Organisation of the Joint Managing Authority
Article 14
1. The Joint Managing Authority shall, normally, be a national, regional or local public sector body. The Joint Managing Authority may also be a body governed by private law with a public-service mission. This body must satisfy appropriate financial requirements and comply with the conditions provided for in Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 ( 3 ) , in particular Article 54 thereof, and Commission Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2342/2002 in particular Articles 38, 39 and 41 thereof ( 4 ) . 2. The participating countries shall entrust the Joint Managing Authority with the tasks involved in implementing the joint operational programme which have been entrusted to them as part of programme management. They shall be responsible, within the Joint Monitoring Committee, for checking that funds are used in accordance with the rules and principles governing programme management. 3. The functioning of the Joint Managing Authority may be financed from the Community contribution for technical assistance and from the co financing, in particular from the contributions in kind provided for in Article 19(3). 4. The accounts established by the Joint Managing Authority shall be subject to an annual ex post external audit carried out by an independent organisation as referred to in Article 31. 5. The organisation of the Joint Managing Authority shall be based on international best practice in management and internal control and shall draw on management and internal control systems suited to the carrying out of its tasks in such a way as to ensure that its operations comply with laws, other rules and the principle of sound financial management. In particular, operational management functions and financial management functions shall be organised separately within the Joint Managing Authority. The functions of authorising officer and accounting officer shall be separate and mutually incompatible. 6. The Joint Managing Authority shall have an internal audit service which shall be independent from the departments performing authorising-officer, accounting-officer and management functions. 7. The Joint Managing Authority shall put in place procedures to ensure that expenses declared under the programme are genuine and legitimate and shall establish reliable computerised accounting, monitoring and financial information systems. 8. The Joint Managing Authority shall in particular respect the conditions and payment deadlines for the grant agreements and procurement contracts that it signs with third parties. Using appropriate verification procedures, it shall ensure that the funds paid under grant agreements or procurement contracts are used only for the purposes for which they were granted. A general system shall be used for the management of accounts and the administrative and financial monitoring of grants and contracts (correspondence, follow-up letters or reminders, receipt of reports, etc.). 9. The Joint Managing Authority shall without delay notify the Commission and the Joint Monitoring Committee of any change in its procedures or its organisation, or any other circumstance likely to affect programme implementation. 10. The Joint Managing Authority, and the various beneficiaries, contractors and partners with which it signs contracts for the implementation of the projects, shall be subject to controls by the Commission, the European Court of Auditors and the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF).