Article 24
Depending on the degree of decentralisation provided for in the ACP-EC Agreement, the Overseas Association Decision and the measures implementing that Decision, the Commission shall strive to encourage the beneficiary ACP States and the OCTs to adhere, when exercising the powers entrusted to them under the ACP-EC Agreement and under the Overseas Association Decision, to the principle of sound financial management set out in Article 11, in particular the progressive application of the following criteria: (a) transparent procurement and grant-awarded procedures, which are non-discriminatory and exclude any conflict of interests; (b) an effective and efficient internal control system for the management of operations, which includes effective segregation of the duties of authorising officer and accounting officer or of the equivalent functions; (c) an accounting system that enables the correct use of EDF resources to be verified and the use of funds to be reflected in the EDF accounts; (d) an independent external audit exercised by a national institution for independent external auditing; (e) in the case of the direct-labour operations referred to in Article 101(1), adequate provisions for the management and scrutiny of local imprest accounts and for the definition of the responsibilities of the local imprest manager and the local accounting officer. For the purposes of applying the first subparagraph, the Commission shall, in agreement with the beneficiary ACP States and OCTs, incorporate appropriate provisions in the financing agreements referred to in Article 70(3).