STATEMENT OF ASSURANCE 7. Pursuant to the provisions of Article 287 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), the Court has audited: (a) the annual accounts of the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking, which comprise the financial statements (6) and the reports on the implementation of the budget (7) for the financial year ended 31 December 2013; and (b) the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying those accounts. The management’s responsibility 8. In accordance with Articles 33 and 43 of Commission Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2343/2002 (8), the management is responsible for the preparation and fair presentation of the annual accounts of the Joint Undertaking and the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions. (a) The management’s responsibilities in respect of the Joint Undertaking’s annual accounts include designing, implementing and maintaining an internal control system relevant to the preparation and fair presentation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, selecting and applying appropriate accounting policies on the basis of the accounting rules adopted by the Commission’s accounting officer (9), and making accounting estimates that are reasonable in the circumstances. The Director approves the annual accounts of the Joint Undertaking after its accounting officer has prepared them on the basis of all available information and established a note to accompany the accounts in which he declares, inter alia, that he has reasonable assurance that they present a true and fair view of the financial position of the Joint Undertaking in all material respects. (b) The management’s responsibilities in respect of the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions and compliance with the principle of sound financial management consist of designing, implementing and maintaining an effective and efficient internal control system comprising adequate supervision and appropriate measures to prevent irregularities and fraud and, if necessary, legal proceedings to recover funds wrongly paid or used. The auditor’s responsibility 9. The Court’s responsibility is, on the basis of its audit, to provide the European Parliament and the Council (10) with a statement of assurance as to the reliability of the annual accounts and the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions. The Court conducts its audit in accordance with the IFAC International Standards on Auditing and Codes of Ethics and the INTOSAI International Standards of Supreme Audit Institutions. These standards require the Court to plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance as to whether the annual accounts of the Joint Undertaking are free from material misstatement and the underlying transactions are legal and regular. 10. The audit involves performing procedures to obtain audit evidence about the amounts and disclosures in the accounts and the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions. The procedures selected depend on the auditor’s judgement, which is based on an assessment of the risks of material misstatement of the accounts and material non-compliance by the underlying transactions with the requirements in the legal framework of the European Union, whether due to fraud or error. In assessing these risks, the auditor considers any internal controls relevant to the preparation and fair presentation of the accounts, as well as the supervisory and control systems that are implemented to ensure the legality and regularity of underlying transactions, and designs audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances. The audit also entails evaluating the appropriateness of accounting policies, the reasonableness of accounting estimates and the overall presentation of the accounts. 11. The Court considers that the audit evidence obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for its statement of assurance. Opinion on the reliability of the accounts 12. In the Court’s opinion, the Joint Undertaking’s annual accounts present fairly, in all material respects, its financial position as at 31 December 2013 and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended, in accordance with the provisions of its financial rules and the accounting rules adopted by the Commission’s accounting officer. Basis for a qualified opinion on the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying the accounts 13. The Joint Undertaking’s ex post audit strategy (11), adopted by a Governing Board decision on 25 November 2010 and modified on 20 February 2013, is a key tool (12) for assessing the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions. The payments made in 2013 relating to certificates of acceptance of costs issued by the national funding authorities of the Member States (NFAs) amounted to 11,7 million euro, or 57 % of the total operational payments. 14. Although the audit of project cost claims has been delegated to the NFAs, the administrative agreements signed with the NFAs do not include practical arrangements for ex post audits. 15. The Joint Undertaking received audit reports from the NFAs covering approximately 46 % of the costs related to completed projects. However, the Joint Undertaking did not assess the quality of these audits. Moreover, by the end of March 2014, the Joint Undertaking had not received information on the audit strategies of seven of the 23 NFAs. It was therefore not in a position to assess whether ex post audits provide sufficient assurance as to the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions (13). 16. The information available on the implementation of the Joint Undertaking’s ex post audit strategy is not sufficient for the Court to conclude whether this key control is functioning effectively. Qualified opinion on the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying the accounts 17. In the Court’s opinion, except for the possible effects of the matter described in the basis for a qualified opinion in paragraphs 13 to 16, the transactions underlying the annual accounts for the year ended 31 December 2013 are, in all material respects, legal and regular.