The European Commission has decided today to appoint Julia Laffranque as Controller of procedural guarantees for investigations conducted by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) for a non-renewable mandate of five years. This decision takes effect immediately.
The Controller of procedural guarantees is a new function established by Article 9a of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 883/2013, as amended by Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2223, for the purpose of protecting and complying with procedural guarantees and fundamental rights throughout OLAF investigations. The Controller will report on the exercise of their function on an annual basis to the European Parliament, the Council, the Commission, the Supervisory Committee of OLAF and to OLAF itself. The Controller will handle complaints against OLAF in complete independence, including from the Commission, OLAF and the Supervisory Committee.
Julia Laffranque, an Estonian national, has worked for 20 years in legal or judicial practice, thus possessing a thorough knowledge of EU law, in particular of EU administrative law, fundamental rights and procedural guarantees. She has been a Judge of the Supreme Court of Estonia since 2004, responsible for public and administrative law. In 2011, she was elected as a Judge at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg for a period of 9 years. In 2021, she became Director of Programmes in the Academy of European Law in Trier in Germany. She is also a Professor of European Law in the University of Tartu since 2011.