Chapter VI, Article 36 · Regulation (EU) 2024/792

Contents

Article 36Audit Board#

1.The Commission shall establish an Audit Board before the submission of the first payment request by Ukraine.

2.The Audit Board shall be composed of independent members appointed by the Commission. Representatives of Member States and other donors may be invited by the Commission to participate in the activities of the Audit Board. Other donors contributing to the Facility may be invited by the Commission to appoint observers to the Audit Board.

3.The Audit Board shall exercise its functions in complete objectivity and operate in compliance with best applicable international practices and standards. It shall act without prejudice to the powers of the Commission, OLAF, the European Court of Auditors and the EPPO.

4.The Audit Board shall ensure regular dialogue and cooperation with the European Court of Auditors, as well as with the Accounting Chamber of Ukraine and other institutions, as relevant.

5.In carrying out their duties, the Audit Board, its members and its staff shall neither seek nor take instructions from the Ukrainian government or any institution, body, office or agency. Strong guarantees of independence shall apply for the selection of its staff, management and budget.

6.The Audit Board shall assist the Commission in fighting mismanagement of Union funding under the Facility and, in particular fraud, corruption, conflicts of interest and irregularities incurred in relation to any amount spent to achieve the objectives of the Facility.

7.For that purpose, the Audit Board shall regularly report to the Commission, and transmit to the Commission without delay any information it obtains or is made aware of, on any identified cases of, or serious concerns in relation to, mismanagement of public funding incurred in relation with any amount spent to achieve the objectives of the Facility. The Commission shall keep the European Parliament and the Council informed in a timely manner of the findings and recommendations of the Audit Board.In addition, the Audit Board shall adopt recommendations to Ukraine on all cases where in its views competent Ukrainian authorities have not taken the necessary steps to prevent, detect and correct fraud, corruption, conflicts of interest and irregularities that have affected or seriously risk affecting the sound financial management of the expenditure financed under the Facility and in all cases where it identifies weaknesses affecting the design and functioning of the control system put in place by Ukrainian authorities. Ukraine shall implement such recommendations without undue delay, or provide a justification for why it has not done so.The reports of, and information from, the Audit Board shall also be sent to OLAF and may be shared with the relevant Ukrainian authorities, especially in cases where such authorities need to take steps to prevent, detect and correct fraud, corruption, conflicts of interest, irregularities or any other illegal activity affecting the financial interests of the Union, as well as to investigate and prosecute offences affecting the financial interests of the Union.

8.The Audit Board shall have access to the information, databases and registries required to carry out its tasks. The Framework Agreement shall define rules and details for the access to relevant information by the Audit Board and for the provision of relevant information by Ukraine to the Audit Board.

9.The functioning of the Audit Board shall be funded under Chapter V.