Joint final report on findings concerning the implementation of provisions of the convention on the protection of the marine environment of the Baltic Sea area (the Helsinki Convention) 2001

Report ID: 42

In  2000, the SAIs of  Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Russian Federation and Sweden decided to carry out a parallel audit to assess the implementation of the provisions of the Helsinki Convention of 1992, previously encompassed by the 1974 Convention, related to the protection of the Baltic Sea against land-originating pollution.

The participating SAIs prepared a common Audit Programme signed in Stockholm in May 2000.

The audits were undertaken on the initiative of the Supreme Chamber of Control of the Republic of Poland, with consideration of the INTOSAI and EUROSAI guidelines on initiating and conducting international and regional audits of the implementation of tasks arising from provisions of international agreements related to environment protection.

In particular the SAIs examined:

• Whether national legislation takes into account the provisions of the Helsinki Convention related to the protection of the Baltic Sea against pollution,
• Whether control procedures and measures are in place in this respect,
• The use of public funds for the implementation of tasks related to the protection of the Baltic Sea waters,
• Audit of the non-point sources of pollution, mainly from agriculture,
• Audit of land-based point pollution sources, regarding mainly urban zones and municipal wastewater treatment plants.

The audits scope covered the period between 1996 and 1999. The audit was carried out during the second half of 2000 and the first quarter of 2001. The audit findings were presented in the second quarter of 2001 in the form of national reports. Summaries of these reports served as a basis for preparation of this Joint Final Report.

Summary of the parallel audit conducted by the Office of the Auditor General of Norway and the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation

Report ID: 284

Unregistered fishing and the illegal harvesting of fish in the Barents Sea and the Norwegian Sea, and the challenges these have set for the fishing authorities’ control work, have been central topics in the discussions of the Joint Norwegian-Russian Fisheries Commission in recent years.

The Office of the Auditor General (OAG) and the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation conducted a parallel audit of the management of fish resources in the Barents Sea and the Norwegian Sea from 2006 to 2007. The investigation was formally launched after an agreement of intent between the OAG and the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation was signed in January 2006.

The objective of the investigation has been to assess goal achievement and the efficiency and effectiveness of national follow-up and implementation of bilateral agreements between Russia and Norway and decisions taken by the Joint Norwegian-Russian Fisheries

The audit was performed in parallel in the sense that common general audit questions and audit criteria were defined and the same outline used for the reports. The two audit reports were written separately and on the basis of independent information. A major element in the parallel audit has been reciprocal learning, and emphasis has therefore been placed on detailed descriptions of the organisation and working methods of Norwegian fisheries management.

In the period January – April 2006, common goals, audit questions and general audit criteria were drawn up by means of a written dialogue between the parties. At the meeting in Moscow in May 2006, the parties arrived at common audit questions, and an agreement was signed in June 2006. The working parties met again in September in Norway to go through methodological approach and preliminary findings and to implement joint audit procedures.

In October 2006, the parties reached agreement on a common outline for the two reports. This chapter briefly presents the methods and analytical concepts that have been used to study the various audit questions (topics). The analysis rests largely on three types of source: official documents, statistical material and records of qualitative interviews. The contents of all interview records have been verified by the informants.

A joint memorandum was signed by the Auditors General of the two countries on 18 June 2007.

AFROSAI-e _Collaborative Audit for Integrating Environmental Risks in an Audit at Local Government

Report ID: 263

During the 2015,  AFROSAI-E Governing Board and Technical Update Meetings, the role of SAIs in addressing critical environmental challenges through their day-day audit activities was discussed. They decided to design a simplistic way to use SAIs’ existing financial and human resources to identify possible areas of improvement supported by solution-driven  planning towards environmental focus and decide to conduct an Environmental Risk Project.

The SAIs of South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Botswana, Sierra Leone, Rwanda and Tanzania decided to participate in the program, which comprised, among others, the development of an e-learning programme, in collaboration with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the execution of parallel audits and the development of a joint publication.

Find attached (in a merged file) the joint publication explaining the project methodology, as well as the  AUDIT REPORT ON MANAGEMENT OF SOLID WASTE IN HUYE DISTRICT – 2016 preparared by SAI Ruanda, as a result of the audit conducted in the framework of the Project.

Source: https://afrosai-e.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Integrating-Environmental-Audit-Risks-in-Audit-at-LG-level-Brochure1_00.pdf

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

Managing interventions in case of sudden pollution in the Adriatic sea – International Parallel Audit

Report ID: 391

From November 2019 until June 2021, the Supreme Audit Institutions of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Italy, Montenegro and Slovenia conducted an international parallel audit on managing interventions in case of sudden pollution in the Adriatic Sea.

As a result, the SAIs signed a Joint statement addressing the urgency to adopt measures aimed at strengthening prevention and management response systems in the case of marine pollution. The environmental risk requires cross-border cooperation for emergency management to be implemented through the adoption of a common emergency response plan for all the States bordering the Adriatic Sea and the organisation of joint exercise programs.

The document is a compendium of short summaries of individual audit reports published by contributing SAIs. Full audit reports and other materials of each individual SAI can be found by following the links provided after each short summary.

Source: https://www.rs-rs.si/en/public-media/news/news/meeting-of-heads-of-supreme-audit-institutions-in-trieste-to-sign-a-joint-statement/