INTOSAI-P - 50 - Principles of jurisdictional activities of SAIs

Summary

INTOSAI P-50 establishes 12 principles that national legal framework shall provide the SAIs to undertake jurisdictional activities.
1: The law should define the liability and sanction regime applicable to persons accountable by law before the SAI.
2: The member(s) of the SAI, involved in the jurisdictional activities, should benefit from guarantees legally spelled out, which explicitly ensure their independence toward the public authorities.
3: The SAI should have legal powers or rights guaranteeing its access to information.
4: An irregular fact may be prosecuted or sanctioned only before the expiry of a reasonable time from the moment it was committed or discovered.
5: Any judgement of the SAI must be open to be objected and reconsidered and is subject to appeal or annulment in accordance with the national regulation.
6: The SAI must ensure that the persons accountable before it undergo a fair trial guaranteed by the legal procedures.
7: The impartiality of the judgment process must be guaranteed by regulations governing the activities of the jurisdictional SAIs and the resulting proceedings.
8: The SAI must ensure that the exercise of the jurisdictional activities leads to notified and implemented judgement. The sanction of the personal liability of the litigant must be effective.
9: A person accountable by law cannot be condemned for the same irregularity to several sanctions of the same nature imposed by the SAI. A person accountable by law can only be condemned for the same irregularity to sanctions of a different nature imposed by the SAI and other courts if the law so permits.
10: The SAI must guarantee the quality of jurisdictional procedures through an efficient and systematic quality control.
11: The SAI must complete the jurisdictional procedure within a reasonable time.
12: The SAI must ensure that judgements, as any judicial decision, are made publicly, respecting the secrecy and restrictions linked to confidentiality that are legally mandatory as well as the protection of personal data.