1. Policy Developments and Best Practices
IMCO/CONT Hearing "Combatting customs fraud"
8 April 2019
Georg Roebling, Head of Unit
Customs and Tobacco Anti-fraud Policy, AFIS

2. OLAF mission and mandate
OLAF's mission is to detect, investigate and prevent
fraud involving EU funds
OLAF has a unique investigative mandate: it is the only investigative body at EU level
OLAF is a policy actor: it develops EU policies to counter fraud also in the tobacco and customs sectors

3. 1. A modern legal framework: Reg. 515/97 on mutual admin. assistance
Amending Regulation 2015/1525
adopted in September 2015
includes:
Container Status Messages (CSMs) directory:
Data on specific container movements / route of containers
Commission receives ~ 1.5 million messages a day
1.5 billion CSMs in database
Most cases: misdeclaration of origin of goods

4. LARGE GEOGRAPHICAL COVERAGE
2. International treaties / autonomous EU acts: Cooperation with third countries
LARGE GEOGRAPHICAL COVERAGE
1) 80 Agreements, including with the US and China & autonomous legislation like GSP covering further 76 countries.
2) 139 countries under Article 12 of WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement.

5. 3. Multilateral treaties: FCTC Protocol
Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products
First dedicated global anti-smuggling treaty
51 Parties; entry into force: September 2018
Supply chain control, offences and international cooperation

6. 4. Co-ordinated action with Member States: Action Plan to Fight Illicit Tobacco 2018-22
50 Action Items:
Fully utilise potential of FCTC Protocol
Engage key source and transit countries
Focus on some key input materials
Invest in intelligence & analysis
Material support to MS
Targeted operations
Study measuring the illicit tobacco market
Raise Consumer Awareness

7. 5. IT tools / databases: AFIS Portal
8 800 users globally; applications available based on users rights

8. 6. Sharing Expertise and Good Practices: Data Analysis Group with Member States
Bring together customs anti-fraud analysts
Explore, discuss & share needs & experience
2018: 2 Workshops, 5 MS visits, 90+ analysts
2019: Further community building, training, data catalogue plus…
2019: Specific projects for analysis

9. 7. IT tools: Container tracking / Automated controls
Which one should I control?
ConTraffic-SAD:
Automatic Verification of “Goods-Origin” in Import Declarations (SAD)
Control a few, but verify all !

10. 8. Laboratory analysis: Tobacco Laboratory
"Operating a laboratory facility and associated data management for the analysis of tobacco products"
TOBLAB

11. 9. Joint Customs Operations
JCO RENEGADE (OLAF + ASEM) : counterfeit goods
JCO Cerberus (FR + OLAF):detention of €6.4 million
JCO MAGNUM I + II (Estonia + OLAF): 30 million cigarettes

12. 10. Targeting demand: Public Perceptions Eurobarometer 443 (2016) on illicit tobacco
Findings inter alia:
Only 14% of respondents consider the illicit tobacco trade as the major source of revenue for organised crime