1.   The budget of the Union body shall comprise:

2.   Revenue consisting of fees and charges shall only be assigned in exceptional and duly justified cases provided for in the constituent act.

3.   When one or several constituent acts provide that clearly defined tasks are financed separately or when the Union body implements tasks entrusted to it by a delegation agreement, it shall hold separate accounts, on the revenue and expenditure operations. The Union body shall clearly identify each group of tasks in its human resource programming included in the annual and multiannual programming document referred to in Article 32.

1.   Union bodies may not receive ad-hoc grants from the budget unless authorised in the constituent act and expressly provided for by the basic act.

2.   Where the Union body has been authorised to receive ad-hoc grants the tasks financed by these grants shall be included in the annual work programme referred to in Article 32(3).

1.   The Union body shall not be entrusted budget implementation tasks by the Commission except if it is duly justified by the special nature of the action and specific expertise of the Union body.

2.   The choice of the Union body shall take due account of:

3.   Where the Commission exceptionally entrusts tasks to the Union body:

4.   Without prejudice to paragraph 2, the authorising officer shall consult the management board before signing the delegation agreement.

1.   No revenue shall be collected and no expenditure effected unless booked to a line in the budget of the Union body.

2.   No expenditure may be committed or authorised in excess of the appropriations authorised by the budget of the Union body.

3.   An appropriation may be entered in the budget of the Union body only if it is for an item of expenditure considered necessary.

4.   Interests generated by pre-financing payment made from the budget of the Union body shall not be due to the Union body.

1.   The budget of the Union body shall contain non-differentiated appropriations and, where justified by operational needs, differentiated appropriations. Differentiated appropriations shall consist of commitment appropriations and payment appropriations.

2.   Commitment appropriations shall cover the total cost of the legal commitments entered into during the financial year.

3.   Payment appropriations shall cover payments made to honour the legal commitments entered into in the financial year or preceding financial years.

1.   The revenue of the Union body referred to in Article 6 shall be entered in the accounts for the financial year on the basis of the amounts collected during that financial year.

2.   The revenue of the Union body shall give rise to an equivalent amount of payment appropriations.

3.   The appropriations authorised for a financial year shall be used solely to cover expenditure committed and paid in that financial year, and to cover amounts due against commitments from preceding financial years.

4.   Commitments shall be entered in the accounts on the basis of the legal commitments entered into up to 31 December.

5.   Payments shall be entered in the accounts for a financial year on the basis of the payments effected by the accounting officer by 31 December of that year.

1.   Appropriations which have not been used by the end of the financial year for which they were entered shall be cancelled. However, they may be carried over, but only to the following financial year, by a decision taken by 15 February by the management board or, where the constituent act allows it, by the executive board in accordance with paragraphs 3 and 4 or they may be carried over automatically in accordance with paragraph 5.

2.   Appropriations relating to staff expenditure may not be carried over.

3.   Differentiated commitment appropriations and non-differentiated appropriations not yet committed at the end of the financial year may be carried over in respect of:

Such amounts may be committed up to 31 March of the following year, or up to 31 December of the following year for amounts relating to building projects.

4.   Payment appropriations may be carried over in respect of amounts needed to cover existing commitments or commitments linked to commitment appropriations carried over, where the payment appropriations provided for in the relevant budget lines for the following financial year are not sufficient to cover requirements.

The Union body concerned shall first use the appropriations authorised for the current financial year and shall not use the appropriations carried over until the former are exhausted.

5.   Non-differentiated appropriations corresponding to obligations duly contracted at the end of the financial year shall be carried over automatically to the following financial year only.

6.   Appropriations carried over which have not been committed by 31 March of year N+1 shall be automatically cancelled and shall be identified in the accounts.

1.   As from 15 October of each year, routine administrative expenditure may be committed in advance against the appropriations provided for the following financial year. Such commitments shall not, however, exceed one quarter of the appropriations decided by the management board on the corresponding budget line for the current financial year. They shall not apply to new expenditure of a kind not yet approved in principle in the last budget of the Union body duly adopted.

2.   Expenditure which shall be paid in advance, for example rents, may give rise to payments from 1 December onwards to be charged to the appropriations for the following financial year. In this case, the limit referred to in paragraph 1 shall not apply.

1.   If the budget of the Union body has not been definitively adopted at the beginning of the financial year, the rules set out in paragraphs 2 to 6 shall apply.

2.   Commitments and payments may be made within the limits laid down in paragraph 3.

3.   Commitments may be made per chapter up to a maximum of one quarter of the total appropriations authorised in the relevant chapter of the previous financial year plus one twelfth for each month which has elapsed.

The limit of the appropriations provided for in the statement of estimates of revenue and expenditure shall not be exceeded.

Payments may be made monthly per chapter up to a maximum of one twelfth of the appropriations authorised in the relevant chapter of the preceding financial year. That sum shall not, however, exceed one twelfth of the appropriations provided for in the same chapter in the statement of estimates of revenue and expenditure.

4.   The appropriations authorised in the relevant chapter of the preceding financial year, as specified in paragraphs 2 and 3, shall be understood as referring to the appropriations voted in the budget of the Union body, including by amending budgets, and after adjustment for the transfers made during that financial year.

5.   At the request of the director, if the continuity of action by the Union body and management needs so require, the management board, may authorise expenditure in excess of one provisional twelfth but not exceeding the total of four provisional twelfths, except in duly justified cases, both for commitments and for payments over and above those automatically made available in accordance with paragraphs 2 and 3.

The additional twelfths shall be authorised in full and shall not be divisible.

6.   If, for a given chapter, the authorisation of four provisional twelfths granted in accordance with paragraph 5 is not sufficient to cover the expenditure necessary to avoid a break in continuity of action by the Union body in the area covered by the chapter in question, authorisation may exceptionally be given to exceed the amount of the appropriations entered in the corresponding chapter of the budget of the Union body of the preceding financial year. The management board shall act in accordance with the procedures provided for in paragraph 5. However, the overall total of the appropriations available in the budget of the Union body of the preceding financial year or in the draft budget of the Union body, as proposed, may in no circumstances be exceeded.

1.   Revenue and payment appropriations shall be in balance.

2.   Commitment appropriations may not exceed the amount of the Union contribution, plus own revenue and any other revenue referred to in Article 6.

3.   For bodies for which the revenue is constituted by fees and charges in addition to the Union contribution, fees should be set at a level such as to avoid a significant accumulation of surplus. Where a significant positive or negative budget result, within the meaning of Article 97, becomes recurrent, the level of the fees and charges shall be revised.

4.   The Union body may not raise loans within the framework of the budget of the Union body.

5.   The Union contribution to the Union body shall constitute for the budget of the Union body a balancing contribution and may be divided into a number of payments.

6.   The Union body shall implement rigorous cash management, taking due account of assigned revenue, in order to ensure that its cash balances are limited to duly justified requirements. With its payment requests it shall submit detailed and updated forecasts on its real cash requirements throughout the year, including information on assigned revenue.

1.   If the budget result within the meaning of Article 97 is positive, it shall be repaid to the Commission up to the amount of the contribution paid during the year. The part of the budget result exceeding the amount of the Union contribution paid during the year shall be entered in the budget of the Union body for the following financial year as revenue.

The first subparagraph shall also apply when the revenue of the Union body is constituted by fees and charges in addition to the Union contribution.

The difference between the contribution entered in the budget and that actually paid to the Union body shall be cancelled.

The Union body shall provide, no later than 31 January of the year N at the latest, an estimate of the budget result from the year N–1, which is to be returned to the budget later in year N, in order to complete the information already available concerning the budget result of the year N–2. This information shall be duly taken into account by the Commission when assessing the financial needs of Union body for the year N+1.

2.   In exceptional cases, where the constituent act provides that the revenues arising from fees and charges are assigned to particular items of expenditure, the Union body may carry-over the balance of fees and charges as assigned revenue for the activities related to the provision of the services for which the fees are due.

3.   If the budget result within the meaning of Article 97 is negative, it shall be entered in the budget of the Union body for the following financial year as payment appropriations or, where appropriate, offset against positive budget result of the Union body in the following financial years.

4.   The revenue or payment appropriations shall be entered in the budget of the Union body during the budgetary procedure using the letter of amendment procedure set out in Article 39 of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 or, while implementation of the budget of the Union body is under way, by means of an amending budget.

1.   External assigned revenue and internal assigned revenue shall be used to finance specific items of expenditure.

2.   The following shall constitute external assigned revenue:

3.   The following shall constitute internal assigned revenue:

4.   Without prejudice to Article 23(2)(e) the relevant constituent act may also assign the revenue for which it provides to specific items of expenditure. Unless specified otherwise in the relevant constituent act, such revenue shall constitute internal assigned revenue.

5.   All items of revenue within the meaning of points (a) to (c) of paragraph 2 and points (a) and (d) of paragraph 3 shall cover all direct or indirect expenditure incurred by the activity or purpose in question.

6.   The budget of the Union body shall include lines to accommodate external assigned revenue and internal assigned revenue and wherever possible shall indicate the amount.

Assigned revenue may be included in the estimate of revenue and expenditure only for the amounts which are certain at the date of the establishment of the estimate.

1.   The Director may accept any donation made to the Union body, such as foundations, subsidies, gifts and bequests.

2.   Acceptance of donations which may involve a financial charge shall be subject to the prior authorisation of the management board or, where the constituent act allows it, of the executive board, which shall take a decision within two months of the date on which the request is submitted to it. If the management board or, where the constituent act allows it, the executive board fails to take a decision within that period, the donation shall be deemed accepted.

1.   The following deductions may be made from payment requests which shall then be passed for payment of the net amount:

The adjustments referred to in point (c) of the first subparagraph may be made, by means of direct deduction, against a new interim payment or payment of a balance to the same payee under the chapter, article and financial year in respect of which the excess payment was made.

Union accounting rules shall apply to the deductions referred to in points (c) of the first subparagraph.

2.   The cost of products or services provided to the Union body incorporating taxes refunded by the Member States pursuant to the Protocol on the Privileges and Immunities of the European Union shall be charged to the budget of the Union body for the ex-tax amount provided that it applies to the Union body.

3.   The cost of products or services provided to the Union body incorporating taxes refunded by third countries on the basis of relevant agreements may be charged to the budget of the Union body for any of the following:

4.   Any national taxes temporarily borne by the Union body under paragraphs 2 and 3 shall be entered in a suspense account until they are refunded by the State concerned.

5.   Any negative budget result shall be entered in the budget of the Union body as expenditure.

6.   Adjustments may be made in respect of exchange differences occurring in the implementation of the budget of the Union body. The final gain or loss shall be included in the budget result for the year.

1.   The Director may transfer appropriations:

2.   Beyond the limit referred in paragraph 1, the director may propose to the management board or, where the constituent act allows it, to the executive board transfers of appropriations from one title to another. The management board or, where the constituent act allows it, the executive board shall have three weeks to oppose such transfers. After that time-limit they shall be deemed to be adopted.

3.   Proposals for transfers and transfers carried out under paragraphs 1 and 2 shall be accompanied by appropriate and detailed supporting documents showing the implementation of appropriations and estimates of requirements up to the end of the financial year, both for the headings to be credited and for those from which the appropriations are drawn.

4.   The director shall inform the management board as soon as possible of all transfers made. The director shall inform the European Parliament and the Council of all transfers carried out under paragraph 2.

1.   Appropriations may only be transferred to lines in budget of the Union body for which the budget of the Union body has authorised appropriations or which carry a token entry ‘pro memoria’.

2.   Appropriations corresponding to assigned revenue may be transferred only if such revenue is used for the purpose for which it is assigned.

1.   Appropriations shall be used in accordance with the principle of sound financial management, namely in accordance with the principles of economy, efficiency and effectiveness.

2.   The principle of economy requires that the resources used by the Union body in the pursuit of its activities shall be made available in due time, in appropriate quantity and quality and at the best price.

The principle of efficiency concerns the best relationship between resources employed and results achieved.

The principle of effectiveness concerns the attainment of the specific objectives set and the achievement of the intended results.

3.   The Union body shall carry out a benchmarking exercise referred to in Article 50 of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012.

The benchmarking exercise shall include:

When carrying out the benchmarking exercise referred to in the first and the second subparagraph the Union body shall make necessary arrangements to avoid any conflict of interests.

4.   Specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timed objectives shall be set for all sectors of activity covered by the budget of the Union body. The achievement of those objectives shall be monitored by performance indicators for each activity, and the information shall be provided to the management board by the director. That information shall be provided annually and at the latest in the documents accompanying the draft budget of the Union body.

5.   In order to improve decision-making, the Union body shall undertake both ex ante and ex post evaluations in line with guidance provided by the Commission. Such evaluations shall be applied to all programmes and activities which entail significant spending and evaluation results shall be sent to the management board.

6.   The director shall prepare an action plan to follow-up on the conclusions of the evaluations referred to in paragraph 5 and report on its progress twice a year to the Commission and regularly to the management board.

7.   The management board shall scrutinise the implementation of the action plan referred to in paragraph 6.

1.   The budget of the Union body shall be implemented in compliance with effective and efficient internal control.

2.   For the purposes of the implementation of the budget of the Union body, internal control is defined as a process applicable at all levels of management and designed to provide reasonable assurance of achieving the following objectives:

3.   Effective internal control shall be based on best international practices and include, in particular, the following:

4.   Efficient internal control shall be based on the following elements:

1.   The budget of the Union body shall be established and implemented and the accounts presented in accordance with the principle of transparency.

2.   A summary of the budget of the Union body and any amending budget of the Union body, as definitively adopted, shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Union within three months of their adoption.

The summary shall show the five main revenue budget lines, the five main expenditure budget lines for the administrative and operational budget of the Union body, the establishment plan and an estimate of the number of contract staff expressed in full-time equivalents for which appropriations are budgeted, and seconded national experts. It shall also indicate the figures for the previous year.

3.   The budget of the Union body including the establishment plan and amending budgets of the Union body, as finally adopted, as well as an indication of the number of contract staff expressed in full-time equivalents for which appropriations are budgeted, and seconded national experts, shall be transmitted for information to the European Parliament and the Council, the Court of Auditors and the Commission, and shall be published on the internet site of the Union body concerned within four weeks of their adoption.

4.   The Union body shall make available on its internet site no later than 30 June of the following financial year information on the recipients of funds deriving from the budget of the Union body, including experts contracted pursuant to Article 89, in accordance with paragraphs 2, 3 and 4 of Article 21 of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 1268/2012 (7) following a standard presentation. The published information shall be easily accessible, transparent and comprehensive. The information shall be made available with due observance of the requirements of confidentiality and security, in particular the protection of personal data laid down in Regulation (EC) No 45/2001.

1.   The Union body shall draw up a programming document containing multiannual and annual programming taking into account guidelines set by the Commission.

2.   The multiannual programme shall set out:

The resource programming shall include qualitative and quantitative information on the human resource and budgetary matters for the reporting purposes, in particular:

The Commission shall send to the Union body the opinion of its relevant services on the draft human resource programming.

If the Union body does not fully take into account the Commission services’ opinion, it shall provide the Commission with adequate explanations.

The resource programming shall be updated annually. The strategic programming shall be updated where appropriate, and in particular to address the outcome of the overall evaluations referred to in the constituent act.

3.   The annual work programme of the Union body shall comprise detailed objectives and expected results including performance indicators. It shall also contain a description of the action(s) to be financed and an indication of the amount of financial and human resource allocated to each action. The annual work programme shall be coherent with the multiannual programme referred to in paragraph 1.

It shall clearly indicate which tasks of the Union body have been added, changed or deleted in comparison with the previous financial year.

4.   Any substantial amendment to the annual work programme shall be adopted by the same procedure as the initial work programme, in accordance with the provisions of the constituent act and Article 33 of this Regulation.

The management board may delegate the power to make non-substantial amendments to the annual work programme to the authorising officer of the Union body.

1.   The budget shall be established in accordance with the provisions of the constituent act.

2.   The Union body shall send the Commission a provisional draft estimate of its revenue and expenditure and the general guidelines underlying that estimate no later than 31 January each year.

3.   In accordance with Article 37 of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012, each year the Union body shall send to the Commission, the European Parliament and the Council an estimate of its revenue and expenditure as specified in the constituent act.

4.   The estimate of revenue and expenditure of the Union body shall include:

5.   The Union body shall send to the Commission, the European Parliament and the Council the draft programming document referred to in Article 32 no later than 31 January each year as well as any later updated version of that document.

6.   As part of the procedure for adoption of the budget, the Commission shall send the Union body’s statement of estimates to the European Parliament and the Council and propose the amount of the contribution for the Union body and the number of staff it considers that the body needs. The Commission shall provide the draft establishment plan of the Union bodies and for an estimate of the number of contract staff and of seconded national experts expressed in full-time equivalents for which appropriations are proposed as soon as the Commission has established the draft budget.

7.   The European Parliament and the Council shall adopt the establishment plan of the Union body and any subsequent amendment thereto in accordance with Article 38(1). The establishment plan shall be published in an Annex to Section III — Commission — of the budget.

8.   The budget of the Union body and the establishment plan together with the programming document referred to in Article 32 shall be adopted by the management board. They shall become definitive after final adoption of the budget setting the amount of the contribution and the establishment plan and if necessary the budget of the Union body and the establishment plan shall be adjusted accordingly.

9.   When entrusting new tasks to a Union Body, the Commission shall, without prejudice to the legislative procedures for the modification of the constituent act, submit to the European Parliament and to the Council the necessary information to assess impact of the new tasks on the resources of the Union body so as to review, where necessary, its financing.

1.   The establishment plan referred to in Article 33 shall show next to the number of posts authorised for the financial year, the number authorised for the preceding year and the number of posts actually filled. It shall constitute an absolute limit for the Union body. No appointment may be made in excess of the limit set.

However, save in the case of grades AD 16, AD 15, AD 14 and AD 13, the management board may modify the establishment plan by up to 10 % of posts authorised, subject to the following conditions:

2.   By derogation from the second subparagraph of paragraph 1, the effects of part-time work authorised by the appointing authority in accordance with the Staff Regulations may be offset by other appointments. Where a staff member requests the withdrawal of the authorisation before expiry of the granted period, the Union body shall take appropriate measures to respect the limit referred to in point (b) of the second subparagraph of paragraph 1 as soon as possible.

1.   The director shall perform the duties of authorising officer. He or she shall implement the revenue and expenditure of the budget in accordance with the financial rules of the Union body and the principle of sound financial management under his or her own responsibility and within the limits of the appropriations authorised.

2.   Without prejudice to the responsibilities of the authorising officer as regards prevention and detection of fraud and irregularities, the Union body shall participate in fraud prevention activities of the European Anti-fraud Office.

1.   The director may delegate the powers of budget implementation to staff of the Union body covered by the Staff Regulations, in accordance with the conditions laid down in the financial rules of the Union body adopted by the management board. Those so empowered may act only within the limits of the powers expressly conferred upon them.

2.   The delegatee may subdelegate the powers received as provided for in the rules implementing this Regulation referred to in Article 114. Each act of subdelegation shall require the explicit agreement of the director.

1.   Financial actors within the meaning of Chapter 2 of this Title and other persons involved in budget implementation and management, including acts preparatory thereto, audit or control shall not take any action which may bring their own interests into conflict with those of the Union body.

Where such a risk exists, the person in question shall refrain from such action and shall refer the matter to the competent authority who shall confirm in writing whether a conflict of interests exists. Where a conflict of interest is found to exist, the person in question shall cease all activities in the matter. The competent authority shall take any further appropriate action.

2.   For the purposes of paragraph 1, a conflict of interest exists where the impartial and objective exercise of the functions of a financial actor or other person, as referred to in paragraph 1, is compromised for reasons involving family, emotional life, political or national affinity, economic interest or any other shared interest with a recipient.

3.   The competent authority referred to in paragraph 1 shall be the immediate superior of the member of staff concerned. If the member of staff is the director, the competent authority shall be the management board or, where the constituent act allows it, the executive board.

4.   The Union body shall adopt rules on the prevention and management of conflict of interests.

1.   The budget of the Union body shall be implemented by the director in the departments placed under his or her authority.

2.   Technical expertise tasks and administrative, preparatory or ancillary tasks not involving the exercise of public authority or the use of discretionary powers of judgement may be entrusted by contract to external private-sector entities or bodies, where this proves to be indispensable.

1.   When the authorising officer has sufficient and reliable information in respect of any measure or situation which may give rise to an amount owing to the Union body, the authorising officer shall make an estimate of the amount receivable.

2.   The estimate of the amount receivable shall be adjusted by the authorising officer as soon as he or she is aware of an event modifying the measure or the situation which gave rise to the estimate being made.

When establishing the recovery order on a measure or situation that had previously given rise to an estimate of amounts receivable, that estimate shall be adjusted accordingly by the authorising officer.

If the recovery order is drawn up for the same amount as the original estimate of amounts receivable, that estimate shall be reduced to zero.

1.   The establishment of an amount receivable is the act by which the authorising officer:

2.   Any amount receivable that is identified as being certain, of a fixed amount and due shall be established by a recovery order to the accounting officer followed by a debit note sent to the debtor, both drawn up by the authorising officer.

3.   Amounts wrongly paid shall be recovered.

4.   Any debt not repaid on the due date laid down in the debit note shall bear interest in accordance with Delegated Regulation (EU) No 1268/2012.

5.   In duly substantiated cases, certain routine revenue items may be established provisionally. Provisional establishment shall cover the recovery of several individual amounts which need not therefore be established individually. Before the end of the financial year, the authorising officer shall amend the amounts established provisionally to ensure that they correspond to the amounts receivable actually established.

1.   The accounting officer shall act on recovery orders for amounts receivable duly established by the authorising officer. The accounting officer shall exercise due diligence to ensure that the Union body receives its revenue and shall ensure that its rights are safeguarded.

2.   If actual recovery has not taken place by the due date stipulated in the debit note, the accounting officer shall inform the authorising officer and immediately launch the procedure for effecting recovery by any means offered by the law, including, where appropriate, by offsetting and, if this is not possible, by enforced recovery.

3.   The accounting officer shall recover amounts by offsetting them against equivalent claims that the Union body has on any debtor who in turn has a claim on the Union body. Such claims shall be certain, of a fixed amount and due.

4.   Where the authorising officer plans to waive or partially waive recovery of an established amount receivable, he or she shall ensure that the waiver is in order and is in accordance with the principles of sound financial management and proportionality. The waiver decision shall be substantiated. The authorising officer may delegate the waiver 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.

5.   The authorising officer shall cancel an established amount receivable in full or in part when the discovery of a mistake reveals that the amount had not been correctly established. Such cancellation shall be by decision of the authorising officer and shall be suitably substantiated.

1.   Upon actual recovery of the sum due, the accounting officer shall make an entry in the accounts and shall inform the authorising officer.

2.   A receipt shall be issued in respect of all cash payments made to the accounting officer.

3.   Partial reimbursement by a debtor subject to several recovery orders shall first be posted on the oldest entitlement unless otherwise specified by the debtor.

Any partial payments shall first cover the interest.

1.   The accounting officer, in collaboration with the authorising officer, may allow additional time for payment only at the written request of the debtor, with due indication of the reasons, and provided that the following two conditions are fulfilled:

The guarantee referred to in point (b) of the first subparagraph may be replaced by a joint and several guarantee by a third party approved by the Union body’s accounting officer.

2.   In exceptional circumstances, following a request by the debtor, the accounting officer may waive the requirement of a guarantee referred to in point (b) of the first subparagraph of paragraph 1 when, on the basis of his assessment, the debtor is willing and able to make the payment in the additional time period but is not able to lodge such guarantee and is in a distressed situation.

1.   The accounting officer shall keep a list of amounts due to be recovered. Union body’s entitlements shall be grouped in the list according to the date of issue of the recovery order. The accounting officer shall also indicate decisions to waive or partially waive recovery of established amounts. The list shall be added to the Union body’s report on budgetary and financial management.

2.   The Union body shall establish a list of Union body entitlements stating the names of the debtors and the amount of the debt, where the debtor has been ordered to reimburse by a court decision that has the force of res judicata and where no or no significant reimbursement has been made for one year following its pronouncement. The list shall be published, with due regard to the protection of personal data in accordance with the requirements of Regulation (EC) No 45/2001.

As far as personal data referring to natural persons are concerned, the information published shall be removed once the amount of the debt has been fully reimbursed. The same shall apply to personal data referring to legal persons for whom the official title identifies one or more natural persons.

The decision to include the debtor on the list of Union body entitlements shall be taken in compliance with the principle of proportionality and shall take into account, in particular the significance of the amount.

1.   Every item of expenditure shall be committed, validated, authorised and paid.

2.   Every commitment of expenditure shall be preceded by a financing decision.

3.   The annual work programme of the Union body shall be equivalent to a financing decision for the activities it covers, provided that the elements set out in Article 32(3) are clearly identified.

4.   Administrative appropriations may be implemented without a prior financing decision.

1.   A budgetary commitment is the operation by which the appropriation necessary to cover subsequent payments to honour legal commitments is reserved.

2.   A legal commitment is the act whereby the authorising officer enters into or establishes an obligation which results in a charge.

3.   Budgetary commitments shall fall into one of the following three categories:

The provisional budget commitment shall be implemented either by the conclusion of one or more individual legal commitments giving rise to an entitlement to subsequent payments or, in exceptional cases relating to expenditure on staff management, directly by payments.

4.   Budgetary commitments for actions extending over more than one financial year may be broken down over several years into annual instalments only where the constituent act or basic act so provides or where they relate to administrative expenditure.

1.   In respect of any measure which may give rise to expenditure chargeable to the budget of the Union body, the authorising officer shall make a budgetary commitment before entering into a legal commitment with third parties.

2.   The obligation to make a budgetary commitment before entering into a legal commitment as provided for in paragraph 1, shall not be applicable to legal commitments concluded following a declaration of a crisis situation in the framework of a business continuity plan, in accordance with the procedures adopted by the Union body.

3.   Global budgetary commitments shall cover the total cost of the corresponding individual legal commitments concluded up to 31 December of year N+1.

Subject to Articles 69(4) and 87(2) individual legal commitments relating to individual or provisional budgetary commitments shall be concluded by 31 December of year N.

At the end of the periods referred to in the first and the second subparagraph, the unused balance of such budgetary commitments shall be decommitted by the authorising officer.

The amount of each individual legal commitment adopted following a global budgetary commitment shall, prior to signature, be registered by the authorising officer in the budgetary accounts and booked to the global budgetary commitment.

4.   The budgetary and legal commitments entered into for actions extending over more than one financial year shall, except in the case of staff expenditure, have a final date for implementation set, in accordance with the principle of sound financial management.

Any parts of such commitments which have not been executed six months after the date referred to in the first subparagraph of this paragraph shall be decommitted in accordance with Article 16.

The amount of a budget commitment corresponding to a legal commitment for which no payment within the meaning of Article 75 has been made within two years of the signing of the legal commitment shall be decommitted, except where that amount relates to a case under litigation before judicial courts or arbitral bodies or where there are special provisions laid down in basic acts.

1.   When adopting a budget commitment, the authorising officer shall ensure that:

2.   When registering a legal commitment by physical or electronic signature, the authorising officer shall ensure that:

1.   Validation of any expenditure shall be based on supporting documents attesting the creditor’s entitlement, on the basis of a statement of services actually rendered, supplies actually delivered or work actually carried out, or on the basis of other documents justifying payment, including recurring payments of subscriptions or training courses.

2.   The authorising officer shall personally check the supporting documents or shall, on his own responsibility, ascertain that this has been done, before taking the decision validating the expenditure.

3.   The validation decision shall be expressed by the signing of a ‘passed for payment’ voucher by the authorising officer.

4.   In a non-computerised system, ‘passed for payment’ shall take the form of a stamp incorporating the signature of the authorising officer.

In a computerised system, ‘passed for payment’ shall take the form of validation using the personal password of the authorising officer.

1.   The authorisation of expenditure is the act by which the authorising officer, having verified that the appropriations are available, instructs the accounting officer, by issuing a payment order, to pay an amount of expenditure which the authorising officer has validated.

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

2.   The payment order shall be dated and signed by the authorising officer, then sent to the accounting officer. The supporting documents shall be kept by the authorising officer in accordance with Article 44(5).

3.   Where appropriate, the payment order sent to the accounting officer shall be accompanied by a document certifying that the goods have been entered in the inventories referred to in Article 106(1).

1.   Payment shall be made on production of proof that the relevant action has been carried out in accordance with the provisions of the basic act or the contract or grant agreement, and shall cover one of the following operations:

Pre-financing shall provide a float. It may be split into a number of payments in accordance with sound financial management.

An interim payment, which may be repeated, may cover expenditure incurred for the implementation of the decision or agreement or to pay for services, supplies or works completed and/or delivered at interim stages of the contract. It may clear pre-financing in whole or in part, without prejudice to the provisions of the basic act.

The closure of the expenditure shall take the form of the payment of the balance which may not be repeated and which clears all preceding expenditure, or a recovery order.

2.   A distinction shall be made in the budgetary accounting between the different types of payment referred to in paragraph 1 at the time each payment is made.

1.   The authorising officer shall make known without delay the need to supply evidence and/or documentation, their form and prerequisite content, as well as, where appropriate, the indicative timetable for completion of award procedures.

2.   Where, due to an obvious clerical error on the part of the applicant or tenderer, the applicant or tenderer omits to submit evidence or to make statements, the evaluation committee or, where appropriate, the authorising officer shall, except in duly justified cases, ask the applicant or tenderer to provide the missing information or clarify supporting documents. Such information or clarifications shall not substantially change the proposal or alter the terms of the tender.

1.   The Union body shall have an internal auditing function which shall be performed in compliance with the relevant international standards.

2.   The internal audit function shall be performed by the Commissions’ internal auditor. The internal auditor may be neither authorising officer nor accounting officer neither of the Union body nor of the Commission

3.   The internal auditor shall advise the Union body on dealing with risks, by issuing independent opinions on the quality of management and control systems and by issuing recommendations for improving the conditions of implementation of operations and promoting sound financial management.

The internal auditor shall be responsible, in particular, for:

4.   The internal auditor shall perform his or her duties in relation to all the Union body’s activities and departments. The internal auditor shall enjoy full and unlimited access to all information required to perform his or her duties.

5.   The internal auditor shall take note of the consolidated annual activity report of the authorising officer and any other pieces of information identified.

6.   The internal auditor shall report to the management board and the director on his or her findings and recommendations.

The internal auditor shall also report in any of the following cases:

The management board or, where the constituent act allows it, the executive board, and the director shall ensure regular monitoring of the implementation of audit recommendations. The management board or, where the constituent act allows it, the executive board shall examine the information referred to in the Article 47(1)(a) and whether the recommendations have been fully and timely implemented.

7.   The Union body shall make available the contact details of the internal auditor to any natural or legal person involved in expenditure operations, for the purposes of confidentially contacting the internal auditor.

8.   The reports and findings of the internal auditor shall be accessible to the public only after validation by the internal auditor of the action taken for their implementation.

1.   The management board or, where the constituent act allows it, the executive board may establish, with due regard to cost effectiveness and added value, an internal audit capability which shall perform its duties in compliance with the relevant international standards.

The purpose, authority and responsibility of the internal audit capability shall be provided for in the internal audit charter and shall be subject to the approval of the management board or, where the constituent act allows it, of the executive board.

The annual audit plan of an internal audit capability shall be drawn up by the Head of internal audit capability taking into consideration, inter alia, the director’s assessment of risk in the Union body.

It shall be reviewed and approved by management board or, where the constituent act allows it, by the executive board.

The internal audit capability shall report to the management board and the director on his or her findings and recommendations.

2.   If the internal audit capability of a single Union body is not cost-effective or is not able to meet international standards, the Union body may decide to share an internal audit capability with other Union bodies functioning in the same policy area.

In such cases the management board or, where the constituent act allows it, the executive board of the concerned Union bodies shall agree on the practical modalities of the shared internal audit capability.

3.   The internal audit actors shall cooperate efficiently through exchanging information and audit reports and, where appropriate, establishing joint risk assessments, and carrying out joint audits.

The management board or, where the constituent act allows it, the executive board, and the director shall ensure regular monitoring of the implementation of internal audit capability’s recommendation.

1.   Each Union body shall prepare a report on budgetary and financial management for the financial year.

2.   The director shall send the report to the European Parliament, the Council, the Commission and the Court of Auditors, by 31 March of the following financial year.

3.   The report referred to in paragraph 2 shall give an account, both in absolute terms and expressed as a percentage, at least, of the rate of implementation of appropriations together with summary information on the transfers of appropriations among the various budget items.

1.   The accounting officer of the Union body shall apply the rules adopted by the accounting officer of the Commission based on internationally accepted accounting standards for the public sector.

2.   The accounts of the Union body referred to in Article 92 shall respect the budgetary principles laid down in Articles 5 to 31. They shall present a true and fair view of the budgetary revenue and expenditure operations.

1.   The financial statements shall be presented in euro and shall comprise:

2.   The notes to the financial statements shall supplement and comment on the information presented in the statements referred to in paragraph 1 and shall supply all the additional information prescribed by internationally accepted accounting practice where such information is relevant to the Union body’s activities.

1.   The budgetary implementation reports shall be presented in euro. They shall consist of:

2.   The budget result shall consist of the difference between:

The difference referred to in the first subparagraph shall be increased or decreased on the one hand, by the net amount of appropriations carried over from previous financial years which have been cancelled and, on the other hand, by:

3.   The structure of the budgetary implementation reports shall be the same as that of the budget of the Union body itself.

1.   The accounting officer of the Union body shall send the provisional accounts to the accounting officer of the Commission and to the Court of Auditors by 1 March of the following year.

2.   The accounting officer of the Union body shall also send by 1 March of the following year a reporting package to the accounting officer of the Commission, in a standardised format as laid down by the accounting officer of the Commission for consolidation purposes.

1.   In accordance with Article 148(1) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012, the Court of Auditors shall, by 1 June of the following year at the latest, make its observations on the provisional accounts of the Union body.

2.   On receiving the Court of Auditors’ observations on the provisional accounts of the Union body, the accounting officer shall draw up the final accounts of the Union body in accordance with Article 50. The director shall send them to the management board, which shall give an opinion on these accounts.

3.   The accounting officer shall send the final accounts, together with the opinion of the management board, to the accounting officer of the Commission, the Court of Auditors, the European Parliament and the Council, by 1 July of the following financial year.

The accounting officer of the Union body shall also send by 1 July, a reporting package to the accounting officer of the Commission, in a standardised format as laid down by the accounting officer of the Commission for consolidation purposes.

4.   The accounting officer of the Union body shall also send to the Court of Auditors, with a copy to the accounting officer of the Commission, at the same date as the transmission of his or her final accounts, a representation letter covering those final accounts.

The final accounts shall be accompanied by a note drawn up by the accounting officer, in which the latter declares that the final accounts were prepared in accordance with this Title and with the applicable accounting principles, rules and methods.

The final accounts of the Union body shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Union by 15 November of the following year.

5.   The Director shall send the Court of Auditors a reply to the observations made in its annual report by 30 September of the following year at the latest. The replies of the Union body shall be sent to the Commission at the same time.