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Document 52011TA1216(07)

Report on the annual accounts of the ENIAC Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2010, together with the replies of the Joint Undertaking

OJ C 368, 16.12.2011, p. 48–57 (BG, ES, CS, DA, DE, ET, EL, EN, FR, IT, LV, LT, HU, MT, NL, PL, PT, RO, SK, SL, FI, SV)

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Official Journal

16.12.2011

Official Journal of the European Union

C 368/48

REPORT

on the annual accounts of the ENIAC Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2010, together with the replies of the Joint Undertaking

2011/C 368/07

INTRODUCTION

1.	The European Joint Undertaking for the implementation of the Joint Technology Initiative on Nanoelectronics (ENIAC Joint Undertaking), located in Brussels, was set up in December 2007 (1) for a period of 10 years.

The main objective of the Joint Undertaking is to define and implement a ‘research agenda’ for the development of key competences for nanoelectronics across different application areas in order to strengthen European competitiveness and sustainability, and allow the emergence of new markets and societal applications (2).

The Founding Members of the Joint Undertaking are the European Union, represented by the Commission, the Member States Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Sweden and the United Kingdom, and the Association for European Nanoelectronics Activities (AENEAS). Other Member States and associated countries, as well as any other country or legal entity capable of making a substantial financial contribution to the achievement of the Joint Undertaking's objectives may become members of the ENIAC Joint Undertaking.

The maximum EU contribution to the ENIAC Joint Undertaking to cover running costs and research activities is 450 million euro to be paid from the budget of the Seventh Research Framework Programme (3). AENEAS is to make a maximum contribution of 30 million euro to the running costs of the Joint Undertaking. ENIAC Member States are to make in-kind contributions to the running costs (by facilitating the implementation of projects), and to provide financial contributions of at least 1,8 times the EU contribution. In-kind contributions are also to be provided by research organisations participating in projects. The organisations participating in the research projects must make in-kind contributions at least equal to the contribution of the Commission and the Member States.

5.	The Joint Undertaking was granted its financial autonomy on 26 July 2010.

STATEMENT OF ASSURANCE

Pursuant to the provisions of Article 287(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union the Court has audited the annual accounts (4) of the ENIAC Joint Undertaking, which comprise the ‘financial statements’ (5) and the ‘reports on the implementation of the budget’ (6) for the financial year ended 31 December 2010, and the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying those accounts.

7.	This Statement of Assurance is addressed to the European Parliament and to the Council in accordance with Article 185(2) of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 (7).

The Director's responsibility

As authorising officer, the Director implements the revenue and expenditure of the budget in accordance with the Joint Undertaking's financial rules, under his own responsibility and within the limits of the authorised appropriations (8). The Director is responsible for putting in place (9) the organisational structure and the internal management and control systems and procedures relevant for drawing up final accounts (10) that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error and for ensuring that the transactions underlying those accounts are legal and regular.

The Court's responsibility

9.	The Court's responsibility is to provide, on the basis of its audit, a statement of assurance as to the reliability of the annual accounts of the Joint Undertaking and the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying them.

10.

The Court conducted its audit in accordance with the IFAC and ISSAI (11) International Auditing Standards and Codes of Ethics. Those standards require the Court to comply with ethical requirements and to plan and perform the audit so as to obtain reasonable assurance as to whether the accounts are free of material misstatement and whether the underlying transactions are legal and regular.

11.

The Court's audit involves performing procedures to obtain audit evidence of the amounts and disclosures in the accounts and of the legality and the regularity of the transactions underlying them. The procedures selected, including its assessment of the risks of material misstatement of the accounts or of illegal or irregular transactions, whether due to fraud or error, depend on its audit judgement. In making those risk assessments, internal controls relevant to the entity's preparation and presentation of accounts are considered in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances. The Court's audit also includes evaluating the appropriateness of the accounting policies used and the reasonableness of the accounting estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the accounts.

12.	The Court considers that the audit evidence obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for the opinions set out below.

Basis for qualified opinion on the reliability of the accounts

13.	The Budgetary Outturn Account and its reconciliation to the Economic Outturn Account, required by EC Accounting Rule 16 ‘Presentation of budget information in the annual accounts’, have not been included in the accounts.

Qualified opinion on the reliability of the accounts

14.

In the Court's opinion, except for the effects of the matter described in the basis for qualified opinion paragraph, the annual accounts of the Joint Undertaking fairly present, in all material respects, its financial position as of 31 December 2010 the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended, in accordance with the provisions of its financial rules.

Opinion on the legality and the regularity of the transactions underlying the accounts

15.	In the Court's opinion, the transactions underlying the annual accounts of the Joint Undertaking for the financial year ended 31 December 2010 are, in all material respects, legal and regular.

16.	The comments which follow in paragraphs 17-25 do not call the Court's opinions into question.

COMMENTS ON THE BUDGETARY AND FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

Implementation of the budget

17.

The final budget for 2010 included commitment and payment appropriations amounting to 38 million euro. The utilisation rates for the available commitment and payment appropriations were 99 % and 24 % respectively. Payment appropriations of 29 million euro were carried over to 2011. The low implementation of the payment appropriations is the result of the delayed transfer of the operational activities and the corresponding funding from the Commission to the Joint Undertaking (see paragraph 23) (12). This is also reflected in the cash balance, which stood at 20 million euro at the end of the year (53 % of the available payment appropriations for 2010).

Internal control systems

18.

The Joint Undertaking has not fully implemented its internal controls and financial information systems. In particular, further work is needed in establishing and documenting the accounting procedures and controls relating to the closure of the accounts and to the recognition and measurement of the operational expenditure. These are important elements of the Joint Undertaking's system of internal control.

19.

Control weaknesses were detected in the area of ex-ante financial verification of pre-financing payments, in particular regarding the calculation and validation of the amounts to be paid. It was also noted that full reliance was placed on the certificates received from the National Funding Authorities (NFAs) for pre-financing payments and for acceptance of costs and that no other checks were performed to ensure the legality and regularity (13) of the expenses declared.

20.

The ex-post audit of project cost claims has been fully delegated to the Member States without any control being exercised by the Joint Undertaking (14). This will make it difficult for the Joint Undertaking to ensure: (i) that the financial interests of its Members are adequately protected, as required by its Council Regulation (15); and (ii) the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions.

21.

The Accounting Officer of the Joint Undertaking validated the financial and accounting systems (ABAC and SAP) on 20 December 2010. However, the underlying business processes which provide financial information were not validated, in particular the one providing financial information about the validation and payment of the cost claims received from the national authorities.

22.	The limited review of the IT controls showed that the Joint Undertaking has an adequate level of IT governance and practice for its size and mission, but the formalisation of policies and procedures, however, is lagging behind in some areas (16).

Delayed financial autonomy

23.

The Council Regulation setting up the Joint Undertaking came into force in February 2008. In May 2010 the financial and accounting systems were deployed and tested successfully and the administrative appropriations were transferred to the Joint Undertaking. However, the operational budget lines were not transferred and remained inaccessible in the accounting system until the Joint Undertaking was officially granted financial autonomy on 26 July 2010. The cash transfer from the Commission to the Joint Undertaking covering the operational appropriations was made on 22 September 2010. It was only from that date onwards that the Joint Undertaking was able to make operational payments.

OTHER MATTERS

Internal audit function and the Commission's Internal Audit Service

24.

The mission charter of the Commission's Internal Audit Service was adopted by the Governing Board on 18 November 2010. However, the financial rules of the Joint Undertaking have not yet been amended to include the provision of the Framework Regulation (17) referring to the powers of the Commission's internal auditor.

Lack of host State agreement

25.

According to the Council Regulation setting up the Joint Undertaking, a host agreement should be concluded between the Joint Undertaking and Belgium concerning office accommodation, privileges and immunities and other support to be provided by Belgium to the Joint Undertaking. However, as at the end of 2010, no such agreement had been signed.

This Report was adopted by Chamber IV, headed by Mr Igors LUDBORŽS, Member of the Court of Auditors, in Luxembourg at its meeting of 25 October 2011.

For the Court of Auditors

Vítor Manuel da SILVA CALDEIRA

President

(1) Council Regulation (EC) No 72/2008 of 20 December 2007 setting up the ENIAC Joint Undertaking (OJ L 30, 4.2.2008, p. 21).

(2) The Annex summarises the Joint Undertaking's competences, activities and available resources. It is presented for information purposes.

(3) The Seventh Framework Programme, adopted by Decision No 1982/2006/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2006, brings all the research-related EU initiatives together under one roof and plays a crucial role in achieving the goals of growth, competitiveness and employment. It is also a key pillar for the European Research Area.

(4) The Court received the annual accounts on 1 July 2011 and a corrigendum to these accounts on 7 October 2011. These accounts are accompanied by a report on the budgetary and financial management during the year which gives, inter alia, an account of the rate of implementation of the appropriations.

(5) The financial statements include the balance sheet and the economic outturn account, the cash flow table, the statement of changes in net assets and the annex to the financial statements, which includes a description of the main accounting policies and other explanatory information.

(6) The budget implementation reports comprise the budget outturn account and its annex.

(7) OJ L 248, 16.9.2002, p. 1.

(8) Article 33 of Commission Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2343/2002 (OJ L 357, 31.12.2002, p. 72).

(9) Article 38 of Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2343/2002.

(10) The rules concerning the presentation of the accounts and accounting by EU bodies are laid down in Chapter 1 of Title VII of Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2343/2002, as last amended by Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 652/2008 (OJ L 181, 10.7.2008, p. 23), and are integrated as such in the financial rules of the Joint Undertaking.

(11) International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) and International Standards of Supreme Audit Institutions (ISSAI).

(12) Payments were made for the projects of the 2008 and 2009 calls from 22 September 2010 onwards.

(13) Article 13(6) of the Statutes of the ENIAC Joint Undertaking annexed to the Council Regulation setting up the Joint Undertaking states that ‘ENIAC Member States shall establish grant agreements with participants in projects in accordance with their national rules, in particular as regards eligibility criteria and other necessary financial and legal requirements’.

(14) The administrative agreements signed with the National Funding Authorities (NFAs) do not explicitly detail the practical arrangements for the ex-post audits (i.e. audit methodology, procedures to be applied) to be performed by the NFAs. The NFAs are legally bound only to communicate the results of these audits to the Joint Undertaking.

(15) Article 12 of the Council Regulation setting up the Joint Undertaking states that the Joint Undertaking ‘shall ensure that the financial interests of its members are adequately protected by carrying out or commissioning appropriate internal and external controls’ and that it ‘shall carry out on-the-spot checks and financial audits among the recipients of the ENIAC Joint Undertaking's public funding. These checks and audits shall be performed either directly by the ENIAC Joint Undertaking or by ENIAC member States on its behalf.’

(16) Namely: (a) incomplete IT strategic planning cycle; (b) lack of proper data classification according to confidentiality and integrity requirements; and (c) lack of formal Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP).

(17) Commission Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2343/2002 of 23 December 2002 on the Framework Financial Regulation for the bodies referred to in Article 185 of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities.

ANNEX

ENIAC Joint Undertaking (Brussels)

Competences and activities

Areas of Union competence deriving from the Treaty

(Article 187 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union)

The Joint Undertaking is a Union body and the implementation of its budget is therefore subject to discharge by the European Parliament, taking into account, however, the specificities resulting from the nature of JTIs as public-private partnerships and in particular from the private sector contribution.

The ENIAC Joint Undertaking was established by Council Regulation (EC) No 72/2008 of 20 December 2007 (OJ L 30, 4.2.2008, p. 21).

Competences of the Joint Undertaking

(Council Regulation (EC) No 72/2008)

Objectives

The ENIAC Joint Undertaking contributes to the implementation of the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007-13) and the Theme ‘Information and Communication Technologies’ of the Specific Programme ‘Cooperation’ implementing the Seventh Framework Programme (2007-13) of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities. It shall, in particular:

—	define and implement a Research Agenda for the development of key competences for Nanoelectronics across different application areas in order to strengthen European competitiveness and sustainability and allow the emergence of new markets and societal applications,

—	support the activities required for the implementation of the Research Agenda (hereinafter ‘R&D activities’), notably by awarding funding to participants in selected projects following competitive calls for proposals,

—	promote a public-private partnership aiming at mobilising and pooling Union, national and private efforts, increasing overall R&D investments in the field of Nanoelectronics, and fostering collaboration between the public and private sectors,

—	ensure the efficiency and durability of the JTI on Nanoelectronics,

—	achieve synergy and coordination of European R&D efforts in the field of Nanoelectronics including the progressive integration into the ENIAC Joint Undertaking of the related activities in this field currently implemented through intergovernmental R&D schemes (EUREKA).

Governance

1 – Members

The founding members of the ENIAC Joint Undertaking are:

—	the European Community, represented by the Commission,

—	Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Sweden and the United Kingdom,

—	the AENEAS association (hereinafter ‘AENEAS’).

Provided that they subscribe to the objectives laid down in Article 2 of the Founding Regulation, the following entities may become members of the ENIAC Joint Undertaking:

—	other Member States and countries associated with the Seventh Framework Programme,

—	any non-EU, non-candidate and non-associated country (hereinafter ‘Third Country’) pursuing R&D policies or programmes in the area of Nanoelectronics,

—	any legal entity capable of making a substantial financial contribution to the achievement of the objectives of the ENIAC Joint Undertaking.

The founding members and new members shall be hereinafter referred to as ‘Members’.

Member States and Associated Countries that are members of the ENIAC Joint Undertaking shall be hereinafter referred to as ‘ENIAC Member States’.

2 – The Governing Board

The Governing Board shall consist of representatives of the Members of the ENIAC Joint Undertaking and the Chairperson of the Industry and Research Committee.

The Governing Board shall have overall responsibility for the operations of the ENIAC Joint Undertaking and shall oversee the implementation of its activities. The Governing Board shall in particular:

—	assess applications and decide or recommend changes in membership,

—	decide on the termination of the membership of any Member that is in default of its obligations and has not remedied this within a reasonable period set by the Executive Director, notwithstanding the provisions of the Treaty ensuring compliance with Union law,

—	approve the Financial Regulation of the ENIAC Joint Undertaking,

—	adopt proposed amendments to the Statutes,

—	approve the Multiannual Strategic Plan including the Research Agenda,

—	supervise the overall activities of the ENIAC Joint Undertaking,

—	supervise progress in implementing the Multiannual Strategic Plan,

—	approve the Annual Implementation Plan and the Annual Budget Plan, including the staff establishment plan,

—	approve the Annual Activity Report and the Annual Accounts and balance sheet,

—	appoint, dismiss or replace the Executive Director, provide guidance to the Executive Director, and monitor the Executive Director's performance,

—	take responsibility for the appropriate provision of the function entrusted by Article 185(3) of Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 to the Commission's internal auditor,

—	adopt the necessary implementing measures for the Staff Regulation of the ENIAC Joint Undertaking,

—	establish committees or working groups to carry out specific tasks as necessary,

—	adopt its rules of procedure,

and assign any task not specifically allocated to one of the other Bodies of the ENIAC Joint Undertaking.

3 – The Public Authorities Board

The Public Authorities Board shall consist of the public authorities of the ENIAC Joint Undertaking. The Public Authorities Board shall:

—	ensure that the principles of fairness and transparency are properly applied in the allocation of public funding to participants in Projects,

—	approve the Annual Work Programme upon proposals from the Industry and Research Committee, including the budgets available for calls for proposals,

—	approve the rules of procedure for calls for proposals, for the evaluation and selection of proposals and for monitoring of Projects,

—	upon proposal of the representative of the Community, decide on the ENIAC Joint Undertaking financial contribution to the budget of the calls for proposals,

—	approve the launch of calls for proposals,

—	approve the selection of project proposals to receive public funding following calls for proposals,

—	upon proposal of the representative of the Community, decide on the percentage of the ENIAC Joint Undertaking's financial contribution to participants in Projects arising from calls for proposals in any given year,

and adopt its rules of procedure.

4 – The Industry and Research Committee

AENEAS shall appoint the members of the Industry and Research Committee. The Industry and Research Committee shall consist of no more than 25 members.

The Industry and Research Committee shall:

—	elaborate the draft Multiannual Strategic Plan, including the content and update of the Research Agenda, and submit it to the Governing Board for approval,

—	prepare the draft Annual Work Programme, including proposals for the content of calls for proposals to be launched by the ENIAC Joint Undertaking,

—	elaborate proposals regarding the technological, research and innovation strategy of the ENIAC Joint Undertaking,

—	elaborate proposals for activities regarding the creation of open innovation environments, promoting the participation of SMEs, developing standards transparently and with openness to participation, international cooperation, dissemination and public relations,

—	advise the other Bodies on any issue related to planning and operating research and development programmes, fostering partnerships and leveraging resources in Europe in order to achieve the objectives of the ENIAC Joint Undertaking,

—	appoint working groups where necessary under the overall coordination of one or more members of this Committee in order to achieve the above tasks,

—	adopt its rules of procedure.

5 – The Executive Director

The Executive Director shall be the chief executive responsible for the day-to-day management of the ENIAC Joint Undertaking and be its legal representative. He/she shall perform his/her tasks with complete independence and shall be accountable to the Governing Board. The Director shall exercise, in respect of the staff, the powers laid down in Article 7(2) of the Council Regulation setting up the ENIAC Joint Undertaking.

The role and tasks of the Executive Director shall be:

—	to prepare the Annual Implementation Plan and the Annual Budget Plan, in collaboration with the Industry and Research Committee, and submit them to the Governing Board for approval,

—	to oversee the organisation and execution of all activities needed to carry out the Annual Implementation Plan within the framework and the rules laid down by the Statutes and subsequent decisions adopted by the Governing Board and the Public Authorities Board,

—	to prepare the Annual Activity Report and the Annual Accounts and balance sheets and submit them to the Governing Board for approval,

—	to present proposals on the internal functioning of the ENIAC Joint Undertaking to the Governing Board for approval,

—	to present proposals on the rules of procedure for calls for proposals launched by the ENIAC Joint Undertaking, including the associated project proposal evaluation and selection process to the Public Authorities Board for approval,

—	to manage the launch of calls for proposals, the process of evaluating and selecting project proposals and negotiating grant agreements for selected proposals, and the subsequent periodic monitoring and follow-up of Projects within the mandate given by the Public Authorities Board,

—	to conclude grant agreements for the implementation of the R&D activities, and service and supply contracts necessary for the operations of the ENIAC Joint Undertaking,

—	to authorise all payments due by the ENIAC Joint Undertaking,

—	to establish and implement the necessary measures and actions for assessing the progress of the ENIAC Joint Undertaking towards achieving its objectives, including independent monitoring and auditing to assess the effectiveness and performance of the ENIAC Joint Undertaking,

—	to organise Project reviews and technical audits for the assessment of research and development results, and to report to the Governing Board on the overall results,

—	to carry out financial audits, directly or through the national public authorities, on Project participants as necessary, in compliance with the Financial Regulation of the ENIAC Joint Undertaking,

—	to negotiate the conditions for accession of new members of the ENIAC Joint Undertaking, on behalf of and within the mandate of the Governing Board,

—	to carry out any other necessary action for the successful achievement of the ENIAC Joint Undertaking's objectives not provided for in the Annual Implementation Plan, within any limits and conditions established by the Governing Board,

—	to convene meetings of the Governing Board and of the Public Authorities Board and where appropriate to attend these meetings as an observer,

—	to provide the Governing Board with any information requested by it,

—	to submit to the Governing Board his/her proposal(s) concerning the organisation structure of the Secretariat,

—	to be fully responsible for decisions on personnel management regarding the staff of the ENIAC Joint Undertaking,

—	to perform risk assessment and risk management analysis and to propose to the Governing Board any insurance that it may be necessary for the ENIAC Joint Undertaking to take out in order to meet its obligations.

6 – External audit

Court of Auditors.

7 – Discharge authority

European Parliament, acting on a recommendation from the Council.

Resources available to the Joint Undertaking in 2010

Budget

Voted 2010 budget (EUR):

	Commitments	Payments
TITLE I - Staff	1 136 000	1 136 000
TITLE II – Administrative	1 136 000	1 136 000
TOTAL TITLES I & II	2 272 000	2 272 000
TITLE III – Operational	36 168 000	36 168 000
TOTAL TITLES I, II & III	38 440 000	38 440 000

Staff at 31 December 2010

Establishment plan 2010

Occupied at 31.12.2010

Temporary staff

Contract staff

Total Staff:

Allocated to:

—	Operational activities:

—	Administrative tasks:

—	Mixed tasks:

Activities and services provided in 2010

The ENIAC JU made great progress in 2010. Its membership did not change (1) but the engagement in the ENIAC JU bodies intensified, executing the tasks as defined in the Statutes:

—

The Industry and Research Committee nominated by AENEAS to propose the Research Agenda has been extended to also include its Support Group, in addition to the members of its Steering Committee, who rarely (if ever) attended the meetings. The IRC has not yet adopted its rules of procedure; AENEAS continues to call and manage the meetings.

—

The Public Authorities Board approved the AWP, selected the projects to be funded in 2010 and worked on project selection rules and ‘delineation’ regarding CATRENE. Dissatisfied with the ‘delineation’, Germany and France voted against the 2010 AWP in January, and Germany abstained for the 2011 AWP in December 2010.

—	The Executive Director and the Secretariat enabled the ENIAC JU to acquire the capability to implement its own budget and execute the Annual Implementation Plan (2010 AIP).

—

The Governing Board finished establishing the legal framework, and was required to reduce the time spent on administration and concentrate on policies. It is indeed high time to concentrate on policies, now that the ENIAC JU has acquired the capability to implement its budget and has started executing its tasks autonomously. To achieve this, it finished recruiting and training the staff, implemented the financial circuit, started accessing the appropriations for the functional activities (5 May 2010), implemented the Internal Control Framework, received the operational appropriations (22 September 2010), defined audit procedures, selected its new location in the White Atrium building, etc.

At the end of the year, the ENIAC JU committed all appropriations for the projects arising from Call 3 (2010), executed 21,1 % of the operational payments and closed the functional budget with 1,92 million euro committed, as compared with a budget of 2,27 million euro; the savings of 352 000 euro will be credited to the Commission and to AENEAS in proportion to their respective contributions.

In addition, the ENIAC JU intensified its communication work: it published and distributed the brochure and the project profiles for Calls 1 and 2, updated the web site, co-organised the European Nanoelectronics Forum (Madrid), actively participated in events in Germany, Italy, Austria and Romania, and in international conferences such as ICT2010 (Brussels), DATE2010 (Dresden) and the Sematech Litho Workshop (New York). Although industrial companies continue pursuing sensible business goals, and they continue implementing strong national policies in semiconductors, if one takes an overall view of the results it becomes obvious that the European position in the global competition is deteriorating.

To stay competitive, Europe must raise its R&D and industrial programmes to a new level, as will hopefully be proposed by the High Level Group on Key Enabling Technologies. The main risk facing the ENIAC Joint Undertaking is that it will come to the end of its lifespan without having an impact on the evolution of the European semiconductor industry.

Realistically, Europe needs a comprehensive approach for putting its semiconductor industry back on the path towards growth, including – but going further than – the framework of the ENIAC JU. A European plan involving national support is a difficult proposition, as shown by the insufficient financial commitments of the key ENIAC member States. The ENIAC JU must however contribute to this goal by further improving its ability to mobilise the means made available by the budgetary authority and to make a difference.

To this end, the ENIAC JU must collaborate with all its stakeholders, pursuing three lines of action:

—	work with AENEAS and the industry at large to generate compelling ‘must-do’ project proposals with strategic impact in line with the Research Agenda,

—	work with the National Public Authorities to improve the synergy with the policies pursued by the ENIAC Member States and optimise their financial engagement,

—	engage additional public entities who can contribute to the programme at national level.

If semiconductors are indeed a Key Enabling Technology in Europe, these goals should be achievable.

Source: Information supplied by the Joint Undertaking.

(1) The members of the ENIAC Joint Undertaking are: AENEAS, the European Commission and the ENIAC Member States (Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom).

REPLIES OF THE JOINT UNDERTAKING

Presentation of the 2010 annual accounts

ENIAC JU agrees that a number of elements are missing in the final accounts and will pay special attention to enter the necessary corrections in the next years' accounts.

Paragraph 18

The accounting procedures and controls relating to the closure and to the recognition and measurement of the operational expenditure have been established and documented and will be fully implemented for the closure of the 2011 accounts.

Paragraph 19

Due to different methods used by some national authorities for the calculation of their contributions, data input has led at a certain point to differences in the payment of some pre-financings. The ENIAC JU has identified the gaps and corrective action has been taken.

Having regard to Article 66 of ENIAC JU's financial rules, the validation of any expenditure shall be based on the certification on the reality and the amount of the claim submitted by the respective national funding authorities. Moreover, the Joint Undertaking will carry out sample checks under its own responsibility. These checks will be carried out by the Joint Undertaking in future years to ensure the legality and regularity of the declared expenditure.

Paragraph 20

ENIAC JU is currently collecting the various national audit strategies and procedures as well as the ex-post audit results from ENIAC Member States, and will analyse with the internal auditor (IAS) the way to improve and review the JU's ex-post audit strategy.

Paragraph 21

While the financial and accounting systems (ABAC and SAP) have been validated in 2010, the management acknowledges that further work is needed for validating certain underlying business processes providing financial information. The validation of these processes will be finalised in 2011, having regard to the Commission's guidelines in this respect.

Paragraph 22

Due to the imminent move to new premises early 2011, ENIAC JU postponed in 2010 any plans to develop own software, to implement its data repository and relied on the Disaster Recovery Plan of the Commission, who provided the IT infrastructure.

Paragraph 24

The need to further clarify the role of the IAS in ENIAC JU's financial rules will be assessed after the finalisation of the ongoing revision of the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Union.

Paragraph 25

ENIAC JU took the necessary steps for the signature of the Host State Agreement as it sent two copies of the agreement duly signed by the Executive Director to the Belgian authorities on 17 December 2010, inviting them to return one copy with their signature.

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