Article 87
United Kingdom
An external audit of the expenditure and revenue administered by the Agency shall be carried out following the end of each financial year.
Moreover, the Steering Board, on the basis of a proposal by the Chief Executive or a Member State, may at any time appoint external auditors, whose tasks and conditions of employment it shall determine.
With a view to external audits, a six-member college of auditors shall be established. Each year the Steering Board shall appoint two members for a non-renewable three years period, from candidates proposed by the Member States. The candidates must be members of a national audit body in a Member State and offer adequate guarantees of security and independence. They shall be available to carry out tasks on behalf of the Agency as needed. In carrying out these tasks:
the members of the college shall continue to be paid by their audit body of origin and shall only receive from the Agency reimbursement of their mission expenses on the same basis as provided for in the rules applicable to officials of the European Communities of an equivalent grade;
they shall neither request nor receive instructions other than from the Steering Board; within its audit mandate, the College of Auditors and its members shall be completely independent and solely responsible for the conduct of the external audit;
they shall only report on their task to the Steering Board;
they shall check that revenue and expenditure administered by the Agency has been implemented in conformity with the applicable legislation and the principles of sound financial management, that is in accordance with the principles of economy, effectiveness and efficiency.
Each year, the College of Auditors shall elect its chairman for the forthcoming financial year. It shall adopt the rules applicable to audits carried out by its members in accordance with the highest international standards. The College of Auditors shall approve the audit reports drawn up by its members before their transmission to the Chief Executive and to the Steering Board.
The persons responsible for auditing the Agency's revenue and expenditure shall, before carrying out their task, have received clearance for access to classified information up to at least ‘secret UE’ level held by the Council, or equivalent clearance from a Member State, as appropriate. Those persons shall ensure that they respect the confidentiality of the information and protect the data of which they acquire knowledge during their audit task, in accordance with the rules applicable to that information and data.
The persons responsible for auditing the Agency's revenue and expenditure shall have access without delay and without giving prior notice to the documents and to the contents of all data supports relating to that revenue and expenditure, and to the premises where those documents and supports are kept. They may make copies. The persons involved in implementing the Agency's revenue and expenditure shall give the Chief Executive and the persons responsible for the audit of that expenditure the necessary assistance in performing their task. The cost of the audits carried out by auditors shall be charged to the Agency's general budget.