13. Acknowledges from the Agency that in 2012 the Commission’s Internal Audit Service (IAS) conducted a light risk assessment, which was agreed by the Agency; notes that the IAS also performed an audit on stakeholder relations and external communication, that the Agency accepted all the recommendations of the final audit report and created an action plan to implement them and that the IAS considered the plan to be adequate; notes that the IAS also reviewed its earlier recommendations and concluded which of those have been implemented and closed them; observes that follow-up audits on action plans revealed that five recommendations rem ...[+++]ain partially implemented, of which two were prioritised as very important;

25. Acknowledges from the Joint Undertaking's reply to the Court of Auditors that the roles of the Joint Undertaking's internal audit function and the IAS were clarified and formalised through the approval, in March 2011, of the IAS and IAC Audit Charters; also takes note that a coordinated strategic audit plan for the period 2012-2014 is also being prepared to ensure that the impact of planned audits is optimised and any duplication of audit work between the IAS and IAC is minimised; calls therefore on the Joint Undertaking to inform the discharge authority about the state of preparation and implementation of the strategic audit plan ...[+++]for the period 2012-2014;

FS has also undertaken to enter into international grouping agreements with any duly licensed train operator, which has concrete proposals to start an international rail service into Italy.

At Commission-level, the role of the Central Financial Service in supporting internal control has been defined more precisely and the independence and responsibilities of the Internal Audit Service highlighted.

The decisions focus on the role of the Commission's Central Financial Service - a part of DG Budget - in setting up the necessary training and support for the DGs related to internal control, and on the role of the Internal Audit Service.

Vice-President Neil Kinnock, who is responsible for the Internal Audit Service (IAS), said: "When launching the recruitment procedure for the Head of the Internal Audit Service, we set our standards very high.