Administrative Cooperation Arrangements with partners in the EU and beyond

Administrative cooperation arrangements (ACAs) are an important instrument for OLAF to improve cooperation with investigative bodies and other partners in fighting fraud. They outline practical ways of increasing operational cooperation, for example by designating contact points and encouraging operational exchanges.

OLAF signed two ACAs in March 2023 with strategic partners in the United States of America. The arrangement with the Office of Inspector General of the International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) sets out, among others, cooperation in preventing double financing given DFC’s substantial investment to support Ukraine’s resilience and economic growth.

The ACA with the Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) aims at further strengthening the cooperation in fighting The ACA with the Department of Commerce's Bureau customs fraud, including illicit trade, particularly in prohibited or restricted goods.

On 27 March 2023, OLAF’s Director General travelled to Kyiv as part of a delegation headed by Johannes Hahn, European Commissioner for Budget and Administration and together with Marek Opioła, Member of the European Court of Auditors (ECA) to meet with relevant authorities in Ukraine. This provided the opportunity to sign, in person, a cooperation arrangement with the State Audit Service of Ukraine, which is also the officially nominated contact point for cooperation with OLAF.

In June 2023, OLAF signed a cooperation arrangement with the Group Internal Audit Vice Presidency (GIA) of the World Bank Group (WBG) to strengthen the cooperation with audit partners who can provide valuable insight given their expertise in risk assessment.

OLAF has also pursued the efforts to get access to the national business registries in Member States and in this context signed two cooperation agreements, the first in June 2023 with the French National Council of Commercial Court Clerks (Conseil National des Greffiers des Tribunaux de Commerce, CNGTC) and GIE Infogreffe, and another with the Spanish Association of Registrars in July 2023.

In December, OLAF signed an Exchange of Letters on official cooperation between the Office and the Hungarian Integrity Authority to further enhance the cooperation between both office.

Eurojust

A new working arrangement was signed on 29 March 2023 by Eurojust President Mr Ladislav Hamran and OLAF Director-General Mr Ville Itälä in The Hague, replacing the 2008 Practical Agreement on arrangements of cooperation between Eurojust and OLAF. The arrangement enhances the cooperation in the fight against fraud, corruption, environmental crime, intellectual property crime and other crimes affecting the EU’s financial interests.

For each area of cooperation, the arrangement outlines several working tools. Most notably, in the operational cooperation area, the agreement provides for the provision of mutual assistance and advice, cooperation in operational cases and participation in joint investigation teams.

The new working arrangement also allowed for the preparation of an action plan, which is a flexible working tool to help structure, plan, prioritise and implement cooperation and focuses mainly on the areas of institutional partnership, enhancement of operational collaboration and awareness raising.

Following the signature of the working arrangement, the Eurojust-OLAF Action Plan was adopted. The Action Plan, which aims to implement the working arrangement, is more specific and details the action and cooperation between OLAF and Eurojust. All planned actions in the Action Plan 2022-2023 were successfully implemented.

In 2023, OLAF participated in a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) with Spanish and French law enforcement authorities and Eurojust concerning the illicit trade of live eels. The operation resulted in the seizure of 1.5 tonnes of live eels from clandestine incubators in France and Spain. In addition, 27 individuals were arrested and financial assets of €2 million were seized.

European Court of Auditors

OLAF and the European Court of Auditors (ECA) are both committed to safeguarding EU funds and ensuring transparency and accountability.

During 2023 ECA reported twenty cases to OLAF. On the basis of these reports OLAF opened four investigations and reported one case to the European Public Prosecutor's Office.

OLAF and ECA staff also participated in a series of meetings, training and events throughout the year, providing opportunities to develop strategies, share good practices and build connections. One such opportunity was the special training by ECA gave OLAF on the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF).

The annual OLAF-ECA workshop took place on 20 November 2023, with over 100 staff from both OLAF and ECA attending the hybrid event. The workshop allowed for OLAF and ECA to exchange views on several issues, including the implementation challenges linked to the RRF; the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) and the post-2023 CAP reform; identifying red flags in Cohesion Policy; the fight against fraud in Horizon Europe; as well as how to protect the EU’s financial interests in Ukraine.

European Parliament

Throughout 2023, OLAF continued to develop and maintain good relations with MEPs from different political groups and committees to facilitate common work on the protection of the EU’s financial interests, for example in the context of the budgetary discharge procedure and the presentation of the annual report on the protection of the EU’s financial interests (“PIF Report”).

The Director-General of OLAF, Ville Itälä, had numerous meetings with key actors in the Parliament, including exchanges with political parties on topical matters such as transparency and integrity, RRF and Rule of Law. OLAF's Director-General and OLAF senior management made regular presentations in the Budgetary Control Committee (CONT) on OLAF’s work to protect EU’s financial interests. The office was also represented in committees such as the ones on Economic and Monetary Affairs, Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs as well as the Working Group on the Scrutiny of the RRF to discuss issues of common interest.

During the year OLAF’s inter-institutional exchange of views was hosted and chaired by the European Parliament. In addition to traditional exchange of views with the European Parliament, the Council and the European Commission, this year the debate was joined for the first time by all EU anti-fraud actors - the European Court of Auditors, the EPPO, Eurojust and Europol. The discussion focused on how to make the EU anti-fraud architecture work at its best with regard to protecting EU funds in Ukraine and to explore how each EU anti-fraud actor contributes to the enforcement of EU sanctions.

European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO)

OLAF and the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) continue to cooperate closely and effectively in pursuit of the common goal of protecting the EU’s financial interests.

OLAF conducts administrative investigations into irregularities, fraud, corruption and any other illegal activity affecting the financial interests of the EU while the EPPO conducts investigations, prosecutes and brings to judgement criminal offences within the EPPO participating Member States.

Close cooperation among both bodies is essential for the effective protection of the EU budget and the taxpayer’s interests.

In 2023, OLAF reported 79 cases to the EPPO, 4 cases of which were transmitted on behalf of the Commission. Based on this reporting, EPPO opened 29 criminal investigations. EPPO’s verification was pending in 43 cases and in 7 instances the EPPO did not exercise its competence.

The EPPO transmitted to OLAF relevant information in 81 cases, including private parties' allegations (58), and investigations dismissed (23) by the EPPO. Based on this reporting, OLAF opened 11 investigations.

OLAF and the EPPO act in complementarity of their mandates, meaning that OLAF can conduct independent administrative investigations parallel to the EPPO’s criminal investigations, in particular focusing on determining the financial losses that occurred against the EU budget.

This allows OLAF to contribute to the protection of the EU’s financial interests by issuing the recommendations for speedy recovery, the adoption of administrative precautionary measures and the development of systemic recommendations for improvement where shortcomings are identified in administrative investigations (e.g. with regard to procurement procedures). These investigations are carried out in close cooperation with the EPPO upon mutual agreement.

During the year, OLAF opened 22 complementary investigations, in which it continued undertaking successful actions, such as: conducting on-the-spot checks to verify the veracity of purchased material declared, detecting weaknesses in controls by national authorities managing EU funds, contrasting information provided by suppliers and establishing financial irregularities. Other actions included uncovering sophisticated revenue fraud schemes and issuing the related financial recommendations.

During 2023 OLAF concluded 23 complementary investigations. The financial recommendations in these cases amounted to nearly €47 million in recovery and more than €568,000 prevented from being unduly spent.

In addition to complementary investigations, OLAF provided support to the EPPO in 4 cases during 2023. For example, OLAF staff assisted the EPPO by providing digital forensic and operational analysis support.

Cooperation with EUROPOL

During 2023, OLAF and Europol increased their cooperation thus enhancing their effectiveness in the fight against fraud, corruption and illegal activities across the EU.

OLAF and Europol signed a new arrangement, that entered into force on 30 September 2023, on sharing and protecting classified information, significantly bolstering OLAF’s ability to securely exchange vital intelligence.
This agreement marks a significant step forward in enhancing cooperative efforts and ensuring the integrity and security of sensitive information.

OLAF and Europol signed a new arrangement, that entered into force on 30 September 2023, on sharing and protecting classified information, significantly bolstering OLAF’s ability to securely exchange vital intelligence. This agreement marks a significant step forward in enhancing cooperative efforts and ensuring the integrity and security of sensitive information.

In 2023, OLAF continued to participate in Europol’s Operation Sentinel, which provides a forum for intelligence sharing, information exchange and coordination of operations concerning the infiltration of organised crime into the economy by abusing the RRF. The operation involves the EPPO, Eurojust and 21 EU Member States (Austria; Belgium; Germany; Denmark; Estonia; Spain; Finland; France; Greece; Croatia; Ireland; Italy; Lithuania; Latvia; Malta; Netherlands; Poland; Portugal; Romania; Sweden; Slovenia).

OLAF has also participated regularly in Joint Police-Customs Operations with Europol, as detailed in a dedicated section of this report.

Cooperation with EUIPO

In 2023 OLAF and the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) signed a Service Level Agreement intended to encourage greater technical cooperation to facilitate data exchange and allow for increases in joint major knowledge-building and training activities.

In December 2023 OLAF, EUIPO and the Spanish Customs organised a two-day conference on “Combatting counterfeits in the toys sector”. The event, held at the EUIPO headquarters in Alicante, Spain brought together around 65 participants, providing an excellent platform for law enforcement authorities from Member States, selected third countries and intellectual right holders to discuss the latest trends and patterns related to Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and to explore how to increase cooperation and effectiveness in the fight against cross-border IPR fraud. The conference also included a study visit to a toy laboratory that enabled participants to get a first-hand opportunity to see the dangers that counterfeit toys pose to children's health and safety.

As a follow-up to a previous OLAF/EUIPO conference on the dangers of counterfeit semiconductors, OLAF, together with EUIPO and the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Training (CEPOL), organised a half-day online training in May 2023 to help enforcement authorities detect and identify counterfeit semi-conductors entering the EU. The training, which was attended by more than 200 participants, featured a number of hands-on presentations from industry and enforcement specialists, allowing for greater knowledge on how to prevent the import and trade of counterfeit semi-conductors in the EU.