General Reference

According to article 38 of Regulation (EC) 1260/99, the member - state bears the responsibility in the first degree for the financial control of projects co-funded by structural funds through a series of measures undertaken.

According to article 34 of the same Regulation, the Operational Programme's Managing Authority is responsible for the effective and abiding to the rules management and implementation of the operations - actions during the execution of projects. Here you can find information about the objectives of audits, their legal framework and their purpose.

Ι. The Aim of Audits

1. “The Assurance that community and national resources are used in a correct and effective manner, according to principles of good financial management”.

2. The prevention, detection and correction of financial fallouts from the discovery of discrepancies.

ΙΙ. Basis for Audits

1. Rules and regulations from National Law

Law 2860/2000 “Management, monitoring and control of CSF”
Clauses - rules of management and fiduciary character
Monitoring Committee Decisions for CSF III, O.P. "Education" II etc.

2. Rules and regulations from Community Law

European Union Regulations. Texts of Regulations in other Community languages can be found in the site of European Commission.

(Council Regulation) 1260/1999 (in Greek) about general clauses on structural funds
(Commission Regulation) 438/2001 (in Greek) for the enactment of detailed rules for the implementation of Council Directive (EC) 1260/1999 regarding management systems and control of Structural Fund intervention.
(Commission Regulation) 448/2001 (in Greek) for the enactment of detailed rules for the implementation of Council Directive (EC) 1260/1999 regarding the process of inducing financial corrections to interventions conducted in the framework of Structural Funds.

Decisions approving CSF III and O.P. "Education" II
Adjustments to themes of general community policy (Public Contracts, environment etc).

ΙΙΙ. Result of Controls

“The control of all projects’ natural, financial and accounting aspects; in the setting of their implementation as well as the headquarters of the authorities that have the original technical files and all expense documents in their possession”.

1. Monitoring the upholding of commitments that have been made and the credibility of the information provided by the Final Beneficiary.

Monitoring of Accounting data
Compatibility of management rules used by Final Beneficiary with community and national policy and regulations
Reliability of financial and statistical elements / upholding of obligations

2. Control of legality and normalcy of operations and procedures.

Legality of operations, observance of processes
Normalcy - eligibility of expenses
Legality - eligibility of expenses

3. Monitoring the observance of transparency disclosure and publicity regulations.

Diffusion of information to beneficiaries and the public
Measures for diffusion of information and publicity

Communication with beneficiary
Information and publicity material
Press articles
Via the Internet
Information meetings or events

IV. Form of Control and Authorities Responsible

1. On-site at all operations / projects

By the O.P. "Education" Managing Authority’s Control Unit

Preventive nature : In cooperation with O.P. "Education" Managing Authorities’ Units B’ responsible for monitoring of all projects, all preparatory stages are checked before project commencement so as to ensure that all required actions for the correct implementation of the project have been undertaken by the Final Beneficiary.
During the execution of an operation / project : On site inspections are conducted based on data from the Management Information System (MIS) at least once for every project. For low-budget, short-term CSF co-funded projects, inspections are conducted on all Final Beneficiaries and on projects through a sample system.
After the conclusion of an operation / project : Following the composition and submission of the “declaration of project finalization” by the Final Beneficiary, an on-site inspection is conducted focusing on the natural, financial and operational result of the project. The Control Unit draws up a “declaration of observance of obligations by the Final Beneficiary” which supplements the projects finalization (closing) report. For every on-site inspection a report is written and its findings are input into the MIS. The results of the report are forwarded to the Payment Authority, the Financial Control Committee of the Ministry of Finance and the Final Beneficiary.

2. On-site - sample inspections

Payment Authority - Ministry of Finance
Financial Control Committee - Ministry of Finance
European Union Authorities (Commission, Court of Auditors, etc.)