Appointment and powers and duties of the internal auditor
Article 78
Open ↗1. The Union body shall have an internal auditing function that shall be performed in compliance with the relevant international standards. 2. The internal audit function shall be performed by the Commission's internal auditor. The internal auditor may be neither authorising officer nor accounting officer neither of the Union body nor of the Commission 3. The internal auditor shall advise the Union body on dealing with risks, by issuing independent opinions on the quality of management and control systems and by issuing recommendations for improving the conditions of implementation of operations and promoting sound financial management. The internal auditor shall be responsible, in particular, for: (a) assessing the suitability and effectiveness of internal management systems and the performance of departments in implementing programmes and actions by reference to the risks associated with them; (b) assessing the efficiency and effectiveness of the internal control and audit systems applicable to each operation for implementation of the budget of the Union body. 4. The internal auditor shall perform his or her duties in relation to all the Union body's activities and departments. He or she shall enjoy full and unlimited access to all information required to perform his or her duties, if necessary on the spot access, including in the Member States and in third countries. 5. The internal auditor shall take note of the consolidated annual activity report of the authorising officer and any other pieces of information identified. 6. The internal auditor shall report to the management board and the director of the Union body on his or her findings and recommendations. The Union body shall ensure that action is taken with regard to recommendations resulting from audits. 7. The internal auditor shall also report in any of the following cases: (a) critical risks and recommendations have not been addressed; (b) there are significant delays in the implementation of the recommendations made in previous years. The management board or, where the constituent act allows it, the executive board, and the director shall ensure regular monitoring of the implementation of audit recommendations. The management board or, where the constituent act allows it, the executive board shall examine the information referred to in Article 48(1)(a) and whether the recommendations have been fully and timely implemented. Each Union body shall consider whether the recommendations made in the reports of its internal auditor are suitable for an exchange of best practices with the other Union bodies. 8. The Union body shall make available the contact details of the internal auditor to any natural or legal person involved in expenditure operations, for the purposes of confidentially contacting the internal auditor. 9. The reports and findings of the internal auditor shall be accessible to the public only after validation by the internal auditor of the action taken for their implementation.