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Document 02000D0265-20091130
Council Decision of 27 March 2000 on the establishment of a financial regulation governing the budgetary aspects of the management by the Deputy Secretary-General of the Council, of contracts concluded in his name, on behalf of certain Member States, relating to the installation and the functioning of the communication infrastructure for the Schengen environment, Sisnet (2000/265/EC)
Consolidated text: Council Decision of 27 March 2000 on the establishment of a financial regulation governing the budgetary aspects of the management by the Deputy Secretary-General of the Council, of contracts concluded in his name, on behalf of certain Member States, relating to the installation and the functioning of the communication infrastructure for the Schengen environment, Sisnet (2000/265/EC)
Council Decision of 27 March 2000 on the establishment of a financial regulation governing the budgetary aspects of the management by the Deputy Secretary-General of the Council, of contracts concluded in his name, on behalf of certain Member States, relating to the installation and the functioning of the communication infrastructure for the Schengen environment, Sisnet (2000/265/EC)
02000D0265 — EN — 30.11.2009 — 006.001
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COUNCIL DECISION of 27 March 2000 on the establishment of a financial regulation governing the budgetary aspects of the management by the Deputy Secretary-General of the Council, of contracts concluded in his name, on behalf of certain Member States, relating to the installation and the functioning of the communication infrastructure for the Schengen environment, ‘Sisnet’ (OJ L 085 6.4.2000, p. 12) |
Amended by:
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Official Journal |
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No |
page |
date |
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L 278 |
24 |
31.10.2000 |
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L 69 |
25 |
13.3.2003 |
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L 68 |
5 |
8.3.2007 |
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L 109 |
30 |
19.4.2008 |
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L 220 |
19 |
15.8.2008 |
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L 323 |
9 |
10.12.2009 |
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Corrected by:
COUNCIL DECISION
of 27 March 2000
on the establishment of a financial regulation governing the budgetary aspects of the management by the Deputy Secretary-General of the Council, of contracts concluded in his name, on behalf of certain Member States, relating to the installation and the functioning of the communication infrastructure for the Schengen environment, ‘Sisnet’
(2000/265/EC)
CHAPTER I
General principles
Article 1
Article 2
This Financial Regulation lays down detailed rules for the conclusion of contracts relating to Sisnet and for the establishment and implementation of the budget required in relation to such contracts.
Article 3
Article 4
The budget appropriations shall be used in accordance with the principles of sound financial management, and in particular those of economy and cost-effectiveness.
Article 5
No revenue shall be collected and no expenditure effected unless credited to, or charged against, an article in the budget.
Without prejudice to Article 17, no expenditure may be committed or authorised in excess of the authorised appropriations.
Article 6
Article 7
The following rules shall govern the utilisation of appropriations:
appropriations still uncommitted at the end of the financial year for which they were entered shall, as a rule, lapse;
appropriations in respect of payments still outstanding at 31 December by virtue of commitments duly entered into between 1 January and 15 December shall be carried over automatically to the next financial year only.
Notwithstanding paragraph 1, the Deputy Secretary-General of the Council may forward to the representatives of the States referred to in Article 25, meeting within the framework of the SIS/SIRENE Working Party (Mixed Committee), hereinafter referred to as the ‘SIS/SIRENE Working Party’, before 31 January, duly substantiated requests to carry over to the next financial year appropriations not committed at 15 December when the appropriations provided for the headings concerned in the budget for the following financial year do not cover requirements.
◄The carry-over of such appropriations may be proposed only for exceptional reasons.
In exercising his powers to implement the budget, the Deputy Secretary-General shall, depending on management requirements, endeavour to use first the appropriations authorised for the current financial year and not use the appropriations carried over until the former are exhausted.
The SIS/SIRENE Working Party shall act on such requests for carrying over by 1 March at the latest.
▼M5 —————
CHAPTER II
Establishment of the budget
Article 8
Article 9
If the budget has not been finally adopted at the beginning of the financial year:
payments may be made for up to one twelfth, each month, of the total appropriations authorised for each budget title for the preceding financial year; and
the contributions of the States referred to in Article 25 may be called up for up to one twelfth, each month, of the contributions paid under the last duly adopted budget.
Article 10
Article 11
The budget may be released to the public.
CHAPTER III
Implementation of the budget and accountancy
Article 12
The budget shall be implemented in accordance with the principle that the authorising officer and the accounting officer are different individuals. The duties of authorising officer, accounting officer and internal auditor shall be mutually incompatible.
Article 13
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Article 15
The receipt of revenue and the disbursement of expenditure shall be carried out by an accounting officer from Directorate-General A at the General Secretariat of the Council.
Article 16
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Article 17
Notwithstanding Articles 5 and 6:
the following deductions may be made from all bills, invoices or statements, which shall then be passed for payment of the net amount:
fines imposed on a party to a contract on an accepted tender;
adjustment of amounts paid in error, which may be achieved by means of deduction beforehand when another validation of the same type is being effected under the title, chapter, article and financial year in respect of which the excess payment was made.
Discounts, refunds and rebates on invoices and bills shall not be recorded as separate revenue;
the following sums may be reused under the heading to which the initial expenditure was charged:
Sums must be reused before the end of the financial year following that in which the revenue was collected.
Article 18
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Article 19
The purpose of validation of expenditure by the authorising officer shall be:
to verify the creditor's claim;
to determine or verify the existence and the amount of the sum due;
to verify the conditions under which the payment falls due;
to verify that purchases or services rendered are as ordered.
Article 20
The authorisation shall state:
the financial year against which the payment shall be charged;
the budget title, chapter and article;
the amount to be paid, in figures and in words, and the currency of payment;
the name and address of the creditor;
the purpose of the expenditure;
the method of payment.
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Article 21
►M1 Payments shall be effected through a bank account specifically opened for that purpose in the name of the General Secretariat of the Council. ◄ Bank transfer orders executed pursuant to this Financial Regulation shall require the joint signature of two officials nominated by the Deputy Secretary-General, of whom one shall be the accounting officer.
▼M5 —————
Article 23
The liability to disciplinary action of the authorising officer and accounting officer in the event of failure to comply with the provisions of this Financial Regulation shall be as laid down in the Staff Regulations of Officials of the European Communities.
Article 24
The accounts shall be kept by the double-entry method on the basis of the calendar year. They shall show all revenue and expenditure for the financial year.
CHAPTER III A
Internal auditor
Article 24a
An internal auditor shall verify the proper operation of the budgetary implementation systems and procedures set out in this Regulation. By analogy, the internal auditor shall benefit from all the powers, shall perform all the tasks, and shall be subject to all the rules provided for in Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 of 25 June 2002 on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities ( 4 ), in particular in Part I, Title IV, Chapter 8 thereof.
CHAPTER IV
States' contributions
Article 25
Article 26
The states referred to in Article 25 shall supply their financial contributions to the Deputy Secretary-General.
The scale of contributions to be paid by the Member States referred to in Article 25, on the one hand, and by Iceland, Norway and Switzerland, on the other hand, shall be calculated annually on the basis of the share of each Member State concerned and of Iceland, Norway and Switzerland, in the total gross domestic product (GDP) for the preceding year of all the States referred to in Article 25. The scale of contributions by the Member States concerned shall be calculated annually, taking into account the contributions of Iceland, Norway and Switzerland, on the basis of the ratio of the VAT resources paid by each of those Member States to the total VAT resources of the European Communities, as established in the last amendment of the budget of the Union during the preceding financial year.
▼M6 —————
Article 27
The letter concerned shall contain the following information:
the decision to adopt the budget or, in the event of Article 9 being invoked, the decision to call up contributions by provisional twelfths;
the amount to be paid by each State, calculated in euro in accordance with the scale referred to in Article 26;
the details necessary for paying the contribution.
Article 28
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CHAPTER V
Conclusion of contracts
Article 29
Every invitation to tender shall be prepared by the General Secretariat of the Council on behalf of the Member States referred to in Article 25 and shall, in particular:
specify the procedure for submitting tenders and stipulate how they are to be presented, including, in particular, any requirement as to the use of a standard reply form;
make reference to the general conditions applicable to the contract concerned (supplies or services), where appropriate, and to any document containing conditions specifically applicable to the particular contract concerned;
include a clause stating that the submission of a tender implies acceptance of the relevant conditions;
specify the terms under which an inspection may be made, where appropriate, to be set out in detail in the case of on-the-spot inspections;
specify the period during which a tender will remain valid and may not be varied in any respect;
specify the penalties for failure to comply with the provisions of the contract;
specify the details which must be contained in the invoices (or in the relevant supporting documents);
prohibit any contact between the Deputy Secretary-General and his staff, representatives of the Governments of the Member States referred to in Article 25, representatives of the Governments of Iceland, Norway and Switzerland and tenderers on matters related to that invitation to tender save, by way of special exception, under the following conditions:
before the closing date for the submission of tenders:
at the instance of tenderers:
additional information solely for the purpose of clarifying the nature of the invitation to tender may be communicated to all tenderers;
at the instance of the Deputy Secretary-General:
if the Member States referred to in Article 25, or Iceland, Norway and Switzerland, or the General Secretariat of the Council notice an error, a lack of precision, an omission or any other type of clerical defect in the text of the invitation to tender, the General Secretariat may, in a manner identical to that applicable in respect of the original invitation to tender, inform the persons concerned accordingly;
after the tenders have been opened and at the instance of the Member States referred to in Article 25, Iceland, Norway or Switzerland, or the General Secretariat of the Council, if some clarification is required in connection with a tender, or if obvious clerical errors contained in the tender must be corrected, the General Secretariat may contact the tenderer.
Article 30
In every case where contact has been made under the conditions provided for in Article 29(6)(h), a ‘Note for the file’ shall be drawn up and such contact shall be mentioned in the report to be submitted subsequently to the Advisory Committee referred to in Article 36.
Article 31
No discrimination shall be practised between nationals of Member States and of Iceland, Norway and Switzerland on grounds of nationality in respect of contracts entered into by the Deputy Secretary-General on behalf of the Member States referred to in Article 25.
Article 32
Where there are general conditions applicable to the proposed contract, they shall be attached to the invitation to tender. Any document containing conditions specifically applicable to the particular contract concerned shall also be attached.
Article 33
Tenderers may submit tenders:
by post:
in which case the invitation to tender must specify that the relevant date shall be that on which the tender is posted, as evidenced by the postmark. Tenders submitted by post must be registered; or
by hand-delivery to the Council General Secretariat direct or by any agent of the tenderer, including private messenger services:
in which case the invitation to tender must state the date by which tenders must be submitted and specify the department within the Council General Secretariat to which they must be delivered against a signed and dated receipt.
The date must be the same in both cases.
In order to maintain secrecy and to avoid any difficulties, the invitation to tender must include a provision as follows:
‘Tenders must be submitted in a sealed envelope itself enclosed within a second sealed envelope. The inner envelope shall bear, in addition to the name of the department to which it is addressed, as indicated in the invitation to tender, the words “Call for tenders — Not to be opened by the Registry”. If self-adhesive envelopes are used they must be sealed with adhesive tape and the sender must sign across this tape.’
Article 34
Every tender must be opened.
The tenders shall be opened together by a committee appointed for this purpose by the Deputy Secretary-General. It shall be composed of three high-level officials from different directorates of the Council General Secretariat.
The committee shall draw up a report of the opening of the tender, to be signed by all its members.
Each page of each tender shall be initialled by at least one member of the committee. The committee shall make a written record of the tenders received, listing, in particular, all the documents which have been received from each tenderer in connection with the tender.
Article 35
Every tender shall be assessed by the Member States referred to in Article 25, together with Iceland, Norway and Switzerland. A report, approved unanimously by these States, shall be presented by the competent official within the Council General Secretariat designated by the authorising officer or by an alternate, also designated by the authorising officer, to the Advisory Committee referred to in Article 36.
This report shall include in particular:
a statement of the reasons for the elimination of any of the tenders;
a technical and financial assessment of each tender, including a comparative table of unit prices;
the grounds for the choice of tenderer recommended.
Article 36
Contracts to be concluded by the Deputy Secretary-General on behalf of the Member States referred to in Article 25 and by the appropriate representatives of Iceland, Norway and Switzerland after an invitation to tender has been issued shall first be submitted for the opinion of an Advisory Committee on procurements and contracts.
Article 37
The Advisory Committee referred to in Article 36 shall include one representative from each Member State referred to in Article 25, together with one representative from each of Iceland, Norway and Switzerland. The Member States referred to in Article 25, together with Iceland, Norway and Switzerland, shall ensure that the representatives selected have adequate expertise in informatics and/or financial matters and/or legal matters. Representatives must not have participated in the assessment of the files to be submitted to the Advisory Committee. A representative of the internal auditor shall be present as observer.
The Advisory Committee shall, by simple majority, elect a Chairman and a deputy Chairman from among its representatives.
The Advisory Committee shall deliver an opinion as to whether the procedure leading to the selection of tenderer is in order and, in general, on the proposed terms of the contract.
Any other problem concerning the matter forming the subject of this chapter may be referred to the said Advisory Committee for an opinion.
The Advisory Committee shall endeavour to adopt its opinions by consensus. If such consensus is not possible, the Advisory Committee shall adopt its opinions by a simple majority of its representatives. A quorum of 19 shall be required for the proceedings to be valid. In the event of a tied vote, the Chairman shall have the casting vote. From the date referred to in Article 25(1a), a quorum of 21 shall be required.
The General Secretariat of the Council shall provide secretarial assistance to the Advisory Committee as necessary.
Article 38
The Advisory Committee shall draw up its own rules of procedure, by analogy with the rules of procedure of the Advisory Committee on Procurements and Contracts of the Council of the European Union.
Article 39
The Advisory Committee shall be required to give its opinion, in a purely advisory capacity, on:
all proposed contracts for supplies or services, including studies, for which the estimated value equals or exceeds the thresholds in the Directive on public procurement;
any proposed agreement supplementary to any contract as referred to in point (a) whenever there are significant changes, particularly when the effect of such supplementary agreement would be to alter the amount involved in the original contract;
any proposed supplementary agreement the effect of which would be to raise the total amount involved in a contract already concluded above the thresholds referred to in point (a);
questions arising at the time of conclusion or in the course of performance of contracts (e.g. cancellation of orders, requests for remission of penalties for delay, departures from the specifications and general conditions of contract), should the matter be sufficiently serious to justify a request for an opinion;
at the request of one of the Member States referred to in Article 25 or of Iceland, Norway or Switzerland, or of a member of the Advisory Committee, or of the Deputy Secretary-General, proposed contracts involving an amount below the thresholds referred to in point (a), where they consider that such contracts involve questions of principle or are of a special nature.
Article 40
The files submitted to the Advisory Committee for an opinion pursuant to Article 39(b) to (e), shall also be accompanied by a report approved unanimously by the Member States referred to in Article 25, as well as Iceland, Norway and Switzerland.
Article 41
The opinions of the Advisory Committee shall be signed by its chairman. In order to avoid delays in the process as a result of the intervention of the Advisory Committee, the Member States referred to in Article 25, as well as Iceland, Norway and Switzerland, may, if they deem it necessary, impose a reasonable deadline by which an opinion must be furnished. Opinions shall be communicated to the Deputy Secretary-General and to the Member States referred to in Article 25, as well as to Iceland, Norway and Switzerland. Following due consideration of that opinion, the Member States referred to in Article 25, as well as Iceland, Norway and Switzerland, shall take a final decision on the case by unanimity. Once that decision has been taken, the contract or contracts which form the subject of each case shall be concluded by the Deputy Secretary-General on behalf of the Member States referred to in Article 25 and by the appropriate representatives of Iceland, Norway and Switzerland.
Article 42
All the tenderers shall be informed by the General Secretariat of the Council of the decision taken with regard to their tenders.
Article 43
Article 44
The usual supporting documents accompanying the first order to pay drawn up pursuant to a contract requiring the provision of a deposit shall be supplemented by a copy, certified true by the accounting officer, of the receipt issued when the deposit was paid, or by a copy, certified true by the accounting officer, of a declaration from the establishment or third party providing the guarantee.
Article 45
Deposits shall be repaid, or the guarantees referred to in Article 43 given in place thereof released, by the Deputy Secretary-General in accordance with the provisions of the applicable contract or guarantee, except in cases of non-performance or late performance as referred to in Article 43(6).
CHAPTER VI
Presenting and auditing the accounts
Article 46
The following shall be attached to the account:
a statement showing the situation of each of the States referred to in Article 25 as regards payment of its financial contribution, and
an appropriation transfer statement.
Article 47
Article 48
The revenue and expenditure account, balance sheet and report by the Court of Auditors, accompanied where appropriate by the Deputy Secretary-General's comments, shall be submitted by 1 July to the States referred to in Article 25. The Member States referred to in Article 25, meeting within the Council, shall give a discharge to the Deputy Secretary-General in respect of the budget's implementation.
CHAPTER VII
Final provisions
Article 49
The introduction of the provisions of the Schengen acquis concerning the Schengen information system for a State other than those referred to in Article 25 (hereinafter referred to as ‘other State’) shall entail:
readjustment of the share of contributions of the States referred to in Article 25 as laid down in Article 26;
adjustment of the contributions of the States referred to in Article 25 in order to establish the contribution payable by the other State to the operation of Sisnet for the whole of the current financial year;
adjustment of the contributions of the States referred to in Article 25 in order to establish the proportion of earlier SISNET installation costs to be borne by the other State. This percentage shall be calculated on the basis of the ratio of the VAT resources paid by the other State to the total VAT resources of the European Communities for the preceding financial year. If no data on VAT resources is available, the adjustment of contributions shall be calculated on the basis of the share of each Member State concerned in the total GDP of all the Member States referred to in Article 25. The percentage contribution shall be the subject of a ‘credit note’ to the States referred to in Article 25, for an amount pro rata to their share as calculated in accordance with Article 26.
Article 50
Article 51
( 1 ) OJ L 337, 30.12.1999, p. 41.
( 2 ) OJ L 356, 31.12.1977, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 2673/1999 (OJ L 326, 18.12.1999, p. 1).
( 3 ) OJ L 66, 6.3.2007, p. 19;
( 4 ) OJ L 248, 16.9.2002, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1525/2007 (OJ L 343, 27.12.2007, p. 9).
( 5 ) OJ L 134, 30.4.2004, p. 114. Directive as last amended by Council Directive 2006/97/EC (OJ L 363, 20.12.2006, p. 107);