13.12.2013   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 365/180

1.

The Europol Pension Fund (hereinafter ‘the Fund’, aka ‘EPF’), which is located in The Hague, was established by Article 37, Appendix 6, of the former Staff Regulations of the European Police Office, The Hague (Europol). Rules on the implementation of the Fund were established by Council Act of 12 March 1999 (1) and amended by Council Decision 2011/400/EU (2). The objective of the Fund is to finance and pay pensions for staff already employed by Europol before it became an European Agency on 1 January 2010.

2.

The audit approach taken by the Court comprises analytical audit procedures, direct testing of transactions and an assessment of the Fund’s internal controls. This is supplemented by evidence provided by the work of other auditors (where relevant) and an analysis of management representations.

3.

Pursuant to the provisions of Article 287 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), the Court has audited:

4.

In accordance with Articles 33 and 43 of Commission Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2343/2002 (4), the management is responsible for the preparation and fair presentation of the annual accounts of the Fund and the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions:

5.

The Court’s responsibility is, on the basis of its audit, to provide the European Parliament and the Council (6) with a statement of assurance as to the reliability of the annual accounts and the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions. The Court conducts its audit in accordance with the IFAC International Standards on Auditing and Codes of Ethics and the INTOSAI International Standards of Supreme Audit Institutions. These standards require the Court to plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance as to whether the annual accounts of the Fund are free from material misstatement and the transactions underlying them are legal and regular.

6.

The audit involves performing procedures to obtain audit evidence about the amounts and disclosures in the accounts and the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions. The procedures selected depend on the auditor’s judgement, which is based on an assessment of the risks of material misstatement of the accounts and material non-compliance by the underlying transactions with the requirements in the legal framework of the European Union, whether due to fraud or error. In assessing these risks, the auditor considers any internal controls relevant to the preparation and fair presentation of the accounts, as well as the supervisory and control systems that are implemented to ensure the legality and regularity of underlying transactions, and designs audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances. The audit also entails evaluating the appropriateness of accounting policies, the reasonableness of accounting estimates and the overall presentation of the accounts.

7.

The Court considers that the audit evidence obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for its statement of assurance.

8.

In the Court’s opinion, the Fund’s annual accounts present fairly, in all material respects, its financial position as at 31 December 2012 and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended, in accordance with the provisions of its Financial Regulation and the accounting rules adopted by the Council.

9.

In the Court’s opinion, the transactions underlying the annual accounts for the year ended 31 December 2012 are legal and regular in all material respects.

10.

The Court draws attention to Notes 2.6 and 2.7 to the Fund’s Annual Report 2012. The Fund’s Management Board prepared the accounts on a going concern basis. However, it is expected that 2013 will lead to a settlement of most of the currently still unpaid pension rights via a transfer to another pension scheme and that by 31 December 2014 there will be no active participants. The Fund’s Board and Europol’s Management Board together with the Council are currently assessing options for the future of the Fund, one of which is liquidation shortly after 31 December 2014.

11.

The comments which follow do not call the Court’s opinions into question.

12.

The Europol Staff Regulations set the capitalisation of pension contributions paid by officials at an annual rate of 3,5 %. Since contributions are made monthly and can be different from one month to another, the use of an annual rate is incorrect and a monthly rate should be applied. However, there is no material effect on the annual accounts.

13.

An overview of the corrective actions taken in response to the Court's previous year's comments is provided in Annex.