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Principles
ECA's legal right of access
[link new-window title="Article%20287%20of%20the%20TFEU" link="https%3A%2F%2Feur-lex.europa.eu%2Flegal-content%2FEN%2FTXT%2FPDF%2F%3Furi%3DCELEX%3A12012E%2FTXT%26from%3DEN%23page%3D124" icon="external-link" /]
grants the ECA right of access to any document or information it may need to perform its task.
Audit down to final beneficiary level
The same article gives the ECA the right to audit "on the spot in the other institutions of the Union, on the premises of any body, office or agency which manages revenue or expenditure on behalf of the Union and in the member states, including on the premises of any natural or legal person in receipt of payments from the budget." This allows the ECA to audit down to final beneficiary/recipient level.
Access to systems and procedures in member states
The ECA's systems-audit work in the member states may only include an assessment of systems and procedures for the management of the Union's revenue and expenditure. An audit of purely national procedures, financed solely from the national budget and not connected to the management of the Union's revenue and expenditure, is outside the ECA's mandate. However, the ECA is entitled to carry out information visits to the member states but only to the extent that such visits are necessary in order to ascertain how the Union is performing its role of managing Union revenue and expenditure.
Access to systems and procedures in non-member states
There is no clear legal basis for the ECA’s access to non-member state systems even where the EU funding regulation confers on the Commission the power to entrust experts with the task of “control activities", e.g. on-the-spot checks. Each policy regulation has to be studied individually. However, the ECA may legitimately ask the Commission to be present during such on-the-spot checks. Such participation should be subject to the agreement of the Commission.
Instructions
Potential complications in access
Any potential complications in access to documents and information needed to perform the audit task should be considered by the auditor during the planning (already when the audit task is initially conceived and proposed) and examination phase. Limitations in access to documents may also have impact on treatment of errors and an audit opinion in Statement of Assurance.
Duty of discretion
Staff of the European Union is required to exercise the greatest discretion with regard to facts and information coming into their knowledge in the course of or in connection with the performance of their duties. The extensive rights of access to information that are accorded to ECA mean that this duty of discretion is particularly important, especially as the information handled by staff can be of a sensitive nature or classified .
Resources
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[icon-list-item title="Tripartite%20agreement%20between%20the%20European%20Commission%2Cthe%20European%20Court%20of%20Auditors%2C%20and%20the%20European%20Investment%20Bank" link="https%3A%2F%2Fwww.eib.org%2Fen%2Fpublications%2Ftripartite-agreement.htm" icon="external-link" /]
[icon-list-item title="Tripartite%20agreement%20between%20the%20European%20Commission%2C%20the%20European%20Court%20of%20Auditors%20and%20European%20Investment%20Fund" link="https%3A%2F%2Fwww.eif.org%2Fnews_centre%2Fpublications%2Faccord-tripartite-2007.htm" icon="external-link" /]
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[rules]
[link new-window title="Art%20287%20TFEU" link="https%3A%2F%2Feur-lex.europa.eu%2Flegal-content%2FEN%2FTXT%2FPDF%2F%3Furi%3DCELEX%3A12012E%2FTXT%26from%3DEN%23page%3D124" /]
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[link new-window title="Art%2017%20Staff%20Regulations" link="https%3A%2F%2Feur-lex.europa.eu%2Flegal-content%2FEN%2FTXT%2F%3Furi%3DCELEX%3A01962R0031-20140501" /]
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