'European anti-corruption and police oversight bodies call for the stepping up of the fight against corruption'

On 20 November, OLAF together with 52 other European anti-corruption and police oversight bodies adopted the Paris Declaration. The Declaration calls on European decision-makers to strengthen the fight against corruption. It was adopted by the general assembly of EPAC/EACN and signed by its President, Giovanni Kessler, and by the Director of the French General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN). The Paris Declaration calls for:

• deterrent punishment of crimes of corruption through both custodial and financial punishments and effective systems of recovery of assets;
• the introduction of a cross-border automatic exchange of financial information for the investigations of crimes of corruption by the law enforcement agencies;
• the establishment of an appropriate tool at both national and transnational level for the protection of threatened key witnesses and disclosers of crimes of corruption;
• further intensified co-operation and information sharing between anti-corruption authorities and police oversight bodies in Europe through the newly launched EPAC/EACN communication tool within the Europol Platform for Experts.

Background

The European Partners Against Corruption and the European Contact-point Network against corruption (EPAC/EACN) is a high-level European network of anti-corruption practitioners, composed of more than 70 organisations. EPAC was initiated in 2001 under the auspices of the Belgian Presidency of the European Union and subsequently established in 2004. EACN was formally established in 2008 based on the existing structures of EPAC. OLAF is a member of both EPAC/EACN and its Director-General, Mr Giovanni Kessler, has been its President since 2012.

The signature of the Paris Declaration is taking place within the context of the15th Annual Professional Conference of the EPAC/EACN being held from 18 to 20 November in Paris.