European Anti-Fraud Office
OLAF is the EU's independent administrative anti-fraud investigation office, established in 1999, that investigates fraud affecting the EU budget, corruption, and misconduct within EU institutions across all 27 Member States.
- Company typePublic
- Founded1999
- HeadquartersBrussels, Belgium
- Headcount101–250
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
European Anti-Fraud Office firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- European Anti-Fraud Office
- Legal name
- European Anti-Fraud Office
- Website
- https://anti-fraud.ec.europa.eu
- Company type
- Public
- Founded year
- 1999
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 101–250 employees
- Short description
- OLAF is the EU's independent administrative anti-fraud investigation office, established in 1999, that investigates fraud affecting the EU budget, corruption, and misconduct within EU institutions across all 27 Member States.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
European Anti-Fraud Office industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Government Fraud Investigation Services
- NAICS
- Justice, Public Order, and Safety Activities (922), Regulation, Licensing, and Inspection of Miscellaneous Commercial Sectors (92615)
- SIC
- Finance Services (6199)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Fraud Risk Management & Anti-Bribery/Anti-Corruption (ABAC) (BPAHAFAL)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Workplace Misconduct, Ethics & Compliance Investigations (BPAKAEAH), Audit, Compliance Monitoring & Investigations (BPAIADAE)
Keywords
Where European Anti-Fraud Office is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Brussels
- HQ country
- Belgium
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices2 records
Markets served
European Anti-Fraud Office business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Others
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels8 records
European Anti-Fraud Office product offering
Product offeringCore offering
The European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) conducts independent administrative investigations into fraud, corruption, and serious misconduct affecting the EU budget and all EU institutions. It coordinates cross-border anti-fraud operations across all 27 EU Member States, develops EU anti-fraud policy, and operates specialized IT platforms (AFIS, FNS, OCM) and a Digital Forensics Excellence Centre to support investigations, intelligence sharing, and anonymous fraud reporting by citizens.
Product overview
The European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) is an EU administrative investigation body, not a commercial product company. Its operational offerings consist of several interconnected systems and services: the Anti-Fraud Information System (AFIS) serves as the core trans-European platform for customs and irregularities coordination; the Fraud Notification System (FNS) enables anonymous citizen reporting; the OLAF Case Management System (OCM) automates case handling; and the Digital Forensics Excellence Centre provides in-house forensic capabilities. These systems support OLAF's mandate to investigate fraud affecting the EU budget, corruption, and serious misconduct within EU institutions.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Anti-Fraud Information System (AFIS) A trans-European platform that boosts coordination between EU countries, international organisations and Commission services on customs matters and irregularities. AFIS connects 1,400+ authorities/organisations with 5,000+ users, processes over 2.5 billion messages, provides information on 165 million computed container trips, handles 100+ active Mutual Assistance cases, and its database contains over 33,000 cases.
- Fraud Notification System (FNS) A web-based tool allowing EU citizens to pass on information concerning potential corruption and fraud online. Citizens can report anonymously in any of the 24 official EU languages.
- OLAF Case Management System (OCM) A system ensuring OLAF staff can collect, process and report on case-related information with a high degree of automation. Since 2016, over 13,395 cases have been managed with nearly 700,000 registered documents and more than 3 million attachments.
- Digital Forensics Excellence Centre An in-house digital forensics centre operating since 1999 that acquires and examines case-related data to produce evidence admissible in court. Work is performed by a team of experts within an air-gapped digital environment comprising specialised forensic applications, processing data acquired from an average of 50 worldwide missions per year.
- Administrative Investigation Services Internal and external administrative investigations related to EU revenue (mainly customs duties), EU expenditure (structural funds, agricultural policy, direct expenditure, external aid, recovery and resilience facility), and misconduct within EU institutions. Investigations include interviews, on-the-spot inspections, and coordination with national authorities.
- Union Anti-Fraud Programme (UAFP) An EU programme running for the 2021-2027 multiannual financial framework that finances actions to prevent and combat fraud, corruption and illegal activities affecting EU financial interests. The programme has a budget of €181.207 million covering technical support, operational investigation support, training, AFIS platform operations, and irregularity reporting.
Companies that use European Anti-Fraud Office
Customer profileSegments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
European Anti-Fraud Office technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature4 records
European Anti-Fraud Office partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.
- EurojustcorePractical cooperation agreement between Eurojust (EU Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation) and OLAF to support judicial cooperation in anti-fraud cases.
- European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO)coreEPPO is the independent public prosecution office of the EU with competence to investigate and prosecute crimes against the EU budget. OLAF and EPPO have distinct but complementary mandates: EPPO conducts criminal investigations while OLAF carries out administrative investigations. They cooperate through working arrangements, information exchange, and operational support.
- EuropolcoreOLAF has a working arrangement with Europol, the EU Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation, to facilitate practical cooperation in fighting fraud and other crimes affecting EU financial interests.
- EU Member State AFCOS (Anti-Fraud Coordination Services)coreAll 27 EU Member States have established AFCOS as prescribed by Article 12a of Regulation 883/2013. AFCOS coordinates anti-fraud activities at national level and facilitates cooperation between OLAF and national authorities, including exchange of experience and best practices.
- Conference of International Investigators (CII)coreForum for investigators of international organizations established in 1999. OLAF is one of only three permanent secretariat members, together with World Bank Integrity Vice Presidency and UN Office of Internal Oversight Services. The CII facilitates exchange of ideas, best practices, and addresses challenges in fighting fraud, corruption and other wrongdoing.
- World Bank Integrity Vice PresidencycoreJoint secretariat member of the Conference of International Investigators alongside OLAF and UN Internal Oversight Services.
- United Nations Office of Internal Oversight ServicescoreJoint secretariat member of the Conference of International Investigators alongside OLAF and World Bank Integrity Vice Presidency.
- Non-EU Countries (25+)majorOLAF has signed Administrative Cooperation Arrangements (ACA) with anti-fraud services in over 25 non-EU countries to facilitate practical day-to-day cooperation. The first ACA was signed with Argentina (Fiscalía de Investigaciones Administrativas) on 15 March 2007.
- International Organisations (15+)majorOLAF has signed Administrative Cooperation Arrangements with over 15 partner services of international organisations. The first was signed with the African Union Commission / Office of Internal Audit on 7 June 2013.
- European CommissioncoreOLAF is part of the European Commission under Commissioner Piotr Serafin (Budget, Anti-Fraud and Public Administration). OLAF develops anti-fraud policy for the Commission and leads the Commission Anti-Fraud Strategy.
Scale indicators11 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights6 records
European Anti-Fraud Office competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Eurojust: EU Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation that supports judicial coordination in cross-border criminal investigations. Highly comparable as a peer EU agency with a practical cooperation agreement signed with OLAF in 2023, operating in the same EU institutional justice ecosystem.
- Europol: EU Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation that supports Member States in combating serious cross-border crime, including fraud. Comparable as a peer EU agency with cross-border intelligence-sharing functions, working arrangements with OLAF, and overlapping customs/financial crime mandates.
- UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO): UK government department that investigates and prosecutes serious or complex fraud, bribery and corruption. Highly comparable in mission (fraud/corruption investigation) and model (specialist anti-fraud agency with both investigative and prosecutorial functions), albeit at national level.
- European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO): Independent EU prosecution office launched in 2021 with jurisdiction over criminal offences affecting the EU budget. Directly comparable to OLAF as the other half of the EU's anti-fraud architecture: OLAF investigates administratively while EPPO prosecutes criminally, and the two operate under the same Regulation 883/2013.
Broad incumbents
- U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI): U.S. federal investigative agency with jurisdiction over federal crimes including fraud, corruption, and financial crime. Comparable as the most prominent national-level counterpart to OLAF's model, though with a much broader mandate covering national security, cybercrime, and violent crime in addition to white-collar fraud.
- European Court of Auditors (ECA): Independent EU institution that audits the finances of the EU. Comparable as a peer EU institution that protects EU financial interests, but with a broader audit/oversight mandate rather than OLAF's investigation-led focus on fraud, corruption and misconduct.
- Interpol: International organisation enabling cross-border police cooperation across 196 member countries. Comparable in its role coordinating cross-border financial crime and corruption investigations, and as the broader international counterpart to OLAF's anti-fraud mission with a wider crime scope.
Emerging players
- EU Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA): New EU-level authority being established to combat money laundering and terrorist financing across the EU. Comparable as a peer EU anti-financial-crime body with an institutional coordination role similar to OLAF's relationship with AFCOS, though focused specifically on AML compliance rather than broader fraud.
Regional players
- France — Parquet national financier (PNF): French national financial prosecutor's office handling complex financial crime, fraud and corruption cases. Comparable as a national-level anti-fraud investigative/prosecutorial body operating as OLAF's AFCOS partner in France, with similar specialisation in complex economic crime.
- Germany — Zollkriminalamt (Customs Criminal Investigation Office): German federal customs investigation office responsible for serious and organised customs and tax crime, including cases relevant to EU funds. Comparable as a national-level customs/anti-fraud investigation agency operating as OLAF's primary AFCOS partner in Germany, though jurisdictionally limited to Germany.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
European Anti-Fraud Office social profiles
Digital presenceEuropean Anti-Fraud Office compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance2 records
European Anti-Fraud Office financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
European Anti-Fraud Office leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles7 records
European Anti-Fraud Office funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
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European Anti-Fraud Office M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about European Anti-Fraud Office
What does European Anti-Fraud Office do?
The European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) conducts independent administrative investigations into fraud, corruption, and serious misconduct affecting the EU budget and all EU institutions. It coordinates cross-border anti-fraud operations across all 27 EU Member States, develops EU anti-fraud policy, and operates specialized IT platforms (AFIS, FNS, OCM) and a Digital Forensics Excellence Centre to support investigations, intelligence sharing, and anonymous fraud reporting by citizens.
Is European Anti-Fraud Office a public or private company?
European Anti-Fraud Office is a public company. It is classified as state government owned and is currently operating.
When was European Anti-Fraud Office founded?
European Anti-Fraud Office was founded in 1999. It employs 101 to 250 people.
Where is European Anti-Fraud Office based?
European Anti-Fraud Office is headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, in the Europe region.
Who are European Anti-Fraud Office's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Eurojust, Europol, UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO). Broad incumbents are U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), European Court of Auditors (ECA) and Interpol. EU Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA) is listed as an emerging player. Regional players are France — Parquet national financier (PNF) and Germany — Zollkriminalamt (Customs Criminal Investigation Office).
Does European Anti-Fraud Office have an API?
No public API is recorded for European Anti-Fraud Office.
What industry is European Anti-Fraud Office in?
European Anti-Fraud Office's product category is Government Fraud Investigation Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAHAFAL, Fraud Risk Management & Anti-Bribery/Anti-Corruption (ABAC), with a secondary code of BPAKAEAH, Workplace Misconduct, Ethics & Compliance Investigations. Its NAICS code is 922 and its SIC code is 6199.