The Cooperative Audit On Plastic Waste

Background of the Cooperative Audit

Working Group on Environment Audit (WGEA) that is one of the five working groups of EUROSAI has 43 members. EUROSAI WGEA and its members share a commitment to use the power of public sector audits to leave a positive legacy for future generations by improving the management of natural resources and the environment, and the health and prosperity of the people of Europe.

WGEA also encourages the member SAI’s to conduct cooperative audits. In this context it was decided to conduct cooperative audits in WGEA Strategic Plan for 2017-2020.

The member SAI’s were invited to conduct a cooperative audit on Plastic Waste, and 12 SAI participated in the joint audit.

  • Albania
  • Bulgaria
  • Hungary
  • Malta
  • Moldova
  • The North Macedonia
  • Poland (Coordinator)
  • Portugal
  • Romania
  • Serbia
  • Slovakia
  • Turkey

  • General scope and time planning of the cooperative audit on plastic waste were discussed among potential participating SAIs in the WGEA Spring Session held in May 2019.
  • Ideas were shared about possible scope of the cooperative audit and its organisation in the period of May-September 2019. The deadline for the preliminary declaration of participation in the cooperative audit was the end of September 2019.
  • October-November 2019 was the period when the scope and timing of the audit was discussed and decided. (e.g. additional session during WGEA Annual Meeting in Luxembourg 22-24 October 2019 or a separate meeting organised by SAI coordinating the cooperative audit).
  • Deadline for final confirmation of participation in the cooperative audit was the end of December 2019. 

Main Component of the Cooperative Audit

Period of time

The audit covers the period of 2017-2019.

Audit type

Cooperative Audit with a single audit report in addition to the separate national reports.

Main audit question

Have the relevant public authorities (state and/or self-government administration) developed policy (plans, strategies) and implemented measures aiming at achieving goals (adopted in this policy) regarding generation and management of plastic waste?

Objective of the cooperative audit

To present the state of the national plastic waste management systems in the face of the upcoming era of limiting the consumption of plastic.

Upcoming Steps of the Cooperative Audit

  • Information will be shared and compliance with the timetable and audit progress will be monitored while audits will be carried out during 2020.
  • The audit results will be exchanged to provide the basis for the joint report and the planned working meeting will be held in the period of October-December 2020.
  • Summaries of the most important findings from the national audits will be prepared in the 1st quarter of 2021.
  • The joint report will be prepared and compliance with the national audit results will be checked in the 2nd quarter of 2021.
  • The joint report will be published in the 3rd quarter of 2021.