Protecting EU funds
The EU budget runs into hundreds of billions and is distributed across the EU and beyond. One of OLAF’s main roles is protecting that funding making sure it is spent correctly and is fully accounted for.
Foreword
In the OLAF Annual Report 2024, we provide a comprehensive overview of our investigative results and related activities addressing fraud, corruption, and other irregularities. The report also highlights a range of fraudulent schemes uncovered during our investigations, such as collusion, manipulation of procurement procedures, conflicts of interest, inflated invoices, evasion of customs duties, smuggling, and counterfeiting.
OLAF’s investigative performance in 2024
€871.5
million recommended for recovery
€43.5
million recommended to prevent from being unduly spent
€419.2
million in revenue safeguarded
246
investigation concluded
230
investigations opened
301
recommendations issued
The OLAF report 2024
Protecting EU revenue
OLAF protects EU revenues by tackling smuggling and counterfeiting and customs undervaluation, which reduces the amount of customs duty paid, undermines the EU single market, harms genuine EU producers, and can threaten the safety of EU citizens.
Investigation in EU institutions
OLAF has a unique mandate to carry out internal investigations into the EU institutions, bodies, offices and agencies for the purpose of fighting fraud, corruption and any other illegal activity affecting the financial interests of the EU.
Financial Impact of OLAF
The sums we recommend for recovery each year can vary and depend on the scope and scale of the investigations concluded in that particular year. The amounts recommended for recovery are the result of our investigative work in 2024, not an indication of the overall level of fraud against the EU budget
Protecting from the evasion of customs duties and VAT at import
OLAF plays a crucial role in supporting customs authorities identifying attempts by fraudsters to avoid paying correct customs duties and VAT on imported goods. In 2024, we estimated that our impact in this area was €623 million.
Supporting Member States' anti-fraud actions
The EU helps Member States to fight fraud by:
- Protecting the EU’s financial interests through financial support, in particular technical support, operational support for investigations, specialised training and research activities.
- Organising mutual administrative assistance and cooperation in customs and agricultural matters.
- Operating the Irregularity Management System so Member States can report irregularities.
