TALLINN, 9 October 2015 – The National Audit Office of Estonia and the National Audit Office of Malta organised the annual meeting of the Working Group on Environmental Auditing (WGEA) of the European Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (EUROSAI) from 6 to 8 October in Malta.
The main topics discussed at the meeting were auditing the environmental problems related to industrial waste and chemicals, and communication with the target groups of supreme audit institutions. Training in the subject of auditing the area of agriculture was organised the day before the meeting. 65 delegates from 28 countries and the European Court of Auditors, and seven foreign guests attended the meeting and the training day.
Guest speakers from the European Environment Agency, the EU Directorate-General for the Environment and the University of Malta introduced the organisation of the area of hazardous waste as well as the newest developments and main problems in the area. The representative of the hazardous waste project of the European Commission spoke about the problems in hazardous waste collection and management. The speaker from the Oslo and Akershus University College introduced the study on the impact of national audit offices. Audit Manager of the National Audit Office Viire Viss introduced the experience of the Estonian National Audit Office in auditing the organisation of industrial waste management and Audit Manager Kaire Kuldpere presented an overview of the National Audit Office’s experience and challenges in communication with private companies. Many attendees also introduced hazardous waste audits, incl. audit methods.
Several smaller meetings were also held during the meeting to discuss plans for joint audits. A joint audit of international agreements about air pollution is planned on the initiative of the Netherlands Court of Audit.
The EUROSAI WGEA Secretariat presented a summary of the working group’s activities and achievements in the last year and introduced its goals for the future. The spring seminar of the working group will be held in Tallinn in 2016. The 14th annual meeting will be organised in Macedonia in autumn 2016 in cooperation with the State Audit Office of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
Background information about the relations of Estonia and the Working Group on Environmental Auditing
The National Audit Office is the chair of the EUROSAI Working Group on Environmental Auditing since 2014 and the secretariat of the working group also operates here. The chair of EUROSAI WGEA is the Auditor General of Estonia Alar Karis.
Further information about the EUROSAI Working Group on Environmental Auditing is available at http://www.eurosaiwgea.org/.
Toomas Mattson
Head of Communication Service, National Audit Office
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Posted:
10/9/2015 2:37 PM
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Last Update:
11/13/2015 11:09 AM
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Last Review:
11/13/2015 11:09 AM