(*) Key achievements in the table state which period they relate to. Some come from the implementation of the predecessor programmes under the 2014-2020 multiannual financial framework. This is expected and is due to the multiannual life cycle of EU programmes and the projects they finance, where results often follow only after completion of the programmes.
Budget for 2021-2027
[notranslate]AntiFraudWeb:budg_01:pie[/notranslate]
Rationale and design of the programme
The programme supports the prevention of and the combat against fraud, corruption and any other illegal activities affecting the financial interests of the EU.
Through its three strands, related to the three specific objectives, it helps Member States and beneficiaries fight fraud through financial support and by organising mutual administrative assistance and cooperation in customs and agricultural matters, notably via the Anti-Fraud Information System (AFIS) and the Irregularity Management System (IMS).
The EU’s financial interests are threatened by fraudulent activities and financial irregularities – both on revenues and expenditure – as shown every year by the Commission’s annual report on the protection of the EU’s financial interests.
Tackling these threats requires continuous and enhanced action by the EU. Irregularities and fraud are by definition an EU-wide phenomenon, which is not limited to any individual Member State. Intervention at the EU level on the protection of EU financial interests is justified in terms of subsidiarity, where it facilitates cooperation between the EU and the Member States or between Member States, without impinging on Member States’ responsibilities. Examples of such interventions include the necessary coordination of Member States’ antifraud activities and the provision of financial, technical and information support to Member States in their efforts and actions to protect the EU’s financial interests. The importance and value of this coordination and support role by the EU are particularly obvious when the fraud or irregularity has a cross-border dimension or affects several Member States.
The main challenges for the programme are, on the one hand, keeping track with the changing fraud landscape and techniques, by promoting the use of the most advanced technological items. On the other hand, creating appropriate opportunities for Member States’ authorities to cooperate and exchange best practices in relation to the common goal of fighting fraud affecting the EU’s financial interests.
The general objectives of the Programme are to:
- protect the financial interests of the EU;
- support mutual assistance between the administrative authorities of the Member States and cooperation between the latter and the Commission to ensure the correct application of the law on customs and agricultural matters.
The programme supports and complements the Member States’ (financial) efforts to prevent and fight fraud and corruption, affecting the financial interests of the EU and provides mutual assistance in customs and agricultural matters. In this way, the programme provided added value by allowing the beneficiaries to acquire new equipment, including its maintenance and/or upgrades (e.g. soft- and hardware). The programme helps to diminish the potential differences between Member States in budgetary capacity and supports those Member States that have special needs because of their size or bordering with non-EU or candidate countries, such as for example Ukraine.
The programme has three components, each with its specific objective:
- preventing and combating fraud, corruption and any other illegal activities affecting the financial interests of the EU;
- supporting the reporting of irregularities, including fraud, with regard to the shared management and pre-accession funds of the EU budget;
- providing tools for information exchange and support for operational activities in the field of mutual administrative assistance in customs and agricultural matters.
The first component of the programme provides Member States with targeted assistance in achieving their obligations to protect the EU’s financial interests by supporting the purchase of specific anti-fraud equipment, specific trainings, targeted conferences and studies.
For the second component, the Commission puts at Member States’ disposal and maintains the Irregularity Management System to facilitate Member States’ and candidate countries’ compliance with their obligation (laid down in various sectorial pieces of legislation) to report detected irregularities – including fraud – in cases related to shared management and pre-accession assistance funds.
The third component encompasses the operation and maintenance of AFIS (supporting Member States’ mutual assistance in customs and agricultural matters) and other supported activities, such as joint customs operations, training courses and preparatory or evaluation meetings for operational actions.
The programme is implemented through direct management. The European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) is the lead service for the programme implementation.
The programme merges three instruments that were implemented separately in the 2014-2020 multiannual financial framework, namely the former Hercule III programme and the financing bases of both the Anti-Fraud Information System (AFIS) and the Irregularity Management System (IMS).
Programme website:
Impact assessment:
- The ex ante evaluation of the programme was carried out in 2018. For further information please consult: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:52018SC0294
Relevant regulation
- Regulation (EU) 2021/785 of 29.4.2021 of the European Parliament and of the Council.
Evaluation:
- https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-your-say/initiatives/12435-Fraud-prevention-final-evaluation-of-the-Hercule-III-programme-2014-20-_en(link to the Report from the Commission on the final evaluation of the Hercule III programme, December 2021)
- An external study contract has been ordered in early 2023 to conduct an interim evaluation study on the Union anti-fraud programme. The study is ongoing and due to be finalised in May 2024. The study should serve as a basis for a Report from the Commission to the Institutions by end December 2024, accompanied by a staff working document on the findings, conclusions, recommendations and way forward.
Budget
Budget programming (million EUR):
[notranslate]AntiFraudWeb:budg_02:table[/notranslate]
Financial programming:
+ EUR 0 million (+ 0%)
compared to the legal basis*
* Top-ups pursuant to Article 5 of the multiannual financial framework regulation are excluded from financial programming in this comparison.
Budget performance – implementation
Cumulative implementation rate at the end of 2022 (million EUR):
[notranslate]AntiFraudWeb:budg_03:table[/notranslate]
Voted budget implementation (million EUR)(*):
[notranslate]AntiFraudWeb:budg_04:table[/notranslate]
- In 2023, the programme committed 100% and paid 99.79% of the available appropriations. The prolongation of a number of grant agreements awarded in 2021 and 2022 led to delayed final payments, partially due to the aftermath effects of the COVID-19 period. Also, some of the grants awarded in 2023 were only signed (and the pre-financing paid) in the beginning of 2024.
- For the first strand (Hercule actions), commitment appropriations were used to conclude the majority of awarded grants under the 2023 calls for proposals (30 grants awarded in total under the two calls). In addition to the annual granting cycle, the 2023 commitment appropriations were also used for establishing specific contracts (procurement) and administrative arrangements for the provision of access to commercial databases, specialised information technology tools and specific anti-fraud related training and conference events. Two calls for proposals under the 2023 budget were published early March 2023 (total indicative budget of EUR 10.55 million, technical assistance and training calls).
- The available commitment appropriations in 2023 for the second (Irregularity Management System) and third (AFIS) strands were exclusively used to conclude specific contracts (procurement) for the provision of information technology services, hardware and software. Payment appropriations for these two strands were used to pay invoices related to specific contracts that were concluded in the current and the previous year.
Contribution to horizontal priorities
Green budgeting
Contribution to green budgeting priorities (million EUR):
[notranslate]AntiFraudWeb:budg_05:table[/notranslate]
Not applicable.
Gender
Contribution to gender equality (million EUR) (*):
[notranslate]AntiFraudWeb:budg_06:table[/notranslate]
Around 85% of the programme’s yearly budget is used to finance the purchase of specialised technical equipment, including IT tools. The programme has no significant bearing on the promotion of gender equality.
| Gender disaggregated information: |
|---|
|
Digital
Contribution to digital transition (million EUR):
[notranslate]AntiFraudWeb:budg_07:table[/notranslate]
The programme is considered to contribute to the Commission’s priority of digital transition through its three components, as described below. The ‘technical assistance activities’ part of the first component is considered to contribute by funding those projects that are related (only) to the purchase and implementation of hardware and software, including updates and maintenance of the related information technology material to run such hardware or software. The second and third components (the Irregularity Management System and the Automated Fingerprint Identification System) are considered to contribute in full to the digital transition (of authorities in beneficiary countries), since they are information technology platforms that allow the partners and the Commission to receive and share data and information. In that sense, these two systems contribute to a more efficient and more user-friendly management of data and information in all 27 participating Member States, by improving the digital transition of their administrations.
Budget performance – outcomes
[notranslate]AntiFraudWeb:budg_09:progress[/notranslate]
[notranslate]AntiFraudWeb:budg_09:table[/notranslate]
Link to file with complete set of EU core performance indicators
- As shown by the key performance indicators reported above, the programme is being successfully implemented and is achieving its general and specific objectives for the three strands.
- Concerning the programme’s first strand (Hercule), two calls for proposals were published at the beginning of March 2023, covering the following topics: (1) technical assistance and (2) training, conferences, staff exchanges and studies. Overall, the two calls registered 104 applications from 17 Member States. 13 Member States received financial support through grants awarded under the 2023 call for proposals. However, all Member States receive financial support from the programme through procured activities such as the digital forensic analysts’ training sessions and access to commercial databases and specialised information technology tools.
- From the 104 applications, 30 projects have been selected for grant funding. Regarding the procurement aspects, specific contracts and administrative arrangements were made to provide the Member States with the necessary support and tools in their fight against fraud and illegal activities. These include access to three commercial databases, a renewed administrative arrangement with the Joint Research Centre and specialised forensics and analyst training in 2023.
- In relation to the implementation of the technical assistance activities financed by the programme, the creation of the Customs Control Equipment Instrument allowed the programme to shift its focus to advanced tools and technologies (including data analysis) and generated valuable synergies and complementarity across the two programmes, while avoiding any overlap.
- In 2023, the interim evaluation of the programme was launched, supported by an external study. The results of this evaluation will feed the future programme for a better and more efficient implementation.
- Concerning the programme’s second strand (the Irregularity Management System), the committed amount for 2023 was EUR 959 770.31, of which EUR 1 285 052.83 was spent in 2023 (covering contracts from 2022 and 2021).
- With regard to the programme’s third strand (AFIS), one platform release (consisting of several combined application releases), 44 releases for the new Import, Export and Transit directory and several other releases and hotfixes were developed in 2023, totalling more than 110 releases.
- Among these several major releases were: (1) a new version of the Import, Export and Transit directory, which integrates all features previously available in the legacy Anti-Fraud Transit Information System and provides additional features, such as improved search capabilities, the possibility to define alarms and export data in different formats; (2) two new versions of the Container Status Message directory, with visual analytics capabilities and the new container origin signal module, which signals potential origin fraud; (3) two new versions of the automated monitoring tool, with historical data from the Comext database on international trade in goods and new visualisations; and (4) a completely redeveloped version of the tobacco seizures management application.
- Additional data sources and analytical tools were implemented for the fraud analytical platform and its computing resources extended. In 2023, AFIS also supported 13 joint customs operations.
MFF 2014-2020 – Anti-Fraud Information System
AFIS is an umbrella term for a set of anti-fraud information technology applications operated by OLAF under a common technical infrastructure. The aim of these applications is to exchange fraud-related information between the competent national and EU administrations in a timely and secure manner. AFIS also helps to store and analyse relevant data.
Budget
Cumulative implementation rate at the end of 2023 (million EUR)(*):
[notranslate]AntiFraudWeb:budg_08:table[/notranslate]
- With regard to the implementation of the IMS budget for 2023, a 100% of the budget for IMS was committed in 2023.
- As for the payment appropriations, the 2023 existing credit amounts were exhausted 97.5% for IMS and 100% for AFIS.
[notranslate]AntiFraudWeb:budg_10:table[/notranslate]
Link to file with complete set of EU core performance indicators
- The programme has achieved all but one of the targets of its indicators. Its target – 24 000 active customs fraud cases by 2020 – was based on the main assumption that relevant intellectual property rights infringements, which are reported via the DG Taxation and Customs Union anti-counterfeit and piracy system, would significantly contribute to the number of cases. However, at the end of 2020, such infringements represented only 971 cases (5%) of all reported cases. The indicator continues to be monitored and is expected to meet its target in 2024.
- Following Member State recommendations in previous years, OLAF has strengthened in the reporting period the involvement of Member States during all stages of development of new or updated AFIS applications, aiming at improving their usage and user satisfaction. Special workshops were organised for the new versions of the anti-fraud systems managed by the programme, which attracted a large number of participants from the Member States. As a result, Member State acceptance and usage of the applications has significantly improved, as shown by usage statistics and satisfaction reports. The number of AFIS users increased from 8 000 users in 1 200 services in 2015 to 8 500 users in 1 400 services at the end of 2020.
MFF 2014-2020 – Hercule III
Hercule III helped Member States to fight fraud, corruption and other illegal activities though financing of practical projects, such as the purchase by national authorities of sniffer dogs, X-ray scanners and other technical equipment, to stamp out smuggling and other criminal activities that are against the EU's financial interests.
Budget implementation
Cumulative implementation rate at the end of 2022 (million EUR) (*):
[notranslate]AntiFraudWeb:budg_11:table[/notranslate]
- Note: Due to the intertwined budgetary nature of the previous programmes, this section presents a combined cumulative implementation rate of both predecessor 2014-2020 programmes, AFIS and Hercule III.
- AFIS and Hercule III jointly consumed 99% of the available commitment appropriations and 82% of the available payment appropriations. The remaining payment appropriations are planned to be used for cost claims of ongoing grants.
[notranslate]AntiFraudWeb:budg_12:table[/notranslate]
Link to file with complete set of EU core performance indicators
- The exceptional pandemic circumstances of 2020-2021 had an important impact on the general implementation of the programme, especially in terms of training and conferences activities. The beneficiaries of grants were, in most cases, unable to continue with the implementation of their projects as planned (both the purchase of technical equipment and the training, conferences and staff exchanges were in many cases delayed). OLAF offered its support in postponing the project’s implementation and amending the contracts.
- The programme performed above expectations with regard to the added value and effective use of co-financed technical equipment, expressed by the number of direct users of the equipment in their final technical reports. The final reports received in 2021 show an overall satisfaction rate of 97%, significantly above the target.
- In parallel, the satisfaction rate of the number and type of trainings activities funded under the programme reached 94%, thus also significantly exceeding the target. In 2020, the programme awarded 24 grants for training-related activities. Due to the pandemic, most of the trainings and conferences initially planned for 2020 (both grant and procurement contracts) were postponed to 2021. 15 trainings and conferences were organised, mostly in a virtual or hybrid mode. Two of them took place with physical presence.
- Following the successful publication and evaluation of the 2020 calls for proposals, unused amounts earmarked for procured activities in the 2020 budget were transferred to grants. EUR 2 million were transferred from procured activities to grants, representing approximately 12% of the total budget for the year. This ensured an efficient implementation of available operational funds and allowed grant awards to the best-ranked applications across the three calls. These grant contracts are currently being implemented, covering 2021-2022.
- The access to commercial databases (such as company data, trade data and vessel and maritime movement) and analytical information technology tools continued to be provided to Member State authorities, by signing specific contracts under the existing framework contracts with suppliers.
Sustainable development goals
Contribution to the sustainable development goals
| SDGs the programme contributes to | Example |
|---|---|
| SDG10 Reduce inequalities within and among countries | The financial support provided by technical assistance (TA) grants indirectly assists in harmonising differentiated levels of (financial) resources and (budgetary) capability, helping to reduce as such inequality within and among Member States (administrations). EUR 9.52 million is the total proposed amount to grant 23 selected projects in 2023, which will continue to run in 2024. |
| SDG16 Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels | The programme indirectly helps building effective, accountable and inclusive institutions in the Member States at various levels of national and/or local administrations (law enforcement agencies), in particular through support given leading to an enhanced digital transition. EUR 16.4 million has been allocated in 2023 to run and manage IMS and AFIS, including grants for TA projects in the field of IT and digitalisation of law enforcement agencies. The latter projects will run in 2023 and continue beyond, in 2024 and 2025. |