Audits by state auditors and national courts of audit can highlight where States are succeeding in implementing MEAs and also identify systematic barriers to effective implementation of MEAs. In most instances, audit results currently are primarily shared between auditors; although public dissemination and discussion of audits examining implementation of MEAs could spur measures to improve MEA implementation.
In 2003, the Austrian Court of Audit conducted an audit of Austria’s implementation of the Basel Convention. The audit’s primary findings were that the established notification system was extremely complex, with 20 different proceedings, and illegal transports were only exposed by chance. Some of the main problems were the amount of waste (more than 750,000 tons per year) and number of notifications (more than 700 every year) combined with differing waste categories in the Basel Convention and in the EU regulation. Indeed, only 19% of the audited notifications were formally correct and complete.
For more information, see www.rechnungshof.at