The ‘Fraud stay vigilant’ training is carried out by an external contractor under a framework contract managed by DG HR. OLAF provides planning, validation of contents (including some mock sessions with the external trainers) and the agenda. OLAF is also involved in managing the training, with a new contractor.

Maintain and refine a corporate anti-fraud training cycle, including regular refresher courses and e‑learning modules, which should be mandatory for relevant groups of staff such as financial officers.

OLAF delivered 27 days of training to EU institutions and Member States authorities in 2021, 25 days in 2020 and 45 days in 2019.

oHeads of Civilian CFSP Missions and EU Special Representatives and the staff of their offices.

Ensure specialised anti-fraud training, according to needs identified, for target groups such as:

OLAF has provided advice on anti-fraud strategies (including training aspects) and other fraud prevention aspects, notably to the BEREC Office, the Innovative Medicines Initiative-IMI2 Joint Undertaking, the European Institute for Innovation & Technology (EIT), the Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs), the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA), CINEA, Frontex, the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking, the Central Finance Unit of the European Parliament, the members of the allowance team of the European Economic and Social Committee, the Central Financial and Contracting Agency of Croatia and the member state agencies (AFD - Agence Française de Développement and Camões Portuguese development agency), European Research Council Executive Agency (ERCEA) and European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA).

Support other Commission services and executive agencies, decentralised agencies, other EU institutions and bodies and Member States in their anti-fraud training activities.

19

Provide technical assistance to Member States through various spending programmes (including the EU Anti-Fraud Programme).

OLAF TAXUD REFORM REGIO

The Commission provides technical assistance/support to Member States, through various spending programmes, including the EU Anti-Fraud Programme. REFORM: In 2020 technical support was provided through the Structural Reform Support Programme (SRSP 2017-2020) for a number of actions in the area of the fight against corruption and fraud. Projects have been started with authorities from a number of Member States for raising awareness and standards of fighting bribery in international business transactions, development of risk assessment and behavioral insights framework for better management of corruption risks, enhancing fraud risks detection related to grants, increasing the effectiveness of implementation and monitoring of anti-corruption actions”. In 2021 DG REFORM continued to provide technical support to Member States in the area of anti-corruption and integrity through its programmes, namely the Structural Reform Support Programme and the newly established Technical Support Instrument. The technical support has facilitated the review of procedures for the selection and appraisal of judges and prosecutors and the enforcement of anti-corruption measures in education, environment and sports. Some national authorities received support to establish monitoring mechanisms for their anti-corruption national plan; to revise their rules to manage conflicts of interest; to ensure supervision of public expenditure or to demonstrate preparedness to access the OECD Anti-Bribery convention. TAXUD: The new Fiscalis and Customs (2021-2027) programmes have been adopted and are operational, thus ensuring continuity in the support. The new Customs Control Equipment Instrument (2021-2027), will provide financial support to the Member States to purchase customs control equipment and contribute to an adequate and equivalent level of customs controls across the EU. OLAF: In 2020 technical support was provided under the Hercule III programme to Member States’ national and regional authorities, through grants and procurement activities. Various projects contributing to the fight against fraud were funded, such as the purchase of investigation tools and methods, the acquisition of detection devices or of specialised systems for the recognition of vehicle number plates as well as container codes, for purposes related to the protection of EU financial interests. The Programme also provided funds for the procurement of subscriptions, on behalf of law enforcement authorities in Member States, to commercial databases to support national operations and investigations. Specific IT tools for data analysis were developed with funding from the programme, in association with the Joint Research Centre (JRC), and provided to the Members States’ Customs Authorities, facilitating their effective and efficient use of analytical data. The new Union Anti-Fraud programme (2021-2027) continues this support in the technical assistance component, with an increased focus on the expenditure side of Union’s budget and on data analytics. The first Calls for Proposals for 2021 has been finalised and the first generation of grants for Technical Assistance were awarded in March 2022. REGIO: The final report on a Compendium of Good (fraud prevention) practices was adopted in 2020 as part of the technical assistance to Member States for Administrative Capacity Building. In 2021 new measures were offered to Member States authorities comprise and e-learning module covering basic knowledge needed for staff training, and guidance together with an online toolbox with practical case examples and case studies, which provide information on good practices. Technical assistance is given further emphasis in DG REGIO’s next 2021 – 2027 legal basis (Articles 29 and 30). To enhance the knowledge and increase cooperation on fraud prevention and prevention of conflicts of interests and other irregularities, REGIO also organized two EGESIF meetings and participated in several anti-fraud network meetings with OLAF. In 2021 and in 2022 the ARACHNE Team organised continuous technical support and training actions in relation to the tool. As of mid-June 2022, such activity included: 1 workshop, 20 presentations, 6 financial management and audit seminars and 5 training sessions for Member States.

Done and continuous