(1)

Following the adoption of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1995/2006 of 13 December 2006 amending Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities (3), it is necessary to adapt Commission Regulation (EC) No 1653/2004 (4) in order to align it with Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 of 25 June 2002 on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities (hereinafter: general Financial Regulation) (5).

(2)

Other amendments became necessary in the light of experience gathered by the existing agencies.

(3)

It should be clarified that sound financial management requires effective and efficient internal control. The main features and objectives of internal control systems should be defined.

(4)

The publication of the administrative budget of agencies should be simplified while preserving the prerogatives of the budgetary authority and of the Court of Auditors.

(5)

The procedure regarding transfers to be adopted by the directors of agencies has proved to be unclear and time consuming in practice. It should therefore be streamlined and accelerated.

(6)

Clarification regarding conflict of interest situations, new provisions regarding ex ante verification of similar individual transactions relating to certain routine expenditure items, provisions on the liability of authorising officers and the use of a direct debit system should also be introduced into the standard financial regulation.

(7)

Accrued transparency vis-à-vis the budgetary authority should be ensured through new information requirements incumbent on the agencies in the budget procedure in particular as regards the number of contract staff and waivers to recovery of established amounts receivable.

(8)

In order to ensure the transparency of the use of funds deriving from the budget, it is necessary to make available information on the beneficiaries of these funds within certain limits necessary to protect legitimate public and private interests.

(9)

In order to strengthen the protection of the financial interest of the Communities, agencies should participate in fraud prevention activities of the European Anti-fraud Office.

(10)

In order to ensure that personal data is kept for no longer than is necessary for the purposes for which the data were collected or for which they are further processed, specific requirement should be laid down as regards supporting documents.

(11)

In order to strengthen the protection of the financial interests of the Communities, agencies should establish a list of amounts receivable, stating the names of the debtors and the amount of the debt where the debtor has been ordered to pay by a Court decision that has the force of res judicata and where no or no significant payment has been made for one year after its pronouncement. This list should be published, taking into account the legislation applicable to data protection.

(12)

The accounting officers’ responsibility for certifying the accounts on the basis of the financial information supplied to them by the authorising officers should be clarified. To this end, the accounting officer should be empowered to check the information received by the authorising officer by delegation and to enter reservations, if necessary.

(13)

Given that agencies are authorising officers by delegation of the Commission, internal control issues regarding the implementation of the operational appropriations by their directors are part of the reports established pursuant to Article 86(3) and (4) of the general Financial Regulation. In order to streamline reporting mechanisms and avoid diffuse information flows, the report of the internal auditor regarding the administrative appropriations of executive agencies should become part of the internal auditor’s report pursuant to Article 86(3) of the general Financial Regulation. For the same reason, the Commission should include the reports established by the agencies in accordance with the fourth paragraph of Article 49 of Regulation (EC) No 1653/2004 in its report pursuant to Article 86(4) of the general Financial Regulation which it forwards to the discharge authority.

(14)

The conditions for the use, by the agencies, of Commission services and offices, interinstitutional European offices and the Translation Centre for bodies of the European Union established by Council Regulation (EC) No 2965/94 setting up a Translation Centre for bodies of the European Union (6) should be clarified. A provision for the selection of experts, corresponding to the one introduced in the general Financial Regulation, should be inserted.

(15)

In order to strengthen the protection of the financial interests of the Communities and given that agencies cannot exercise certain prerogatives exclusively assigned to the Community institutions, they should be required to insert specific contractual clauses in their contracts concluded with third parties enabling them to exercise certain rights, including the suspension and termination of contracts and tender procedures and the establishment of a limitation period.

(16)

For reasons of transparency vis-à-vis the budgetary authority, an information procedure for projects with significant impact on the administrative budget of the agency should be introduced.

(17)

Article 14(3) of Regulation (EC) No 58/2003 provides for discharge no later than 29 April of year N+2 while explicitly stating that the discharge shall be granted together with that relating to implementation of the general budget of the European Union. Following the revision of the general Financial Regulation, which provides for discharge for the implementation of the general budget of the European Union before 15 May of year N+2, the content of Article 14(3) of Regulation (EC) No 58/2003 became inconsistent. The discharge date for the operating budget of the executive agencies should therefore be harmonised with the one for the general budget.

(18)

Regulation (EC) No 1653/2004 should therefore be amended accordingly,

1.

Article 3 is replaced by the following:

2.

In the fourth paragraph of Article 9, the following sentence is added:

‘By 1 June of the year N+1 at the latest, the agency shall inform the Commission of the implementation of the assigned revenues carried over.’;

3.

In Article 10, the second paragraph is replaced by the following:

‘However, as from 15 November of each year, routine administrative expenditure may be committed in advance against the appropriations provided for the following financial year. Such commitments may not exceed one quarter of the appropriations decided by the management board on the corresponding budget line for the current financial year. They may not relate to new expenditure whose principle has not yet been acknowledged in the last budget duly adopted.’;

4.

In Article 18, the first paragraph is replaced by the following:

‘The director shall take decisions on transfers of appropriations within the operating budget. He shall inform the management board beforehand, which may oppose such transfers. After approval by the management board or in the absence of a reply within three weeks from the information being provided, the director may proceed with the planned transfers.’;

5.

In Title II, Chapter 7, the following Article 19a is inserted:

6.

Article 20 is amended as follows:

7.

Article 21 is replaced by the following:

8.

Article 22 is amended as follows:

9.

In point 1 of Article 23, point (b) is replaced by the following:

10.

In the second subparagraph of Article 24(1), the words ‘below grade A3’ are replaced by ‘below grade AD13’;

11.

In Article 25, the following subparagraph is added:

‘Without prejudice to the responsibilities of the authorising officer as regards prevention and detection of fraud and irregularities, the agencies shall participate in fraud prevention activities of the European Anti-fraud Office.’;

12.

In Article 27, the first paragraph is replaced by the following:

‘All financial actors within the meaning of Chapter 2 of this Title and any other person involved in budget implementation, management, audit or control shall be prohibited from taking any measures which may bring their own interests into conflict with those of the agency or of the Communities. Should such a case arise, the person in question must refrain from such measures and refer the matter to his superior. The director must refer it to the management board.’;

13.

Article 29 and 30 are replaced by the following:

14.

In Title IV, Chapter 2, the following Article 30a is inserted:

15.

Article 34 is amended as follows:

16.

In Article 35(1), the following paragraph is added:

‘The director shall refer, in anonymous form, to opinions of the panel in his annual activity report and indicate the follow-up measures taken.’;

17.

In Article 38, the third paragraph is replaced by the following:

‘The contracts concluded by the agency with economic operators shall provide that any debt not repaid on the due date laid down in the debit note shall bear interest in accordance with Commission Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2342/2002 (*2). The condition whereby interest on late payment is due to the agency, including the rate for default interest, shall be explicitly referred to in the contracts.

(*2)   OJ L 357, 31.12.2002, p. 1.’ "

18.

In Article 40, the first paragraph is replaced by the following:

‘Where the authorising officer responsible is planning to waive or partially waive recovery of an established amount receivable, he shall ensure that the waiver is in order and complies with the principle of sound financial management and proportionality. He shall report his intention to waive an established amount receivable to the management board. Such a waiver shall be by decision of the authorising officer, which must be substantiated. The authorising officer may delegate this decision only for amounts receivable of less than EUR 5 000. The waiver decision shall state what action has been taken to secure recovery and the points of law and fact on which it is based.’;

19.

Article 42 is replaced by the following:

20.

In Title IV, Chapter 4, the following Articles 42a and 42b are inserted:

21.

In Article 47, the following paragraph is inserted after the first paragraph:

‘Where periodic payments are made with regard to services rendered or goods delivered, and subject to his risk analysis, the authorising officer may order the application of a direct debit system.’;

22.

Article 49 is amended as follows:

23.

Article 50 is replaced by the following:

24.

The following Titles VA and VB are inserted:

25.

Article 51 is replaced by the following:

26.

Article 57 is amended as follows:

27.

In Article 66, the first paragraph is replaced by the following:

‘The European Parliament, upon recommendation from the Council, which shall decide by qualified majority, shall give a discharge to the director in respect of the implementation of the administrative budget for year N before 15 May of year N+2. The director shall inform the management board of the observations of the European Parliament contained in the resolution accompanying the discharge procedure.’;

28.

Article 68 is deleted.