56. Which institution(s) is responsible for examining financial reports and/or investigating violations?

31. GRECO recommended that the regulating function of the Electoral Commission be reinforced, and that the Electoral Commission adopt a pro-active approach to the investigation of financing irregularities. (recommendation iv)

32. GRECO recommended that – as a complement to the current (mainly criminal) sanctions – more flexible sanctions be introduced in respect of less serious violations of the political financing rules and that the Electoral Commission be provided with the necessary powers to investigate such cases and to apply the appropriate sanctions. (recommendation v)

33. It is recalled that GRECO concluded in the Compliance Report that these recommendations were partly implemented because the necessary secondary legislation required to enable the use of the new sanctioning regime adopted by the Political Parties and Elections Act 2009 had not been brought into effect. Furthermore, the guidance on the usage of the new powers entrusted to the Electoral Commission, required for the Provisions of the new act to become applicable, had not been published at the time of adoption of the Compliance Report.

34. The authorities of the United Kingdom now stress that the secondary legislation required to equip the Electoral Commission with more flexible sanctions came into force on 1 December 2010, in accordance with the Political Parties and Elections Act 2009. The Electoral Commission’s Enforcement Policy set out the range of sanctions now available to it, including – but not limited to – monetary penalties, stop notices and forfeiture.

35. GRECO welcomes that the United Kingdom, through the adoption of the Political Parties and Elections Act 2009 and the secondary legislation to it, has strengthened the Electoral Commission with a range of new powers and sanctions which can be expected to enable it to be more pro-active in investigating irregularities regarding political parties and elections. While the United Kingdom has complied with these recommendations; GRECO is not in a position to assess the effectiveness of the new powers of the Electoral Commission.

Source paragraph 31,32, 33, 34, 35 GRECO, Third Evaluation Round Second Compliance Report on the United Kingdom,20-22 June 2012

BLANK