1.The Executive Director shall manage Europol. He or she shall be accountable to the Management Board.
2.Without prejudice to the powers of the Commission or the Management Board, the Executive Director shall be independent in the performance of his or her duties and shall neither seek nor take instructions from any government or any other body.
3.The Council may invite the Executive Director to report on the performance of his or her duties.
4.The Executive Director shall be the legal representative of Europol.
5.The Executive Director shall be responsible for the implementation of the tasks assigned to Europol by this Regulation, in particular:
(a)the day-to-day administration of Europol;
(b)making proposals to the Management Board as regards the establishment of Europol's internal structures;
(c)implementing decisions adopted by the Management Board;
(d)preparing the draft multiannual programming and annual work programmes and submitting them to the Management Board, after having consulted the Commission;
(e)implementing the multiannual programming and the annual work programmes and reporting to the Management Board on their implementation;
(f)preparing appropriate draft implementing rules to give effect to the Staff Regulations and the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants in accordance with Article 110 of the Staff Regulations;
(g)preparing the draft consolidated annual report on Europol's activities and presenting it to the Management Board for adoption;
(h)preparing an action plan following up conclusions of internal or external audit reports and evaluations, as well as investigation reports and recommendations from investigations by OLAF and the EDPS, and reporting on progress twice a year to the Commission and regularly to the Management Board;
(i)protecting the financial interests of the Union by applying measures to prevent fraud, corruption and any other illegal activity and, without prejudice to the investigative competence of OLAF, by effective checks and, if irregularities are detected, by recovering amounts wrongly paid and, where appropriate, by effective, proportionate and dissuasive administrative and financial penalties;
(j)preparing a draft internal anti-fraud strategy for Europol and presenting it to the Management Board for adoption;
(k)preparing draft internal rules for the prevention and management of conflicts of interest in respect of the members of the Management Board and presenting those draft rules to the Management Board for adoption;
(l)preparing draft financial rules applicable to Europol;
(m)preparing Europol's draft statement of estimates of revenue and expenditure and implementing its budget;
(n)supporting the Chairperson of the Management Board in preparing Management Board meetings;
(o)informing the Management Board on a regular basis regarding the implementation of Union strategic and operational priorities for fighting crime;
(p)performing other tasks pursuant to this Regulation.