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1. Purpose
The procedure describes the approval, registration and follow up of exceptions and/or non-compliance
events as in accordance with the standard for internal control on recording exceptions (standard No.
8), the Agency shall [.] track and give prior approval to control overrides or deviations from policies
and procedures.
The aim of reporting exception and/or non-compliance is to ensure that any deviation from established
policies or procedures is documented, justified and approved at an appropriate level before
decision/action is taken.
2. Scope
The procedure is applicable to all Agency staff through the hierarchy. This procedure is without
prejudice to the one described in the charter of tasks and responsibilities of the verifying officer and
verifying assistant(s) in paragraph 6.7 to 6.9 (doc. no.: EMEA/11970/59).
The present procedure does not cover irregular activities which are described in a separate procedure
dealing with reporting suspected improprieties (EMEA/11591/2006/2320).
3. Responsibilities
It is the responsibility of the Executive Director, Heads of Division and Department, Authorising
Officers by delegation/sub-delegation to ensure that staff is aware of and complies with this procedure.
Specific responsibilities are outlined in section 9.
European Medicines Agency, 2015. Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged.
4. Changes since last revision
Update of SOP title to include non-compliance
Updated reference to the Charter of responsibilities of the verifying officer and verifying assistant(s)
6. Related documents
Standards for internal control (EMA/MB/555181/2010)
7. Definitions
ED: Executive Director
ED-CG-QRM: Quality assurance, Risk Management and ex-post control coordination function
Exception:
1. It constitutes a deviation from established processes and procedures (action of replacing one or
more steps in established process/procedures with another action or no action) or, an overriding
of controls (action which goes against the results of previous controls) but does not constitute a
breach of regulatory and/or contractual provisions and,
Non-compliance:
Regulatory provisions (e.g. regulation, directive, Financial Regulation, Implementing Rules, Rules of
application, Staff Regulations, data protection regulation, access to documents)
Contractual provisions (e.g. contracts with entities outside of the European Medicines Agency)
Start
2. Head of Division or
delegated Authorising Officer
validates/rejects the request
after consultation with A-FI-
VFO and ED-CG-QRM
Rejected
validated
4. Head of Division
or delegated
Authorising Office
forward the
validated request to
ED-CG
3. Notify originator of
rejection and advise on
alternative course of action
5. ED-CG obtain
decision of
Executive Director
End
2 Validate/reject the request after consulting with the Verification Head of Division /
office (A-FI-VFO) and the Quality assurance and risk management Authorising Officer
function (ED-CG-QRM) (by delegation / sub-
delegation)
If the request is rejected go to step 3.
3 Inform staff member of decision and advise on alternative course Head of Division /
of action Authorising Officer
(by delegation / sub-
delegation)
The register of exceptions/non-compliances, including the completed forms and the supportive
documentation, are kept in the appropriately labelled folder in the electronic document management
system: Cabinets/06. Corporate governance/06.2 Integrated Management System/6. Internal
controls/Exceptions
For non-confidential documents the ACL EMA_default_staffonly should be used. For confidential issues
an ACL with an appropriate access level should be chosen.
Signed originals:
Originals of signed forms are kept by the Corporate Governance Office Department (ED-CG)
Measures to be taken to mitigate the resulting risks and ensure that such a situation does not
reoccur:
Validation
1
To attach the relevant documents
2
In case the amount cannot be determined or if the impact is not financial please indicate the significance e.g. important /
immaterial
Reference Number:
Initiator
/
Head of Division
/
A-FI-VFO
/
ED-CG-QRM
/
Head of Division
/
After consultation with A-FI-VFO and ED-CG-QRM the Head of Division validates the request and send
it to the Executive Director for decision.
ED-CG-QRM
/
Executive Director
/
ED-CG-QRM
/
Return to Initiator
Initiator /
Comments
The transmission is effective on 15-JUL-2014. Please refer to SOP/EMA/0044 for details of the procedure.