Commission Decision of 28 September 2011 setting up the Group of Experts on Corruption

30.9.2011 EN Official Journal of the European Union C 286/4
COMMISSION DECISION
of 28 September 2011
setting up the Group of Experts on Corruption
2011/C 286/03
THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION
,
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,
Whereas:
(1) Article 67(3) of the Treaty assigned the European Union the task of ensuring a high level of security within the area of freedom, security and justice. To achieve that objective it is necessary to prevent and combat crime, organised and other, including corruption.
(2) The Stockholm programme — An open and secure Europe serving and protecting the citizens (1), adopted by the European Council on 10 and 11 December 2009, invites the Commission to develop indicators, on the basis of existing systems and common criteria, to measure efforts in the fight against corruption, in particular in the areas of the acquis (public procurement, financial control, etc.).
(3) The Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council of 22 November 2010 on the EU Internal Security Strategy in Action: Five steps towards a more secure Europe (2) stresses that sustaining political will to combat corruption is of key importance and that action at Union level and sharing of best practices is necessary. It announces a Commission proposal in 2011 on how to monitor and assist Member States' anti-corruption efforts.
(4) The Commission Decision of 6 June 2011 establishing an EU anti-corruption reporting mechanism for periodic assessment (‘EU Anti-Corruption Report’) (3) lays down the objectives and the necessary elements for the implementation of the EU Anti-Corruption Report. In accordance with that Decision, that report is to be published every two years, starting in 2013. The Report is to be managed by the Commission, assisted by an expert group appointed by the Commission following an open call procedure. The members of the expert group must have undisputed expertise, a high level of integrity and a reputation in the field of fighting corruption.
(5) The Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council and the European Economic and Social Committee of 6 June 2011 on fighting corruption in the EU (4) provides that the experts who are to assist the Commission in the work on the EU Anti-Corruption Report may come from a wide range of backgrounds, such as law enforcement, prevention, civil society, and must undertake to act in their personal professional capacity.
(6) It is therefore necessary to set up a group of experts in the field of anti-corruption and to define its tasks and its structure.
(7) The group should support the Commission's work on the EU Anti-Corruption Report and on any future Union policies deriving from it. In particular, the group should advise on matters such as: identifying cross-cutting and country-specific issues to be covered by each report, developing indicators, assessing the Member States' performance, identifying best practices, identifying EU trends, making recommendations and proposing EU measures where appropriate.
(8) The group should be composed of 17 members and ensure a balanced representation in terms of institutional and professional background and geographic regions.
(9) Rules should be laid down on disclosure of information by members of the group.
(10) Personal data relating to members of the group should be processed in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2000 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the Community institutions and bodies and on the free movement of such data (5).
(11) The term of office of the members should be four years and should be renewable,