Answer given by Ms Malmström on behalf of the Commission

25.8.2011

The Commission has appointed the ‘permanent’ overseer, who started his job on 1 May 2011.

He is a Commission official having particular experience in financial investigation. He has received appropriate security clearances from both EU and the United States (US) authorities.

The Commission has no information about the security clearances of the other independent overseers employed by the provider.

The Commission is in regular contact with the overseer to ensure that he can exercise his function in accordance with the EU‑US Terrorist Finance Tracking Program (TFTP) Agreement. In fact, several meetings between the scruteneer and the relevant service of the Directorate-General for Home Affairs have taken place over the past weeks. The Commission follows the work of the scruteneer closely to assess if he can assume fully his duties according to Article 12 on this Agreement. The carrying out of his function will also be examined in the framework of the next joint review of the Agreement, scheduled for 2012.