Policy OLAF BT

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The preventive role of the judiciary in protecting the financial interest of the European Union.
A comparative analysis for improved performance
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 Consolidate the ECRIS80 database, introducing data on the accessory penalties of debarment
form public procurement procedures;
 Create the possibility to obtain criminal record extracts from ECRIS if requested by a contracting
authority during a tender, not only for the purposes of criminal proceedings against a person,
recruitment procedures, naturalisation procedures, asylum procedures, firearm licence
procedures, child adoption procedures.
D. The European Commission should analyse the possibility to amend Directive 2014/24/UE in order
to provide for mandatory grounds for exclusion of subcontractors (in the same way as the exclusion
grounds work for bidders), at least when they have been convicted for organized crime, corruption,
fraud, money laundering, terrorism, child labour and other forms of trafficking in human beings, in
order to protect the interest of contracting authorities, the national and the European budgets.
9.2. Recommendations for policy at national level
E. Even though a unified set of recommendations concerning the effective national regulation of the
liability of legal persons for criminal offences is not proposed at European level, Member States
should take into account all the recommendations proposed above concerning:
1. Regulating the liability of legal persons for criminal offences as criminal liability (if possible) or
as a special administrative punitive liability or quasi-criminal liability (only of criminal liability is
not permitted by the constitutional framework) (see above recommendations A.1 and A.3).
2. The rules on the liability of legal persons for criminal offences should be designed in order to
avoid impunity, taking into account players’ involvement, the liability of associated or related
entities, and the liability of successors or reorganised legal persons etc. (see above
recommendations under A.3).
3. If the national legal framework provides for a limited number of criminal offences engaging the
criminal or quasi-criminal liability of legal persons, Member States shall analyse if all criminal
offences related to the use of public funds and public procurement are covered.
4. In order to protect public budgets, debarment from the public procurement procedures, and
other prohibitions to conclude contracts with public authorities, like grant agreements or
concessions, should be a mandatory sanction, additional to fines or other economic
punishments, at least in the case of legal persons found guilty for criminal offences with effects
over the European and national budget, the use of European and public national funds and
functioning of the European and national public administration (see above recommendations A.4
and A5).
5. The maximum period of debarment from public procurement in national legislation should be
aligned with the maximum period of effectiveness for the exclusion grounds provided by
Directive 2014/24/EU, namely 5 years, in order to allow effective verifications and conclusion of
public procurement contracts across Europe (see above recommendation A.6).
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