Art. 1
Introductory provision

1) The Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic (hereinafter referred to as "the Ministry') pursuant to §16 (6) of Act No 357/2015 Coll. on Financial Control and Audit and amending certain laws (hereinafter referred to as "the Act') issues the Internal Audit Statute of the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic (hereinafter referred to as "the Statute') which determines the status, objectives and activities of the Internal Audit Service.

2) This Statute shall be binding on the appointed internal auditor (hereinafter "the internal auditor') and on the staff of the Internal Audit Service.

Art. 2
Status of the internal audit service

1) The internal audit service shall ensure the audit performance, which is a summary of independent, objective, verification, evaluation, assurance and consultation activities aimed at improving management and control processes, taking into account internationally recognised audit standards.

2) The Internal Audit Service is an independent organisational unit of the Ministry which:

  1. is organisationally directly subordinate to the Minister of Health of the Slovak Republic (hereinafter referred to as "the Minister'),
  2. it is functionally and organisationally separate from other departments of the Ministry and from financial control,
  3. is not responsible for implementing or developing new financial management systems and procedures;
  4. does not draw up or participate in the preparation of internal management acts other than internal management acts governing internal audit;
  5. has unrestricted access to the information, documents or other documents, persons and property required to carry out internal audit to the extent necessary for their examination, evaluation and completion of the internal audit without undermining the independence and influence of the internal auditor and the staff of the Internal Audit Service, with the exception of classified information under Act No 215/2004 Coll. on the protection of classified information and amending certain laws as amended.

3) In their work, the internal auditor and the staff of the internal audit service shall apply the principles of the Code of Ethics for the conduct of internal audit issued by the Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic (hereinafter referred to as "the Ministry of Finance'). In carrying out the internal audit, they must proceed objectively and independently, therefore:

  1. they cannot be entrusted with activities unrelated to or contrary to internal audit;
  2. they shall have no management and executive powers, powers, functions or responsibilities other than those relating to internal audit;
  3. may not evaluate the activities and processes for which they were previously responsible,
  4. act impartially, impartially and abstain from any action which gives rise to, or would give rise to, bias;
  5. be obliged to notify the Minister in writing of the facts giving rise to doubts as to their bias and any interference with their influence;
  6. may not receive monetary or non-monetary benefits from the obliged person or possible debtor.

4) The internal auditor and the staff of the internal audit service shall be required to keep confidential the facts which they have become aware of in carrying out the internal audit. At the same time, they shall not misuse information obtained under the conditions referred to in point 2 (e) in order to obtain their own benefit or in a manner leading to a breach of the laws and objectives of the Ministry.

5) The Minister may exempt the internal auditor and the staff of the Internal Audit Service from confidentiality.

6) The following shall not be considered to be a breach of confidentiality within the meaning of §27 of the Act:

  1. the submission of information from the report on the internal audit carried out for the negotiation of the ministerial german's meeting, by decision of the Minister;
  2. providing information obtained in carrying out internal audit to the Head of the Service Office, the State Secretary and the Director-General of the Ministry Section.

7) The Director of the Internal Audit Service shall keep the Minister and the Heads of Staff of the Ministry informed and have direct access to them.

Art. 3
Objectives of the internal audit service

1) The purpose of the internal audit service is to help the Ministry's objectives, tasks and objectives to be achieved through systematic and methodological evaluation of financial management, thus contributing to the improvement of the management and control processes of financial management.

2) The Internal Audit Service shall ensure that the main objective of carrying out internal audits is met, in particular with regard to the objectives defined in paragraphs 10 (2) and 16 (5) of the Act.

Art. 4
Activities of the Internal Audit Service

1) The internal audit service shall carry out internal audit in the departments of the Ministry and in the obliged persons referred to in Article 16 (4) (a). (b) to (d) the law. The assessment of whether a legal person or a natural person is a obliged person for the purpose of carrying out internal audit shall be the responsibility of the internal audit service.

2) The Internal Audit Service is developing a medium-term internal audit plan (hereinafter referred to as "the medium-term plan') and an annual internal audit plan (hereinafter referred to as "the annual plan') which, after approval by the Ministers, will be sent to the Ministry of Finance and the Supreme Audit Office of the Slovak Republic by the legal deadline.

3) The internal audit service shall be informed of the results of other controls and audits. Upon request, the Ministry's departments are obliged to provide it with all reports from other completed inspections and audits to be studied.

4) The internal audit service shall carry out its activities in accordance with an approved annual plan based on an approved medium-term plan.

5) The amendments to the approved medium-term plan and the approved annual plan shall be approved by the Minister.

6) The internal audit service shall carry out an internal audit not specified in the approved annual plan only at the discretion of the Minister or with the agreement of the Minister.

7) The Internal Audit Service shall draw up an annual report on the internal audits carried out for the previous year, which it shall forward to the Ministry of Finance and the Internal Audit Committee and to the Government Audit Committee by the legal deadline after approval by the Ministers.

8) The internal auditor and the staff of the internal audit service shall carry out internal audits for which they have the necessary education, knowledge, skills and competences. Where they do not have the necessary education, knowledge, skills or skills to perform an internal audit, they may invite an expert to perform the internal audit; otherwise, the internal audit service shall not be entitled to carry out such internal audit.

9) The internal auditor and the staff of the internal audit service shall be required to acquire, renew, maintain and deepen theoretical knowledge and expertise on an ongoing basis through the completion of the training provided by the Ministry of Finance. Where necessary, vocational training, on a topic not offered by the Ministry of Finance, shall entitle the internal auditor and the staff of the internal audit service to attend the training organised by another educational institution. The internal auditor shall have completed at least 20 hours of vocational training in accordance with Article 14 (5) of the Act in each calendar year.

10) The Internal Audit Service shall provide consultation activities. Following a written request for consultation, a record of the course of the consultation will be drawn up, including an opinion on the subject being consulted. From consulting work conducted verbally, the internal audit service does not make a record. Within the framework of the consultation work, the internal auditor and the staff of the internal audit service may provide opinions on the processes for which they were previously responsible, recommend the setting of control principles for financial management systems, or assess procedures for the performance of activities before their implementation. Such activity of the internal auditor and the internal audit service staff shall not be regarded as a breach of objectivity, in the event of compliance with other principles arising from this Statute and from the Code of Conduct for Internal Audit issued by the Ministry of Finance.

11) The duties and powers of the internal auditor and the staff of the internal audit service carrying out internal audit are determined by §20 of the Act.

12) The internal auditor and the staff of the internal audit service shall comply with the basic audit rules referred to in Article 21 and §22 of the law when carrying out internal audit.

13) Each internal audit carried out shall draw up an internal audit report (hereinafter "the report') or an internal audit sub-report (hereinafter "the partial report') with the particulars referred to in Article 22 (3) of the Act in three copies. The individual equations shall be broken down by subdivider as indicated in the report or sub-report. The internal auditor in charge of internal audit shall submit to the Minister a copy of the report or partial report.

Art. 5
Repeal

The Internal Audit Charter of 15 October 2005 published in the Journal of the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic in amount No 51-52/2005 is repealed.

Art. 6
Final provisions

This Statute may be amended by written additions subject to approval by the Minister.

Art. 7
Efficacy

This status takes effect on the date of publication in the Journal of the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic.

Thomas Drucker
Minister