3.

A certificate on the financial statements of the action or the work programme and underlying accounts, produced by an approved external auditor or in case of public bodies, by a competent and independent public officer, may be demanded by the authorising officer responsible in support of any payment, on the basis of a risk assessment. The certificate shall be attached to the payment request. The certificate shall certify, in accordance with a methodology approved by the authorising officer responsible and on the basis of agreed-upon procedures compliant with international standards, that the costs declared by the beneficiary in the financial statements on which the payment request is based are real, accurately recorded and eligible in accordance with the grant agreement or decision. In specific and duly justified cases, the authorising officer responsible may request the certificate in the form of an opinion or other format in accordance with international standards. The certificate on the financial statements and underlying accounts shall be compulsory for interim payments and for payments of balances in the following cases: grants for an action for which the amount awarded in the form referred to in Article 123(1)(a) of the Financial Regulation is EUR 750000 or more, when the cumulative amounts of payment requests under that form is at least EUR 325000; operating grants for which the amount awarded in the form referred to in Article 123(1)(a) of the Financial Regulation is EUR 100000 or more. Depending on a risk assessment, the authorising officer responsible may also waive the obligation to provide such certificate on the financial statements and underlying accounts in the case of: public bodies and the international organisations referred to in Article 43; the beneficiaries of grants in connection with humanitarian aid, civil protection emergency operations and the management of crisis situations, save in respect of payments of balances; for payments of balances, beneficiaries of grants in connection with humanitarian aid who have signed a framework partnership agreement or have been notified a framework partnership decision, as referred to in Article 178, and who have in place a system of control offering equivalent guarantees for such payments; beneficiaries of multiple grants who have provided independent certification offering equivalent guarantees on the control systems and methodology used to prepare their claims. The authorising officer responsible may also waive the obligation to provide a certificate on the financial statements and underlying accounts where an audit has been or will be directly done by the Commission’s own staff or by a body authorised to do so on its behalf, which provides equivalent assurances about the costs declared. In the case of an agreement between the Commission and a number of beneficiaries, the thresholds referred to in points (a) and (b) of the third subparagraph shall apply to each beneficiary.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-11-04 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.