Errors still too high

IT difficulties persist

Jonathan Faull, the director-general for justice, freedom and security, is to become director-general for the internal market on 2 July. The department that he leaves behind will be split in two. 

Faull will also leave behind continuing problems with two information technology projects, the Schengen Information System (SIS II) and the Visa Information System, that will not be swiftly resolved. Faull has, as last year, had to enter reservations to his declaration of assurance on both counts. He stresses that the risk is more of risk to reputation than to the EU's finances, since there are safeguards in the contracts with those responsible for the IT development.

The activity report details difficulties with ‘milestone' tests carried out on SIS II in January 2010. Those tests were re-run in March. The results of the re-run tests were then discussed by home affairs ministers at their council meeting in April.

Faull has entered a new reservation about grants issued to non-governmental organisations in new member states, where audits found an error-rate exceeded the limits of acceptability.

Other annual reports

Agriculture
Spending on rural development, specifically improving the environment and the countryside, for the 2007-13 period. Error rate too high.
Serious deficiencies in the Integrated Administration and Control Systems in Bulgaria and Romania.
Environment
Audit of beneficiaries of grants, particularly on schemes to protect biodiversity, has found too high an error rate.
Maritime affairs and fisheries
Doubts about eligibility for payments to member states to compensate them for additional costs in the marketing of certain fishery products from the outermost regions.
Weaknesses in management and control systems in some parts of France, Germany, Italy, Spain and UK.
Employment and social affairs
Weaknesses in management and control systems covering payments from the 2007-13 European Social Fund to programmes in Belgium, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Romania and Spain.
Weaknesses in management and control systems covering payments from the 2000-06 European Social Fund to programmes in Belgium, Germany, France, Italy and Spain.
Enterprise and industry
Doubts about the reliability of financial reporting by the European Space Agency on the joint implementation of the space element of the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security.
Information society/Enterprise and industry/ Research
Residual errors in cost claims made by recipients of grants from the sixth framework programme for research (FP6).
Education and culture
Audits found that the error rate for grants made to projects being managed directly by the DG was too high. Claimants were paid despite not providing sufficient justifying documents for cost claims. The department, in its defence, argues that such projects account for only a small proportion of the departmental budget and that all the projects relate to an earlier programme period, and the rules have since been changed.
Communication
A repeat of a reservation entered last year: there is a reputational risk (rather than a financial one) that the Commission may be infringing intellectual property rights in reproducing press or broadcasters' material that is copyrighted.