In April 2020, OLAF and the World Customs Organization (WCO) improved the sharing of information. Both anti-fraud bodies interconnected their databases with regard to tobacco smuggling. By linking the WCO’s Customs Enforcement Network (CEN) database and the Customs Information System (CIS+) managed by OLAF, customs administrations worldwide now have access to non-personal data on tobacco smuggling within 24 hours.

Data on tobacco seizures carried out within the EU are automatically transferred to the WCO’s database. The CEN assists customs enforcement authorities in gathering data and information for intelligence purposes. It is a central depository for enforcement-related information that helps define strategies, prepare risk indicators, and identify illicit trafficking trends.

The CIS assists EU Member States' administrative authorities in preventing, investigating, and prosecuting operations that are in breach of customs or agricultural legislation by making information available more rapidly and thereby increasing the effectiveness of cooperation and control procedures.

Interconnecting CEN and CIS is a further step in stepping up cooperation between the WCO and OLAF - under the motto “one seizure, one report.”