Council Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 (repealed)Dangos y teitl llawn

CHAPTER I U.K. Management and control systems

Article 58 U.K. General principles of the management and control systems

The management and control systems of operational programmes set up by Member States shall provide for:

(a)

the definition of the functions of the bodies concerned in management and control and the allocation of functions within each body;

(b)

compliance with the principle of separation of functions between and within such bodies;

(c)

procedures for ensuring the correctness and regularity of expenditure declared under the operational programme;

(d)

reliable accounting, monitoring and financial reporting systems in computerised form;

(e)

a system of reporting and monitoring where the responsible body entrusts the execution of tasks to another body;

(f)

arrangements for auditing the functioning of the systems;

(g)

systems and procedures to ensure an adequate audit trail;

(h)

reporting and monitoring procedures for irregularities and for the recovery of amounts unduly paid.

Article 59 U.K. Designation of authorities

1. For each operational programme the Member State shall designate the following:

(a) a managing authority: a national, regional or local public authority or a public or private body designated by the Member State to manage the operational programme;

(b) a certifying authority: a national, regional or local public authority or body designated by the Member State to certify statement of expenditure and applications for payment before they are sent to the Commission;

(c) an audit authority: a national, regional or local public authority or body, functionally independent of the managing authority and the certifying authority, designated by the Member State for each operational programme and responsible for verifying the effective functioning of the management and control system.

The same authority may be designated for more than one operational programme.

2. The Member State may designate one or more intermediate bodies to carry out some or all of the tasks of the managing or certifying authority under the responsibility of that authority.

3. The Member State shall lay down rules governing its relations with the authorities referred to in paragraph 1 and their relations with the Commission.

Without prejudice to this Regulation, the Member State shall lay down the mutual relations between the authorities referred to in paragraph 1, which shall carry out their tasks in full accordance with the institutional, legal and financial systems of the Member State concerned.

4. Subject to Article 58(b), some or all of the authorities referred to in paragraph 1 may be part of the same body.

5. Specific rules on management and control are laid down in the Regulation (EC) No 1080/2006 for operational programmes under the European territorial cooperation objective.

6. The Commission shall adopt implementing rules of Articles 60, 61 and 62 in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 103(3).

Article 60 U.K. Functions of the managing authority

The managing authority shall be responsible for managing and implementing the operational programme in accordance with the principle of sound financial management and in particular for:

(a)

ensuring that operations are selected for funding in accordance with the criteria applicable to the operational programme and that they comply with applicable Community and national rules for the whole of their implementation period;

(b)

verifying that the co-financed products and services are delivered and that the expenditure declared by the beneficiaries for operations has actually been incurred and complies with Community and national rules; verifications on-the-spot of individual operations may be carried out on a sample basis in accordance with the detailed rules to be adopted by the Commission in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 103(3);

(c)

ensuring that there is a system for recording and storing in computerised form accounting records for each operation under the operational programme and that the data on implementation necessary for financial management, monitoring, verifications, audits and evaluation are collected;

(d)

ensuring that beneficiaries and other bodies involved in the implementation of operations maintain either a separate accounting system or an adequate accounting code for all transactions relating to the operation without prejudice to national accounting rules;

(e)

ensuring that the evaluations of operational programmes referred to in Article 48(3) are carried out in accordance with Article 47;

(f)

setting up procedures to ensure that all documents regarding expenditure and audits required to ensure an adequate audit trail are held in accordance with the requirements of Article 90;

(g)

ensuring that the certifying authority receives all necessary information on the procedures and verifications carried out in relation to expenditure for the purpose of certification;

(h)

guiding the work of the monitoring committee and providing it with the documents required to permit the quality of the implementation of the operational programme to be monitored in the light of its specific goals;

(i)

drawing up and, after approval by the monitoring committee, submitting to the Commission the annual and final reports on implementation;

(j)

ensuring compliance with the information and publicity requirements laid down in Article 69;

(k)

providing the Commission with information to allow it to appraise major projects.

Article 61 U.K. Functions of the certifying authority

The certifying authority of an operational programme shall be responsible in particular for:

(a)

drawing up and submitting to the Commission certified statements of expenditure and applications for payment;

(b)

certifying that:

(i)

the statement of expenditure is accurate, results from reliable accounting systems and is based on verifiable supporting documents;

(ii)

the expenditure declared complies with applicable Community and national rules and has been incurred in respect of operations selected for funding in accordance with the criteria applicable to the programme and complying with Community and national rules;

(c)

ensuring for the purposes of certification that it has received adequate information from the managing authority on the procedures and verifications carried out in relation to expenditure included in statements of expenditure;

(d)

taking account for certification purposes of the results of all audits carried out by or under the responsibility of the audit authority;

(e)

maintaining accounting records in computerised form of expenditure declared to the Commission;

(f)

keeping an account of amounts recoverable and of amounts withdrawn following cancellation of all or part of the contribution for an operation. Amounts recovered shall be repaid to the general budget of the European Union prior to the closure of the operational programme by deducting them from the next statement of expenditure.

Article 62 U.K. Functions of the audit authority

1. The audit authority of an operational programme shall be responsible in particular for:

(a) ensuring that audits are carried out to verify the effective functioning of the management and control system of the operational programme;

(b) ensuring that audits are carried out on operations on the basis of an appropriate sample to verify expenditure declared;

(c) presenting to the Commission within nine months of the approval of the operational programme an audit strategy covering the bodies which will perform the audits referred to under points (a) and (b), the method to be used, the sampling method for audits on operations and the indicative planning of audits to ensure that the main bodies are audited and that audits are spread evenly throughout the programming period.

Where a common system applies to several operational programmes, a single audit strategy may be submitted.;

(d) by 31 December each year from 2008 to 2015:

(i)

submitting to the Commission an annual control report setting out the findings of the audits carried out during the previous 12 month-period ending on 30 June of the year concerned in accordance with the audit strategy of the operational programme and reporting any shortcomings found in the systems for the management and control of the programme. The first report to be submitted by 31 December 2008 shall cover the period from 1 January 2007 to 30 June 2008. The information concerning the audits carried out after 1 July 2015 shall be included in the final control report supporting the closure declaration referred to in point (e);

(ii)

issuing an opinion, on the basis of the controls and audits that have been carried out under its responsibility, as to whether the management and control system functions effectively, so as to provide a reasonable assurance that statements of expenditure presented to the Commission are correct and as a consequence reasonable assurance that the underlying transactions are legal and regular;

(iii)

submitting, where applicable under Article 88, a declaration for partial closure assessing the legality and regularity of the expenditure concerned.

When a common system applies to several operational programmes, the information referred to in point (i) may be grouped in a single report, and the opinion and declaration issued under points (ii) and (iii) may cover all the operational programmes concerned;

(e) submitting to the Commission at the latest by 31 March 2017 a closure declaration assessing the validity of the application for payment of the final balance and the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions covered by the final statement of expenditure, which shall be supported by a final control report.

2. The audit authority shall ensure that the audit work takes account of internationally accepted audit standards.

3. Where the audits and controls referred to in paragraph 1(a) and (b) are carried out by a body other than the audit authority, the audit authority shall ensure that such bodies have the necessary functional independence.

4. The Commission shall provide its comments on the audit strategy presented under paragraph 1(c) no later than three months from receipt thereof. In the absence of comments within this period it shall be considered to be accepted.