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Document 52004TA1230(14)

Report on the annual accounts of the Community Plant Variety Office for the 2003 financial year together with the Office's replies

OB C 324, 30.12.2004, p. 99–105 (ES, CS, DA, DE, ET, EL, EN, FR, IT, LV, LT, HU, MT, NL, PL, PT, SK, SL, FI, SV)

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Official Journal

30.12.2004

Official Journal of the European Union

C 324/99

REPORT

on the annual accounts of the Community Plant Variety Office for the 2003 financial year together with the Office's replies

(2004/C 324/14)

CONTENTS

1	INTRODUCTION

2-5	THE COURT'S OPINION

6-10	OBSERVATIONS

Tables 1 to 4

The Office's replies

INTRODUCTION

The Community Plant Variety Office (hereinafter referred to as the Office) was created by Council Regulation (EC) No 2100/94 of 27 July 1994 (1). Its main purpose is to register and examine applications for the grant of Community industrial property rights for plant varieties and to ensure that the necessary technical examinations are carried out by the competent offices in the Member States. Table 1 summarises the powers and responsibilities of the Office on the basis of the information supplied by it.

THE COURT'S OPINION

2.	This opinion is addressed to the Administrative Council of the Office, pursuant to Article 111(2) of Council Regulation (EC) No 2100/94.

The Court has examined the Office's annual accounts for the financial year ended 31 December 2003. In accordance with Article 110 of Council Regulation (EC) No 2100/94, the Office's budget was implemented on the responsibility of its President. This responsibility includes the drawing-up and presentation of the accounts (2) in accordance with the internal financial provisions adopted on the basis of Article 112 of Council Regulation (EC) No 2100/94. The Court is required under Article 248 of the Treaty establishing the European Community to examine these accounts.

The Court carried out its audit in accordance with its auditing policies and standards. These have been adapted from generally accepted international auditing standards to reflect the specific nature of the Community context. It examined the accounting documents and applied the auditing procedures it considered necessary in the context.

The Court has thus obtained reasonable assurance that the annual accounts for the financial year ended 31 December 2003 are reliable and that the underlying transactions, taken as a whole, are legal and regular. The content of the following observations does not call into question the audit opinion expressed by the Court in this report.

OBSERVATIONS

The implementation of the appropriations for the 2003 financial year and of the appropriations carried over from the previous year is shown in Table 2. The revenue and expenditure account and the balance sheet published by the Office for the financial year 2003 are shown in summary form in Tables 3 and 4.

Article 8 of the Office's new financial regulation provides that the budget shall contain differentiated appropriations, which make a distinction between commitment appropriations and payment appropriations. Even though the 2003 budget was adopted before the new rules and only contains non-differentiated appropriations, at the moment of closure of the accounts the Office considered the appropriations under Title III, which finance its operations, to be differentiated. In order to take this approach, the Office ought to have adopted an amending budget that distinguished, with appropriate comments, between the commitment appropriations and the payment appropriations. This was not the case.

The balance sheet shows an unrecovered sum of 216 048 euro of VAT paid between 1997 and 2001. Most of this sum (206 553 euro) may be attributed to requests for repayment which have been refused by the French authorities. The Office should first examine the possible legal means of recovering this sum and then make the necessary adjustments.

9.	Article 42(1)(e) of the Office's financial regulation provides that the accounting officer shall validate the systems laid down by the authorising officer to supply or justify accounting information. This validation has not yet taken place.

10.

The Office's accounting system is made up of three computerised systems, one for the administration of applications for the grant of Community plant variety rights (PVR), one for the budgetary accounts (SI2) and one for the general accounts. The Office ought to work towards integrating these systems, so as to eliminate themany minor errors thatarise from the use of non-accounting procedures that multiply the number of data acquisition operations.

This Report was adopted by the Court of Auditors in Luxembourg at its meeting of 29 and 30 September 2004.

For the Court of Auditors

Juan Manuel FABRA VALLÉS

President

(1) OJ L 227, 1.9.1994, p. 27.

(2) In accordance with Article 111(2) of Council Regulation (EC) No 2100/94, the accounts for all the Office's revenue and expenditure for the financial year 2003 were drawn up on 25 March 2004 and forwarded to the Court of Auditors. The Court received these accounts on 24 September 2004. A summarised version of these accounts is presented in the tables attached to this report.

Table 1

Community Plant Variety Office (Angers)

Areas of Community competence deriving from the Treaty

Competence of the Office as defined in Council Regulation (EC)

No 2100/94 of 27 July 1994

Governance

Resources available to the Agency

(data for 2002)

Products and services supplied in 2003

(data for 2002)

Free movement of goods

Prohibitions or restrictions justified on grounds of the protection of industrial and commercial property shall not constitute a means of arbitrary discrimination or a disguised restriction on trade between the Member States

(Extract from Article 30 of the Treaty)

Objectives

To apply the system of Community plant variety rights as the sole and exclusive form of Community industrial property rights for plant varieties

Tasks

—	To register and examine applications for Community plant variety rights

—	To decide whether to grant plant variety rights

—	To ensure that the necessary technical examinations are carried out by the competent offices in the Member States

—	To charge fees

—	To verify the proposed variety denominations

—	To maintain a register of all applications made and all rights granted

Administrative Council

Composition

—	One representative of each Member State

—	One representative of the Commission and their alternates

Tasks

—	To draw up rules governing the working methods of the Office

—	To act as the budgetary authority

—	To oversee the work programme and working methods

2.	President of the Office Appointed by the Council from a list of candidates proposed by the Commission after obtaining the opinion of the Administrative Council

3.	Board of Appeal Decides on appeals against decisions concerning plant variety rights

4.	Audit by the Commission The Commission checks the legality of the Office's budget and of those acts by the President whose legality is not checked by another body

5.	External audit Court of Auditors

6.	Discharge authority Administrative Council

Final budget:

11,1 million euro (10,5 million euro)

Community contribution: 0 % (0 %)

Staff numbers as at 31 December 2003:

Number of posts in establishment plan: 35 (33)

Posts occupied: 34 (28)

1 (2) other posts (auxiliary contracts, national experts on secondment, local staff, temporary staff)

Total staff: 35(30)

Assigned to the following duties:

—	operational: 13 (10)

—	administrative: 16 (15)

—	mixed: 6 (5)

Applications heard:

2 516(2 223)

External technical examinations:

1 929(1 295)

Rights granted:

1 869 (1 704)

Community rights in force on 31.12.2003: 8 764

(on 31.12.2002: 7 800)

Source:Information supplied by the Office.

Table 2

Community Plant Variety Office — Implementation of the budget for the 2003 financial year

(million euro)
Revenue			Expenditure
Origin of revenue	Revenue entered in the final budget for the financial year	Revenue collected	Expenditure allocation	Appropriations in the final budget					Appropriations carried over from the previous financial year			Available appropriations (2003 budget and 2002 financial year)
Origin of revenue	Revenue entered in the final budget for the financial year	Revenue collected	Expenditure allocation	entered	committed	paid	carried over	cancelled	outstanding commitments	paid	cancelled	appropriations	committed	paid	carried over	cancelled
Own revenue	7,4	8,2	Title I Staff	3,6	3,5	3,2	0,1	0,2	0,0	0,0	0,0	3,6	3,5	3,3	0,1	0,2
Administrative revenue	0,2	0,0	Title II Administration	1,0	0,8	0,6	0,2	0,2	0,2	0,1	0,0	1,2	0,8	0,7	0,2	0,3
Miscellaneous revenue	0,0	0,1	Title III Operating activities	6,6	6,1	1,2	4,9	0,5	3,7	1,3	0,2	10,3	6,1	2,5	4,9	0,7
Financial revenue	0,4	0,4
Budgetary balance from the previous financial year	3,2	0,0
Total	11,1	8,8	Total	11,1	10,4	5,0	5,2	1,0	3,9	1,5	0,2	15,0	10,4	6,5	5,2	1,2
NB:The totals may include differences due to rounding. Source:information supplied by the Office. These tables summarise the data provided by the Office in its own accounts.

Table 3

Community Plant Variety Office — Revenue and expenditure account for the financial years 2003 and 2002

(1000 euro)
	2003	2002
Revenue
Own revenue	8 199	8 564
Miscellaneous revenue	156	61
Financial revenue	401	615
Total revenue (a)	8 757	9 240
Expenditure
Staff — Title I of the budget
Payments	3 245	2 807
Appropriations carried over	98	26
Administration — Title II of the budget
Payments	583	570
Appropriations carried over	195	163
Operating activities — Title III of the budget
Payments	1 179	975
Appropriations carried over	4 863	3 699
Total expenditure (b)	10 164	8 239
Outturn for the financial year (a – b)	–1 407	1 001
Balance carried over from the previous financial year	13 977	11 029
Appropriations carried over and cancelled	249	1 949
Exchange-rate differences	0	–3
Future provision	5	0
Balance for the financial year	12 825	13 977
NB:The totals may include differences due to rounding. Source:information supplied by the Office. These tables summarise the data provided by the Office in its own accounts.

Table 4

Community Plant Variety Office — Balance sheet at 31 December 2003 and 31 December 2002

(1000 euro)
Assets	2003	2002	Liabilities	2003	2002
Fixed assets			Fixed capital
Computer software	78	68	Own capital	2 538	2 503
Buildings	2 427	2 404
Computer equipment	219	229	Reserve	13 977	11 029
Equipment and furniture	161	140	Balance for the financial year	–1 153	2 948
Depreciation	– 345	– 338	Subtotal	15 363	16 480
			Current liabilities
Subtotal	2 538	2 503	Outstanding commitments in respect of carry-overs from 2002	2 145	0
Indemnities and guarantees	3	0	Automatic carry-overs	5 156	3 887
Current assets			Suppliers	1	160
Recovery orders	3	51	Advances from customers	194	366
Sundry accounts receivable	29	24	VAT to be paid	216	216
VAT to be recovered	371	384	Deductions from salaries	9	32
Subtotal	403	459	Subtotal	7 721	4 661
Cash accounts
Banks	20 065	18 103
Imprest account	75	75
Subtotal	20 140	18 178
Total	23 084	21 141	Total	23 084	21 141
NB:The totals may include differences due to rounding. Source:information supplied by the Office. These tables summarise the data provided by the Office in its own accounts.

THE OFFICE'S REPLIES

The wording of Article 8 of the new Financial Regulation suggests that once the new Regulation had entered into force on 16 September 2003, appropriations under Title III may de facto be considered differentiated. The Office considers that the adoption by the budgetary authority of the 2004 budget, which included differentiated appropriations taking account of previous commitments still to be paid, makes up for the lack of an amending budget.

8.	The Office will submit a new request for the reimbursement of the outstanding EUR 206 553. As regards the remaining EUR 9 495, a decision will be taken before the end of the year.

9.	This validation is being finalised.

10.	The Office is looking at improved integration of its computer systems. Some elements have already been put in place, such as: automatic transfer of clients' debit and credit notes, automatic transfer of clients' and suppliers' data and automatic transfers of suppliers' invoices.

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