Policy cooperation with EU Member States

OLAF works directly with EU countries to improve fraud prevention policy and practice, largely through the Advisory Committee for the Coordination of Fraud Prevention (COCOLAF).

Under the COCOLAF umbrella, expert groups had been set up to deal with specific issues:

Advisory Committee for the Coordination of Fraud Prevention (COCOLAF)

COCOLAF coordinates how the European Commission and its Member States go about combatting fraud involving EU money.

The participants are representatives from the competent national services of the Members States and from Commission services. It is managed by OLAF on the Commission’s behalf.

The Commission is represented in the Committee by:

• OLAF
• The Commission services responsible for the revenue side of the EU budget (DG BUDG, DG TAXUD)
• The Commission services responsible for shared management funding
• Other horizontal services (DG GROW, Legal Service, etc.).

There are also expert groups for different policy areas. These groups:

• stimulate cooperation among specialised national fraud prevention services
• share operational experience and good practices
• raise awareness of fraud.

The legal basis for COCOLAF is Decision 94/140/EC, as amended by Decision 2005/223/EC.

Fraud prevention group

This group provides a forum for national authorities and the Commission to share experience and good practices in areas such as:

• Fraud risk assessment
• Fraud typology
• National/sectoral fraud prevention strategies, policies and measures
• How managing, certifying and audit services contribute to fraud prevention and detection
• How IT is used to track potential fraud cases and identify risks
• Awareness raising & training of desk officers, financial bodies and auditors
• Twinning projects & activities funded by the Union Anti-Fraud Programme (UAFP)
• Anonymised case studies.

This group may address issues involving EU funds (European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF), Agriculture Funds, Fisheries Funds, Asylum and Migration Funds, …) and the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF).

Members

• national authorities in charge of managing, certifying, paying and auditing European Structural and Investment Funds and Agriculture Funds.
• the following Commission departments:
  • DG Regional and Urban Policy
  • DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion
  • DG Maritime Affairs and Fisheries
  • DG Agriculture and Rural Development
  • DG Migration and Home Affairs.

Reporting & analysis of fraudulent and other irregularities group

This group brings together national authorities responsible for reporting on fraud and irregularities and a number of Commission services, and deals with:

• The Commission's Annual Report on the protection of the EU’s financial interests (also known as the "PIF-Report" or the "Article 325 TFEU-Report"), prepared annually in cooperation with the Member States.
• The sectoral irregularity reporting provisions
• The Irregularity Management System (IMS)
• Statistical analysis of reported irregularity cases

Members

• National authorities involved in the preparation of the PIF Report, covering the expenditure and revenue side of the EU budget
• National authorities in charge of reporting irregularities in their country's spending of EU funds

• the following Commission services:
  • DG Budget
  • DG Regional and Urban Policy
  • DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion
  • DG Maritime Affairs and Fisheries
  • DG Agriculture and Rural Development
  • DG Migration and Home Affairs
  • Other horizontal services.

Anti-Fraud Coordination Service (AFCOS) Group

All Member States have established an anti-fraud coordination service (AFCOS), as prescribed by Article 12a of Regulation 883/2013. OLAF and the AFCOS meet on a regular basis under the umbrella of COCOLAF. The main purpose of these AFCOS Group meetings is to make sure that OLAF and national authorities cooperate and share information efficiently. This includes the exchange of experience and best practices in investigative cooperation. More on AFCOS.

AFCOS by country

OLAF Anti-Fraud Communicators’ Network (OAFCN)

OAFCN brings together spokespersons & public relations officers from national authorities and OLAF to share media strategies and launch communication activities on how to prevent and deter fraud.

Europol, Eurojust and DG TAXUD are also represented.

National authorities represented in OAFCN include:

• Customs authorities
• Police and financial police
• Fraud prevention coordination services
• Prosecutors’ offices
• Government ministries such as finance and internal affairs ministries.

Full list of OAFCN members

More on the OAFCN