EN 11 12 2019 Official Journal of the European Union C 417/159 Legality and regularity of the transactions underlying the accounts Revenue Opinion on the legality and regularity of revenue underlying the accounts 3 30 5 In our opinion, revenue underlying the accounts for the year ended 31 December 2018 is legal and regular in all material respects Payments Opinion on the legality and regularity of payments underlying the accounts 3 30 6 In our opinion, payments underlying the accounts for the year ended 31 December 2018 are legal and regular in all material respects Emphasis of matter regarding the legality and regularity of payments underlying the accounts 3 30 7 In 2018, the Agency managed financing agreements with cooperating countries for operational activities amounting to 171 million euros (189 million euros in 2017), representing 59 % of the AgencyŐs budget This year was a transition year in several aspects The Agency launched a new simplified financing scheme based largely on unit costs for expenditure related to deployments of human resources In late 2018, the Agency also introduced a new ex-post control system covering all types of expenditure, and modified its system of ex-ante checks embedded in the financial circuits The Court will assess the impact of these developments in coming audits However, the Court draws the attention to the fact that reimbursement of equipment-related expenditure (some 35 % of total expenditure for operational activities or some 60 million euros) is still based on actual cost A pilot project in 2018 to also move to unit cost-based reimbursements for this type of costs has, so far, been unsuccessful in its current form The Court has consistently reported since 2014 that proof of actual costs claimed by cooperating countries for equipment-related cost is often insufficient, which was again confirmed by this yearŐs audit results FrontexŐs ex ante verifications of these costs are ineffective as long as reimbursements of costs which are not substantiated by supporting documents are continued In addition, as in the previous year, Frontex did not carry out any ex post verifications on reimbursements, further increasing the risk of unjustified cost reimbursements (See paragraphs 3.30.9 to 3.30.11) 3 30 8 The observations which follow do not call the CourtŐs opinion into question OBSERVATIONS ON THE LEGALITY AND REGULARITY OF TRANSACTIONS 3 30 9 As in previous years we found that expenditure claimed by cooperating countries is not always supported by invoices or other evidence, but reimbursed nevertheless As an example, in 2018 the Agency financed support for the Armed Forces of Malta for the deployment of assets in Italy Before reimbursing the expenditure claimed by Malta, the Agency asked for evidence for one category of declared expenditure Although this was never provided, the Agency reimbursed some 100 000 euros 3 30 10 As another example, the Agency financed the deployment of one airplane and one vessel used by the State Border Guard of the Republic of Latvia The Agency asked for evidence for one category of declared expenditure for the vessel Although the evidence was never provided, the Agency reimbursed some 208 000 euros 3 30 11 In the above examples, the ex-ante verifications were, therefore, ineffective The Agency should, together with the cooperating countries, work further on the development of a simplified and transparent financing scheme that also covers equipment-related costs Until such a scheme is in place, Frontex should strengthen ex ante verifications and reintroduce ex post verifications to make sure that only substantiated costs are reimbursed 3 30 12 At the same time, the Court stresses that Frontex also depends on the cooperating countriesŐ cooperation for the financial management of the operations, and on the submission of reliable and complete evidence for any cost claimed for reimbursement 
(199) Správy o plnení rozpočtu pozostávajú zo správ, v ktorých sú zhrnuté všetky rozpočtové operácie a vysvetľujúce poznámky. SK 11 12 2019 Úradný vestník Európskej únie C 417/159 Zákonnosť a správnosť príslušných transakcií Príjmy Stanovisko k zákonnosti a správnosti príslušných príjmov 3.30.5.