Parallel Audit of Assurance of Epizootic Safety in the Republic of Poland, the Republic of Lithuania and the Slovak Republic after Accession to the Schengen Area

Report ID: 117

Once Lithuania, Poland and Slovakia entered the Schengen Area, their eastern borders became the external border of the European Union and, simultaneously, the first stage of the transfer of animals from the east to the Community. The three states are obliged to protect their borders properly also with regard to epizootic safety, defined as the prevention of and protection against hazards caused by infectious animal diseases transmissible to humans.

The national border protection system has been adapted to EU requirements in terms of legal and operational regulations for border services, including for preventing epizootic hazards from spreading across the EU. These responsibilities result from the EU Treaty and the Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement.

Since epizootic safety is an issue of high importance, in 2010 the NIK and the SAIs of Lithuania and Slovakia decided to check whether the borders of their countries were protected appropriately through a parallel audit. The audit was conducted between 1st April 2010 and 15th September 2010, and covered the period between 1st January 2007 and 31st December 2009.

The agreement to conduct such joint audit was made pursuant to the exchange of Letters of Intent among the heads of the three SAIs as well as previous bilateral agreements signed among them.

The audit topics covered included the following areas:

- whether national legislation had been adapted to EU regulations in the audited area,

 - whether the recommendations issued following the audit conducted by the Food and Veterinary Office, Directorate General of Health and Consumer Affairs (DG SANCO), European Commission had been implemented in national regulations, within the audited areas,

- whether the applicable procedures had been adapted to current epizootic risks and for the event of emergency situations, including those related to controlled, uncontrolled or illegal movement of animals from non-EU countries,

 - whether the institutions responsible for epizootic safety were able to cope with emergency on the local and national levels,

 - whether the epizootic safety system has been adapted to make information on epizootic hazard available to the public, on the national and local levels.

Source: https://www.nik.gov.pl/plik/id,2240,vp,2790.pdf

Multilateral Audit on the Arctic States’ national authorities’ work with the Arctic Council

Report ID: 262

The SAIs of  Denmark, Norway, the Russian Federation, Sweden, and the United States of America collaborated on a multilateral audit of national participation in the Arctic Council - an intergovernmental forum to promote cooperation on Arctic issues.

The multilateral audit, coordinated by SAI Norway and SAI Russia, was carried out in accordance with a strategic plan signed by the participating SAIs in October 2012 and was aimed to inform Arctic governance and enhance the usefulness of the Council in understanding and managing Arctic issues.

In addition to the national reports, the SAIs issued a memorandum  highlighting the results of a cooperative audit. The audits conducted by the five SAIs where they are similar in scope, and does not necessarily represent the views or conclusions of each SAI.

Key findings include the following:

• Changes in the Arctic have elevated the importance of international cooperation in the Arctic
• The Arctic Council has contributed to enhanced cooperation, governance and Scientific knowledge
• The Council faces key challenges related to its organizational structure, establishing priorities, funding its work, and ensuring the effective implementation of voluntary recommendations adopted by member states
• Indigenous groups make important contributions to the council, but face Challenges participating

Source: https://oaarchive.arctic-council.org/handle/11374/1527

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 Report on the Results of the Parallel Performance Audit – Prevention and Treatment of Tuberculosis 2021

Report ID: 383

Tuberculosis is one of the most dangerous and widespread infectious diseases worldwide.1 Ac­cording to the World Health Organization (WHO) data of 2018, about 10 million people worldwide were infected with tuberculosis, of which 1.5 million died. The fight against tuberculosis is a challenge for humanity. This disease mostly affects low-income vulnerable groups and increases inequality in society. Therefore, the fight against tuberculosis is one of the important components of the sustainable development goals.

Along with other United Nations countries, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Ukraine share the SDG objectives, includ­ing eradication of Tuberculosis by 2030 and considering, among others, that the prevalence of tuberculosis in these countries is still high compared to many European coun­tries and the significant potential for improvement, the SAIs of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Ukraine decided to carry out a cooperative audit on this topic. The framework for their cooperation was  the “Common position paper concern­ing the cooperation”, signed in Kyiv October, 2019.

The audit placed a particular emphasis on auditing government policies and measures to imple­ment the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 3- Health and Well-being, related with early detection and preventive measures of TB; as well as proper treatment of TB infected patients.

This international parallel audit was carried out as part of the activities of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), on behalf of the German Federal Ministry of Econom­ic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), supported via the EaPRF – Project “Strengthening the capacity of Supreme Audit Institutions (SAI) in the Eastern Partnership countries to monitor the achievement of Agenda 2030 objectives.” The project was aimed to strengthen the capacities of SAIs of the Eastern Partnership coun­tries in the application of International Standards of Supreme Audit Institutions (ISSAIs) for Per­formance Auditing and implement the parallel performance audit on Prevention and Treatment of Tuberculosis.

The project created opportunities for participants to share different experiences and practices through-out the audit process as well as offered blended (trainings, workshops, online conferences) learning formats for participant SAIs on performance audit practices.

Source: https://sao.ge/Uploads/2021/5/Joint%20Report%20on%20the%20Results%20of%20the%20Parallel%20Performance%20Audit%20Prevention%20and%20Treatment%20of%20Tuberculosis.pdf

The results of inspection of utilization effectiveness of state funds allocated for consequences elimination of emergencies

Report ID: 394

The tendency towards the increase of number of emergencies and events, which injure people, damage territories and yield losses to economies, has predetermined the urgency of the issue of providing anthropogenic and ecological safety for societies and territories. Underestimation of harmful factors, as well ass absence of timely compulsory measures is the reason for disastrous consequences, which could have been avoided. This means that health and lives of millions of humans depend on the way functioning of the state general system for prevention and response to disasters and catastrophes is ensured.

During the XIX INTOSAI Congress in Mexico City, the heads of the SAIs of Ukraine and Kazakhstan signed an agreement in order to continue bilateral collaboration that comprised an activity plan for 2008 – 2009. The plan stipulated that both SAIs shall conduct parallel inspections of planning, disbursement and utilization effectiveness of state budget funds, allocated for consequences elimination of emergencies, including anthropogenic disasters.

Among other, the results of inspection showed the inadequacy of communications, warning and information systems of authorized agencies in the area of prevention and consequences elimination of disasters and catastrophes, civil defense, being and important strategic objects of people protection.

Source: https://rp.gov.ua/upload-files/IntCooperation/IntAudits/RI_2008-2009.pdf