Proposal for a Council Regulation amending the Financial Regulation and separating the internal audit function from the ex ante financial control function (Article 24, paragraph 5, of the Financial Regulation)
Date: 2000-05-30
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU institution, administrative reform, financial control, financial regulation

C 311 E/328

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

31.10.2000

Proposal for a Council Regulation amending the Financial Regulation and separating the internal
audit function from the ex ante financial control function (Article 24, paragraph 5, of the Financial
Regulation)

(2000/C 311 E/23)

COM(2000) 341 final (cid:151) 2000/0135(CNS)

(Submitted by the Commission on 31 May 2000)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community, and in particular Article 279 thereof,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Coal and
Steel Community, and in particular Article 78h thereof,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Atomic
Energy Community, and in particular Article 183 thereof,

Article 1

Paragraph 5 of Article 24 of the Financial Regulation shall be
replaced by the following:

(cid:145)Monitoring shall be carried out by that official by means
the files relating to expenditure and
of
revenue and, if necessary, on the spot.(cid:146)

inspection of

Article 2

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

An Article 24a is added:

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament,

(cid:145)Article 24a

Having regard to the opinion of the Court of Auditors,

Whereas:

(1) The accumulation of the internal audit function and the
control ex-ante by the Financial Controller under Article 24,
paragraph 5, second sentence of the Financial Regulation
may give rise to a dispersal of the two functions without
necessarily ensuring the right balance between the two.

(2) Pending the adoption of

the Financial Regulation,

the
function should be separated from the
internal audit
Financial Controller’s other functions as soon as possible.
The result of this would be that the Financial Controller
will continue to fulfil his present functions,
including ex
ante control, but not that of internal audit, which will be
the
performed by an Internal Auditor
Financial Controller.

independent of

function of

the institution shall be
The internal audit
performed by an Internal Auditor who is independent of
the Financial Controller. He shall be appointed in each
institution in the same way as the Financial Controller
in order to be able to exercise his duties, shall
and,
have access to the same information as the Financial
Controller and,
in order to maintain his independence,
shall be subject to the same rules and specific measures
as are applicable to the Financial Controller under
paragraphs 8 and 9 of Article 24.

The internal audit shall include an evaluation of the effec-
tiveness of
the management and control systems and
verification of the regularity of operations. These duties
shall be exercised in accordance with the implementing
rules provided for in Article 139.(cid:146)

Article 3

This Regulation shall enter into force on the seventh day
following its publication in the Official Journal of the European
Communities.

(3) The Internal Auditor will enjoy the same benefits and
prerogatives as those granted to the Financial Controller
in Article 24 of the Financial Regulation,

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly
applicable in all Member States.