Report on the closing report pursuant to Council Decision (EU) 2015/1889 on the dissolution of the Europol Pension Fund as of 1 January 2016, together with the Fund’s and Europol’s reply
Date: 2016-09-13
Institutions: European Court of Auditors
Subjects: Europol, administration of the Institutions, auditing, budgetary control, financial control, supplementary pension








C_2016449EN.01014801.xml










1.12.2016   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 449/148





REPORT
on the closing report pursuant to Council Decision (EU) 2015/1889 on the dissolution of the Europol Pension Fund as of 1 January 2016, together with the Fund’s and Europol’s reply
(2016/C 449/27)

INTRODUCTION









1.


The Europol Pension Fund (hereinafter ‘the Fund’, aka ‘EPF’), was established by Article 37, Appendix 6, of the former Staff Regulations of the European Police Office (‘Europol’). Rules on the implementation of the Fund were approved by Council Act of 12 March 1999 (1) and amended by Council Decision 2011/400/EU (2). The objective of the Fund was to finance and pay pensions for staff already employed by Europol before it became a European Agency on 1 January 2010. On 8 October 2015, the Council decided to dissolve the Fund as of 1 January 2016 and to transfer the residual activities to Europol (3). The management board of the Fund has prepared a report showing the Fund’s closing asset and liability situation (‘closing report’) (4).





INFORMATION IN SUPPORT OF THE STATEMENT OF ASSURANCE









2.


The audit approach taken by the Court comprises analytical audit procedures, direct testing of transactions and an assessment of the Fund’s internal controls. This is supplemented by evidence provided by the work of other auditors (5) and an analysis of management representations.










INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT









3.


Pursuant to Article 3 of Council Decision (EU) 2015/1889 of 8 October 2015 on the dissolution of the Europol Pension Fund, the Court has audited the Fund’s closing report as of 1 January 2016.






The management board’s responsibility










4.


The Fund’s management board is responsible for the preparation and fair presentation of the closing report (6). This includes designing, implementing and maintaining an internal control system relevant to the preparation and fair presentation of the closing report that is free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error; applying the accounting rules for the Fund as adopted by the Council (7) and making accounting estimates that are reasonable in the circumstances.






The auditor’s responsibility










5.


The Court’s responsibility is, on the basis of its audit, to provide the European Parliament and the Council (8) a report on the closing report. 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 closing report is free from material misstatement.












6.


The audit involves performing procedures to obtain audit evidence about the amounts and disclosures in the closing report. The procedures selected depend on the auditor’s judgement, which is based on an assessment of the risks of material misstatement of the amounts in the closing report 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 closing report. The audit also entails evaluating the appropriateness of accounting policies, the reasonableness of accounting estimates and the overall presentation of the amounts in the closing report.












7.


The Court considers that the audit evidence obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for its report.





Court’s Opinion









8.


In the Court’s opinion, the closing report presents fairly, in all material respects, the Fund’s financial position as at 1 January 2016 in accordance with the provisions of Council Decision (EU) 2015/1889 of 8 October 2015 and the accounting rules adopted by the Council.














9.


The comments which follow do not call the Court’s opinion into question.





OTHER COMMENTS









10.


The annexes to the closing report contain the amounts to be forwarded to Europol and those to be refunded to the Member States, the general budget of the European Union as well as the former active participants and their lawful heirs respectively (9). The annexes were audited by an independent external audit company. It concluded in its assurance report that they were prepared, in all material aspects, in accordance with the Council Decision.





This Report was adopted by Chamber IV, headed by Mr Baudilio TOMÉ MUGURUZA, Member of the Court of Auditors, in Luxembourg at its meeting of 13 September 2016.


For the Court of Auditors

Vítor Manuel da SILVA CALDEIRA

President





(1)  Document 5397/99 on the Council’s public register: http://register.consilium.europa.eu/

(2)  OJ L 179, 7.7.2011, p. 5.

(3)  Council Decision (EU) 2015/1889 of 8 October 2015 on the dissolution of the Europol Pension Fund (OJ L 276, 21.10.2015, p. 60).

(4)  Article 3 of Council Decision (EU) 2015/1889.

(5)  The closing report was audited by an independent external audit company.

(6)  See footnote 4.

(7)  In accordance with Council Act of 12 March 1999 adopting rules on the EPF and Council Decision of 28 June 2011 amending the latter, the accounts are prepared on the basis of The Netherlands accounting rules on Pension Funds, namely Directive 610 of the Dutch financial reporting rules, and on the international Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) issued by the International Accounting Standards Board.

(8)  See footnote 4.

(9)  Article 4 of Council Decision (EU) 2015/1889.


THE FUND’S AND EUROPOL’S REPLY
The Fund and Europol have taken note of the Court’s report regarding the closing report of the Fund.