OLAF is the only Community body whose tasks include administrative investigations on behaviour detrimental to the financial interests of the EU that may have “criminal” and “trans-national” aspects simultaneously. Trans-national European crime requires new solutions to be found in what is commonly referred to as European criminal law. For this reason the protection of financial interests has been the motor of the emerging European criminal law and continues to play a vital role.1 Even before the existence of OLAF, its predecessor, the unit charged with the protection of the financial interests within the Commission (UCLAF), put forward first instruments on… Read more

The article aims at pointing out the fundamental contributions made by the area of the protection of the financial interests (PFI) of the European Community to the establishment and development of a criminal law system of the European Union; a contribution which still continues.
From the entry into force of the Maastricht Treaty up until now, various texts adopted in the field of the protection of the EC’s financial interests have played a “cutting-edge” role for most of the instruments which compose the “Common Space on Justice” nowadays. The article demonstrates this continuous role by referring to the most original and innovative content of these texts, starting at the very first proposals of the Commission in 1976 and presenting the relevant case law of the Court of Justice (on sanctions, the principle of assimilation and the criminal law competence of the Community). Examples for this “cutting-edge” role are, for instance, … Read more

This article outlines the framework of the European Community’s primary and secondary law regarding the protection of its financial interests. It starts in part I with an historical review ranging from the first attempts of the Commission to harmonise the criminal law of the Member States with regards to the fight against fraud detrimental to the EC budget, the development of the Anti-Fraud Coordination Unit (UCLAF) and the embedding of the financial interests in the Maastricht Treaty. The article continues with a presentation of the existing legal framework for the protection of the EC’s financial interests in part II. First,… Read more

I. The Legal Status of the Single Currency The international law fully recognises the monetary sovereignty of the States and their exclusive competence to define their currency. This definition is binding on any person who chooses to use a specific currency, under the terms of the “lex monetae” or monetary law. The jurisprudence of the international jurisdictions (in particular, the Permanent Court of International Justice in The Hague,1 in a judgement of 12 July 1929,2 allows conclusion of the universal principle that a State is entitled to regulate its own currency. This is also reflected in recital 8 of Council… Read more

The article deals with a particular area of activity of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), namely the fight against corruption – one of the oldest and most efficient techniques to influence social, economic and political self-organisation and long time without much awareness in society, as the article stresses. In the introductory remarks, the article gives an overview of the contributions made by the European Commission and OLAF in the fight against corruption. The Office’s activities have an effect in numerous areas; OLAF advises the Commission, national authorities within and outside the EU as well as civil stakeholders and other interested… Read more

I. Institutional and Legal Framework of OLAF Investigations The first cases after the establishment of OLAF confirmed and clarified its status and function and stipulated that the requirement of independence is closely related to strict observance of the Community law. In the Rothley1 case, the European courts agreed that the European Parliament Decision concerning the terms and conditions for internal investigations2 applies to objectively defined situations and has legal effects with respect to categories of persons envisaged generally and in the abstract, i.e. present or future Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), but also all the Parliament's staff members, whether… Read more