Moreover, in order to protect the European Communities’ financial interests against fraud and other irregularities, the Commission is authorised to carry out checks and verifications in situ under the present programme, in compliance with Council Regulation (Euratom, EC) No 2185/96 of 11 November 1996 concerning on-the-spot checks and inspections carried out by the Commission in order to protect the European Communities’ financial interests against fraud and other irregularities (1).

In addition, the Commission may carry out on-the-spot checks and inspections under the Lifelong Learning Programme in accordance with Council Regulation (Euratom, EC) No 2185/96 of 11 November 1996 concerning on-the-spot checks and inspections carried out by the Commission in order to protect the European Communities' financial interests against fraud and other irregularities (1).

The program has exceeded its target number of audits, which was 570 for the 1999-2002 period, and we have conducted a total of 616 on-site audits.

It contributes to guaranteeing sincere cooperation at all the stages of an on-the-spot mission (under Article 4, "On-the-spot checks and inspections shall be prepared and conducted by the Commission in close cooperation with the competent authorities of the Member State concerned, which shall be notified in good time of the object, purpose and legal basis of the checks and inspections, so that they can provide all the requisite help. To that end, the officials of the Member State concerned may participate in the on-the-spot checks and inspections. In addition, if the Member State concerned so wishes, the on-the-spot checks and inspection ...[+++]s may be carried out jointly by the Commission and the Member State's competent authorities").

The Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty, which eliminated all mid-range nuclear weapons between Russia and the United States, has intrusive verification by which inspectors from each country go into the other country to conduct verification.

The Council approved a "Statement on the DAS" which is reproduced in Annex II. FIGHT AGAINST FRAUD: COMMISSION WORK PROGRAMME FOR 1996 - CONCLUSIONS "THE COUNCIL - welcomes the programme for the fight against fraud submitted by the Commission for 1996; - recalls the Madrid European Council's conclusions of 15 and 16 December 1995 on fraud and the protection of the financial interests of the Communities and in particular the European Council's invitation to the Member States and Institutions to adopt "the necessary measures to ensure an equivalent level ...[+++] of protection throughout the Community and in the Community budget and the EDF as a whole"; - notes that the Commission programme comes within the context of these conclusions and of those of the ECOFIN Council of 27 November 1995 and that it also takes account of certain remarks made by the Council in connection with the 1995 work programme; - supports the general guidelines of the specific measures envisaged by the Commission under the four headings identified when the anti-fraud strategy was presented in 1994, i.e.: = as regards a stronger presence on the ground and firmer support for operational activities: improved inspections in third countries, in particular in the CCEEs and the Mediterranean countries, increased prevention of irregularities in the field of transit, extension, whilst observing the respective powers of national administrations, of the SCENT mutual assistance network to sectors other than the customs sector; = as regards strengthening the partnership between the Commission and the Member States: the development of information networks, better use of the results of risk analysis, the training of officials in the Member States; examination, as part of the programme for Sound and Efficient Financial Management (SEM 2000), of the possibility of extending the system of disallowing finance from agriculture to other areas, in accordance with the Madrid European Council's conclusions; = as regards ...