5.10.2022
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
L 258/299
Prevention and management of conflicts of interest and transparency 14.
Acknowledges the Institute’s existing measures and ongoing efforts to secure transparency, prevention and management of conflicts of interest, and to ensure the protection of whistleblowers; notes that the Institute published the declarations of conflicts of interest and CVs of its governing board and senior management on its website;
15.
Notes that the Institute reported on one whistleblowing case in 2019 and that the internal rules were applied; notes that the Institute’s whistleblower policy is not yet aligned with the Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council (2); calls on the Institute to ensure full alignment when the policy is next revised;
16.
Notes, with respect to the follow-up of the 2019 discharge, that in 2020 the Institute initiated the process of reviewing the application of the good governance principles (‘GGP’) by the Institute’s KICs;
Internal control 17.
Notes that, according to the Institute’s internal audit capability report, out of 69 recommendations in the scope of the follow-up audit, 28 open recommendations have been closed, seven open recommendations have been downgraded, and one open recommendation concerning IT access management following the 2016 IT Audit has been upgraded to critical; calls on the Institute to consider this critical risk in its assessment of the internal control system as a potential weakness in principle 11;
18.
Notes that no major weaknesses were found in any of the Institute’s internal control system components that could jeopardise the achievement of operational, financial or control objectives and prevent the director from signing his declaration of assurance; notes, however, that some further improvements are needed, regarding principles 12 and 17 which fall under category 2, notably by reducing the delay in the planned pace of the open recommendations’ implementation and by decreasing communication time of the corrective measures taken in 2020;
COVID-19 response and business continuity 19.
Notes that the Institute’s governing board decided in May 2020 to mobilise EUR 60 million of unallocated Institute’s funds to further support students, entrepreneurs and innovators affected by the global spread of COVID-19; notes that the Institute’s crisis response initiative (CRI) supported new projects and ventures responding to the COVID-19 pandemic via the venture support instruments, which provided targeted support to high impact and growth potential ventures, scale-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises, and pandemic response projects, which generated and implemented short-term innovation response projects directly addressing the COVID-19 pandemic;
Other comments 20.
Welcomes the efforts taken by the Institute to continue improving its social media presence and its strategy for sustainable development in 2020;
21.
Notes the Institute’s implementation process for the general information security policy, including the information and communication technology aspects of cyber security; notes that the principal outcome of the guidance and implementation of this program so far is that the Institute has not reported any cyber-security incidents;
22.
Recalls the importance of increasing the digitalisation of the Institute in terms of internal operation and management but also in order to speed up the digitalisation of procedures; stresses the need for the Institute to continue to be proactive in this regard in order to avoid a digital gap between the agencies at all costs; draws attention, however, to the need to take all the necessary security measures to avoid any risk to the online security of the information processed; calls on the Institute to speed up the development of its cybersecurity policy and to inform the discharge authority once it has been completed;
(2) Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2019 on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law (OJ L 305, 26.11.2019, p. 17).