OLAF and partners boost cooperation against tobacco fraud

The European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), in cooperation with Finnish Customs, organised the Annual OLAF Tobacco Conference from 16-18 September 2025 in Helsinki, Finland. The event focused on the latest fraud trends and challenges in order to strengthen the fight against tobacco fraud.

OLAF cited tobacco smuggling and illicit production which remain a persistent and evolving threat and continue to pose a significant challenge worldwide, depriving public budgets of billions in tax revenue and undermining public health policies. This year’s discussions focused on new routes and emerging fraud schemes.

The growing popularity of vaping products, especially among young consumers, makes it an attractive market for fraudsters. Customs agencies across the globe face significant complexity on tackling this phenomenon and agreed on strengthening their cooperation, exchange intelligence and coordinate enforcement efforts.

The event brought together over 100 stakeholders from all EU Member States and key partner countries, including Australia, China, Egypt, Norway Türkiye, Ukraine and the United Kingdom. Europol and WCO also attended the event.

Salla Saastamoinen, Acting Director-General of OLAF, underlined: “Fraudsters constantly adapt to exploit new products and loopholes. Organised crime is attracted by the illicit gains that these traffics can bring. By working closely with customs and enforcement authorities worldwide, we can better protect citizens’ health, safeguard revenues and dismantle the illicit networks behind this trade, improving security in Europe.”

Samy Gardemeister, Director at Finnish Customs, added: “Customs needs to look at the entire supply chain regarding imports. In addition, in the Finnish case the port security is crucial. Non-compliant, illicit products are also produced in the EU. To counter that threat we need close cooperation with all parties and intelligence and information sharing, aided by new technologies.”

Illicit trade harms all legitimate retail channels, including duty-free, and our members have consistently stated their support for a zero-tolerance approach to smuggling, counterfeit and

all forms of illicit trade. The duty-free industry supports, and indeed has already implemented,

many of the initiatives in the Illicit Trade Protocol.

The duty- and tax-free industry operates under a highly regulated framework, with rigorous checks and technologies in place to ensure full traceability, compliance, and accountability at every stage of the supply chain.

The duty- and tax-free industry works closely with Customs and enforcement bodies around the world to ensure compliance, identify risks, and uphold system integrity.