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Document 02014O0044-20211229
Guideline (EU) 2015/280 of the European Central Bank of 13 November 2014 on the establishment of the Eurosystem Production and Procurement System (ECB/2014/44)
Consolidated text: Guideline (EU) 2015/280 of the European Central Bank of 13 November 2014 on the establishment of the Eurosystem Production and Procurement System (ECB/2014/44)
Guideline (EU) 2015/280 of the European Central Bank of 13 November 2014 on the establishment of the Eurosystem Production and Procurement System (ECB/2014/44)
ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/guideline/2015/280/2021-12-29
02014O0044 — EN — 29.12.2021 — 002.001
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GUIDELINE (EU) 2015/280 OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK of 13 November 2014 on the establishment of the Eurosystem Production and Procurement System (ECB/2014/44) (OJ L 047 20.2.2015, p. 29) |
Amended by:
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Official Journal |
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No |
page |
date |
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GUIDELINE (EU) 2017/2193 OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK of 27 October 2017 |
L 310 |
49 |
25.11.2017 |
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GUIDELINE (EU) 2021/2322 OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK of 17 December 2021 |
L 467 |
3 |
29.12.2021 |
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GUIDELINE (EU) 2015/280 OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK
of 13 November 2014
on the establishment of the Eurosystem Production and Procurement System (ECB/2014/44)
TITLE I
GENERAL PROVISIONS
Article 1
Definitions
For the purposes of this Guideline the following definitions shall apply:
‘arm’s length principle’ means effective internal arrangements ensuring full separation between a public printing works and its public authority's accounts and reimbursement by a public printing works of the costs of all administrative and organisational support that it receives from its public authority;
‘in-house printing works’ means any printing works which is (a) legally and organisationally part of an NCB; or (b) a separate legal person, provided that the following cumulative conditions are fulfilled:
the NCB or NCBs exercise over the legal person concerned control which is similar to that which it exercises over its own departments;
more than 80 % of the activities of the controlled legal person are carried out in the performance of tasks entrusted to it by the controlling NCB or NCBs;
there is no direct private participation in the controlled legal person.
For the determination of the percentage of activities referred to in point (b)(ii), the average total turnover, or an appropriate alternative activity-based measure, such as costs incurred by the relevant legal person with respect to services, supplies and works for the three years preceding the contract award, shall be taken into consideration.
Where, because of the date on which the relevant legal person was created or commenced activities or because of a reorganisation of its activities, the turnover, or alternative activity-based measure such as costs, are either not available for the preceding three years or no longer relevant, it shall be sufficient to show that the measurement of activity is credible, particularly by means of business projections.
An NCB shall be deemed to exercise over a legal person control similar to that which it exercises over its own departments within the meaning of point (b)(i) of the first subparagraph where it exercises a decisive influence over both the strategic objectives and significant decisions of the controlled legal person.
NCBs shall be deemed to jointly control a legal person where the following cumulative conditions are fulfilled: (a) the decision-making bodies of the controlled legal person are composed of representatives of all participating NCBs; individual representatives may represent several or all of the participating NCBs; (b) those NCBs are able to jointly exert decisive influence over the strategic objectives and significant decisions of the controlled legal person; (c) the controlled legal person does not pursue any interests which are contrary to those of the controlling NCBs·
Control over in-house printing works organised as a separate legal entity may also be exercised, if applicable jointly with one or more NCBs, by another legal person which is jointly controlled in the sense of the previous paragraph by NCBs;
‘public authorities’ means all public authorities, including the State and regional, local or other territorial authorities and central banks;
‘public printing works’ means any printing works over which the public authorities may directly or indirectly exercise a dominant influence by virtue of their ownership of it, their financial participation therein, or the rules which govern it. A dominant influence on the part of the public authorities shall be presumed when these authorities, directly or indirectly in relation to a printing works: (a) hold the major part of its subscribed capital; (b) control the majority of the votes attaching to shares issued by it; or (c) can appoint more than half of the members of its administrative, managerial or supervisory body.
Article 2
Scope of application
TITLE II
TENDERING GROUP NCBs
Article 3
General Principles
NCBs that neither use in-house printing works nor participate in non-institutionalised horizontal cooperation pursuant to Article 6(3) and Article 8 shall be part of the tendering group (tendering group NCBs).
Article 4
Tender procedures
Tendering group NCBs shall state in tender documentation that in order to be eligible for any tender, public printing works must have implemented the arm's length principle prior to taking part in the tender. In order to ensure fair competition when public printing works are responding to a call for tenders, this eligibility criterion shall require that:
euro banknote printing activities are fully separated financially from the public printing works’ other activities;
no direct or indirect state aid is provided to the public printing works that is in any way incompatible with the Treaty;
the public printing works are responsible for implementing an appropriate organisational structure and cost accounting system that ensures clear cost allocation and full financial separation between euro banknote printing activities and other activities;
all costs for the production of euro banknotes, including costs incurred for administrative and organisational support for the production of euro banknotes are allocated to the public printing works;
the allocation of the costs incurred must be traceable and consistently applied and accompanied by supporting documentation of the cost allocation; and
the financial separation is checked and certified annually by an independent external auditor and reported to the tendering NCB, which must provide a copy of the auditor’s statement for each calendar year to the ECB.
Article 5
Harmonisation of requirements
In order to ensure a level playing field, tendering group NCBs shall seek to align their tendering requirements, including eligibility criteria, in accordance with the requirements of Union and national procurement law.
TITLE III
IN-HOUSE GROUP NCBs
Article 6
General principles
For a transitional period of five years starting from the date the in-house group NCB is notified of the revocation of the accreditation of its in-house printing works, the NCB that closes its printing works can switch between participating in either the in-house group or the tendering group before making a final decision, provided that the respective legal requirements are fulfilled.
The second subparagraph shall apply also in the case of an NCB that has already closed its printing works, provided that the NCB was notified of the revocation of the accreditation of its in-house printing works after 1 November 2019. The transitional period shall start retroactively from the date of this notification.
Article 7
Cooperation among in-house group NCBs
Article 8
Establishment of a separate legal person, or non-institutionalised horizontal cooperation, to jointly fulfil public tasks
The following conditions shall apply to the forms of cooperation mentioned in paragraph 1:
If a legal person established under Article 8(1)(a) is directly awarded a contract for the production of euro banknotes, it must be jointly controlled by the NCBs concerned within the meaning of the definition of joint control under point (2) of Article 1.
Any agreement entered into under Article 8(1)(b) shall comply with the following cumulative conditions:
the agreement establishes or implements cooperation between the in-house group NCBs with the aim of ensuring that public services they have to perform are provided with a view to achieving objectives they have in common;
the implementation of that cooperation is governed solely by considerations relating to the public interest;
in-house group NCBs perform on the open market less than 20 % of the activities concerned by the cooperation. For the determination of the percentage of the abovementioned activities the second and third paragraphs of point (2) of Article 1 shall apply accordingly.
TITLE IV
FINAL PROVISIONS
Article 9
Repeal
Guideline ECB/2004/18 is repealed with effect from 1 January 2015.
Article 10
Taking effect and implementation
This Guideline shall take effect on the day of its notification to the national central banks of the Member States whose currency is the euro. The Eurosystem central banks shall comply with this Guideline from 1 January 2015.
Article 11
Transitional period with respect to the application of Article 4(3)
By way of derogation from Article 4(3), tender procedures launched before 1 July 2015 may apply differing requirements with respect to the exclusion of tender participants.
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Article 13
Addressees
This Guideline is addressed to all Eurosystem central banks.