Commission Decision of 13 November 2014 on the Early Warning System to be used by authorising officers of the Commission and by the executive agencies (2014/792/EU)

Article 16 U.K. Right to be heard

1. Registration of warnings is subject to the following rules:

(a) Whenever the authorising officer responsible envisages requesting registration of an exclusion warning or envisages taking any act that might adversely affect the rights of the person concerned, he/she shall first give the person concerned the opportunity to express his/her views in writing. The authorising officer responsible shall give the person at least 14 calendar days to do so. At the same time, the authorising officer responsible shall inform the person that, failing a response, the warning will be registered.

Where appropriate, the authorising officer responsible shall give to the person the opportunity to express his/views on the basis of the information supplied by the OLAF.

(b) If the person submits comments that do not change the assessment of the authorising officer responsible, the latter will request the accounting officer to activate the warning.

If the person submits comments that, in the view of the authorising officer responsible, render a warning disproportionate or unnecessary, the warning will not be activated and the person will be notified accordingly.

The accounting officer will confirm the registration of the warning in the EWS to the authorising officer responsible, as appropriate.

(c) The authorising officer responsible will notify the person of the activation of the warning and of its duration. However, the notification is not necessary if the person has not replied to the invitation to submit its comments in writing.

2. The authorising officer responsible may request registration of an exclusion warning for the cases referred to in Article 106(1)(e) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 pending the decision on the duration of the exclusion, already before having given the person the opportunity to express his/her views. The authorising officer responsible shall give the person the opportunity to present his/her views on the duration of the exclusion.

3. The authorising officer responsible may request registration of an exclusion warning for the situations referred to in Article 106(1)(a) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 already before having given the person the opportunity to express his/her views if he/she has an official document establishing the situation. The authorising officer responsible shall notify the person of the registration of the exclusion warning.

4. The authorising officer responsible may exceptionally defer the opportunity given to the person to express his/her views in writing before the request for registration of an exclusion warning or before taking any act that might adversely affect the rights of the person concerned, provided that there are compelling legitimate grounds to preserve the confidentiality of the investigation or of the national legal proceedings while still proceeding with the registration of the warning.

5. When OLAF informs the authorising officer responsible in accordance with Article 13, it shall indicate if the confidentiality of the investigation or of a national judicial proceeding needs to be preserved and if the opportunity given to the person to express his/her views needs to be deferred.

6. The person shall be given the opportunity to express his/her views as soon as the grounds for protecting an investigation or national legal proceedings have ceased to exist.