Compliance Officer
1. A staff member entrusted with the role of Compliance Officer shall report directly to the Chief Risk Officer on matters regarding conformity with the High Level Risk and Compliance Policy and thematic risk and compliance policies, and rules for anti-money laundering and terrorist financing in respect of the Union’s financial operations and shall perform the compliance function.
2. The compliance function shall in particular include:
(a)
in respect of the Union’s financial operations:
(i)
compliance related support to relevant services responsible for the operational implementation and execution of the Union’s financial operations; and
(ii)
support for the observance of the Commission-wide rules on ethical behaviour and integrity applicable to relevant services involved in the Union’s financial operations;
(b)
in respect of the Union’s financial operations other than operations implemented in indirect management, guidance addressing the prevention of money laundering and countering terrorism financing, tax avoidance, tax fraud or tax evasion for the execution of the Union’s financial operations other than budgetary guarantees in indirect management, by entities incorporated in or established in jurisdictions listed under the relevant policy on non-cooperative jurisdictions or that are identified as high-risk third countries pursuant to Article 9(2) of Directive (EU) 2015/849 or that do not effectively comply with the Union or internationally agreed tax standards on transparency and exchange of information, breach sanction regimes or perform other relevant financial irregularities.
3. Guidelines on compliance shall be adopted in accordance with Article 18. These guidelines shall apply to financial operations other than those implemented in indirect management.
The Compliance Officer may also, under the authority of the Chief Risk Officer, where necessary and appropriate, provide advice in line with Article 12.
Risk and Compliance Committee
1. A Risk and Compliance Committee shall be established to support the Chief Risk Officer in the conduct of responsibilities of that officer.
2. The Risk and Compliance Committee shall:
(a)
discuss the draft High Level Risk and Compliance Policy and thematic risk and compliance policies prepared by the Chief Risk Officer, as well as their amendments;
(b)
support the Chief Risk Officer in the tasks referred to in Article 5 of this Decision;
(c)
support the Chief Risk Officer in evaluating, monitoring and approving practices regarding the implementation of the High Level Risk and Compliance Policy and relating to the financial risk management and compliance of the Union’s financial operations;
(d)
support the Chief Risk Officer in managing of the financial risks in connection with the Union’s financial operations and be consulted by the Chief Risk Officer about non-compliance with the High Level Risk and Compliance Policy or breaches of other related guidelines, thematic risk and compliance policies and limits.
3. The Chief Risk Officer may decide to establish sub-committees for specific topics, in particular for specific categories of the Union’s financial operations or for a specific category of risk.
4. The sub-committees shall facilitate the efficient functioning of the Risk and Compliance Committee through:
(a)
assisting the Chief Risk Officer in assessing and mitigating risks elaborated in thematic risk and compliance policies;
(b)
preparing matters to be brought to the Risk and Compliance Committee;
(c)
providing input on technical issues related to the assessment and mitigation of those risks.
Members and organisation of the Risk and Compliance Committee and the sub-committees
1. The Chief Risk Officer chairs the Risk and Compliance Committee.
2. The Risk and Compliance Committee shall be composed of the following members:
(a)
the Chief Risk Officer;
(b)
the Accounting Officer of the Commission;
(c)
a representative from the Directorate-General for the Budget overseeing the issuance of debt to finance Union programme;
(d)
the Compliance Officer;
(e)
a representative from the Secretariat-General designated by the Secretary-General;
(f)
a representative from each Directorate-General responsible for budgetary guarantees or loans programmes.
3. The representative from the Directorate-General for the Budget in charge of the multiannual financial framework and a representative from the Directorate-General for the Budget in charge of the annual budget shall be permanent observers to the Risk and Compliance Committee.
4. The Chief Risk Officer may invite other observers to the Risk and Compliance Committee whose opinion and functions is deemed appropriate for the matters discussed at the Risk and Compliance Committee.
5. The level of the representatives under points (c), (e) and (f) of paragraph 2 of this Article shall be Director-General or Deputy Director-General, who may appoint an alternate at the level of senior manager to ensure compliance with the mandate and responsibilities laid down in this Decision.
6. The Compliance Officer referred to in point (d) of paragraph 2 of this Article shall be a non-voting member of the Risk and Compliance Committee.
7. The Chief Risk Officer shall appoint up to three external experts to participate in the meetings of the Risk and Compliance Committee. The external experts shall give opinions and participate in deliberations without voting rights on matters brought before the Committee.
8. The decision to establish a sub-committee pursuant to Article 15(3) shall determine the members which shall participate. A member of the Risk and Compliance Committee, if designated as a sub-committee member, may either be a member of the sub-committee themself or designate the members of the sub-committee from the staff of the respective Directorate-General. The designated members shall possess adequate knowledge and competencies in areas relevant for the work of the sub-committee. A sub-committee shall be chaired by the Chief Risk Officer or by a chair designated by the Chief Risk Officer.
9. The Risk and Compliance Committee shall adopt by a majority of two thirds of its members its rules of procedure and the rules of procedure of sub-committees established in accordance with Article 15(3). The majority vote shall include votes of the members referred to in points (a) and (e) of paragraph 2 of this Article.
Secretariat of the Risk and Compliance Committee
The staff of the Chief Risk Officer shall ensure the secretariat of the Risk and Compliance Committee covering at least the following tasks:
(a)
contacting and consulting with relevant Commission services when preparing input for the Risk and Compliance Committee;
(b)
organising meetings of the Risk and Compliance Committee, including the preparation of the agenda, documents, and minutes of those meetings;
(c)
performing other administrative and organisational tasks related to the organisation of the Risk and Compliance Committee.
Pre-consultations on the High Level Risk and Compliance Policy and of thematic risk and compliance policies
1. The draft High Level Risk and Compliance Policy and draft thematic risk and compliance policies shall be drawn up by the Chief Risk Officer and discussed in an interservice working group in which the Directorates General responsible for the Union’s financial operations shall participate. The Secretariat-General and the Legal Service shall be invited to such a working group.
2. Prior to initiating the interservice consultation, the Chief Risk Officer shall present the draft High Level Risk and Compliance Policy and draft thematic risk and compliance policies for discussion in the Risk and Compliance Committee in accordance with Article 15(2), point (a).
3. When submitting the draft policies to the interservice consultation and to the Commission for adoption, the Chief Risk Officer shall provide information regarding the outcome of the discussion in the Risk and Compliance Committee referred to in Article 15(2)(a) and its assessment.
4. The members’ comments shall be given due and fair consideration and the Chief Risk Officer shall provide information on how the comments have been reflected, or not, in the High Level Risk and Compliance Policy or the thematic risk and compliance policies.
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
