TITLE IVFINAL PROVISIONS
Article 18Reporting and assessment
1.
The Commission shall by 6 July 2021 submit a report to the European Parliament and the Council, assessing the extent to which the Member States have taken the necessary measures in order to comply with this Directive.
2.
Without prejudice to reporting obligations laid down in other Union legal acts, Member States shall, on an annual basis, submit the following statistics on the criminal offences referred to in Articles 3, 4 and 5 to the Commission, if they are available at a central level in the Member State concerned:
(a)
the number of criminal proceedings initiated, dismissed, resulting in an acquittal, resulting in a conviction and ongoing;
(b)
the amounts recovered following criminal proceedings and the estimated damage.
3.
The Commission shall, by 6 July 2024 and taking into account its report submitted pursuant to paragraph 1 and the Member States' statistics submitted pursuant to paragraph 2, submit a report to the European Parliament and to the Council, assessing the impact of national law transposing this Directive on the prevention of fraud to the Union's financial interests.
4.
The Commission shall, by 6 July 2022 and on the basis of the statistics submitted by Member States, pursuant to paragraph 2, submit a report to the European Parliament and to the Council, assessing, with regard to the general objective to strengthen the protection of the Union's financial interests, whether:
(a)
the threshold indicated in Article 2(2) is appropriate;
(b)
the provisions relating to limitation periods as referred to in Article 12 are sufficiently effective;
(c)
this Directive effectively addresses cases of procurement fraud.
5.
The reports referred to in paragraphs 3 and 4 shall be accompanied, if necessary, by a legislative proposal, which may include a specific provision on procurement fraud.