Please do not submit allegations of fraud via the email addresses below.

If you wish to report fraud, please go to the "Report fraud" page and for other inquiries, go to the “Contacts” page.

Complaints

Complaints concerning procedural guarantees (Regulation No 883/2013)

In its investigations, OLAF seeks evidence for and against the person concerned. All OLAF investigations must be conducted objectively, impartially and in accordance with the principle of the presumption of innocence and the procedural guarantees set out in Article 9 of Regulation No 883/2013. 

If you consider that OLAF has breached your rights in the context of its investigations, you may file a complaint.

• Complaints by persons concerned

If you are a person concerned in an OLAF investigation, within the meaning of Article 2(5) of Regulation No 883/2013, you may lodge a complaint with the Controller of procedural guarantees, under the complaints mechanism set out in Article 9b of the Regulation, regarding OLAF’s compliance with the procedural guarantees and/or the rules applicable to its investigations.

For more information, please consult Controller - Submit a complaint.

• Complaints by other persons

Other persons involved in an OLAF investigation, such as informants, whistle-blowers or witnesses may lodge a complaint with the Director-General of OLAF.

The Director-General will reply within two months of the registration date of the complaint, unless a longer period is justified by the complexity of the complaint. Please note that this procedure does not apply to investigations that have been closed and transferred to the competent authorities.

You can submit the complaint to: 

EU staff

EU staff members may also submit a request or complaint to the Director-General of OLAF pursuant to Article 90a of the Staff Regulations in respect of any act adversely affecting them in the context of an OLAF investigation.

The Director-General will reply to the complainant within four months of the registration date of the complaint.

If, at the end of that period, OLAF has not provided a reply, this shall be regarded as constituting an implied decision rejecting the complaint and against which an appeal may be lodged under Article 91 of the Staff Regulations.

You can submit the complaint to: 

Complaints concerning a possible breach of the Code of Good Administrative Behaviour

Any person in a Member State or third country can lodge a complaint with OLAF if they consider that the Office has breached the Commission’s Code of Good Administrative Behaviour in dealing with the public.

You can submit the complaint to: 

Complaints concerning possible maladministration

You can also file a complaint with the European Ombudsman who is responsible for investigating complaints concerning maladministration in the institutions and bodies of the European Union, including OLAF.

Before introducing a complaint with the Ombudsman, you must first raise the issue with OLAF and allow it a reasonable period of time to address your concern. A complaint must be introduced within two years of the date when you became aware of the facts upon which the complaint is based.

For more information, please consult European Ombudsman - Make a complaint.

Complaints concerning personal data

OLAF’s daily work also involves the processing of personal data.

Any natural person who considers that their rights under Regulation No 2018/1725 have been infringed as a result of the processing of their personal data by OLAF, has the right to have recourse to the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS). The EDPS is the European Union’s independent data protection authority. The EDPS may be contacted at:

For more information, please consult Data Protection - Complaints.

Requests

OLAF is legally bound to treat all information it obtains during its investigations as confidential and subject to professional secrecy, as set out in Article 339 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, Article 10 of Regulation No 883/2013 and Article 17 of the Staff Regulations.

However, you have the right to request access to certain information or documents.

Requests for public access to documents (Regulation No 1049/2001)

Under the EU’s rules on public access to documents (Regulation No 1049/2001), EU citizens as well as natural or legal persons residing or having their registered office in a Member State may contact OLAF to request access to specific documents.

The purpose of Regulation No 1049/2001 is to give access to documents which are held by an institution to the public at large. Any document disclosed under this Regulation becomes automatically available to the public whenever there is a subsequent request, meaning that this document enters the public domain.

Please note that the large majority of OLAF documents are confidential and their disclosure may be prevented by one or more exceptions set out in Article 4 of Regulation No 1049/2001.

You can submit your request to: 

Requests for access to the final report by a person concerned (Regulation No 883/2013)

In principle, a person concerned by an OLAF investigation may have access to the final report where the conditions set out in Article 10(3b) of Regulation No 883/2013 are met.

In this regard, a person concerned may request that OLAF provides the final investigation report in the case where the Office has recommended a judicial follow-up to its findings and in the absence of an objection within 12 months by the authorities to which the final report was addressed. If these conditions are met, access is granted only to the extent that the final report relates to the person concerned and subject to the applicable confidentiality and data protection rules, in particular as regards whistle-blowers and informants. 

You can submit your request to: 

Requests concerning personal data (Regulation No 2018/1725)

Pursuant to Regulation No 2018/1725 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and of the free movement of such data, the personal data of natural persons are stored in OLAF’s electronic and paper files for the purposes of ensuring conformity with the requirements of Regulation No 1049/2001 and Commission Decision No 2001/937/EC.

• Requests concerning personal data

Any natural person has the right to request access to their personal data, rectification or erasure of the data, or restriction of their processing.

You can submit your request to: 

• Data Protection Officer (DPO)

Any person may contact the Data Protection Officer of OLAF with regard to other issues related to data protection:

For more information, please consult OLAF - Data Protection.