Audit Authority - national, regional or local public authority or body, functionally independent of the Managing Authority and the certifying authority, designated by the member-state for each operational programme and responsible for verifying of the effective functioning of the management and control system. Audit Authority in Republic of Bulgaria is Audit of EU Funds Directorate within the Ministry of Finance.

Audit trail - part of the system for management and control, audit trail is chain of written procedures carried out in a way that permits traceability to every single document, activity, process in the organization.

Beneficiary - private or public institution, organization or enterprise, responsible for initiating or initiating and implementing certain project. In the context of aid schemes under article 87 of the Treaty Establishing the European Community beneficiaries are public or private enterprises carrying out an individual project and receiving state aid.

Certification - function that lies within the competence of the Certifying Authority for confirmation of the accuracy and admissibility of the expenditures and the effectiveness and compliance of the management and control systems, established for the purposes of the Cohesion Fund and Structural Funds, with the regulations of the European Community and the national laws.

Certifying Authority - national, regional or local public authority or body designated by the member state to certify statement of expenditure and applications for payment before they are sent to the European Commission. Certifying Authority in Republic of Bulgaria is National Fund Directorate within the Ministry of Finance.

Contract with beneficiary - contract entered into by and between Head of contracting authority and beneficiary, for awarding and spending of a grant for the purpose of implementation of an approved project.

Eligible (eligibility of) expenditures - expenditures, eligible for funding according to Decree No 249/2007 on adoption of detailed rules regarding eligibility of expenditures under Operational Programme Environment 2007-2013, co-financed by the EU Cohesion Fund and the European Regional Development Fund.

Financial control - overall process integrated in the activities of the organisations dealing with finances from State budget and EU Funds. The Financial control is accomplished through introduction of systems for financial management and control. Those systems include rules and procedures ensuring reasonable confidence that all the purposes of the organization are achieved in compliance with legislation, internal acts and contracts; reliability and integrity of the financial and operative information; inexpensive, effective and efficient use of resources; safeguarding of assets and information.

Fraud (regarding the expenditures) - any intentional act or omission relating to the use or presentation of false, incorrect or incomplete statements or documents, which has as its effect the misappropriation or wrongful retention of funds from the general budget of the European Communities or budgets managed by, or on behalf of, the European Communities; non-disclosure of information in violation of a specific obligation with the same effect; the misapplication of such funds for purposes other than those for which they were originally granted.

Indicators for implementation of the project - indicators identified with the purpose of measuring progress on implementation of the project.

Intermediate body (IB) - national, regional or local public authority or public or private body, which carries out duties on behalf of the Managing Authority. Intermediate body of Operational Programme Environment 2007-2013 is the EU Funds for Environment Directorate within the Ministry of Environment and Water.

Irregularity - any infringement of a provision of Community law resulting from an act or omission by an economic operator which has, or would have, the effect of prejudicing the general budget of the Communities by charging an unjustified item of expenditure to the Community budget.

Managing Authority - national, regional or local public authority or a public or private body designated by the Member State to manage the operational programme. Managing Authority (MA) of Operational Programme Environment 2007 - 2013 is Cohesion Policy for Environment Directorate within the Ministry of Environment and Water.

Measure - set of activities, aimed at realizing certain priority of the respective OP.

Monitoring - systematic collection, analysis and use of information. It is aimed at improving the management and decision-taking on specific targets or interventions.

National co-financing - co-financing of the projects under OP is performed when national contribution is financed from the State Budget, Municipality Budgets, National Private Funds.

On-the-spot checks - in the framework of management and control systems, on-the-spot checks are mechanism for control over the projects, funded by the European Funds. On-the- spot checks shall be carried out on the initiative of the Beneficiary, the Intermediate Body, the Managing Authority or the Certifying Authority.

Payment (on certain project) - on the basis of request for funds made on certain project, the expenditures incurred under the contract for financing are periodically reimbursed to the beneficiary. Reimbursable are only expenditures, eligible for funding according to Decree No 249/2007 on adoption of detailed rules regarding eligibility of expenditures under Operational Programme Environment 2007-2013, co-financed by the EU Cohesion Fund and the European Regional Development Fund.

Population equivalent (PE) - organic biodegradable load having a five-day biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5) of 60g of oxygen per day.

Project - project approved by the Managing Authority of the operational programme concerned or under its responsibility according to criteria laid down by the monitoring committee and implemented by one or more beneficiaries allowing achievement of the objectives of the priority axis to which it relates.

Request for funds - document that requires reimbursement of expenditure, made by the Beneficiary on the respective project. The Beneficiary prepares requests for funds and presents them to the Intermediate Body.

Sound Financial Management - in accordance with this principle all public expenditures shall be spent and managed in accordance with the principles of (1) economy (the resources used by the institution for implementing the activities to be delivered in time, in the appropriate quantity and at the best price), (2) efficiency (the best correlation between resources used and results achieved) and (3) effectiveness (achieving the tasks set and the results planned).

Verification - check-up that aims to guarantee that: (1) the expenditures declared by the beneficiaries for operations has actually been incurred; (2) the products, works and services, co-financed under the OP are supplied in accordance with the grant contract; (3) the requests for funds, presented by the beneficiary are correct and (4) the activities and expenditures, declared under OP are admissible according to Decree No 249/2007 on adoption of detailed rules regarding eligibility of expenditures under Operational Programme Environment 2007-2013, co-financed by the EU Cohesion Fund and the European Regional Development Fund.

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