France

The information contained in this section has been provided  by  the national authority in April 2020. We invite you to contact your national contact point to check whether this information is the latest version available. 

 

France opted for a decentralised system, which allows two possibilities:

1) The FLC is an external controller chosen in accordance with the public procurement rules set up by the national authority.

2) The FLC is an internal controller: public entities (staffed by a public accountant) are not subject to the obligation to use an external controller if they have an internal public controller. In this case a request for approval must be sent to the national authority.

On-the-spot verifications conducted by FLCS

At least one on-the-spot visit is scheduled during the project’s life. Additional visits can be scheduled if problems are encountered.

Other checks performed by the national authority

The national authority performs quality controls. The purpose of these controls is to verify that the project is properly managed at the level of the beneficiary partner (respect of deadlines, use of standard documents, record keeping, presence of administrative and financial parts); to verify that the control carried out by the first level controller complies with the expectations of the Community and national regulations and that it provides assurance as to the quality of the work performed by the selected first level controller; to identify defects in the procedures and, where appropriate, to propose improvements; and to report any irregularities which will result in either documentary conformance or financial corrections.

An annual calendar is established by the national authority. A sampling methodology has been set up.