Fraud and corruption

Fraud and corruption pose serious threats to the security and the financial interests of the European Union (EU). Protecting these interests is a priority for the EU institutions, both to put taxpayers' money to best use, and to tackle organised crime and terrorism, for which corruption provides a fertile breeding ground.

The legal basis for combating fraud and any other illegal activities affecting the EU’s financial interests is Article 325 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), which tasks the EU itself and its member countries with protecting the EU’s budget.

At EU level, the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF):

• conducts independent administrative investigations into fraud, corruption and any other illegal activity involving EU funds or revenue, to ensure that EU taxpayers’ money reaches projects that can help create jobs and promote growth in Europe
• investigates serious misconduct by EU staff and members of the EU institutions, thus helping to strengthen public trust in those institutions
• develops EU anti-fraud policies in its capacity as a Commission service.

Once the European Public Prosecutor's Office has been set up in line with Regulation 2017/1939, it will be the first EU body entitled to conduct criminal investigations and to prosecute fraud and corruption affecting the EU's financial interests.

The European Commission, through its Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs (DG HOME) tackles corruption at both EU and international level.

Corruption creates business uncertainty, lowers investment levels and prevents the single market from operating smoothly. Most relevantly, it undermines trust in governments, public institutions and democracy in general.

The EU institutions aim to:

• streamline and modernise the set of legal rules impacting on corruption
• monitor developments in efforts to combat corruption in EU countries as part of the European Semester
• support the implementation of national anti-corruption measures through funding, technical assistance and experience-sharing.

Article 83(1) TFEU recognises corruption as a ‘euro-crime’, listing it among particularly serious crimes with a cross-border dimension.

• Fraud and corruption — general rules
  • European Anti-Fraud Office — investigation rules
  • The European Commission's anti-fraud strategy
  • Protecting the EU’s financial interests from fraud and corruption
• Fraud against EU funds
  • EU system to identify certain beneficiaries of transactions financed by the EAGGF Guarantee Section
  • Protecting the EU’s financial interests from fraud and corruption
  • On-the-spot checks and inspections on the premises of EU funding recipients
  • Fighting fraud: checks in EU countries
• Fraud against EU revenue
  • Anti-dumping measures
  • Protecting the EU’s financial interests from fraud and corruption
  • Recovery of claims relating to taxes, duties and other measures
  • Combining various types of trade defence measures
  • Anti-subsidy measures
• Taxes
  • Administrative cooperation in the field of VAT
  • Tax-free allowances: temporary importation of certain means of transport
  • Tax-free allowances: permanent imports of personal property
  • Value-added tax and excise duties — exemptions for travellers from outside the EU
  • Tackling corporate tax avoidance
  • Taxation of interest and royalty payments made between associated companies
  • Fiscal marking of gas oils and kerosene
  • General arrangements for the holding and movement of products subject to excise duty (until February 2023)
  • General arrangements for excise duty (from 2023)
  • Exemption from VAT: final importation of goods
  • Exemption from customs duties and other charges: Convention on Temporary Admission
  • Excise duty on manufactured tobacco
  • EU rules for the taxation of alcohol
  • EU rules for the taxation of energy products and electricity
  • Elimination of double taxation (arbitration)
  • Combating fraud — Cooperation between the EU and Switzerland
  • Administrative cooperation in the field of excise duties
  • Aggressive tax planning
• Agreements — Customs
  • 1982 International Convention on the Harmonization of Frontier Controls of Goods
  • Agreement in the form of an exchange of letters between the EU and Norway on applying similar rules of origin
  • Agreements with Canada on customs matters
  • Agreement with China on cooperation and mutual assistance in customs matters
  • Agreement with Hong Kong on cooperation and mutual assistance in customs matters
  • Agreement with the Republic of Korea
  • Close cooperation between EU customs administrations (Naples II Convention)
  • Container security: EU–US agreements
  • Convention on a common transit procedure
  • Customs Agreement with Japan
  • EU customs union with Turkey
  • EU-India customs agreement
  • EU-New Zealand cooperation and mutual administrative assistance in customs matters
  • EU–Switzerland agreement on the simplification of inspections and formalities in respect of the carriage of goods and on customs security measures
  • International Convention on the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System
  • International convention on the simplification and harmonisation of customs procedures
  • Pan-Euro-Mediterranean preferential rules of origin
• Counterfeiting & fraud
  • Piracy, intellectual property violations
    • Computer programs — legal protection
    • Wider access to copyright material — orphan works
    • Resale right for the benefit of the author of an original work of art
    • Rental, lending and certain other rights related to copyright in the field of intellectual property
    • Protecting electronic pay services against piracy
    • Legal protection: databases
    • Intellectual property rights — customs enforcement
    • Improving the online licensing of music across the EU
    • Enforcement of intellectual property rights
    • Copyright and related rights: term of protection
    • Copyright and related rights: satellite broadcasting and cable retransmission
    • Copyright and related rights in the information society
  • Counterfeiting, fraud & the euro
    • Combating counterfeiting of the euro (Pericles 2020)
    • System for protecting the euro against counterfeiting
    • Protection of the euro against counterfeiting
    • Protecting the euro against counterfeiting – Europol
    • Protecting the euro against counterfeiting — European Technical and Scientific Centre
    • Non-cash payments — combating fraud and counterfeiting
    • Medals and tokens similar to euro coins
    • Euro authenticity checks
    • Criminal penalties for currency counterfeiting
    • Copyright protection of the design for the common face of euro coins
    • Counterfeiting & fraud – Europol & European Central Bank agreement
    • Combating counterfeiting of the euro (Pericles IV)
• Corruption
  • Combating corruption in the private sector
  • United Nations Convention against Corruption
  • The establishment of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office
  • Terms and conditions for European Anti-Fraud Office investigations of the European Central Bank
  • Fighting corruption in the EU
  • Fight against fraud to the EU’s financial interests by means of criminal law
  • European contact-point network against corruption (EACN)
  • Convention against corruption involving public officials
• Anti-fraud offices
  • European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF)
  • The EU’s committee for coordinating fraud prevention
  • Protecting the euro against counterfeiting — European Technical and Scientific Centre
  • Protecting the EU’s financial interests from fraud and corruption
• Archived summaries
  • A new EU Action Plan 2004-2007 to prevent fraud on non-cash means of payment
  • Scrutiny of expenditure under the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF)
  • Pericles action programme 2002-13
  • Penal sanctions against counterfeiting of the euro - EUR-Lex
  • Overall strategic approach
  • Protecting the EU’s financial interests from fraud and corruption — Hercule III programme
  • Protecting the EU’s financial interests - fight against fraud
  • Recovery and information system for money wrongly paid in connection with the financing of the common agricultural policy
  • OLAF activity report
  • Non-cash payments — combating fraud and counterfeiting
  • New approach to fraud prevention
  • Negotiations in the Council of Europe and the OECD regarding action against corruption
  • Mutual administrative assistance in the fight against fraud
  • Management of online rights in musical works
  • Fraud proofing of legislation and of the management of contracts
  • Goods infringing intellectual property rights
  • Hercule programme
  • European anti-counterfeiting and anti-piracy plan
  • Customs response to latest trends in counterfeiting and piracy
  • Criminal-law protection of the EU's financial interests
  • Convention on the use of information technology for customs purposes (CIS)
  • Commission Action Plan towards an Integrated Internal Control Framework
  • Combating counterfeiting and piracy in the single market
  • Anti-tax fraud measures
  • Alcohol and alcoholic beverages: approximation of excise rates
  • Administrative cooperation in the field of value added tax (until 31.12.2011)
  • Action Plan 2004-2005
  • Action plan 2001 - 2003
  • A comprehensive EU anti-corruption policy