Section 2

The authorising officer shall be responsible for implementing revenue and expenditure in accordance with the principle of sound financial management and for ensuring compliance with the requirements of legality and regularity. For the purposes of paragraph 1, the authorising officer shall, in accordance with the minimum standards adopted by the management board or, where the constituent act allows it, by the executive board on the basis of equivalent standards laid down by the Commission for its own departments and having due regard to the risks associated with the management environment and the nature of the action financed, put in place the organisational structure and the internal control systems suited to the performance of the duties of authorising officer. The establishment of such structure and systems shall be supported by a comprehensive risk analysis, which takes into account their cost-effectiveness. The authorising officer may establish within his or her departments an expertise and advice function to help him or her control the risks involved in his or her activities. To implement expenditure, the authorising officer shall make budgetary and legal commitments, shall validate expenditure and authorise payments and shall undertake the preliminary steps for the implementation of appropriations. Implementation of revenue shall comprise drawing up estimates of amounts receivable, establishing entitlements to be recovered and issuing recovery orders. It shall involve waiving established entitlements, where appropriate. The authorising officer shall conserve the supporting documents relating to operations carried out for a period of five years from the date of the decision granting discharge in respect of implementation of the budget of the Union body. Personal data contained in supporting documents shall be deleted where possible when those data are not necessary for budgetary discharge, control and audit purposes. In any event, as regards the conservation of traffic data, Article 37(2) of Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 shall apply. Each operation referred to in Article 44 shall be subject at least to an ex ante control based on a desk review of documents and on the available results of controls already carried out, relating to the operational and financial aspects of the operation. Ex ante controls shall comprise the initiation and the verification of an operation. Initiation of an operation shall be understood as all the operations which are preparatory to the adoption of the acts implementing the budget of the Union body by the authorising officers referred to in Articles 33 and 34. Ex ante verification of an operation shall be understood as all the ex ante checks put in place by the authorising officer in order to verify the operational and financial aspects. Ex ante controls shall verify the coherence among supporting documents requested and any other information available. The extent in terms of frequency and intensity of the ex ante controls shall be determined by the authorising officer responsible taking into account risk-based and cost-effectiveness considerations. In case of doubt, the authorising officer responsible for validating the relevant payment shall request complementary information or perform an on-the-spot control in order to obtain reasonable assurance as part of the ex ante control. The purpose of the ex ante controls shall be to ascertain that: the expenditure is in order and comply with the provisions applicable; the principle of sound financial management set out in Article 29 has been applied. For the purpose of controls, a series of similar individual transactions relating to routine expenditure on salaries, pensions, reimbursement of mission expenses and medical expenses may be considered by the authorising officer to constitute a single operation. For a given transaction, the verification shall be carried out by staff other than those who initiated the operation. The staff who carry out the verification shall not be subordinate to the members of staff who initiated the operation. The authorising officer may put in place ex post controls to verify operations already approved following ex ante controls. Such controls may be organised on a sample basis according to risk. The ex post controls may be carried out on the basis of documents and, where appropriate, on the spot. The ex post controls shall verify that operations financed by the budget of the Union body are correctly implemented and in particular that the criteria referred to in Article 45(4) are complied with. The outcomes of ex post controls shall be reviewed by the authorising officer at least annually to identify any potential systemic issues. The authorising officer shall take measures to address those issues. The risk analysis referred to in paragraph 1 shall be reviewed in the light of the results of controls and other relevant information. In case of multiannual programmes, the authorising officer shall establish a multiannual control strategy, specifying the nature and extent of controls over the period and the manner how the results are to be measured year-on-year for the annual assurance process. The ex ante controls shall be carried out by staff other than those responsible for the ex post controls. The staff responsible for the ex post controls shall not be subordinate to the members of staff responsible for the ex ante controls. Where the authorising officer implements financial audits of beneficiaries as ex-post controls, the related audit rules shall be clear, consistent and transparent, and shall respect the rights of both the Union body and the auditees. Staff responsible for controlling the management of financial operations referred to in paragraph 3 shall have the necessary professional skills. They shall respect a specific code of professional standards adopted by the Union body and based on standards laid down by the Commission for its own departments. The authorising officer shall report to the management board on the performance of his duties in a form of a consolidated annual activity report containing: information on: the implementation of the body’s annual work programme, budget and staff resources referred to in Article 38, management and internal control systems including the summary of number and type of internal audits carried out by the internal auditor, the internal audit capabilities, the recommendations made and the action taken on these recommendations and on the recommendations of previous years, as referred to in Articles 82 and 83, any observations of the Court of Auditors and the actions taken on these observations, the accounts and the report on budgetary and financial management without prejudice to Articles 92, 96 and 97; a declaration of the authorising officer stating whether he has a reasonable assurance that unless otherwise specified in any reservations related to defined areas of revenue and expenditure: the information contained in the report presents a true and fair view, the resources assigned to the activities described in the report have been used for their intended purpose and in accordance with the principle of sound financial management, the control procedures put in place give the necessary guarantees concerning the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions. The consolidated annual activity report shall indicate the results of the operations by reference to the objectives set, the risks associated with the operations, the use made of the resources provided and the efficiency and effectiveness of the internal control systems, including an overall assessment of the costs and benefits of controls. The consolidated annual report shall be submitted to the management board for the assessment. No later than 1 July each year the consolidated annual activity report together with its assessment shall be sent by the management board to the Court of Auditors, to the Commission, to the European Parliament and the Council. Additional reporting requirements may be provided in the constituent act in duly justified cases, in particular when it is required by the nature of the field in which the body operates. If a member of staff, involved in the financial management and control of transactions, considers that a decision he or she is required by his or her superior to apply or to agree to is irregular or contrary to the principles of sound financial management or the professional rules which that member of staff is required to observe, he or she shall inform the director in writing who shall reply in writing. If the director fails to take action or confirms the initial decision or instruction and the member of staff believes that such confirmation does not constitute a reasonable response to his or her concern, the member of staff shall inform the relevant panel referred to in Article 54(5) and the management board in writing. In the event of any illegal activity, fraud or corruption which may harm the interests of the Union, the member of staff shall inform the authorities and bodies designated by the applicable legislation. Contracts with external auditors carrying out audits of the financial management of the Union body shall provide for an obligation of the external auditor to inform the authorising officer of any suspected illegal activity, fraud or corruption which may harm the interests of the Union. Where powers of budget implementation are delegated or subdelegated in accordance with Article 40, Article 44(1), (2) and (3) shall apply mutatis mutandis to the authorising officers by delegation or subdelegation.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-11-01 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.