Article 9 Audit Trail
United Kingdom
Member States' management and control systems shall provide an adequate audit trail.
An audit trail shall be considered sufficient where it permits:
reconciliation of certified declarations of expenditure submitted to the Commission with the individual expenditure records and supporting documents kept at the various administrative levels of the Responsible Authority and any Delegated Authority, and by the final beneficiaries;
and
verification of the allocation and transfers of the Community funding granted under the Fund as well as of sources of co-financing of the project.
The Responsible Authority shall introduce procedures to ensure that a record is kept of the location of all documents relating to particular payments made under the European Refugee Fund, and that the documents can be produced for inspection if requested by:
the Control Authority;
the Certifying Authority;
the officials and authorised representatives of the Commission, including the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), and the European Court of Auditors.
For a period of five years following the payment by the Commission of the final balance in respect of each annual programme, the Responsible Authority shall keep available for the Commission, the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and the European Court of Auditors all the supporting documents, i.e. the originals or versions certified to be in conformity with the originals on commonly accepted data carriers, regarding expenditure and checks on the project concerned. This period shall be interrupted in the case of legal proceedings or at the duly motivated request of the Commission.