Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilShow full title

Article 259 Special reports of the Court of Auditors

1. The Court of Auditors shall transmit to the Union institution or the body concerned any observations which are, in its opinion, such that they should appear in a special report. Those observations shall remain confidential and shall be subject to an adversarial procedure.

The Union institution or the body concerned shall inform the Court of Auditors, in general, within six weeks of transmission of those observations, of any replies it wishes to make in relation to those observations. That period shall be suspended in duly justified cases, in particular where, during the adversarial procedure, it is necessary for the Union institution or body concerned to obtain feedback from Member States in order to finalise its reply.

The replies of the Union institution or the body concerned shall directly and exclusively address the observations of the Court of Auditors.

Upon request of the Court of Auditors or of the Union institution or body concerned, the replies may be examined by the European Parliament and by the Council after publication of the report.

The Court of Auditors shall ensure that special reports are drawn up and adopted within an appropriate period of time, which shall, in general, not exceed 13 months.

The special reports, together with the replies of the Union institutions or bodies concerned, shall be transmitted without delay to the European Parliament and to the Council, each of which shall decide, where appropriate in conjunction with the Commission, what action is to be taken in response.

The Court of Auditors shall take all necessary steps to ensure that the replies to its observations from each Union institution or body concerned as well as the timeline for the drawing up of the special report are published together with the special report.

2. The opinions referred to in the second subparagraph of Article 287(4) TFEU which do not relate to proposals or drafts covered by the legislative consultation procedure may be published by the Court of Auditors in the Official Journal of the European Union. The Court of Auditors shall take its decision on publication after consulting the Union institution which requested the opinion or which is concerned by it. Opinions published shall be accompanied by any remarks by the Union institutions concerned.