed undervaluation for customs purposes but also for other tax related reasons. The potential revenue at risk is of an order of magnitude of millions of euros.
The ConTraffic system has been developed to provide for an automatic cross-checking of the origin declared by importers in the Single Administrative Documents (SAD), supporting Member States customs authorities in the detection of potentially fraudulent declarations and in the validation of investigative results. The ConTraffic tool gathers systematically container movements' data (Container Status Messages) and provides Member States and OLAF analysis facilities to better target suspicious or anomalous movements and thus better detect customs fraud. The system analyses the SAD customs declarations related to cargo containers imported into the EU by sea, submitted by participating Member States customs, in view of identifying new cases of customs fraud involving misdeclarations of origin. As a result of this type of analysis, fraud signals related to potential misdeclarations of origin were generated and reported to the participating Member States. The identified signals are used by the Member States customs, for example, in support of the risk analysis and of the decision whether to open an investigation or control the documents.
By June 2016, the SAD data analysis facility was used by 11 Member States customs sending their data to the JRC systematically and receiving signals in return (out of 12 Member States that joined the project). About 50 million SAD declarations from 12 Member States customs have been analysed over a period of 6 years and 1 300 signals of possible fraud cases were generated and communicated to Member States customs for further investigation.
A Member State customs service has reported that 46 investigation cases were opened based on the fraud signals reported by ConTraffic-SAD in the period 2013-2016, which revealed misdeclarations of origin related to, for example, the import of goods claiming lower duties applicable to a third country under preferential trade agreements:
-
-One of the positive investigations resulted in EUR 26 000 of duties recovery and a fine of approximately EUR 130 000. It was related to the importation of tableware from China that has been declared with Taiwanese origin.
-
-Another success story of detecting an abuse of preferential trade agreements relates to the importation of polyethylene from Thailand, whereas it was declared as coming from South Korea.
A laboratory for testing tobacco at JRC-Geel facility was set up and became operational as from April 2016. A dedicated IT module on the OLAF AFIS platform for handling requests for testing has become operational in June 2016. JRC implemented and optimized analytical methods for the different types of chemical and molecular analyses carried out on samples of tobacco seizures in order to determine their chemical profile and other distinctive features. The information is compared to profiles from a reference database in order to help with the identification of the origin of the seizure and to check the authenticity of the tobacco if customs has any doubts following, for example, the conditions under which the tobacco was traded and seized. The reference database has been enhanced and the number of profiles of both seizures as well as profiles from legally traded tobacco products continued increasing and facilitates the identification of counterfeits or smuggled tobacco. Testing of 15 seized cigarette samples was carried out during 2016. The developed analytical methods are promising for discriminating counterfeit from genuine tobacco products and well suited for contributing to forensic investigations aimed at dismantling of criminal networks.
3.4 To limit the currently known exposure of the financial interests of the Union to fraud, corruption and other illegal activities with a view to reducing the development of an illegal economy in key risk areas such as organised fraud, including cigarette smuggling and counterfeiting 32
Several actions contributed to achieving this objective in 2016. The widespread availability of illicit tobacco within the EU has led to the loss of considerable tax and duty revenues (losses to the EU and Member States' budgets as a result of cigarette smuggling are estimated to be at
least EUR 10 billion per year 33 ). One feature of the illicit market for cigarettes in the EU is
the significant quantity of counterfeit products available at a lower cost than the genuine products.
The Bulgarian National Customs Agency finalized an action that consisted of setting up a network enabling the connection of 32 fixed and 10 mobile x-ray scanners in different location in Bulgaria. The scanners are used for the examination of vehicles and the network enables a remote examination of the images generated by the scanners. The remote examination of images generated by scanners operated in different locations improves the beneficiary's ability to monitor suspect transport movements through the country. The action included training activities for the beneficiary's staff that operate the scanners.
OLAF organised the 21st Task Group Cigarettes Conference in June-July 2016 in Riga with the participation of the World Customs Organisation and EUROPOL-EUBAM. During three days, 94 customs and law enforcement officials from all the Member States, one candidate country and seven third countries shared their views and best practices on the fight against illegal cigarette smuggling. Many law enforcement authorities presented their operations based on the information provided by OLAF or conducted with the support of OLAF, with a particular focus on OLAF's added value to the national investigations.
The event contributed to the mutual trust and awareness between investigators, not only on a vertical level (OLAF – national authorities) but also on the horizontal level (between different national authorities with OLAF's key participation). In this sense, the participation of third countries is considered as being strategic in the fight against cigarette smuggling. The conference conclusions underlined the need for international cooperation to counter the smuggling of cigarettes which has a significant impact on the budgets of both the EU and its Member States.
3.5 To enhance the degree of development of the specific legal and judicial protection of the financial interests of the Union against fraud by promoting
comparative law analysis 34
This operational objective is mainly achieved through legal training grants that are awarded for comparative law studies, legal conferences, seminars and publications. The conferences were attended by prosecutors, lawyers, investigators, police officers, academics, researchers, national civil servants, as well as members and officials of the EU institutions. The purpose of these conferences and seminars was to promote the dissemination of legal information on the latest developments in the area of fraud prevention and the fight against fraud, and constituted a good forum for discussion of future legislative solutions in the field of the protection of the
32 Article 5 (d) of Regulation 250/2014 i.
33 COM(2013)324 final i of 6 June 2013: Stepping up the fight against cigarette smuggling and other forms of illicit trade in tobacco products – A comprehensive EU strategy.
34 Article 5(e) of Regulation 250/2014 i.
EU financial interests. The satisfaction rate of the participants, expressed through the filled-in evaluation forms, was at around 90% for the legal conferences organised in 2016.
The Programme continued funding the publication of “eucrim – The European Criminal Law Associations’ Forum", which was published four times in 2016 by the German Max Planck Institute. This periodical addressed current developments in the protection of the EU's financial interests, the activities of OLAF, the latest policy and legal developments in relation to procedural rights and judicial cooperation, or the fight against money laundering in the EU. Each issue is printed in 2000 copies and distributed to universities, libraries, courts, law enforcement authorities and individual subscribers. The articles are published on the internet
as well 35 .
-
4.Communication
The successful implementation of the programme required a structured way to inform potential beneficiaries on funding opportunities, and to provide answers to questions from
(potential) beneficiaries by means of four different functional email boxes 36 . Moreover, the Commission is required 37 to disseminate information on the achievements and the results of
the actions that received funding.
4.1 Informing potential applicants
Notices concerning the launch of Calls for proposals were published in the Official Journal 38 and the full texts of the documents were made available on the Commission's website 39 . The
professional networks were actively informed. Potential applicants were also informed via emails sent to the members of the Advisory Committee for the Coordination of Fraud Prevention (COCOLAF), the OLAF Anti-Fraud Communicators Network (OAFCN) and European Judicial Training Network (EJTN). A short notice of the three Calls was published in "eucrim" issue 2/2016. The training Call was also published in the news section of the e Justice Portal.
4.2 Dissemination of results
The dissemination of the results of actions under Hercule programme, in particular technical assistance, is rather sensitive as most of the achievements relate to investigations for which information cannot be disclosed. The dissemination on training activities was made through the distribution of electronic and/or paper reports summarising the event. Some beneficiaries posted the training materials on their websites or created dedicated websites. The reports of
studies funded under grants 40 are made available via the Commission's website
36 The four functional mailboxes consist of a general e-mailbox for the Hercule III programme and
dedicated email boxes for Technical Assistance, Antifraud Training and Legal Training. 37 Article 13(1) of Regulation 250/2015: The Commission shall on an on-going basis disseminate,
including on relevant websites, the results of the activities supported under the Programme to increase transparency on the use of the funds”.
38 OJ C 148 of 27 April 2016, p. 2-7.
39 http://ec.europa.eu/anti-fraud/policy/hercule_en
40 The products and services purchased with the help of a grant remain the property of the beneficiary. The Commission however requires that an electronic copy of a study or proceedings are made available for publication on (or linked via) the Commission's website.
4.3 Publicity
Under the training type of actions, all beneficiaries of grants were requested to mention the support from the Hercule III programme:
• In every publication (title page) or related material developed (e.g. studies, booklets, newsletters, leaflets);
• In electronic information (e.g. websites, audio-visual material, videos, software);
• At information events (conferences, seminars);
• Insert a link from their website to the Hercule III programme's site.
The Commission continued its efforts to improve the readability of the website with information on the Hercule Programmes. Beneficiaries of technical assistance grants were requested to mention the Hercule support in their reports and any other document or press release that reported on the results: press releases issued following seizures of counterfeited or smuggled cigarettes made with Hercule funded equipment, for example, should refer to the Union's funding. There is no requirement to include a reference to Hercule funding on equipment purchased with a grant, in particular if this might endanger operations or investigations.
-
5.Feedback from participants of the programme
As indicated in section 3.1, beneficiaries of grants for trainings, conferences and seminars have to carry out surveys among the participants to collect information on the perceived quality and relevance of the event. The total number of participants to the events in 2016 was 1725, who were all requested to fill in an evaluation form with questions on the event’s relevance for their professional activities, the quality of the organisation and the speakers or the venue and other aspects. The Commission received 1 200 questionnaires (70% response rate) expressing a high level of satisfaction: more than 93% of the participants considered the event good or excellent. The feedback also confirmed that the events were attended, in general, by an audience as initially targeted by the organisers.
The qualitative comments transmitted by participants in the evaluation forms, as well as the feedback collected from Commission staff attending the events helped in identifying areas for improvement, such as the exchange of information with participants from other countries, more practical/hands-on dimension of the events, conference logistics, prior information on cancellations or the presence of trainers having the necessary pedagogical, linguistic and cross-cultural skills. All the above-mentioned aspects raised by the participants are taken into consideration and monitored in the on-going, as well as the future Hercule III co-financed actions.
-
6.Conclusions and way forward
The results above show that the implementation of the Programme in 2016 was overall successful. The improved reporting on the results has led to a better understanding of the impact of the Union’s interventions and allowed for increased transparency. These results show the that the actions undertaken with support from the Programme contributed to the protection of the financial interests of the Union and contributed to the prevention and fight against fraud, corruption and any other illegal activities affecting the financial interests of the Union, though the modest size of the Programme should be taken into account in this respect. The findings in the final implementation reports will be used for the on-going mid-term evaluation of the Programme and will be used for the Report that the Commission will
transmit to the European Parliament and to the Council by the end of 2017 41 .
From 2017 onwards, the Commission will ask beneficiaries of training grants and contracts to carry out a "post-event" survey among the participants of a conference, seminar or training in order to assess to which extent newly acquired skills and qualifications are put in practice and whether networking activities could be carried out after the event.
In 2017, the Commission will start using the Participant Portal 42 for the electronic submission
of applications and the management of grants under the Hercule III Programme. The Participant Portal is an IT application developed for the management of research grants awarded under Research and Innovation programmes managed by the Commission and will now gradually extended to most of the Commission's funding programmes under direct management. The electronic submission and processing of applications is expected to shorten considerably the time for notifying applicants on the outcome of the evaluation procedure and is expected to reduce the administrative burden for applicants, grant beneficiaries and the Commission.
41 Article 31 of Regulation 205/2015
42 See: https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/opportunities/herc/index.html
Annex 1: Grants and contracts awarded and finalised under the 2016 Financing Decision
Table 1 - Technical Assistance grants awarded under the 2016 Financing Decision
MS Beneficiary Subject Awarded Co-fin Grant in Euro %
1 EE Estonian Tax and Customs Board Portable X-Ray 100 198 80
2 RO Anti-Corruption General Increasing efficiency in investigating and Directorate combating corruption 139 030 80
3 PL Border Guard Maritime Division Purchase mobile x-rays scanners 116 558 80
4 PT General Prosecutor of the Republic Forensic Computer Lab 548 701 80
5 FR Service national de douane judiciaire (SNDJ) Surveillance equipment 121 170 80
6 ES AEAT-Customs Video surveillance equipment 380 800 80
7 LT Financial Crime Investigation Service FCIS Procurement of intelligence equipment 100 650 79.6
8 LV Latvian State Police Strengthening the technical capacity 110 482 80
9 EL GSAC-AFCOS Purchase x-ray scanner 1 107 200 80
10 PL National Police Headquarters Strengthening the investigative capacity 546 548 80
11 PL Ministry of Finance, Treasury Intelligence Department Purchase of technical equipment 284 834 80
National Anti-Corruption 12 RO Directorate - PNA Prosecutors' Consolidating of the investigative capacity 870 527 80
office
13 LT Special Investigation Service of the Republic of Lithuania Purchase of special technical equipment 255 235 80
14 FR Douane - DNRED Purchase of interception equipment 408 000 80
Forensic and Criminal Intelligence 15 FR Agency of the French Gendarmerie Acquisition of digital forensic equipment 344 847 80
(PJGN) 16 ES Guardia Civil Purchase of scanners and monitoring devices 614 624 80 17 EE Estonian National Police Creation of criminal analysis platform 192 040 80
18 HR Croatian Ministry of Finance -
Customs Purchase mobile x-ray scanner 1 200 000 80
19 BE Belgian National Police Enhancing the fight against EU financial fraud 290 568 80
20 SK Financial Directorate of the Slovak Purchase of digital forensics equipment and Republic software 330 684 66.7
21 BG Bulgarian Border Police Enhancing technical capacity 347 478 80 22 MT Malta Customs Department Enhancing technical capacity 331 262 80 23 HU National Tax and Customs Board Technical capacity development 711 965 80
Total 9 453 401 43 79.4
43 This amount is EUR 1 215 lower than in Table 1 on page 4 due to corrections made for grants awarded in 2015.
Table 2 - Technical Assistance grants finalised in 2016
Amount paid as %
MS Beneficiary Subject Amount paid to initial
commitment 44
1 MT Maltese Customs Department Purchase of mobile scanner 584 000 100 2 ES Guardia Civil Improving electronic undercover surveillance 253 318 76.6
3 FR Direction Interrégionale des douanes d'Antilles Guyane Purchase of mobile scanners 100 166 100
Direction Nationale du
4 FR Renseignement des Enquêtes Purchase of equipment for monitoring vehicle 99.2 Douanières movements
114 136
5 RO General Inspectorate of the Strengthening the operational capacity of sniffer Romanian Police dogs police units 182 416 93.7 6 FR Direction générale des douanes et Purchase of Automated Vehicle Number droits indirects Recognition System cameras 209 598 100 7 LV State Revenue Service Purchase of Automated Vehicle Number Recognition System 98 778 100
8 NL Fiscale Inlichtingen - en Opsporingsdienst Purchase of scanners 47 800 100
9 ES Guardia Civil, Fiscal and Borders Command Strengthening of operational capacity 179 349 76.8
Purchase of technical equipment and 10 FR Service Commun des Laboratoires implementation of software for cigarette 100 256 96.4
analysis 11 BG National Customs Agency X-Rays Networking, Image and Data Exchange 1 466 729 100
Corruption Prevention and
12 LV Combating Bureau of the Republic Improvement of forensic, analytical and 100 of Latvia surveillance capabilities
186 411
13 PT Polícia Judiciária Lisbon Anti-Fraud Interception System 1 050 866 99.2
14 PL Ministry of Finance, Polish Customs Service Purchase of Backscattering Van 682 678 80.1
15 PL Customs Chamber Opole Implementation of computer forensics in Polish customs service 157 250 92.9
16 LT Financial Crime Investigation Service Procurement of Intelligence equipment 45 615 98.4
Ministry of Internal Affairs, 17 RO County Police Inspectorate Bistrita Strengthening the operational capacity 56 061 86.7
Năsăud Direction générale des douanes et
18 FR droits indirects- Direction Purchase of sniffer dogs and vehicles for Nationale du Recrutement et de la transport of sniffer dogs during operations. 12 552 32.4
formation professionnelle Service Public Fédéral Finances,
19 BE Administration Générale des Assistance technique d'aide à l'enquête: douanes et accises purchase of digital forensic equipment
21 480 70.5
National Anticorruption Purchase of technical equipment: purchase of
20 RO Directorate within the Prosecutor's Office attached to the High Court investigation tools: monitoring devices as well 95 197 98.1
of Cassation and Justice as digital forensic soft- and hardware
21 MT Customs Department Lease of a mobile x-ray scanner for a period of 5 years. 1 106 667 100
22 FR Direction générale des douanes et droits indirects Purchase of technical equipment 37 233 87.6
Total 5 888 529 85.4
44 Final payment as percentage of the awarded grant. A percentage lower than 100% means that the action was not fully implemented or that the beneficiary managed to achieve considerable cost savings.
Table 3 – Technical Assistance final Implementation reports received in 2016
FD MS Beneficiary Subject Results
With the help of 9 sniffer dogs, 242 seizures were made of more than 250
1 2013 EL Greek Customs Service Cigarette Detector Dogs million cigarettes, 440kg tobacco and EUR 440 000 cash. Estimated prevented losses: EUR 26.5 million.
Renforcement des capacités en The deployment of sniffer dogs during 2 2014 FR Direction générale des
douanes et droits indirects équipes maître-chien anti-tabac 6 operations led to the seizure of more (assistance technique) than 3 tons tobacco.
3 2012 HU Service Provider Capacity Investigations tools purchased under 45 X Building In Hungary several grants enabled this beneficiary
4 2013 HU X Modernising the Technical the seizure of almost 400 000 packages Background of Crime Detection of cigarettes and 46 tons of tobacco,
together with counterfeits, cars and other valuables. More than 150 persons were investigated (including customs
5 2012 HU X Purchase of GSM monitoring systems staff) and around 50 persons arrested.
In addition, more than EUR 3 million was seized, whereas the estimated losses at more than EUR 10 million. Transport and low-altitude monitoring equipment enabled the seizure of
Technical Development for a cigarettes (693k boxes), tobacco (14 6 2012 HU X more effective Fight against tonnes) and money (EUR 1 million).
Cigarette-related abuses The prevented losses and expected fines amount to more than EUR 5 million.
The use of luggage scanners, sniffer dogs and cameras led to the seizure in several places of almost 70 million
7 2013 IE Irish Revenue cigarettes, 2.3 tons of tobacco, drugs Commissioners Procurement of Equipment and counterfeits. Criminal convictions
were secured in more than 100 cases for smuggling and the sale of such products. Use of digital forensic equipment to
Financial Crime dismantle OC groups involved in VAT- 8 2013 LT Investigation Service - Procurement of Intelligence fraud with oil trades; money laundering
Ministry of Interior Equipment and traffic of luxury cars. Estimated amounts involved: more than EUR 70
million. Technical Support for the The use of this equipment in 14 9 2012 LV State Revenue Service of
the Republic of Latvia Purchase of the Fuel Unloading operations led to the detection of 17 Systems infringements of the customs
legislation. The estimated losses were more than EUR 7 000. The deployment
Technical Support for the of the equipment purchased under the 10 2013 LV State Revenue Service of
the Republic of Latvia Purchase of Special Technical second grant enabled the seizure of Equipment for Customs Control more than 7 million cigarettes in 22
infringements. The estimated losses were more than EUR 800 000. The use of digital forensic soft- and
Implementation of the Criminal hardware enabled Wrocław customs 11 2013 PL Customs Chamber in the seizure of more than 19 million
Wrocław Analysis in The Customs Service - Technical Assistance cigarettes, 60 tons tobacco, alcohol,
fuels and counterfeited goods. It also lead to the investigation of 80 persons,
45 The beneficiaries have requested that their identities are not disclosed.
13 of which were detained and 5 the subject of a prosecution. The overall losses of these seizures were more than EUR 20 million. The transport vehicles, monitoring equipment and computers were used in several operations aimed at identifying the modi operandi of OC-groups involved in VAT frauds with electronic
Treasury Intelligence equipment, money laundering and 12 2013 PL Department, Ministry of Purchase and Modernisation of cigarettes smuggling and counterfeits.
Finance the Technical Equipment It led to the seizure of more than 80 tons of tobacco, cigarettes
manufacturing machines, liquors and fuels as well as the investigation of almost 60 persons. The estimated losses amount to at least EUR 100 million, but are likely to be higher.
Purchase of electronic Forensic equipment used to examine surveillance equipment and digital information devices in
13 2012 PL Central Bureau of
Investigation – Warsaw training for the Central Bureau of operations against OC-groups involved Investigation of illicit in VAT-carousels, money laundering
consignments of tobacco products and economic crimes led to 8 arrests and 104 persons under investigation. The estimated amounts involved were more than EUR 1.3 million, though the
Purchase of the Computer amounts could not be given for a Forensics Laboratory Equipment number of operations. The use of the
14 2012 PL National Police
Headquarters for the Central Bureau of equipment purchased under the second Investigation; Purchase of grant led to the seizure of more than 9
monitoring equipment. million cigarettes, 50kg tobacco, drugs, amphetamines and smuggled liquors. The amounts concerned were more than EUR 1.5 million.
Transport equipment and computers Enhancing the operational were used in operations enabling the potential of the Warmia and seizure of more than 10,000 packages 15 2013 PL Regional Police
Headquarters in Olsztyn Mazury Police by developing a of cigarettes and 60kg of tobacco, as system for combating and well as 300 liters liquors. Evaded taxes,
preventing tobacco crime excises and custom were almost EUR 100,000.
Investigation equipment, such as
Technical support for the Lublin (infrared) camera's, cars, binoculars police in the scope of fighting the and IT-equipment enabled the seizure
16 2012 PL Regional Police of more than 4.5 million cigarettes,
Headquarters in Lublin cigarette smuggling and counterfeiting on the Eastern 1523kg tobacco in a large number of
border of the EU operations. The amounts involved (prevented losses, money laundering)
were almost EUR 40 million. The purchased equipment enabled a smoother and better examination of forensic evidence. It was used in the
Strengthening the operational examination of documents used for a capacity of Dambovita County large number of transactions and
17 2013 RO Dambovita County Police
Inspectorate Police Inspectorate by purchasing eventually helped to detect VAT and the latest technology used to tax evasion cases as well as money
combat fraud laundering and counterfeited bank notes. The overall amount was more than EUR 6 million and was eventually
recovered. Purchase of Technical Equipment Video recording equipment, high 18 2010 SK Financial Directorate of the
Slovak Republic for the Detection of Illicit performance cameras and endoscope Consignments of Tobacco used in more than 80 operations
Products enabled the seizure of more than 2 million cigarettes, 30kg tobacco, drugs, liquors and counterfeits. Around 5 persons were investigated and the estimated losses were more than EUR 325 000.
Support for the Provincial Police The monitoring equipment purchased Headquarters in Gdansk for the under this grant enabled the seizure of
19 2013 PL Regional Police investigation and evidence
2 tons of tobacco, together with
Headquarters Gdańsk collecting process regarding substantial amounts of drugs under crimes against the financial several criminal investigations. The
interests of the EU. prevented losses of the tobacco seizure were around EUR 0.5 million.
Table 4 - Databases that were contracted under the Hercule III budget in 2016
Name Content Commitment in Euro
1 NTELX Information on ship manifests 375 000
2 GTA Global Trade Atlas: trade statistics data 200 000
Global Reference Solution: contains GRS basic company information from all over
the world and gives information on links
3 between companies 575 000
D&B reporting system Dun & Bradstreet: Financial details of companies all over the world
Total committed under 2016 budget 1 150 000 Table 5 – Anti-Fraud Training & Conferences grants awarded in 2016
MS Beneficiary Subject Commitment Co-fin in Euro %
Protecting the European Union’s financial interests through cooperation between
1 PL Komenda Wojewódzka Policji w Olsztynie services, and acquisition and exchange of skills in combating tobacco crimes and 90 989 80
crimes to the detriment of the European Union.
Strengthening the capacity for the institutions
2 LV Ministry of Finance of the Republic of involved in the AFCOS network to set up and Latvia identify the strategic and control tools for the 53 481 49
fight against fraud and corruption “White Smoke” - Exchange of tools and best
3 IT Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli practices for the fight against the illicit traffic of cigarettes (in particular cheap-whites) in 91 350 80
the participating region Improving the cross-border cooperation for
4 RO Anticorruption General Directorate (DGA) preventing and combating fraud, corruption and other illegal activities in South Eastern 56 679 80
Europe
Improving Baltic States Police Computer
5 LT Lithuanian Police Forensic Science Centre Forensics Specialists' Skills in IT Investigations by Organizing Training of 46 706 80
Specialized IT Forensics Software
6 CZ Transparency International CZ Conflict of Interests as a Risk of Fraud 40 096 80
7 IT University of Perugia – Department of
Fighting corruption through administrative
Political Sciences measures - supporting development of new 147 116 80 anti-corruption policies
8 PL Szkoła Policji w Katowicach Protection of the financial interests of the EU – common obligations and challenges 75 018 80
Transnational cooperation between law
9 RO Calarasi County Police Inspectorate enforcement authorities for strengthening the activity of preventing and fighting against 96 722 80
fraud with EU funds in the agricultural field Enhancing the effectiveness of fighting
10 PL Regional Police Headquarters in Lublin corruption crimes detrimental to the 43 709 80 European Union’s financial interests
Seminar focused on customs controls and risk analysis of vehicles on the border with
11 SK Financial Directorate of the Slovak Republic Ukraine in the fight against customs fraud 41 144 80
targeting the smuggling and counterfeiting of tobacco products
Osservatorio sulla criminalità
12 IT nell’agricoltura e sul sistema Tobacco road 47 998 80 agroalimentare
13 IT Agenzia Veneta per i Pagamenti in SafeNet: Strenghten Anti Fraud European Agricoltura - AVEPA Network 68 991 80
Total 900 000 77 Table 6 – Anti-Fraud Training & Conferences Procured Conferences organised by the Commission in 2016
Amount
Dates Conference Title Location No of participants paid in
Euro (1)
1 (1) 17-19 January 2017 ASEM Briefing Conference – JCO Bangkok RENEGADE Thailand 80 248 361
Objectives: Preparing the Joint Customs Operations (JCO) RENEGADE; discussing and approving the operational plan as well as training of ASEM partners in the AFIS IT tool for the secure exchange of information during the JCO. The event contributed to the prevention and the fight against counterfeits under the ASEM framework. The conference and training extended the access to the AFIS platform to many non-EU countries and enhanced international cooperation in the antifraud area by
facilitating the exchange of intelligence and the conduct of operational actions in the various countries involved. The on-going evaluation of the JCO suggests the possibility for the initiation of OLAF investigations in the field of IPR.
2 28 June - 1 July 2016 Task Group Cigarette 2016 Riga Latvia 94 91 387
Objectives: In the context of OLAF's leading role in the field of coordination and investigation activities concerning the smuggling of cigarettes into the EU, this event provided the Member States with an update on the current situation in relation
to cigarettes smuggling. This update is based on the analysis and the interpretation of data collected by OLAF during 2015- 2016. In addition, the event enabled the exchange of information about recent developments, strategies and trends in the area of cigarettes smuggling as well as discussions on enforcement measures to improve effectiveness and cooperation in this field.
3 17-19 June 2016 AFCOS Seminar Tirana Albania 70 62 119
Objectives: Bringing together AFCOS and other relevant authorities from candidate countries, potential candidate countries, as well as Eastern Partnership countries, with whom the EU has concluded association agreements, in order (i) to) present the work of OLAF and AFCOS authorities, (ii) to discuss challenges in their cooperation, and (ii) to share best practices and
experience in the areas of the protection of the EU's financial interests and fight against fraud (e.g. functioning of AFCOS, investigative cooperation, preparation of an antifraud strategy, irregularity reporting, etc.).
4 (1) 1-2 March 2017 Conference on the Evaluation of Brussels Regulation 883/2013 i Belgium 190 193 505
Objectives: The conference was organised as part of the evaluation of Regulation 883/2013 i. It gathered stakeholders from a wide range of antifraud backgrounds including high-level representatives from OLAF's operational partners, the European Commission, the European Parliament, the Council, the European Court of Auditors and OLAF Supervisory Committee. The
participants presented their insights on the application of Regulation 883/2013 i; discussed the preliminary evaluation findings and provided further evidence for the evaluation of the Regulation. It was also an opportunity to discuss how the future EPPO
would impact the current framework of OLAF and the antifraud landscape in general.
Training for Member States on European
5 13-14 April 2016 Maritime Safety Agency’s SSN and IMS Lisbon 23 24 082
(IMDatE) applications Portugal
Objectives: Training Member States' customs officers interested in vessel movement data that would support their analytical, intelligence and operational work.
6 22-25 November 2016 High level meeting between customs and other regulatory authorities Hong Kong 28 27 991
Objectives: The purpose of this meeting between the customs and other regulatory authorities was to exchange views on how to combat certain types of illegal activities and abuse, including on sensitive products and transhipment fraud and to explore how OLAF and non-EU countries could work together in a practical way to reduce the impact of this abuse. The participants discussed setting up a pilot project concerning a clearly defined product shipped from China to Europe and from Europe to China and to explore the feasibility of a Joint Customs Cooperation (JCO) on combatting this type of abuse and fraud building
on the experience of the above mentioned pilot project.
Total 485 205 780 (2)
-
(1)Events n° 1 and 4 are committed under Hercule Budget 2016, but implemented in early 2017. Since the amounts paid are not known yet, the amounts indicated are the amounts committed. The overall amount committed under the 2016 Financing
Decision for procured conferences was: EUR 693 605.- (2) This total does not include events n°1 and 4
Table 7 - Anti-Fraud Training & Conferences grants finalised in 2016
Amount paid as % to
MS Beneficiary Title Partici pants Total paid initial
commitment
46
1 RO National Anticorruption Training for operating technical equipment Directorate - DNA needed to support investigations 59 56 733 78
2 NL National Police of The Netherlands Sniffer Rats II 16 41 879 17
INTACT-INcreasing the Awareness of law
enforcement agencies involved in the fight
3 RO Dolj County Police Inspectorate against smuggling and counterfeiting of 220 37 459 55
tobacco product in Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria
Istituto Europeo per lo EU funded actions: rules, laws and best 4 IT Sviluppo Socio practices sharing in the field of fraud 88 62 572 82
Economico prevention Enhancing international cooperation
National Tax and between the partner authorities involved to 5 HU Customs Administration strengthen the fight against infringements 56 25 033 55
of Hungary affecting the financial interests of the EU on the EU's external and internal borders
National Anticorruption Frauds in respect of EU revenue by 6 RO Directorate within the simulated customs operations - typologies 30 11 090 37
Prosecutor's Office and methods of investigation
7 SK Financial Directorate of
Training focused on detection of smuggled
the Slovak Republic and counterfeited tobacco products in air, 57 44 805 73 land and maritime container transport 8 CZ Oživení, o.s. Whistleblowing: Challenge for the Czech Republic 144 39 538 90
9 BG National Revenue Increasing NRA’s administrative capacity Agency (NRA) in preventing and investigating fraud 151 20 979 46
10 RO Freedom House Romania Better legal protection for EU financial
interests in Romanian public procurement 267 59 832 87
11 PL Provincial Police Identifying illegal production and Headquarters in Gdańsk distribution of excise goods 115 16 728 61
Operational approaches to fighting fraud in 12 IT Italian Carabinieri the European agricultural and 53 49 916 84
food sectors
Total 1 256 466 565 56
46 Final payment as percentage of the awarded grant. A percentage lower than 100% means that the action was not fully implemented or that the beneficiary's managed to achieve considerable cost savings.
Table 8 - Legal Training & Studies grants awarded in 2016
Commit MS Beneficiary Subject ments in Co-fin %
Euro
Utrecht University, School Comparative study Exchange of information with EU and national
1 NL of Law, Utrech Center for Regulation and Enforcement enforcement authorities: Improving OLAF’s 76 215 80
in Europe/RENFORCE legislative framework through a comparison with other EU authorities (ECN/ESMA/ECB)
2 PL ELRA - European Law Conference and post-conference publication Research Association The Cost of Non-Europe 45 574 90
Periodical publication eucrim: The European Criminal Law
3 DE Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science Associations' Forum - publication of a 70 838 80
periodical on the protection of the EU’s financial interests Comparative study
4 CZ Transparency International Transparency of corporate ownership structures Czech Republic of public money recipients, including their tax 45 978 80
transparency Comparative study
5 LU University of Luxembourg Liability of company directors in a comparative 49 697 31.6 EU criminal justice context
Comparative study and seminar
6 ES Anti-Fraud Office of Catalonia Managing conflicts of interest for the prevention 32 701 80
of fraud and corruption in the European Union Comparative study and conference
7 RO Expert Forum Association Money and politics – linking EU funds and 55 537 80 political parties
Program for the Comparative study and conference 8 BG Development of the Judicial Liability of Legal Persons for Abuse of EU
System Association Funds: Comparing Bulgaria’s New Legislation
31 810 80
with EU Member States’ Law and Practice Comparative study
9 RO Transparency International The preventive role of judiciary in protecting the Romania financial interest of the European Union – a 48 807 80
comparative analysis for improved performance Conference
10 DE Academy of European Law -
ERA Annual Forum on Combating Fraud and 36 250 73.9 Corruption in the EU 2017
Total 493 407 69.6 Table 9 - Legal training and studies grants finalised in 2016
Amount paid
MS Beneficiary Title N° of part. Total paid as % to initial commitment
47
Comparative study and conference: University of Bologna, Criminal and Administrative
1 IT European School of Investigations in the field of VAT and 100 53 079 89.6
Advanced Fiscal Customs Duties. From national Practices Studies to an EU Integrated System of Information and Evidence Exchange Conference and publication:
2 IT Fondazione Lelio e Lisli EPPO and OLAF investigations: the 105 67 338 86.2
Basso (ISSOCO) judicial review and procedural guarantees
3 Conference and publication: PL European Law Research 33 257 65.2
Association Interactions between the EPPO and
103
national authorities Comparative study and seminar: Relationships between national judicial
4 IT University of Ferrara authorities and the investigative agencies 40 52 097 87.5
in the view of the EPPO: operational models and best practices in fight against EU frauds Conference and publication:
5 European Criminal Procedure Law in HR Croatian Association of
European Criminal Law Service of Protection of European Union
80 75 832 86.6
Financial Interests: State of Play and Challenges
Max Planck Institute for Periodical publication
6 DE Foreign and "eucrim" - The European Criminal Law N/A 52 488 81.6
International Criminal Associations' Forum Law Conference Annual Forum on combating corruption in
7 DE Academy of European the EU 2016 - Transnational cooperation 41 35 846 67.0
Law between judicial and administrative authorities to better protect the EU’s financial interests
Total 469 369 937 80.5
47 Final payment as percentage of the awarded grant. A percentage lower than 100% means that the action was not fully implemented or that the beneficiary's managed to achieve considerable cost savings.
Table 10 - Technical Assistance - Overview of awarded grants and rejected applications in 2016
Awarded
Received Requests Grants Awarded grants Grants MS applications for 90% 90% awarded
(Number) funding
requested grants
(Number) (EUR) (Number) (Number) (EUR)
1 BE 1 0 356 658 1 0 290 568
2 BG 3 1 1 492 288 1 0 347 478
3 CZ 1 0 160 000 0 0 0
4 DK - - - - - -
5 DE - - - - - -
6 EE 3 0 517 031 2 0 292 238
7 IE - - - - - -
8 EL 3 2 1 652 284 1 0 1 107 200
9 ES 2 0 1 028 463 2 0 995 424
10 FR 4 0 1 351 267 3 0 874 018
11 HR 2 1 3 348 000 1 0 1 200 000
12 IT 2 1 887 624 0 0 0
13 CY - - - - - -
14 LV 2 0 333 522 1 0 110 482
15 LT 2 0 355 885 2 0 355 885
16 LU - - - - - -
17 HU 5 1 1 480 938 1 0 711 966
18 MT 3 0 788 545 1 0 331 262
19 NL - - - - - -
20 AT - - - - - -
21 PL 18 5 7 809 086 3 0 947 940
22 PT 1 0 553 261 1 0 548 701
23 RO 15 1 4 149 619 2 0 1 009 557
24 SI 2 1 523 679 0 0 0
25 SK 1 0 396 524 1 0 330 684
26 FI - - - - - -
25 SE 1 0 247 056 0 0 0
28 UK 1 0 214 200 0 0 0
Total 72 13 27 645 930 23 0 9 453 403
Average amount requested: EUR 383 971 (Overall amount requested/number of applications)
Average amount awarded: EUR 411 018 (Overall amount awarded/number of grants)
Table 11 - Call for proposals Training and Conferences 2016 - Overview of awarded grants and rejected applications
Received Requests for Awarded Awarded Grants
MS applications 90%
Grants
grants grants 90% awarded
(Number) funding
requested (Number) 48 (EUR) (Number)
(Number) 42 (EUR)
1 BE - - - - - -
2 BG 1 44.000 0 0
3 CZ 1 40.096 1 40.096
4 DK - - - - - -
5 DE - - - - - -
6 EE - - - - - -
7 IE - - - - - -
8 EL 2 203.299 0 0
9 ES - - - - - -
10 FR 1 157.553 0 0
11 HR 1 81.740 0 0
12 IT 4 355.456 4 355.456
13 CY - - - - - -
14 LV 1 86.606 1 53.481
15 LT 1 55.266 1 46.706
16 LU - - - - - -
17 HU 1 45.156 0 0
18 MT - - - - - -
19 NL - - - - - -
20 AT - - - - - -
21 PL 4 299.348 3 209.716
22 PT - - - - - -
23 RO 9 639.464 2 153.401
24 SI - - - - - -
25 SK 1 41.144 1 41.144
26 FI - - - - - -
27 SE - - - - - -
28 UK 1 126.595 0 0
28 2 175 722 13 900 000
Average amount requested: EUR 77 704 (Overall amount requested/number of applications)
Average amount awarded: EUR 69 231 (Overall amount awarded/number of grants)
48 Not for Training grants: column will stay blank
Table 12 - Call for proposals Legal Training and Studies 2016 - Overview of awarded grants and rejected applications
Received Requests Grants Awarded Awarded MS applications for 90% grants 90%
Grants
(Number) funding requested grants (Number) awarded
(Number) (EUR) (Number) (EUR)
1 BE - - - - - -
2 BG 2 0 78 823 1 0 31 810
3 CZ 2 0 95 323 1 0 45 978
4 DK - - - - - -
5 DE 2 0 111 685 2 0 107 088
6 EE - - - - - -
7 IE - - - - - -
8 EL 2 0 87 872 0 0 0
9 ES 3 0 218 761 1 0 32 701
10 FR - - - - - -
11 HR - - - - - -
12 IT 4 1 264 789 0 0 0
13 CY - - - - - -
14 LV 1 0 52 848 0 0 0
15 LT - - - - - -
16 LU 1 0 50 425 1 0 49 697
17 HU 1 1 83 135 0 0 0
18 MT - - - - - -
19 NL 1 0 79 687 1 0 76 215
20 AT - - - - - -
21 PL 1 1 40 510 1 1 45 574
22 PT - - - - - -
23 RO 2 0 113 567 2 0 104 345
24 SI - - - - - -
25 SK - - - - - -
26 FI - - - - - -
25 SE - - - - - -
28 UK - - - - - -
22 1 277 425 10 493 407
Average amount requested: EUR 58 065 (Overall amount requested/number of applications).
Average amount awarded: EUR 49 341 (Overall amount awarded/number of grants).
| 25 jul '17 |
Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council: Protection of the European Union’s financial interests — Fight against fraud 2016 Annual Report COVER NOTE |
Secretary-General of the European Commission 11503/17 |