Adoption of joint operational programmes
Article 5
1. Each joint operational programme shall be submitted by the Joint Managing Authority to the Commission after the explicit agreement of all countries having participated in and contributed to the preparation of the programme. 2. The Commission shall examine the joint operational programme in order to verify that it contains all the elements referred to in Article 4, which shall involve in particular: (a) assessing its conformity with the strategy paper; (b) checking the quality of the analysis, its consistency with the proposed priorities and measures, and its consistency with the other bilateral and multilateral programmes ongoing or planned in the regions concerned by the programme; (c) verifying that the programme complies with the Community legislation applicable; (d) checking that any environmental impact assessment studies that may be required have been carried out or are planned before the proposed projects are implemented; (e) ensuring the consistency of the financial table for the programme, particularly with regard to the amounts to be committed by the Commission; (f) ensuring the management capacity of the Joint Managing Authority is commensurate with the volume, content and complexity of the operations planned under the programme. In particular, the Commission shall check that the Joint Managing Authority has sufficient properly qualified human resources fully dedicated to the programme, the requisite computerised management and accountancy tools and financial circuits that comply with the relevant Community legislation. These checks may be carried out through an ex ante on-the-spot audit, if considered necessary by the Commission; (g) ensuring that the Joint Managing Authority has planned for and set up satisfactory internal control and audit systems, based on international best practices. 3. Following the review of the joint operational programme, the Commission may ask the participating countries to provide additional information or, where necessary, to revise certain parts. 4. The adoption of each joint operational programme shall be taken as an ex ante accreditation by the Commission of the management and control structures set up by the Joint Managing Authority. 5. Each joint operational programme shall be adopted by a Commission decision for the whole of the programme's duration.