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European Anti-Fraud Office
Report fraud

Legal background

The legal basis for the fight against fraud is Article 325 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (replacing Article 280 of the EC Treaty).

1. Establishment of OLAF

Amendments:

2. OLAF's role - administrative investigations and cooperation with the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) 

The following regulations and agreements define the Office’s main role and  remit for carrying out its administrative investigations. These include investigations (concerning EU financial interests) in the Member States and those involving staff of the EU institutions.

The latest amendments provide for close cooperation with the EPPO based on complementarity, exchange of information and non-duplication of efforts. The revised OLAF Regulation also strengthens the way OLAF can conduct its own investigations by streamlined rules for on-the-spot checks and inspections, providing rules on access to bank account information and ensuring stronger guarantees for persons concerned by OLAF investigations.

3. Horizontal EU legislation concerning on-the-spot checks/inspections in the Member States

4. Sectoral EU legislation

 The following regulations contain provisions on the prevention and detection of irregularities:

5. Notification of irregularities

Policy areas:

European Agricultural Guarantee Fund, European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development

- For Programming Period 2021-2027:

- For Programming Period 2014-2020:

- For Programming Period 2007-2013:

European Regional Development Fund, European Social Fund,  Cohesion Fund and European Maritime and Fisheries Fund

- For Programming Period 2021-2027:

- For Programming Period 2014-2021:

- For Programming Period 2007 – 2013 (Structural Funds and Cohesion Fund):

Fund for European Aid for the Most Deprived

- For Programming Period 2021-2027:

- For Programming Period 2014-2020:

Home Affairs Funds

- For Programming Period 2021-2027 (Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund, Internal Security Fund, Instrument for Financial Support for Border Management and Visa Policy):

- For Programming Period 2014-2020 (Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund, Instrument for Financial Support for Police cooperation, preventing and combating crime, and crisis management):

- For Programming Period 2007 – 2013 (European Refugee Fund, External Borders Fund, European Return Fund and European Fund for the Integration of third-country nationals):

Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA)

- For Programming Period 2021-2027 IPA III:

- For Programming Period 2014-2020 IPA II:

- For Programming Period 2007-2013 IPA I:

European Globalisation Adjustment Fund 

- For Programming Period 2021-2027:

- For Programming Period 2014-2020:

6. Harmonisation of EU criminal law

Conventions on the harmonisation of EU criminal law

1) 1st Protocol
2) 2nd Protocol and its explanatory report
3) Protocol on the competence of the Court of Justice

Commission reports concerning the implementation by Member States of the EU Convention of 26 July 1995 and its related protocols:

a) 2004 report and annex
b) 2008 report and annex

Note: for all Member States except DK, the PIF Convention will be replaced by the PIF directive (see below). The PIF Convention will remain applicable only to DK. The deadline for implementing the PIF directive is July 2019.

Directive on the fight against fraud to the Union's financial interests by means of criminal law ("PIF directive")

Member States bound by the directive (all Member States except DK) have two years to transpose it (by July 2019). After that the directive will replace the PIF Convention and its protocols for those Member States bound by it, while the PIF Convention will remain in force in DK.

7. Working Arrangements

8. Agreements with third parties

Agreements with third parties containing provisions on mutual administrative assistance in customs matters

9. Customs anti-fraud measures in international agreements

The EU grants certain preferential treatment to goods originating in non-EU partner countries in the framework of trade or cooperation agreements with those countries.

Such preferential treatment is conditional to appropriate and enforceable customs anti-fraud measures, as set out in various policy documents adopted by the Commission, the Council, the European Parliament and the European Court of Auditors.

Under the following exceptional circumstances preferential treatment of goods can temporarily be suspended under so-called “anti-fraud clauses”:

  • large-scale breaches or circumventions of customs laws and regulations related to the preferential treatment,
  • the partner country repeatedly refuses or otherwise fails to comply with its obligations to co-operate in preventing, detecting and combating breaches or circumventions of customs laws and regulations.

Anti-fraud clauses are designed to tackle illicit trade by preventing the abuse of rules on the preferential treatment of goods. They support legitimate traders by eliminating improper and unfair competition.

For more than 20 years, anti-fraud clauses are an integral part of respective EU agreements, and can be found in e.g.:

  • autonomous regimes such as the EU’s Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP),
  • EU free trade agreements (FTAs) or EU economic partnership agreements (EPAs).

The EU’s anti-fraud clauses are accompanied by a number of safeguards such as a consultation and monitoring process, time limits, as well as transparency with the business community to minimise adverse effects on legitimate traders. 

A temporary suspension of preferential treatment of goods is considered as a last-resort measure to be applied when other administrative measures have proven ineffective or insufficient in preventing large-scale fraud.

List of anti-fraud clauses

10. Case law

List of rulings of the Court of Justice of the European Union with relevance to OLAF