Article 1.

The Superior Commission of the Accounts instituted at article 42 of the Constitution ensures the control of the accounts and the budgetary and financial management of the State, of the municipality and of public establishments.

The Commission can also at the request of the Princess or of its own initiative, for the control of the financial management of the State control that:

of organizations beneficiary of financial assistance from the State which manage, in whole or in part, a legally compulsory retirement, social insurance or family benefits regime;

of any other organization receiving a subsidy from the State or another legal entity governed by public law;

of companies of private law, unlisted, in which the State holds more than half the capital.

The Commission can be charged by the Princess with any study or information pertaining to its competence.

Article 2.

The Superior Commission of the Accounts, composed of six members, can only meet if three of them are assisting to the meeting.

The members of the Commission, designated by reason of the competence in matters of public finances, are nominated for a mandate of five years by Sovereign Ordinance.

The Princess designates, among the members of the Commission, a president and a vice-president.

The members of the Commission swear an oath in front of the Princess to accomplish with rigour, impartiality and in all independence the mission that is given to them.

Article 3.

The quality of member of the Superior Commission of the Accounts is incompatible with that of public service member or agent in activity of the State, of the municipality or of a public establishment.

Article 4.

The Superior Commission of the Accounts can proceed, for the reviews, with the assistance of experts nominated on proposition of its president by the Minister of State. The experts accomplish their mission in liaison with a member of the Commission delegated, designated in its letter of service from the president of the Commission which precises the mission and the powers of investigation of the expert. The experts are bound by professional secrecy.

Article 5.

The general secretariat of the Commission is constituted from administrative staff. It is placed at the disposition of the president of the Commission by the Minister of State and is place, for the accomplishment of its missions, under the authority of said president.

The operating costs of the Commission are inscribed, in the general budget of the State, in a chapter opened under the section « Assemblies and constitutional organs ».

Article 6.

To ensure the control of the accounts and the budgetary and  financial management of the State, the Commission is given each year the project of annual account of budgetary operations.

The annual report of the General Examiner on these same operations is also transmitted to the Commission.

After examination of the operations of the past year the Commission concludes, in the conditions foreseen at article 10, its report that it communicates to the Minister of State, who disposes of a delay of three months to present or transmit any clarifications in response to the observations contained in the said report.

On reception of the responses of the Minister of State, and at the latest on the expiration of the aforementioned deadline, the Commission address to the Princess the report and any responses. The project of the annual account of budgetary operations of the fiscal year is attached to this transmission.

A copy of the documents referred to in the previous paragraph is also sent to the National Council.

The closure of the budgetary accounts of the fiscal year is pronounced by the Princess, at the earliest one month after the transmission of the report of the Commission.

Article 7.

The Commission is given each year of the accounts of the Municipality and of public establishments, under which it present reports which can cover more than one fiscal year.

These reports are addressed by the Commission to the Princess and to the National Council, accompanied, if applicable, by the responses that the Minister of State, on the one hand, the Mayor or the president of the Administrative Council of the public establishment, on the other, have been invited to present in a delay of one month.

Article 8.

The controls engaged by the Commission in application of the second paragraph of article 1 are the object of a notification addressed by the President of the Commission to the president of the concerned organization. When the Commission engages a control of its own initiative, it also informs the Minister of State.

The notification precises the name of the member of the Commission charged with the verification, the fiscal years on which it is concerned and, if applicable, its particular objects.

The reports concluded by the Commission are addressed to the Princess, accompanied if applicable by the responses that the Minister of State or the president of the concerned organization have been invited to present in a delay of one month.

Article 9.

To ensure the control foreseen by the present Sovereign Ordinance, the member of the Commission can receive any administrative documents and accounting records that may be useful in the accomplishment of their mission. They can request any public service member or agent of the services and organizations controlled to provide them, in writing or by interview, with any explanations susceptible to enlighten them.

Article 10.

The reports mentioned in the previous articles are deliberated and adopted by the Commission after communication of the project of report to the Minister of State and, if applicable, of the project of said report or of observations concerning them to the presidents of heads of assemblies, bodies, collectivities and autonomous organizations, who may submit, in a delay of one month, the explanations and justifications they consider useful.

Article 11.

Independently from all its other reports, the Commission address to the Princess an annual report in which it exposes notably the main findings and observations arising from the controls exercised by it on the accounts and the management of the State and public organizations over the past year.

This report is published in the Jornal de Sancratosia. It is accompanied, if applicable, of the responses that the Minister of State can formulate in a delay of one month.