Joint information on the results of transboundary movement of waste between Ukraine, the Republic of Slovakia and the Republic of Poland, 2004 - 2007, in the light of the Basel Convention

Report ID: 342

In  2007, the Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) of Poland, Ukraine and Slovakia carried out a cooperative audit on transboundary movement of waste between their countries. The audit was aimed to evaluate the degree of implementation by Ukraine, the Slovak Republic and the Republic of Poland of the provisions of the Basel Convention,  relevant regulation of the European Union and National Legislation in particular:

• Regularity of delivering the decisions permitting for transboundary movement of wastes and regularity and effectiveness of checks in this field.
• Regularity and effectiveness of control activities aiming at detection of incidents of illegal transboundary movements of waste.

The audit was a common initiative of the Supreme  Audit Institutions of  Poland, Slovakia and Ukreine within the framework of the activities of EUROSAI environmental working group. The audit  was launched on the basis of cooperative agreement among the three SAIs.

Source: http://old.ac-rada.gov.ua/img/files/auditukrsl.pdf

Joint Report on the Results of Parallel Audits of Excise Duty Administration in the Slovak Republic and in the Czech Republic

Report ID: 344

Legislation in the Czech Republic and in Slovakia on excise duty and its administration complies with EU legislation and exceeds EU requirements substantially. Differences have been discovered between Slovak and Czech excise duty regulations: in the Czech Republic, verification of the economic stability of applicants for permits and mandatory labelling and dyeing of several mineral and some other oils contribute to effective excise duty administration; in Slovakia, the distribution of excise stamps is simpler than in the Czech Republic and less of a burden on excise duty administrators. In the fight against excise duty evasion, supervising the movement of raw tobacco or tobacco materials, the implementation of the institute of a transport fuel distributor, and keeping a registry of merchants of consumer packaged alcohol appear to be a good practice in the fight against excise duty evasion. Excise duty revenues in the Czech Republic and in Slovakia grow more slowly than other tax revenues

In August 2015, The Supreme Audit Institutions of  Czech Republic and Slovakia agreed to conduct parallel audits aimed primarily at excise duty administration an signed an Agreement for this purpose. The topic of the parallel audits was chosen because both EU Member States follow common European legislation on this matter, thereby providing an opportunity to ascertain how European legislation is applied on a national level, how the excise duty administration system is set up, and how the system in Slovakia and the system in the Czech Republic differ.

The audit questions on which the parallel audits were based were agreed jointly. The parallel audits aimed to compare the performance of the excise duty administrators while taking into account qualitative and quantitative indicators and identifying weaknesses in the excise duty administration process. Answers to the following audit questions in particular should have been sought:

- Have excise duty administrators in the Czech Republic and Slovakia been attaining comparable values of qualitative indicators while incurring comparable costs?

- Has implementation of the EMCS1 resulted in more effective excise duty administration and has been spending on its implementation effective?

- The joint final report on the audit results was drawn up in accordance with ISSAI 300 - Fundamental Principles of Performance Auditing

Source: https://www.nku.cz/assets/publikace-a-dokumenty/ostatni-publikace/spolecna-zprava-kontrola-spotrebni-dane-cr-sr_en_1.pdf

Public Procurement in Western Balkans Synthesis Report on the Parallel Performance Audit

Report ID: 392

The Joint Working Group on Audit Activities (JWGAA) was established in 2002 with a mandate to contribute to maintaining the working links and cooperation between the SAIs in the Contact Committee and the Presidents’ Network (candidate and potential candidate countries). The main goal of the group’s activities is to facilitate cooperation between the current and future member SAIs, to provide support and to help exchange experience in the process of institutional development, transition and negotiation on EU accession Chapter 32 (the ability to assume the obligations of membership in the area of financial control).

The Parallel Performance Audit (PPA) project under the umbrella of the JWGAA was initiated in 2014 (as PPA 1), when the member SAIs received training and coaching on performance audit practice. Based on experiences from this pilot project, a PPA 2 project was launched in 2016, to conduct a PPA of Public Procurement, an area generally susceptible to fraud and corruption, and as such, it is often the focus of attention from the general public.

From April 2016 to September 2017, the SAIs of Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo*, Montenegro and Serbia, supported by the ECA and the Swedish National Audit Office (SNAO), which co-chairs the JWGAA, conducted a parallel audit aimed to identify system problems related to public procurement, and suggesting possible ways in which these problems can be tackled by their respective governments.

The audit environment of the six SAIs is characterized by a common historical heritage and a similar bureaucratic culture, a transition process, and ongoing reforms on the way to EU integration. The report presents a synthesis of general findings and conclusions from the parallel audit as well as how this cooperation process was developed.

Source: http://www.dri.co.me/1/doc/Synthesis%20Report%20on%20the%20parallel%20performance%20audit%20of%20public%20procurament%20in%20Western%20Balkans.pdf