30.4.2004   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 114/1

(1)

It is desirable to amend the Financial Regulation of 4 October 1999 applicable to the budget of Europol (2) (‘the Financial Regulation’).

(2)

It is for the Council, acting unanimously, to lay down the financial regulations applicable to Europol and subsequent amendments thereof,

1)

Article 4 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 4

1.   No revenue shall be collected and no expenditure effected unless credited to or charged against an article in the budget.

Without prejudice to Article 22, no expenditure may be committed or authorised in excess of the authorised appropriations.

2.   The establishment plan adopted pursuant to Article 13 and 14 shall indicate the number of posts on which the budget is based. However, save in the case of salary scales 1 and 2, the Director may propose to the Management Board to modify the establishment plan by up to 10 % of the posts authorised, subject to two conditions:

In doing so, the Management Board shall act unanimously.

3.   Instances of part time work may be compensated for by the engagement of other staff within the limits set.’

2)

Article 6 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 6

1.   The following rules shall govern the utilisation of appropriations:

2.   Notwithstanding paragraph 1, the Director may forward to the Management Board, before 31 January, duly substantiated requests to carry over to the next financial year appropriations not committed at 31 December.

The Management Board shall act on such requests for carry over by 1 March. It shall act unanimously.

3.   Unused revenue and appropriations still available on 31 December, arising out of the donations and work carried out on behalf of third parties (see Article 3(2)), shall be carried over automatically.

4.   Appropriations carried over from one financial year to the following lapse if still uncommitted at the end of the financial year to which they were carried over.

5.   A list of the appropriations to be carried forward automatically shall be forwarded to the Management Board for information before 1 March.

6.   For the purpose of implementing the budget, the utilisation of appropriations carried forward shall be shown separately, for each budget item, in the accounts for the current financial year.’

3)

Article 8 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 8

1.   If the budget is not adopted at the beginning of the financial year, expenditure already approved in principle in the last budget duly adopted may be effected under the conditions laid down in this Article. An item of expenditure shall be considered as having been approved in principle in the last budget duly adopted if it could have been charged to a specific budget heading under the financial year concerned.

2.   Payments may be made monthly in respect of any chapter up to one twelfth of the total appropriations entered in the chapter in question for the preceding financial year insofar as this is required to meet Europol's legal obligations.

3.   At the request of the Director, the Management Board may, in the light of administrative and operational needs, authorise two or more provisional twelfths at the same time or, in exceptional cases, payments, even when no legal obligations exist. In doing so it shall act unanimously.

4.   Under the circumstances referred to in paragraph 1, Member States' contributions amounting to three twelfths of the contributions called up according to the last budget duly adopted may be called up.

5.   At the request of the Director, and after obtaining the opinion of the Management Board, the Council may, in the light of financial needs, authorise further Member States' contributions to be called up. In doing so it shall act unanimously.’

4)

Article 11 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 11

1.   On the basis of a review of the existing business plan, the Director shall each year draw up a draft business plan setting out the planned activities and developments for Europol for the following five years. As an integral part of the business plan, the financing plan shall describe the financial and human resources deemed necessary for the different yearly activities foreseen in the business plan.

2.   The draft business plan shall be submitted to the Management Board which, after obtaining the opinion of the Financial Committee, shall take a decision on it. The Management Board shall act unanimously.’

5)

Article 14 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 14

1.   The draft budget and the draft financing plan shall be accompanied by explanatory notes containing in particular:

2.   In respect of staff, the draft budget shall further be accompanied by a working document containing the following information:

6)

Article 15 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 15

The budget shall be subdivided into titles, chapters and articles according to the nature of the revenue or expenditure or the intended purpose thereof, following a decimal classification system.

The budget shall contain separate headings for activities financed by third parties. It shall show:

7)

Article 17 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 17

1.   The Director may transfer:

However, such transfers may not lead to an increase or decrease of the total appropriations under any of the chapters concerning salary-related costs by more than 10 %.

The Director shall inform the Management Board three weeks before making such transfers. However, this notification period can be shortened to two weeks during November and one week during December.

2.   The Director may propose transfers of appropriations other than those provided for in paragraph 1.

The Management Board shall take a decision on such proposals for transfers. It shall act unanimously.’

8)

Article 19 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 19

1.   In accordance with Article 29(3) of the Europol Convention, the Director, being accountable to the Council, shall implement the budget on his own responsibility in accordance with this Regulation and within the limits of the appropriations allotted.

The Director may delegate his powers under conditions to be laid down by him and within the limits set by the act of delegation, which shall be communicated to the empowered person, the Accounting Officer, the Financial Controller, the Management Board and the Joint Audit Committee.

2.   Every three months the Director shall report to the Management Board and the Financial Committee on the implementation of the budget and on the number and scale of posts filled.

3.   With the prior concurrence of the Management Board, the Director may, if necessary, enter into commitments for future financial periods provided that such commitments relate to work authorised in the current budget and concern:

9)

Article 35 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 35

1.   Should the Financial Controller withhold his approval as provided for in Article 25(2), Article 26(2), Article 26(4), Article 27(2), Article 29(3) or Article 34(2), he shall give his reasons therefore in a written statement which shall be forwarded to the Accounting Officer, who shall inform the Authorising Officer of the refusal.

2.   In the event of a refusal to approve, except for cases where the availability of appropriations is in doubt, the Director may confirm the debt forecast, recovery order, proposal for cancellation, commitment of expenditure, payment order or advance in a reasoned decision.

The debt forecast, recovery order, proposal for cancellation, commitment of expenditure, payment order or advance shall then be considered to have been validly made.

The accounting officer shall inform the Management Board and the Joint Audit Committee immediately whenever this provision is applied.'

10)

Article 38 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 38

1.   Before 1 December of the year t-1 or no later than one month after the budget is adopted, whichever date is the later, the Director shall call up the contributions for the financial year t.

2.   Subject to Article 8, payment of the Member States' contributions shall be made in full before 31 March of the year t or no later than one month after the contributions are called up, whichever date is the later.

Payment shall be made in euros or in national currency by the non-participating Member States.

3.   Interest shall be charged on basis of EURIBOR (Euro Interbank Offered Rate) to be specified in the implementing rules provided for in Article 57(2), on that part of a Member State's contribution which has not been paid by the time limit specified in paragraph 2.

The Management Board shall be informed whenever this provision is applied.’

11)

Article 40 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 40

1.   On the basis of the revenue and expenditure account for the financial year t drawn up in accordance with Article 53, the Director shall, by applying the actual GNP figures for t-2 as established in national currencies by the European Commission and the average exchange rate for the same year, recalculate the Member States' contributions necessary for the financial year t in order to finance the actual expenditure for this year and the carry overs to the following financial year.

2.   To take account of the surplus from the financial year t and the differences between the provisional and the actual GNP figures for t-2, the following procedure shall be applied:

3.   Notwithstanding paragraph 2, the total amount of Member States' contributions to be called up for the year t+2 cannot exceed the amount foreseen in the budget for that year.’

12)

Article 41 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 41

1.   Contracts for the purchase and hiring of buildings or goods, for the provision of services or for the performance of construction work shall be in writing. The Director or a person who as Authorising Officer could have issued a proposal for the underlying commitment shall sign them on behalf of Europol.

2.   Apart from contracts relating to the purchase of a building already constructed or the leasing of a building, all such contracts shall be concluded after an invitation to tender has been issued.

However, contracts may be made by private treaty in the following circumstances:

In these cases offers must be asked from at least five different suppliers unless the amount is within the limit laid down by the implementing rules provided for in Article 57(2) and provided that there are a sufficient number of suitable suppliers.

3.   Invitations to tender shall, as a general rule, be published in all the Member States and, where appropriate, in third countries insofar as this is compatible with the development of relevant industries within the European Union. However, their publication may be restricted where the scale or nature of the goods or services is such that they are not appropriate for a general invitation to tender.

4.   The tendering procedures, award criteria and price adjustment procedures occurring after the conclusion of contracts shall be determined and governed by the implementing rules provided for in Article 57(2), given that the award criteria shall be defined by analogy with the provisions of the directives referred to in Article 44.

5.   Contracts exceeding the limit laid down by the implementing rules provided for in Article 57(2) shall be subject to the authorisation of the Management Board.’

13)

Article 46 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 46

1.   The sale of movable property shall aim at obtaining the best possible price.

2.   A statement or record shall be drawn up by the Authorising Officer whenever any property in the inventory is sold, given away free of charge, scrapped, hired out, or missing on account of loss, theft or other reason. The statement or record shall be forwarded to the Accounting Officer, who shall submit it to the Financial Controller for authentication.

The statement or record shall refer in particular to any obligation that may devolve on a member of the staff of Europol or any other person to replace the item in question.

3.   Apart from sales by public auction, members of staff may not acquire any movable property sold by Europol.

4.   The procedures for the sale of movable property shall be laid down in the implementing rules provided for in Article 57(2).

5.   If immovable property or large installations are made available free of charge, they must be covered by contracts approved by the Financial Controller. Such immovable property or large installations can only be accepted after prior approval by the Management Board. The Management Board shall act unanimously.’

14)

Article 54 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 54

1.   In addition to its responsibility for auditing the accounts, the Joint Audit Committee shall make any appropriate comments on the accounting methods used, the sound financial management and, in general, on the financial implications of the administrative practices followed.

2.   Any comments which in the opinion of the Joint Audit Committee should be contained in the audit report provided for in Article 36(3) of the Europol Convention shall be brought to the attention of the Director and the Financial Controller. The Director and the Financial Controller shall send the Joint Audit Committee their replies to any such comments as soon as practically possible.’

15)

Article 55 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 55

1.   The Joint Audit Committee shall, by 31 October, produce its report on the accounts of the preceding financial year. The report shall be transmitted to the Management Board, the Director and the Financial Controller.

In its report the Committee shall indicate the extent and nature of the audit performed and give its comments on the accounts and the balance sheet and a brief assessment of the financial management of Europol.

The Director and the Financial Controller may, as soon as practically possible, transmit their respective opinions on the audit report to the Management Board and to the Joint Audit Committee.

2.   On the basis of an opinion of the Financial Committee, the Management Board shall discuss, as soon as practically possible, the report and draw up a recommendation to the Council concerning discharge to be given to the Director in respect of the implementation of the budget.

As soon as the Management Board has drawn up its recommendation, the Joint Audit Committee shall, in accordance with Article 36(3) of the Europol Convention, submit its report to the Council, together with the opinions of the Director and the Financial Controller which have been taken into account.

Before 30 April of the following year and in accordance with Article 36(5) of the Europol Convention, the Council shall take a decision on the discharge.

3.   The timetable for the discharge procedure shall be further specified in the implementing rules provided for in Article 57(2).

4.   The Director shall take all appropriate steps to act on the comments appearing in the decision giving discharge.

5.   The Financial Controller shall take account of the comments appearing in the decision giving discharge.’

30.4.2004   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 114/7

(1)

It is desirable to amend the Staff Regulations applicable to Europol employees, as laid down in the Council Act of 3 December 1998 (5) (‘Staff Regulations’) in particular in order to improve the travel policy.

(2)

It is for the Council, acting unanimously, to lay down the detailed arrangements applicable to Europol employees, and subsequent amendments,

1)

In Article 56, the following paragraph shall be added:

‘8.   Europol may, after consulting the Staff Committee, take out an additional sickness insurance which shall be compulsory for all officials. The full contribution required to meet this additional insurance cover shall be charged to the official.’;

2)

Article 9 of Appendix 5 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 9

1.   An official travelling on official business (referred to as a ’mission‘) and holding an appropriate authorisation shall be entitled to the reimbursement of mission expenses.

2.   The authorisation shall state the probable duration of the mission, on the basis of which shall be calculated any advance which the official may draw against the subsistence allowance and travel and accommodation costs.

3.   Any contribution, whether in kind or financial, received from a third party in connection with a mission shall be declared to Europol by the official concerned. Such contributions shall be deducted from the reimbursement to which the official would otherwise be entitled.

4.   Acting on a proposal of the Director, the Management Board acting by a majority of two thirds of its members, shall lay down detailed rules on mission expenses and the reimbursement thereof.’;

3)

Articles 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14 of Appendix 5 shall be deleted;

4)

Articles 15 and 16 of Appendix 5 shall be renumbered to Articles 10 and 11.

30.4.2004   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 114/8

(1)

In the aforementioned review the Management Board took account of the changes in the cost of living in the Netherlands, as well as of the changes in salaries in the public service in the Member States.

(2)

The said review justifies an increase of 3,1 % of remuneration for the period between 1 July 2002 and 1 July 2003.

(3)

It is for the Council, acting unanimously, to adjust the basic salaries and allowances of officials of Europol, on the basis of the review,

1.

With effect from 1 July 2003:

2.

With effect from the date on which this Decision takes effect:

30.4.2004   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 114/10

(1)

In the aforementioned review the Management Board took account of the changes in the cost of living in the Netherlands, as well as of the changes in salaries in the public service in the Member States.

(2)

The Council Decision of 5 June 2003 (4) adjusting the remuneration of officials as from 1 July 2002 was unable to take correct account of the trend in the net remuneration of French civil servants and a correction of the trend in the changes in the cost of living in the Netherlands.

(3)

The said review justifies an increase of 0,9 % of remuneration for the period between 1 July 2001 and 1 July 2002.

(4)

It is for the Council, acting unanimously, to adjust the basic salaries and allowances of officials of Europol, on the basis of the review,

With effect from 1 July 2002: