REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION on ARACHNE - Implementation for CAP expenditure
Date: 2025-02-28
Institutions: Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development, European Commission
Subjects: EAFRD, EAGF, EU financing arrangements, agricultural expenditure, aid to agriculture, common agricultural policy, computer system, financial control, fraud against the EU, text and data mining

EN 

  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 28.2.2025  COM(2025) 58 final  REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION on ARACHNE - Implementation for CAP expenditure  
 
 
Arachne 

Arachne is an integrated IT tool developed by the European Commission for data mining, 
data  enrichment  and  risk  scoring.  The  objective  of  Arachne  is  to  provide  the  Member 
States’  authorities  with  an  operational  tool  to  identify  risks  and  support  them  in  their 
administrative controls and management checks. 

List of acronyms 

CAP – Common Agricultural Policy 

DG AGRI – Directorate General for Agriculture and Rural Development 

EAGF – European Agricultural Guarantee Fund 

EAFRD – European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development 

IACS – Integrated Administration and Control System (integrated system as per Article 
65(2) of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116) 

Non-IACS – All CAP measures and interventions following Regulation (EU) 2021/2115 
that are not under the above referred integrated system 

1 

 
 
   
 
 
 
 
Table of content 

1. 

Introduction ................................................................................................................ 4 

1.1.  Background and context ................................................................................... 4 

1.2.  Objectives and scope of the report ................................................................... 5 

2.  Actions taken by the Commission to enable and promote the use of Arachne 

for CAP ....................................................................................................................... 5 

3.  State of play: Current use of the data-mining tool ..................................................... 6 

3.1.  Overview of the tool's implementation and deployment .................................. 6 

3.2.  The tool's functionality and performance ....................................................... 10 

4.  Use by Member States based on the survey: Opportunities and challenges ............ 10 

5. 

Interoperability assessment ...................................................................................... 13 

5.1.  Technical interoperability ............................................................................... 13 

5.2.  Semantic interoperability ................................................................................ 13 

5.3.  Organizational interoperability ....................................................................... 14 

6.  Further steps and Perspective ................................................................................... 15 

6.1.  Further steps ................................................................................................... 15 

6.2.  Long-term perspective .................................................................................... 16 

2 

 
 
 
 
 
 
1. 

INTRODUCTION  

1.1.  Background and context  

Article  59(2)  of  Regulation  (EU)  2021/2116  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the 
Council (1)  lays  down  that  “[...],  the  Commission  shall  make  available  to  the  Member 
States a data-mining tool to assess risks presented by projects, beneficiaries, contractors 
and contracts while ensuring minimal administrative burden and effective protection of 
the Union financial interests. [...] By 2025, the Commission shall present a report which 
assesses the use of the single data-mining tool and its interoperability with a view to its 
generalised use by Member States”. 

Member  States  are  to  set  up  efficient  management  and  control  systems  that  ensure 
compliance with the Union legislation governing Union interventions.  Necessary actions 
must be taken to ensure the proper functioning of their management and control systems 
and legality and regularity of expenditure declared to the Commission. In terms of the EU 
Agricultural  Funds  (EAGF  and  EAFRD)  the  paying  agencies  are  in  charge  of  the 
disbursement of CAP expenditure and thus setting up the management and control systems 
at Member State or at their equivalent administration level. 

In  this  context  the  Commission  is  to  make  available  a  data-mining  tool  to  assist  the 
Member States to put in place efficient management and control systems for the CAP. To 
fulfil this legal requirement the Commission chose to make use of the tool Arachne.  

Arachne is  an integrated IT tool for data mining  and risk scoring  with  data enrichment 
developed by the European Commission. Its objective is to support Member States in their 
administrative controls and management checks. Arachne enriches the data with publicly 
available  information  to  identify,  based  on  a  set  of  risk  indicators,  the  projects, 
beneficiaries,  contracts,  contractors,  and  sub-contractors  that  are  susceptible  to  risks  of 
fraud,  conflicts  of  interest  or  other  irregularities (2).  However,  it  does  not  assess  the 
individual conduct of fund recipients and does not automatically exclude beneficiaries or 
potential beneficiaries from EU funds. The tool sends risk alerts to the paying agencies to 
enrich  their  management  checks  but  does  not  supply  them  with  any  proof  of  error, 
irregularity, or fraud. 

For  the  implementation  of  the  CAP  interventions  and  measures,  the  use  of  Arachne 
becomes important in the risk analysis to be performed at the level of the paying agencies 
for  their  main  functions  and  more  precisely  for  their  fraud  prevention,  detection,  and 

(1)  Regulation (EU) 2021/2116 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 2 December 2021 on the 
financing,  management  and  monitoring  of  the  common  agricultural  policy  and  repealing  Regulation 
(EU) No 1306/2013 (OJ L 435, 6.12.2021, p. 187) 

(2)  ‘Irregularity’ shall mean any infringement of a provision of Community law resulting from an act or 
omission by an economic operator, which has, or would have, the effect of prejudicing the general budget of 
the  Communities  or budgets  managed by  them,  either  by  reducing or  losing  revenue  accruing from  own 
resources collected directly on behalf of the Communities, or by an unjustified item of expenditure (Article 
1(2) of Council Regulation (EC, EURATOM) 2988/95).  

Fraud is a deliberately committed irregularity constituting a criminal offence. When reporting an irregularity 
to the Commission, Member States must indicate whether any fraud is suspected or established in each case. 

3 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
management  procedures.  The  paying  agencies  should  consider  that  the  Arachne  risk 
reports are used in combination with other data available in the management and control 
systems of the CAP at national level, and that the use of the tool is integrated into their 
procedures.   

To map and establish the risk to the financial interests of the EU, the operational data from 
the  paying  agencies  is  transmitted  to  Arachne.  This  data  includes  information  on 
beneficiaries,  project  partners,  sub-contractors,  service  providers,  consortium  members 
and others  involved. This  operational  data is  then further complemented  in  Arachne  by 
information  from  external  data  sources,  the  Orbis  and  World  Compliance  databases, 
containing officially published and publicly available data on the companies and persons 
involved. 

Orbis provides information on companies such as financial data, addresses, historical data, 
and information on shareholders, management and key staff. World Compliance provides 
information  such  as  the  profiles  of  politically  exposed  persons,  their  families  and 
associates;  a  sanctions  list,  including  individuals  and  companies  with  the  highest  risk 
rating;  and  an  enforcement  list,  including  information  received  from  regulatory  and 
governmental authorities and the content of warnings and actions against individuals and 
companies. 

The  European  Commission  offers  Arachne  free  of  charge  to  paying  agencies  and 
guarantees technical assistance and training in Member States. 

1.2.  Objectives and scope of the report  

The  objective  of  this  report  is  to  assess  the  current  use  of  Arachne  for  the  CAP,  its 
interoperability  with  the  current  tools  and  systems  used  by  the  Member  States,  and  to 
provide recommendations regarding its future use.  

To  prepare  this  report,  the  Commission  Services  (DG  AGRI)  addressed  a  survey  to  all 
Member States on the use of Arachne and its interoperability in July 2024. Member States 
were  asked  for  information  about  their  use  of  the  system.  They  were  also  asked  for 
suggestions for any improvements or requirements that would make the use of Arachne 
easier. The results of this survey were presented to the Member States during an expert 
group meeting, on 20 September 2024 and the results of the discussions form part of this 
report.  

The report is split into six parts. Chapter 2 explains the actions taken by the Commission 
to enable and promote the use of Arachne. The third and fourth parts of the report describe 
the current state of play and outline the opportunities and challenges associated with the 
use of Arachne. The fifth section outlines the interoperability with the current tools used 
by  Member  States.  The  report  concludes  with  the  next  steps  and  long-term  perspective 
regarding  the  use  of  Arachne,  with  a  vision  for  the  tool's  future  development  and 
deployment. 

4 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2.  ACTIONS  TAKEN  BY  THE  COMMISSION  TO  ENABLE  AND  PROMOTE  THE  USE  OF 

ARACHNE FOR THE CAP 

In line with the legislative framework, the Commission is undertaking a variety of actions 
to promote and enable the use of Arachne by the Member States for the CAP expenditure. 

To  enable  the  use  of  the  tool  for  the  CAP  expenditure,  the  Commission  defined  the 
requirement  specifications  for  the  development  (ultimate  owner,  and  other  risk  scores 
relevant for the IACS payments) in 2021. The main development concerned a feature to 
enable automatic data upload and download considering the volume of payment data under 
IACS. The automatic data upload became available as from February 2024. The automatic 
download is under testing by some Member States at the date of this report.  

Along this process the Commission continuously provided Member State authorities with 
trainings and help desk functions both before they started using the tool and while using it. 
Additionally, discussions and exchanges of best practices in meetings of expert groups of 
Horizontal questions concerning the CAP (e.g. held on 20 September 2024 for the Member 
State authorities, mostly paying agencies) and Learning Network of the paying agencies 
(subgroup of anti-fraud and conflict of interest), as well as further bilateral discussions and 
workshops at the Member States’ request, were organised. 

Most  of  these  discussions  concern  the  paying  agencies’  anti-fraud,  conflict  of  interest, 
circumvention policy and procedures. 

These  efforts  will  be  continued  until  the  full-fledged  use  of  Arachne  for  the  CAP 
expenditure is achieved. 

3.  STATE OF PLAY: CURRENT USE OF THE DATA-MINING TOOL  

3.1. 

 Overview of the tool's implementation and deployment  

Arachne uses an entity-relationship model to organize and manage its data. The system 
integrates internal data from Member States and external data from sources like Orbis and 
World  Compliance.  The  data  is  then  matched  and  enriched  to  calculate  risk  scores  for 
projects  and  contracts,  thus  providing  the  user  with  a  detailed  risk  evaluation  for  the 
requested data. The system also includes a user management module for data isolation and 
authentication. 

5 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Statistics on the use of Arachne for CAP (3)  

As regards the CAP expenditure, the graph shows that 11 Member States are using the full 
potential of the tool (uploading and using). There are three further Member States that are 
already  uploading  data  to  the  tool.  However,  they  are  not  using  yet  the  enriched  data 
available  from  Arachne.  Seven  Member  States  have  only  undergone  an  introductory 
training and still are to start the upload and use of the tool. The remaining six Member 
States requested the introductory trainings at the time of the preparation of this report.  

Three out of the 11 Member States using Arachne are testing the capabilities of the tool 
for EAGF IACS interventions.  

As regards the “Use and upload” and “Upload” stages, regarding the programming period 
2014-2022,  Arachne  was  used  for  17  Rural  development  programmes.  For  the  current 
period 2023-2027,  the tool  is  already used  for 1  CAP  Strategic Plan rural development 
expenditure. This covers 167.731 projects and 139.911 beneficiaries.  

(3)  Source: Arachne statistics – September 2024 

6 

 
 
 
 
 
  
 
Statistics on upload of CAP data (4) 

The  potential  of  the  tool  is  in  its  enriched  databases.  This  process  is  still  to  be  further 
accomplished  with  fully  fletched  data  upload  by  Member  States  for  all  Funds.  The 
databases  used  in  Arachne  are  cross-cutting  and  they  complement  each  other.  To  take 
advantage of the tool’s capabilities Member States need to upload data. The above statistics 
show that Arachne captures already data from several CAP rural development programmes 
and  market  measures.  However,  the  data  upload  as  regards  IACS  payments  is  still  just 
starting, also due to the fact that the automatic data upload feature, which is necessary for 
the IACS data upload, became available in February 2024. 

(4)  Source: Arachne statistics – September 2024 

7 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Statistics on usage of Arachne by users in agricultural departments (5) 

(5) 
Source: Arachne statistics – November 2024. User statistics are based on user profiles. Any user 
with access to at least one agricultural programme is included in the list. However, when users connect to 
Arachne, it cannot be determined which specific project or programme they are accessing. As a result, if a 
user has access to both an agricultural programme and an ESIF programme, it will appear in the list of CAP 
users. Consequently, the number of sessions and actions recorded may be overestimated, as the user could 
also be connecting for ESIF projects only. 

8 

 
 
 
 
 
 
It is clear from the statistics that not all Member States that provide data to the tool use the 
system, although there was a gradual progress in the number of users and connections to 
the tool as regards the CAP expenditure over the years. Member States make substantial 
effort to provide data. The Commission will continue to encourage Member States in their 
further uptake of the potential of Arachne i.e. to get it used for the paying agencies’ risk 
assessment and fraud prevention, detection and management procedures.  

3.2.  The tool's functionality and performance   

Arachne  is  a  powerful  tool  that  aims  to  provide  high-value  risk  indicators,  enhancing 
management  verifications.  It  establishes  a  comprehensive  and  complete  database  of 
projects  implemented  under  EU  funds,  enriching  the  data  with  publicly  available 
information.  As  regards  the  use  of  the  tool  for  the  CAP  expenditure,  the  critical 
development of automatic upload and download of data functionalities became available 
in the course of 2024. However, to use this automatic upload and download functionalities 
for massive IACS data, Member States must develop a software. Member States made four 
uploads of IACS data so far. Two Member States are testing the automatic data download 
from Arachne. The rest of the downloads for both IACS and Non-IACS expenditure were 
done manually.  

Arachne can sometimes be challenging due to the extensive number of risk indicators it 
produces,  making  it  difficult  to  use  without  a  thorough  understanding  of  the  tool. 
Furthermore, the required timeframe for the tool to generate results can be lengthy. After 
the upload of data, the results are provided on a weekly basis. However, this time span can 
cause some additional delays in the authorization process of the paying agency. 

4.  USE  BY  MEMBER  STATES  BASED  ON  THE  SURVEY:  OPPORTUNITIES  AND 

CHALLENGES  

As already mentioned, the Commission conducted a survey on the use of Arachne in July-
August 2024 to get input for the future project actions to better serve the Member States’ 
needs. 

In  total,  25  replies  were  provided  which  were  prepared  either  at  Member  State  level 
(representing several paying agencies) or at paying agency level. 15 Member States/paying 
agencies  (60%)  declared  to  be  using  Arachne  to  date.  For  8  of  them  (53%),  the  use  of 
Arachne is mandatory according to their internal procedures. As regards the frequency of 
use, according to these 15 replies, 1 Member State/paying agency (7 %) is using it daily, 
40 % of them are using it weekly, and another 2 Member States/paying agencies at least 
monthly.  

9 

 
 
 
 
Frequency of use of Arachne among 15 Member States/Paying Agencies (CAP) (6) 

Frequency of use

7%

40%

40%

13%

daily

weekly

monthly

few times per year

For  the  EU  Agricultural  Funds,  the  paying  agencies  are  the  main  users  of  Arachne. 
However, in half of the cases reported, the Certification Bodies, in charge of certifying the 
paying agencies’ management and control systems, are also using Arachne. 

27% of the paying agencies currently using Arachne that took part in the survey declared 
to  use  the  tool  both  for  IACS  and  Non-IACS  expenditure,  while  the  rest  of  the  paying 
agencies use it only for Non-IACS expenditure.  

Arachne  is  mostly  used  for  fraud,  conflict  of  interest  and  double  funding  detection 
purposes.  The  main  indicators  used  are  related  to  the  identification  of  links  between 
different  stakeholders,  concentration  of  aids,  reasonableness  of  costs,  as  well  as  other 
default and reputational alerts and SME and start-up indicators. 

Main purpose of use of Arachne (CAP) (7) 

(6)  Source: Commission survey on the use of Arachne – July 2024 

(7)  Source: Commission survey on the use of Arachne – July 2024 

10 

 
 
 
 
The paying agencies using Arachne declared to use it mostly to verify eligibility conditions 
and to obtain the sample of their on-the-spot controls. One third of these paying agencies 
declared to have identified irregularity and fraud cases based on information from Arachne, 
and a vast majority are satisfied with its use. 

Nevertheless, the paying agencies using Arachne identified several areas for improvement, 
in  relation  to  its  ease  of  use  (more  intuitive  interface,  screens  and  dashboards 
functionalities,  improvement  of  searching  facilities),  the  data  availability  (quicker 
availability  of  more  complete  and  more  frequently  uploaded  data)  and  the  tool  outputs 
(development  of  the  SME  module,  enhancement  of  the  reports  obtained).  Overall,  the 
easiness to extract the data from Arachne to be integrated into the paying agencies’ systems 
was lowly rated, and only half of the paying agencies using Arachne declared to be willing 
to develop the upload and download software for IACS data. 

In relation to the paying agencies that declared not to be using Arachne, none of them had 
used it in the past, and 7 (70%) of them do plan to use it in the future, out of which 5 for 
both  IACS  and  Non-IACS.  The  paying  agencies’  available  technical  capacities  is  a 
constraint for half of them, being in some cases the reason for only envisaging the use of 
Arachne for Non-IACS expenditure.  

Finally,  half of  all the  paying  agencies  contributing  to  the survey declared to  use  other 
data-mining tools at national level or to have risk factors integrated in other IT systems of 
the paying  agency. Some of these  paying  agencies enhance the availability of national-
relevant historical data of their tools in contrast to Arachne.  

Overall satisfaction with the use of Arachne (CAP) (8) 

How Member States rate Arachne (1-10)

RATING OF THE INTEROPERABILITY OF ARACHNE 
WITH THE PA SYSTEMS

3,6

SATISFACTION WITH THE HELP OF THE ARACHNE 
TEAM

SATISFACTION WITH THE USE OF ARACHNE

7,0

6,4

These summarized results allow for a deeper understanding of the challenges and obstacles 
that Member States encounter in the use of Arachne for the EU Agricultural Funds. Several 
of these issues are already being addressed either through the Commission wide project for 
the Arachne tool (e.g. the improvement of the interface, the increased functionalities, the 

(8)  Source: Commission survey on the use of Arachne – July 2024 

11 

 
 
 
 
 
efficiency of the data upload or the enhancement of Arachne reports) or through the on-
going developments of Arachne by the Commission (e.g. the SME module).  

Interoperability issues and technical capacities have been identified as relevant hurdles that 
Member States and DG AGRI need to address to enable the efficient use of Arachne (see 
also  further  analysis  in  this  respect  in  chapter  5).  This  is  also  a  Commission  priority 
established  in  Article  36  (6)  of  Regulation  (EU,  Euratom)  2024/2509  of  the  European 
Parliament and of the Council (9). 

At the same time, the survey shows a clear positive message on the current usefulness and 
satisfaction  with  the  use  of  Arachne.  This  will  be  significantly  enhanced  through  the 
mandatory provision of data also provided for in the regulation as referred to above. The 
availability  of  the  information  from  all  Member  States  will  significantly  enrich  the 
Commission data-mining tool and will address the issues that paying agencies encounter 
in relation to incomplete and non-updated data. As in a virtuous circle, this is expected to 
foster a generalized use by the Member States both for IACS and Non-IACS expenditure. 
In line with the referred provision and with the survey results, the Commission will, as a 
priority, work closely with the paying agencies to dig into the potential functionalities of 
Arachne for IACS expenditure and to promote the interoperability of the national systems 
with the Commission data-mining tool. 

5. 

INTEROPERABILITY ASSESSMENT  

5.1.  Technical interoperability  

Arachne is designed to exchange data with other systems and data sources using the xml-
format. This format is widely used and accepted, facilitating the integration of the tool with 
other systems. The tool's technical  architecture allows the transmission of data fields in 
line with the required scope of Arachne. 

The tool's ability to interact with other systems and data sources is further enhanced by the 
Commission  services'  provision  of  technical  support  for  the  initial  installation  of  the 
Arachne risk scoring tool, as well as technical support for enabling the paying agency to 
send data in the required xml-format. 

5.2.  Semantic interoperability  

Arachne's  ability  to  understand  and  interpret  data  from  different  sources  is  key  for  its 
effective use. The tool uses a risk scoring approach to  analyse data, which requires the 
harmonization and standardization of data from different sources. 

The tool's semantic interoperability is facilitated by the use of external data sources, Orbis, 
sanction  lists  and  World  Compliance.  These  data  sources  are  officially  published  and 
publicly available, ensuring a high level of data quality and reliability. 

(9)  Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 September 
2024 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union (recast) (OJ L, 2024/2509, 
26.9.2024). 

12 

 
 
  
 
  
  
 
The  Commission  services  have  also  established  a  dedicated  website (10)  to  explain  the 
process and purpose of data analysis, which includes information on data protection and 
the rights of data subjects. This website provides a common understanding of the data used 
in  the  tool,  facilitating  the  harmonization  and  standardization  of  data  from  different 
sources. 

However,  the  tool's  semantic  interoperability  could  be  further  enhanced  by  the 
development  of  common  data  standards  and  formats  for  the  exchange  of  data  between 
different systems and data sources. This would facilitate the integration of the tool with 
other  systems  and  ensure  the  consistency  and  accuracy  of  data  used  in  the  risk  scoring 
approach. 

Overall,  the  Arachne  Risk  Scoring  Tool  demonstrates  a  good  level  of  technical  and 
semantic interoperability. 

5.3.  Organizational interoperability 

The  integration  of  Arachne  with  existing  workflows  and  processes  is  crucial  for  its 
effective  adoption  and  use  by  managing  authorities.  This  section  evaluates  the  tool's 
organizational  interoperability  and  identifies  any  organizational  or  cultural  barriers  to 
adoption. 

Integration with existing workflows and processes 

Arachne  is  designed  to  support  paying  agencies  in  their  management  verification 
processes,  as  outlined  in  Article  125  (4)  (c)  of  Regulation  (EU)  No  1303/2013  of  the 
European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council (11).  The  tool's  integration  with  existing 
workflows and processes is facilitated by the Commission services' provision of support 
and guidance to paying agencies. 

The tool's user manual and training materials are designed to help paying agencies integrate 
the tool into their existing workflows and processes. The Commission services also provide 
continuous support to facilitate the efficient use of the tool, including advice on how to 
integrate the tool into daily management verification processes. 

Organizational or cultural barriers to adoption 

Despite the tool's design and support available for integration with existing workflows and 
processes,  there  may  be  organizational  or  cultural  barriers  to  adoption.  For  example, 
paying agencies may need to adapt their existing workflows and processes to accommodate 
the tool's risk scoring approach. 

(10) European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) - Employment, Social Affairs & Inclusion - European Commission 

(11)  Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 
laying down common provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social 
Fund, the Cohesion Fund, the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the European 
Maritime  and  Fisheries  Fund  and  laying  down  general  provisions  on  the  European  Regional 
Development  Fund,  the  European  Social  Fund,  the  Cohesion  Fund  and  the  European  Maritime  and 
Fisheries Fund and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 (OJ L 347, 20.12.2013, p. 320) 

13 

 
  
  
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
Additionally, the tool's use may require changes to the organizational culture of the paying 
agencies, such as a greater emphasis on risk management and data-driven decision-making.  

Benefits of adoption 

Despite  the  potential  barriers  to  adoption,  Arachne  offers  several  benefits  to  paying 
agencies, including: 

–  Improved efficiency and effectiveness in management verification processes  

–  Enhanced risk management and data-driven decision-making  

–  Better compliance with EU regulations and requirements 

Overall,  Arachne  demonstrates  a  good  level  of  organizational  interoperability,  with  a 
design  and support that facilitate its integration with  existing  workflows and processes.  
However,  paying  agencies  may  need  to  address  organizational  or  cultural  barriers  to 
adoption,  and  invest  time  and  resources  in  training  and  capacity-building  to  ensure  the 
effective adoption and use of the tool. 

6.  FURTHER STEPS AND PERSPECTIVE 

6.1.  Further steps 

(1) 

(2) 

(3) 

(4) 

(5) 

Further exchange of practices between the paying agencies – Member States that 
started  using  Arachne  should  actively  share  their  experience  and  advise  how  to 
effectively use the tool. These exchanges can be done at the occasion of meetings 
of the expert groups organized by the Commission, via dedicated surveys but also 
in  the  framework  of  the  Learning  Network  of  paying  agencies  (subgroup  for 
antifraud and conflict of interest).  

Use of the tool by the certification bodies – The certification bodies should also be 
encouraged to use the tool to have consistency across the audit of the control and 
management systems. 

Automatic integration with the paying agencies databases – Member States and the 
Commission should reinforce resources for accomplishing automatization of data 
transfer  to  Arachne  from  national  databases  that  will  streamline  administrative 
processes and reduce the burden on Member States.   

Availability of complete and accurate data – Ensuring continuous updates of high 
quality, complete and accurate data is essential for Arachne's effectiveness, which 
depends  on  the  roll-out  of  Commission  Arachne  project.  Apart  from  the 
Commission  continuous  efforts  in  further  developing  the  tool,  the  overall 
accomplishment of the project depends on the data upload by the Member States, 
which should gradually be provided by all of them.   

Adaptation of the tool to the EU Agricultural Funds - Along with more Member 
States using Arachne, the functionalities should progressively be tailored for EU 
Agricultural Funds as a response to the needs and feedback from Member States. 
This  includes  determining  the  risk  factors  most  relevant  to  the  EU  Agricultural 
Funds. Such further developments will have to be based on regular exchanges of 

14 

 
  
  
 
 
best  practices  through  the  continued  workshops  and  other  fora  organised  at  EU 
level or at the Member States’ request bilaterally.  

(6) 

(7) 

Technical  improvements  of  the  tool  –  Improvements  in  user  interface  and  user 
experience should be considered (like on-screen tutorials, tooltips, help sections, 
use of chatbot supported by AI) in the overall Commission Arachne project.  

Enhance further interoperability between Arachne and other data mining tools used 
at national level – Member States should actively engage in this development to 
profit  from  the  added  value  of  Arachne  that  allows  to  identify  cross-border 
connections as well as detect previous EU financing involved that may not be easily 
available via other data mining tools.  

The Commission is of the view that Member State authorities, mostly the paying agencies, 
can substantially improve their current risk analysis and fraud prevention procedures by 
adopting and systematically using Arachne. The outcome of the expert group meeting on 
20 September 2024 showed the possible  efficiency and  effectiveness of this tool in  the 
prevention and detection of irregularities and identification of the risk of fraud for CAP. 
However, its use could be expanded and improved. 

6.2.  Long-term perspective 

In  accordance  with  Article  36  (6)  and  Article  277  (5)  of  Regulation  (EU,  Euratom) 
2024/2509,  Member States  will have to  feed Arachne  with  data  - amongst  other on the 
CAP expenditure - as from the post-2027 programmes at the latest. The integrated use of 
Arachne as an essential tool in the management and control systems of the CAP at Member 
State  level,  for  enhancing  risk  management,  compliance  monitoring,  and  data-driven 
decision-making, is a logical and inevitable choice by the national administration in charge 
of the EU expenditure under the shared management EAGF and EAFRD. By leveraging 
Arachne, the authorities can automate the detection of potential risks, ensuring faster and 
more accurate assessments. Additionally, by using Arachne, the national authorities can 
gain access to diverse and large datasets. This could further mitigate the risk of fraudulent 
attempts in accessing to EU funds.  

In  view  of  the  joint  responsibilities  in  protecting  the  Union’s  financial  interests  the 
Commission  will  continue  to  collaborate  with  Member  State  authorities  to  reach  full  -
fledged use of Arachne. In that respect the implementation of the further steps identified 
in this report will be monitored and if necessary, will be further developed or revised during 
the overall roll-out of the Commission Arachne project.  

15