The function of the First Level Controller is governed by the following legal acts:
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Article 16 of the Regulation (EC) No 1080/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 July 2006 on the European Regional Development Fund and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1783/1999 (OJ. EU L 210 of 31.7.2006).
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Council Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 of 11 July 2006 laying down general provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund and the Cohesion Fund and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999 (Article 58 establishes the general principles of the management and control systems, Article 59 lists all institutions responsible for implementation of obligations within the scope of control, Article 60 sets out the functions of Managing Authorities, including (a) and (b) within the scope of control, and Article 70 obliges Member States to set up management and control systems in line with Article 58-62 of the Regulation).
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Commission Regulation (EC) No 1828/2006 of 8 December 2006 setting out rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 laying down general provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund and the Cohesion Fund and of Regulation (EC) No 1080/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the European Regional Development Fund (Article 12 requires to formalise the delegation by MA the tasks to an Intermediate Body, Article 13 establishes MA obligations within the field of implementing the regulations set out in Article 60 of the Council Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006).
Moreover a Voivode carries out control, in particular, in line with:
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European Cross-Border Cooperation Operational Programme,
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Programme Manual,
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Agreement on appointing the Voivode as the controller, referred to in Article 16 of the Regulation (EC) No 1080/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 July 2006 on the European Regional Development Fund and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1783/1999,
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National guidelines on eligibility of expenditure under Structural Funds and Cohesion Fund in the programming period 2007-2013,
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Guidelines of the Minister of Regional Development on eligibility of expenditure and projects under the cross-border cooperation programmes under the European Territorial Cooperation to be implemented by Poland in the period 2007-2013,
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Guidelines of the Minister of Regional Development within the scope of 1st level control for cross-border cooperation programme,
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Guidelines of the Minister of Regional Development on informing about irregularities for entities engaged in the implementation of the ETC programmes,
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Act of 29 January 2004 Public Procurement Law (Dz.U.2007 No 223 item1655 as amended),
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Act of 30 June 2005 on Public Finance (Dz. U. of 2005 r. No 249, item 2104 as amended),
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Act of 6 December 2006 on the Principles of the Development Policy Making (Dz. U. of 2006, No 227, item 1658 as amended).
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Act on 29 September 1994 on Accounting (Dz. U. of 2002 No 76 item 694 as amended),
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Act of 26 July 1991 on Income Tax on Natural Persons (Dz. U. 2000 No 14, item 176 as amended),
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Act of 11 March 2004 on Goods and Services Tax (Dz. U. of 2004 No 54, item 535, as amended),
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Guidelines of the Minister of Regional Development on rules of procedure in case of identifying irregularities as regards the use of the Structural Funds and Cohesion Fund within the programming period 2007-2013.
Tasks
On the basis of the concluded agreement the Voivode, acting as the 1st level controller, is entrusted the following tasks:
1. as regards carrying out the control process:
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performing documentation inspections in the seat of the Voivode and in the form of on-the-spot checks of project implementation within the scope of verification of supplying the goods and services which are the object of co-financing in line with the rules established in the Community and national law regulations, the Operational Programme, Programme Manual and Control Guidelines,
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confirming the eligibility and justifiability of expenditure declared for measures or their parts implemented by the Beneficiaries from the territory of Poland, as well as compliance of such expenditure and measures related to them, in whole or in part, with Community and national legislation,
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developing follow-up information from on-the-spot checks of the project implementation and formulation of possible follow-up recommendations,
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issuing a 1st level control certificate for Beneficiaries from the Voivode field of operation,
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carrying out monitoring on-the-spot checks of project implementation,
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developing the annual plans for on-the-spot checks of project implementation and annual comparisons of the carried out on-the-spot checks of project implementation,
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providing to the Beneficiary the information related to the performed control, within the scope available to the Beneficiary,
2. as regards cooperation with MA:
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informing the Managing Authority on all cases of identified irregularities according to the Guidelines on reporting irregularities, as well as providing to the Managing Authority information necessary for statistics, financial monitoring and research on Programme efficiency,
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preparing for the Beneficiaries guidelines concerning the rules of settling expenditure under the projects based on requirements set out by the MA and in cooperation with other controllers acting on the basis of Article 16 of the Regulation 1080/2006 within the frameworks of the Programme,
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cooperation as regards organisation of trainings for Beneficiaries on 1st level control, which will concern settling the project within the scope of 1st level control,
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issuing opinions on changes in the documents, which concern the whole project or its part, on the request of the Managing Authority,
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as regards delivery of its obligations related to:
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developing, coordinating and up-dating financial control procedures,
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developing and up-dating programme documents and national guidelines.
3. as regards cooperation with JTS:
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developing a summary from the performed on-the-spot checks immediately after obtaining the final follow-up information and forwarding the summary to the JTS,
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cooperation as regards organisation of trainings for Beneficiaries on 1st level control, which will concern settling the project within the scope of 1st level control,
4. as regards ensuring personnel, technical and organisational conditions to carry out obligations:
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ensuring relevant organisational structure, with tasks division between work posts engaged in the system implementation,
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preparing descriptions of work posts,
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drawing up and applying own Implementing Instructions developed in line with the Managing Authority Guidelines.
5. as regards being subject to control:
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submission to compliance audit carried out by Audit Authority according to Article 71 of the Council Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 of 11 July 2006,
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submission to control within the scope of correct implementation of its obligations set out in the Agreement, which shall be performed by:
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the Managing Authority or an authorised entity acting on its behalf,
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the Audit Authority or an authorised entity acting on its behalf,
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the Certifying Authority or an authorised entity acting on its behalf,
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Other entities authorise to carry out control.
6. as regards other obligations following from the agreement concluded with the MA, etc.
First Level Control in the INTERREG IVC Programme, Central Europe Programme and Baltic Sea Region Programme
The controllers’ task is to verify if the expenditure declared by the Lead Partner/Partner in each of the reports comply with the following rules:
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the incurred expenditure is eligible,
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the conditions set by the programme, the approved applications and co-financing agreements are observed,
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invoices and payments are properly registered and correctly documented,
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if the measures were actually performed and if the contracted goods and services were provided,
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if Community regulations were respected, in particular rules in respect to: information, publication, public procurement, equal opportunities and environmental protection.
Controller is responsible for selection of control methods and techniques pursuant to international and national audit standards. Controllers must be familiar with the content of the following documents in order to ensure the possibility to confirm compliance with the provisions included in them:
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EU regulations and directives, and in particular:
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Regulation (EC) 1080/2006
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Regulation (EC) 1083/2006
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Regulation (EC) 1828/2006
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Directive (EC) 2004/18/EC (on public procurement)
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further national regulations and guidelines (e.g. public procurement law),
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Programme Manual,
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Co-financing Agreement,
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Partnership Agreement.
The controllers must consider the fact that when signing the control report for a given reporting period they approve the total amount of eligible expenditure. In order to be sure that everything is all right, the controllers should check 100% of expenditure. Only in especially justified cases it is allowed to control only expenditure sample, but provided that the method, selection and results are fully documented and they provide relevant evidence to certify the total amount of expenditure.
The controllers must also check if the declared measures were actually performed, the ordered goods, works and services were really supplied or are in the course of implementation. Hence, on-the-spot checks are required, which will make it possible to gather sufficient evidence and they will enable to form an opinion on a given issue.
Two possibilities of 1st level control are available to the Polish partners of the Programme:
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All Polish partners of the INTERREG IVC projects under the centralised system can use the possibility for their expenditure to be controlled and certified by the Implementing Authority for European Programmes:
Implementing Authority for European Programmes
Wspolna 2/4, IV Floor
00-926 Warsaw
Phone: +48 22 461 87 39, +48 22 461 86 58
Fax: +48 22 461 87 22
Contact person:
Ms. Sylwia Tyszko
Phone: + 48 22 461 88 04
e-mail:
sylwia.tyszko@wwpe.gov.pl
These operations are performed free of charge.
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The partners form Marshalls’ Offices, Voivodeships, Ministries and other central bodies can choose the decentralised system and designate their own independent internal controllers. Such proposals should be submitted to:
Ministry of Regional Development
Territorial Cooperation Department
Wspólna 2/4
00-926 Warsaw
Contact Person:
Marcin Łata
Phone: +48 22 501 51 05
Fax: +48 22 501 51 56
e-mail: (secretariat)
dwt@mrr.gov.pl