EPAC/EACN best anti-corruption practice exchange

EPAC/EACN best anti-corruption practice exchange (BACPE)

EPAC/EACN Task force for Developing and Implementing Project Activities applied for and signed an EU grant agreement for funding study visits for the best practice exchange in fighting corruption and fraud. The Special Investigation Service (STT) of the Republic of Lithuania will implement and partly fund the project, which provides EPAC/EACN members an opportunity to visit other EPAC/EACN members, personally meet colleagues, learn from one another, and collaborate to prevent and combat corruption in Europe.

The two-year project consists of two components: study visits and conferences.

STUDY VISITS

During the course of this project, experts of EPAC/EACN members will share their expertise and practices on six key topics:

• First year of the project (2023) Whistleblower protection, Asset recovery, Corruption risk assessment and management‘
• Second year of the project (2024) Anti-Corruption awareness raising, Criminal investigation of corruption and fraud, Big Data analysis.

Eligibility of participation

Participation in the exchange is open to all EPAC/EACN members. However, to ensure the dissemination of best anti-corruption practices across borders and to foster broader international cooperation opportunities, only one institution from each country will be able to participate in the exchange under each of the above-mentioned topics. Furthermore, the same institution will be limited to a maximum of two exchange visits in total.

Due to the limited number of exchange visits available for EPAC/EACN members (only 48 visits in total, 8 exchange visits multiplied by 6 topics), applications will be accepted on the first-come, first-served basis, provided they meet the eligibility criteria. The project team will liaise with each of applicant to inform whether its application has been selected for sponsorship.

EPAC/EACN members who wish to embark on an exchange visit to another member institution are required to:

• Submit an application form based on the selected topic.
• Nominate three employees, who have more than 5 years of experience in the selected topic.
• Indicate the host authority that they intend to visit.
• Provide a provisional visit agenda, that covers two full days of working meetings.
• Provide a free-format written consent from the chosen host authority confirming its ability and willingness to host the visit between April 2, 2024, and February 28, 2025.

Funding

The project will cover travelling and accommodation (two nights per visit) expenses of 3 nominated experts. The project team, in collaboration with a selected EPAC/EACN member, will handle the hotel bookings and purchase plane, train, or bus tickets for each of the nominated employees. The budget allocated for each visit of three experts is up to 2,100 EUR. Please note that the Project does not offer reimbursement of expenses, thus it is requested to not make any bookings in advance, even if an EPAC/EACN member was selected for sponsorship by the project.

The project encourages participants from neighbouring countries to prioritize environmentally friendly modes of transport whenever possible.

Further information

Within 10 working days following an exchange visit to another EPAC/EACN member, it is mandatory for the experts who travelled to complete a report form. This form should provide detailed information about the practices and approaches learned during the visit. Additionally, any PowerPoint presentations or relevant documents shared during the exchange visit should be attached to the report form. Please note that presentations containing sensitive or classified information will not be published on the EPAC/EACN website.

More information: https://www.epac-eacn.org/practice-exchange

For the second round EPAC/EACN members are asked to fill out the registration form by October 14, 2024, and send it to the project team via e-mail to epac-eacn@stt.lt.

CONFERENCES

Two EPAC/EACN Annual Professional Conferences and General Assemblies (2023, 2024) will be organized under the BACPE project. Each of the annual conference will take place over 1,5 days in one of the EPAC/EACN member countries (hosting country). More detailed information about the conferences will be provided later.