State funds management and performance of international obligations in hazardous wastes treatment (Basel Convention)

Report ID: 29

The Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic share a part of the state border. Both countries experience similar issues related to trans-boundary movements of hazardous wastes and their disposal, at present mainly illegal import of wastes from neighboring countries. The Supreme Audit Office, Czech Republic (SAO, CR) and the Supreme Audit Office of the Slovak Republic (SAO SR) agreed to carry out coordinated audits in order to learn about the performance of international obligations in the management of hazardous wastes, operation and scope of exchange of information among the signatories to the Basel Convention, a system of financing of measures aimed at improving the environment, and the level of international cooperation. The audits were performed in accordance with intentions of the work plan of the EUROSAI Working Group on Environmental Auditing for 2002-2005.

The joint Conclusions and Recommendations of the audit were:

• After customs controls were abolished at border crossings due to the accession to the EU, illegal import of wastes from neighboring countries increased both in the SR and CR. In this context, intra-state controls of trans-boundary transport of wastes became crucially important. However, this situation was not sufficiently reflected in valid legislation in a flexible manner.
• Pertinent state administration bodies (Slovak Environmental Inspectorate, Czech Environmental Inspectorate and customs bodies) lack sufficient powers to effectively prevent illegal transport of wastes.
• With regard to the existing low effectiveness of fines, which are in practice imposed at the lowest level of the penalty range, there is a need to increase not only the upper limit, but also the lowest limit of fines.
• Measures taken in waste management resulted neither in a decrease in the generation of hazardous wastes nor in an increase of their recovery and hence the amount of hazardous waste disposed of has not been reduced.
• Vague legal regulations on waste management, which allow ambiguous interpretation, their frequent amendments, complexity and belatedness result in their low effectiveness.

State Property and Financial Means Allocated to Cover the Work of the Refugee Facilities Administration of the Ministry of Interior

Report ID: 32

Following the split of Czechoslovakia in 1993, both the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic declared their position on the refugee issue by continuing to comply with the international documents they had signed up to; both states confirmed them by en shrining them in national legislation. Both countries have also enshrined the provision of asylum in their constitutions.

The asylum process and related matters came under scrutiny in parallel audits performed by the Supreme Audit Office, Czech Republic and the Supreme Audit Office of the Slovak Republic. The results of both are contained in the joint final report.

The purpose of the parallel audits was to identify common problems and to draw attention to the possible consequences for population migration.

The parallel audits covered the following areas:

• The asylum process.
• Refugee facilities,
• Management of finances and state property,
• The internal control system.

Report on the parallel audit on the Management and Control Systems for Assistance Granted under the Structural Funds

Report ID: 68

This was a parallel audit on the application of the Structural Funds regulations, to ensure that all Member States establish appropriate audit trails and implement independent checks on 5% of transactions. The results of the audit will be used by all current and prospective new Member States in developing their own management and control systems.

The main conclusions were:

• In most countries there is a sufficient audit trail as required by regulations, although some weaknesses in the audit trail were noted when examining individual projects, these were not usually systematic weaknesses, but individual project failings.
• The progress reporting of projects was felt to be relatively weak, focusing largely on financial monitoring without providing any link to the outputs and outcomes of the projects.
• In most countries the execution and reporting of the 5% checks complied with Commission Regulation 438/2001. Where this is not the case, the relevant authorities have taken steps in the right direction to ensure that the required checks will be carried out by the end of the programming period.
• The independence of the organizations that carry out the 5% sample checks was guaranteed in all programmes.
• The implementation of the 5% checks across all countries has been relatively slow and has often not been evenly spread over the period to date.
• The way the Structural Fund rules are formulated by the European Commission (Commission) leaves room for ambiguous or even contradictory interpretations.
• Furthermore, some Member States expressed concern about an increasing burden to implement the new provisions for the 2000 - 2006 Programme, with little opportunity to apply a risk-based approach, and associated resource costs that were out of proportion to the funding provided by the European Union.

Source: https://www.eca.europa.eu/sites/cc/Lists/CCDocuments/1959819/1959819_EN.PDFhttps://www.eca.europa.eu/sites/cc/Lists/CCDocuments/1959819/1959819_EN.PDF

PARALLEL AUDIT OF ROAD BORDER CHECK POINTS ON THE POLISH UKRANIAN BORDER

Report ID: 149

On July 2004, the SAIs of Poland and Ukraine signed a cooperation plan for years 2004-2005 that included the course of performed audits and the advancement of a parallel audit carried out on the Polish-Ukrainian border.

On the Polish – Ukranian border (around 530 km) there are six road border check points in Dorchusk (Yagodyn on the Ukranian side), Zosin ( Ustylug), Hrebenne (Rava-Rus”ka), Korczowa (Krakovets), Medyka (Shegin) and Kroscienko (Smi¨nytsya).

The SAIs of Poland and Ukraine carried out a parallel audit of road border check points on the Polish-Ukranian border on the basis of the audit programme developed by the Polish party. The Ukranian party adjusted the scope of the audit to the legal regulations and financial and organizational conditions of Ukraine.

The main objective of the audit was to assess the preparation of road border check points for appropriate border control. The audit covered the years 2000 – 2004( 1sta quarter). The two bodies conducted the audit with regard to the activities of competent institutions of the two countries in order to prepare road border check points for appropriate customs clearance.

Source: https://rp.gov.ua/upload-files/IntCooperation/IntAudits/31-07-2005%2009-00-00/Polish_Ukrainian_border.pdf

Control of structural funds (RiR 2004:29)

Report ID: 203

Under programperioden 2000–2006 gör EU-kommissionen en översyn av strukturfondernas regelverk. Flertalet av de nationella revisionsmyndigheterna inom EU har genomfört en samordnad granskning under 2003–2004 av kontrollen och styrningen av strukturfonderna. Sverige har valt att granska Växtkraft Mål 3 och Mål 2 Öarna. Denna rapport redovisar de viktigaste slutsatserna som Riksrevisionen dragit för svenskt vidkommande utifrån den gjorda granskningen.

Riksrevisionens slutsatser bygger på en bedömning av kontrollverksamheten vad gäller följsamheten till gällande regelverk samt visa effektivitetsaspekter. En slutsats är att kontrollverksamheten fungerar I förhållande till de regelverk som finns. Den granskade kontrollverksamheten fokuserar på följsamhet avseende lagstiftning och regelverk samt tillförlitligheten i projektens ekonomiska redovisningar. Däremot är den i dag inte utformad så att det är möjligt att fånga upp effektiviteten I förhållande till programmens konkreta mål.

Riksrevisionen bedömer också att de valda organisatoriska lösningarna är komplexa, vilket skapar en risk för såväl ineffektiva controller som dålig kostnadseffektivitet. Riksrevisionen vill även peka på behovet av att kontrollverksamheten och ansvarsfördelningen mellan ansvariga myndigheter läggs fast redan vid programperiodens början.

Riksrevisionen rekommenderar att regeringen införlivar dessa slutsatser i arbetet med att utforma den svenska förvaltningsorganisationen inför kommande programperiod.