Legislation

As early as 2002, against  the background of  the Copernic reforms, the  federal authorities established a legal framework for introducing an internal control system and for the development of internal audit  and audit committees’ activities  applicable to all the federal public services and planning.

These  initiatives were central to the  reform designed to  modernise the running of  the government apparatus and allow civil servants more freedom in deciding how to achieve the objectives put forward while  asking them to be held accountable for how and to the extent these objectives are achieved.

This approach was seconded with a changeover from  purely budgetary and rather bureaucratic control techniques to a culture of reliable internal control  or organisation management systems, associated with post-clearance sampling checks by the internal audit services.

Three new Royal Decrees were drawn up in 2007 to replace the legal framework dating back to 2002. Apart from the introduction of an internal control system and the organisation of internal audit activities,  the creation of the Audit Committee of the Federal Administration (ACFA) was governed by a separate decree.

• Royal Administration  (ACFA).Decree  of 17 August  2007 concerning the internal control  system in certain services of the federal executive
• Royal Decree  of 17 August  2007 concerning the internal audit activities in certain services of the federal executive .
• Royal Decree  of 17 August  2007 setting up the  Audit Committee of the Federal Administration (ACFA).

The documents are only available in Dutch and French.