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1. The Executive Director shall be responsible for the management of the Agency. The Executive Director shall be accountable to the Management Board.

2. Without prejudice to the powers of the Commission, of the Management Board and of the Executive Board, the Executive Director shall be independent in the performance of her or his duties and shall neither seek nor take instructions from any government or from any other body.

3. The Executive Director shall report to the European Parliament on the performance of her or his duties when invited to do so. The Council may invite the Executive Director to report on the performance of her or his duties.

4. The Executive Director shall be the legal representative of the Agency.

5. The Executive Director shall be responsible for the implementation of the Agency’s specific tasks set out in Article 5. In particular, the Executive Director shall be responsible for:

(a) the day-to-day administration of the Agency;

(b) preparing and implementing the decisions adopted by the Management Board;

(c) preparing the single programming document referred to in Article 36 and submitting it to the Management Board after consulting the Commission;

(d) implementing the single programming document and reporting to the Management Board on its implementation;

(e) preparing the Agency’s consolidated annual activity report and presenting it to the Management Board for assessment and adoption;

(f) proposing to the Management Board the level of co-financing referred to in Article 33(5), where such co-financing is to be granted to the national focal points;

(g) proposing to the Management Board the method for calculating fees and the way fees are paid in accordance with Article 38;

(h) preparing a follow-up action plan in relation to the conclusions of internal or external audit reports and evaluations, and to investigations by OLAF and EPPO, as referred to in Article 48, and reporting on progress twice a year to the Commission and regularly to the Management Board and the Executive Board;

(i) protecting the financial interests of the Union by applying preventive measures against fraud, corruption and any other illegal activities, without prejudicing the investigative competence of OLAF and EPPO, by effective checks and, if irregularities are detected, by recovering amounts wrongly paid and, where appropriate, by imposing effective, proportionate and dissuasive administrative penalties and by reporting any criminal conduct to the EPPO in accordance with Article 24 of Regulation (EU) 2017/1939 in respect of which the EPPO could exercise its competence;

(j) preparing an anti-fraud strategy and efficiency gains and synergies strategies for the Agency and presenting them to the Management Board for approval;

(k) preparing the draft for the financial rules applicable to the Agency;

(l) preparing the Agency’s draft statement of estimates of revenue and expenditure and implementing its budget.

6. The Executive Director may decide to post one or more liaison officers to the Union institutions and to relevant Union bodies, offices and agencies for the purpose of carrying out the Agency’s tasks in an efficient and effective manner. The Executive Director shall obtain the prior consent of the Commission and the Management Board. Decisions to post liaison officers shall specify, in a manner that avoids unnecessary costs and a duplication of the administrative functions of the Agency, the scope of the activities to be carried out by the liaison officers.

7. Where called upon by the European Parliament or by the Council, the Executive Director shall attend, without undue delay, meetings organised by the European Parliament or the Council, as the case may be, on any subject related to the Agency’s mandate.