Data Protection Issues in Transnational Financial-Economic Investigations

The flow of information between OLAF and national judicial authorities is a crucial instrument in fi ghting offences against the EU budget. The information has to be channelled in a two-way flow: from EU institutions to national administrative or judicial authorities and vice versa.The sharing of information is key to building an integrated system of investigation, because on one hand it allows EU institutions to protect EU interests throughout Europe, and on the other hand it allows the national authorities to conduct investigations successfully even when they involve more than one Member State. In such a system, information sharing is the ultimate target of the European institutions that are charged with fighting economic offences. In this work the author analyzes if this target is consistant with the privacy demand of the individuals in the EU.