Article 44 Annual audit and discharge of the Agency budget

By 31 March following the end of the financial year, the Chief Executive shall submit to the College of Auditors, for examination and their opinion, a draft of the annual accounts of the Agency as referred to in Article 19.

By 30 June following the end of the financial year, the College of Auditors shall submit to the Chief Executive its annual audit report containing the opinion and observations of the College on the draft annual accounts referred to in paragraph 1.

By 15 July following the end of the financial year, the Chief Executive shall submit to the Steering Board the final audited annual accounts and the audit report accompanied by the Agency's replies.

By 30 October following the end of the financial year, the Steering Board shall approve the audited annual accounts and grant the discharge to the Chief Executive and the accounting officer for the financial year.

Once approved by the Steering Board, the audited annual accounts shall be notified in the Official Journal of the European Union.

All the accounts and inventories shall be retained by the Accounting officer for a period of five years from the date on which the corresponding discharge was granted.