Appointment, powers and duties of the internal auditor
Article 28
1. The PPP body shall have an internal audit function which 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. 3. The internal auditor shall advise the PPP 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 budget implementation operation. 4. The internal auditor shall perform his or her duties in relation to all the PPP body's activities and departments. The internal auditor 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 referred to in Article 23 and of any other pieces of information identified. 6. The internal auditor shall report to the governing board and the director on his or her findings and recommendations. The PPP 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 the previous years. The governing board and the director shall ensure the regular monitoring of the implementation of audit recommendations. The governing board shall examine the information referred to in Article 23 and whether the recommendations have been fully and timely implemented. Each PPP body shall consider whether the recommendations made in the reports of its internal auditor are suitable for an exchange of best practices with other PPP bodies. 8. The PPP 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.