2000D0265 — EN — 01.01.2003 — 002.001 — 1
This document is meant purely as a documentation tool and the institutions do not assume any liability for its contents
►B COUNCILDECISION
of27March2000
ontheestablishmentofafinancialregulationgoverningthebudgetaryaspectsofthemanagement
bytheDeputySecretary-General oftheCouncil,ofcontractsconcludedinhisname,onbehalfofcertain Member States, relating to the installation and the functioning of the communication
infrastructure fortheSchengenenvironment,‘Sisnet’
(2000/265/EC)
(OJ L 85, 6.4.2000, p. 12)
Amended by:
Official Journal
No page date
►M1Council Decision 2000/664/EC of 23 October 2000 L 278 24 31.10.2000
►M2Council Decision 2003/171/EC of 27 February 2003 L 69 25 13.3.2003
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COUNCILDECISION
of27March2000
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, onbehalf of certain Member States, relating to the installation and
the functioning of the communication infrastructure for the
Schengenenvironment,‘Sisnet’
(2000/265/EC)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,
Having regard to the first sentence of the second subparagraph of
Article 2(1) of the Protocol annexed to the Treaty on European Unionand to the Treaty establishing the European Community, integrating theSchengen acquisinto the framework of the European Union (herein-
after ‘the Schengen Protocol’),
Whereas:
(1)The Deputy Secretary-General of the Council was authorised by
Decision 1999/870/EC (1) to act, in the context of the integration
of the Schengen acquiswithin the European Union, as represen-
tative of certain Member States for the purposes of concluding
contracts relating to the installation and the functioning of thecommunication infrastructure for the Schengen environment(hereinafter ‘Sisnet’) and to manage such contracts.
(2)The financial obligations arising under those contracts are notborne by the general budget of the European Union; therefore,the provisions of the Financial Regulation of 21 December1977 applicable to the general budget of the European Commu-nities (
2) do not apply.
(3)It is therefore necessary to establish specific rules to define thedetailed procedures for establishing and implementing the budgetrequired to meet any expenses incurred in the course ofconcluding the contracts, the obligations arising under thosecontracts once concluded, for recovering the contributions to be
paid by the States concerned and for the presentation and
auditing of the accounts.
(4)It is also necessary to set out the rules applicable to the conclu-sion of these contracts.
(5)This Decision is a development of the Schengen acquiswithin
the meaning of the Schengen Protocol,
HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:
CHAPTER I
General principles
Article 1
For the purposes of this Financial Regulation, the ‘budget’ is the instru-
ment which sets out forecasts of, and authorises in advance, for eachfinancial year, the revenue and expenditure required to meet the obliga-tions arising under the contracts referred to in Decision 1999/870/EC.2000D0265 — EN — 01.01.2003 — 002.001 — 2
(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).
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Article 2
This Financial Regulation lays down detailed rules for the conclusion
of contracts relating to Sisnet and for the establishment and implemen-tation of the budget required in relation to such contracts.
Article 3
1. The budget shall be subdivided into titles covering the budget
relating to the preparatory steps leading to the conclusion of thecontracts in question, including any costs incurred during the prepara-tion of the call for tenders in respect of Sisnet, the installation budgetand the operating budget for the Sisnet. If necessary, each title shall be
subdivided into chapters and articles.
2. Appropriations opened under eachtitle may not be assigned to
other expenditure titles.
Article 4
The budget appropriations shall be used in accordance with the princi-
ples of sound financial management, and in particular those ofeconomy and cost-effectiveness.
Article 5
No revenue shall be collected and no expenditure effected unless cred-
ited 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
1. Subject to Article 17, all revenue and expenditure shall be entered
in full in the budget and in the accounts without any adjustment againsteach other. Total revenue shall cover total expenditure.
2. The financial year shall run from 1 January to 31 December.
3. Any budget contributions by the States referred to in Article 25
paid before the beginning of the financial year which they concernshall be credited to the budget for that financial year.
4. The expenditure of a financial year shall be entered in the
accounts for that year on the basis of expenditure for which the finan-cial controller received authorisation no later than 31 December and forwhich the corresponding payments were made by the accountingofficer before the following 15 January.
5. The allotted appropriations may be used solely to cover expendi-
ture properly entered into and paid under the financial year for whichthey were granted, save as otherwise provided in Article 7, and tocover the debts relating to preceding financial years for which noappropriation was carried forward.
Article 7
1. The following rules shall govern the utilisation of appropriations:
(a) appropriations still uncommitted at the end of the financial year for
which they were entered shall, as a rule, lapse;
(b) appropriations in respect of payments still outstanding at 31
December by virtue of commitments duly entered into between 1January and 15 December shall be carried over automatically tothe next financial year only.
2. Notwithstanding paragraph 1, the Deputy Secretary-General of the
Council may forward to the Schengen Information System WorkingGroup, hereafter referred to as the ‘SIS Working Group’, before 31January, duly substantiated requests to carry over to the next financial2000D0265 — EN — 01.01.2003 — 002.001 — 3
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year appropriatons not committed at 15 December when the appropria-
tions provided for the headings concerned in the budget for thefollowing financial year do not cover requirements.
The carry-over of such appropriations may be proposed only for excep-
tional reasons.
In exercising his powers to implement the budget, the Deputy Secre-
tary-General shall, depending on management requirements, endeavourto use first the appropriations authorised for the current financial year
and not use the appropriations carried over until the former are
exhausted.
The SIS Working Group shall act on such requests for carrying-over by
1 Marchat th e latest.
3. Appropriations carried over from one financial year to the
following lapse if still uncommitted at the end of the financial year towhich they were carried over.
4. A list of the appropriations to be carried forward automatically
pursuant to paragraph 1(b) shall be forwarded to the SIS Working
Group for information before 1 March.
5. For the purpose of implementing the budget, the utilisation of
appropriations carried forward shall be shown separately, for eachbudget item, in the accounts for the current financial year.
CHAPTER II
Establishmentofthebudget
Article 8
1. The budget shall be drawn up in euro.2. The Deputy Secretary-General shall forward the preliminary draft
budget to the SIS Working Group before 30 September and attach an
explanatory memorandum.
3. The SIS Working Group shall deliver its opinion on that preli-
minary draft.
4. The Deputy Secretary-General shall establish the draft budget and
forward it by 31 October to the States referred to in Article 25.
5. The Member States referred to in Article 25, meeting within the
Council, shall adopt the budget before the end of the year.
6. The decision to adopt the budget, duly notified by the Deputy
Secretary-General to the States referred to in Article 25, shall markthe point at which those States' contributions fall due.
Article 9
1. If the budget has not been finally adopted at the beginning of the
financial year:
(a) payments may be made for up to one twelfth, each month, of the
total appropriations authorised for each budget title for thepreceding financial year; and
(b) the contributions of the States referred to in Article 25 may be
called up for up to one twelfth, each month, of the contributionspaid under the last duly adopted budget.
2. Eachdecision to use an expenditure and revenue twelfth , up to a
total of three twelfths of the amounts entered in the last duly adopted
budget, shall be taken by the Deputy Secretary-General, who shall
forward it by letter to the States referred to in Article 25.
3. Above the limit of three twelfths of the amounts entered in the
last duly adopted budget, any decision to authorise payments and callup contributions shall be taken by the Member States referred to inArticle 25, meeting within the Council.2000D0265 — EN — 01.01.2003 — 002.001 — 4
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4. Any measures taken pursuant to paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 shall be
terminated immediately on final adoption of the budget.
Article 10
1. Any draft supplementary or amending budgets shall be submitted,
examined and adopted in the same form and using the same procedureas the budget whose estimates they are amending.
2. An amending budget shall be submitted on an annual basis, in the
month following the closure of the accounts as laid down in Article46(1), with the aim of entering the balance of the budget outturn fromthe previous financial year as revenue in the case of a positive balanceor expenditure if the balance is negative.
Article 11
The budget may be released to the public.
CHAPTER III
Implementationofthebudgetandaccountancy
Article 12
The budget shall be implemented in accordance with the principle that
the authorising officer and the accounting officer are different indivi-
duals. The duties of authorising officer, accounting officer and
financial controller shall be mutually incompatible.
Article 13
1. The task of authorising officer for revenue and expenditure shall
be carried out by a Director-General at the General Secretariat of theCouncil. The authorising officer shall implement the budget on behalfof the Deputy Secretary-General and within the limits of the appropria-
tions allotted he may delegate his powers to a Director.
2. The authorising officer may decide on transfers between articles
within each chapter. With the agreement of the SIS Working Group,
he may decide on transfers between chapters within the same title.
The SIS Working Group shall give its agreement under the same condi-tions as for adopting its opinion on the budget.
Article 14
The task of financial controller shall be carried out by an official or
servant of the General Secretariat of the Council appointed to that endby decision of the Deputy Secretary-General, who shall define the
terms of this control.
Article 15
The receipt of revenue and the disbursement of expenditure shall be
carried out by an accounting officer from Directorate-General A at theGeneral Secretariat of the Council.
Article 16
1. For the collection of any amount owing pursuant to Article 25, or
of any debt due to the States concerned by a third party relating to the
conclusion, installation and functioning of Sisnet, the issue of a
recovery order by the authorising officer shall be required. Recoveryorders shall be forwarded to the accounting officer, who shall submitthem to the financial controller for approval.
2. The purpose of this approval shall be to establish that:
(a) the revenue has been booked to the correct budget item;2000D0265 — EN — 01.01.2003 — 002.001 — 5
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(b) the recovery order is in order and conforms to the relevant provi-
sions;
(c) the supporting documents are in order;
(d) the debtor, or the competent authority of the debtor State, are
correctly described;
(e) the due date is indicated;
(f) the principles of sound financial management referred to in Article
4 have been applied;
(g) the amount and currency of the sum to be recovered are correct.
3. The accounting officer shall assume responsibility for the
recovery orders duly drawn up.
Article 17
Notwithstanding Articles 5 and 6:
1. the following deductions may be made from all bills, invoices or
statements, which shall then be passed for payment of the net
amount:
(a) fines imposed on a party to a contract on an accepted tender;
(b) 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 andfinancial 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;
2. the following sums may be reused under the heading to which the
initial expenditure was charged:
— revenue arising from refund of amounts paid in error against
appropriations entered in the budget.
Sums must be reused before the end of the financial year following
that in which the revenue was collected.
Article 18
1. Any measure likely to involve expenditure against the budget
must first be the subject of a proposal for a commitment of expenditure
from the authorising officer to the accounting officer, showing thepurpose, the amount involved, the budget item to which the expendi-ture is to be charged and the creditor. The proposal shall be submittedby the accounting officer to the financial controller for approval.
2. The purpose of this approval shall be to establish that:
(a) the proposal for commitment has been presented in accordance
withparagraph1;
(b) the expenditure has been charged to the correct budget item;
(c) the appropriations are available in the budget;
(d) the principles of sound financial management referred to in Article
4 have been applied;
(e) the expenditure is in order and conforms to the relevant provisions.
Article 19
1. The purpose of validation of expenditure by the authorising
officer shall be:
(a) to verify the creditor's claim;
(b) to determine or verify the existence and the amount of the sum
due;
(c) to verify the conditions under which the payment falls due;
(d) to verify that purchases or services rendered are as ordered.2000D0265 — EN — 01.01.2003 — 002.001 — 6
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2. The authorising officer may have the verifications carried out
under his responsibility.
Article 20
1. The authorising officer shall authorise the accounting officer, by
the issue of a payment order (‘authorisation’), to pay an item of expen-diture which has been validated.
2. The authorisation shall state:
(a) the financial year against which the payment shall be charged;
(b) the budget title, chapter and article;
(c) the amount to be paid, in figures and in words, and the currency of
payment;
(d) the name and address of the creditor;
(e) the purpose of the expenditure;
(f) the method of payment;
(g) the numbers and dates of the relevant approvals of commitment.
3. The payment order shall be dated and signed by the authorising
officer.
4. The accounting officer shall submit the payment order, together
with the original supporting documents, to the financial controller forapproval.
5. The purpose of this approval shall be to establish that:
(a) the payment order was properly issued;
(b) the payment order agrees with the commitment of expenditure and
the amount thereof is correct, taking account of the principles ofsound financial management referred to in Article 4;
(c) the expenditure is charged to the correct item in the budget;
(d) the appropriations are available in the budget title or article
concerned;
(e) the supporting documents are in order, and
(f) the creditor is correctly named and described.
6. Any expenditure must be covered beforehand by contributions
from the States referred to in Article 25 or, failing those, by a bank
loan. The costs of a pre-financing loan in the event of non-payment of
contributions shall be divided among the States in default, pro rata totheir unpaid contributions and taking into account the length of arrears.
Article 21
►
M1Payments shall be effected through a bank account specifically
opened for that purpose in the name of the General Secretariat of theCouncil. ◄Bank transfer orders executed pursuant to this Financial
Regulation shall require the joint signature of two officials nominatedby the Deputy Secretary-General, of whom one shall be the accountingofficer.
Article 22
Should the financial controller refuse to give the approval laid down in
Articles 16, 18 or 20 and the authorising officer maintain his proposal,the matter shall be referred to the Deputy Secretary-General. Except in
cases where the availability of appropriations is in doubt, the Deputy
Secretary-General may, in a duly reasoned decision, overrule therefusal and confirm the recovery order, expenditure commitment orpayment order. The Deputy Secretary-General shall within one monthinform the Court of Auditors of any such decision. The decision shallbe enforceable as from the date approval was refused.2000D0265 — EN — 01.01.2003 — 002.001 — 7
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Article 23
The liability to disciplinary action of the authorising officer, financial
controller, and accounting officer in the event of failure to complywith the provisions of this Financial Regulation shall be as laid downin 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 thefinancial year.
CHAPTER IV
States'contributions
Article 25
1. Budget revenue shall consist of financial contributions from the
following Member States: Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Greece,Spain, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal,Finland and Sweden, as well as Iceland and Norway.
2. These States' financial contributions shall be laid down in the
budget and expressed in euro.
Article 26
The States referred to in Article 25 shall supply their financial contri-
butions to the Deputy Secretary-General in accordance with thefollowing formula.
The scale of contributions to be paid by the Member States referred to
in Article 25, on the one hand, and by Iceland and Norway, on the
other hand, shall be calculated annually on the basis of the share ofeachMember State concerned and of Iceland and Norway in th e totalgross domestic product (GDP) for the preceding year of all the Statesreferred to in Article 25. The scale of contributions by the MemberStates concerned shall be calculated annually, taking into account the
contributions of Iceland and Norway, on the basis of the ratio of the
VAT resources paid by each of those Member States to the total VATresources of the European Communities, as established in the lastamendment of the budget of the Union during the preceding financialyear.
Article 27
1. The Deputy Secretary-General shall forward requests for contri-
butions to each State referred to in Article 25 by letter through thenational administrations whose details have been notified to him.
2. The letter concerned shall contain the following information:
(a) the decision to adopt the budget or, in the event of Article 9 being
invoked, the decision to call up contributions by provisional
twelfths;
(b) the amount to be paid by each State, calculated in euro in accor-
dance withth e scale referred to in Article 26;
(c) the details necessary for paying the contribution.
3. Contributions shall be paid into the bank account referred to in
Article 21.
4. The contributions shall be payable in euro.
Article 28
1. The States referred to in Article 25 shall be required to pay 25 %
of their contribution by 15 February, 1 April, 1 July and 1 October atthe latest.2000D0265 — EN — 01.01.2003 — 002.001 — 8
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2. Should a State have defaulted on its financial obligations, the
existing Community rules on interest chargeable in the event of latepayment of contributions to the budget of the Union shall apply by
analogy, without prejudice to any costs which must be borne by such
State pursuant to the provisions of Article 20(6).
CHAPTER V
Conclusionofcontracts
Article 29
1. Contracts for the purchase or hiring of goods or for the provision
of services shall be in writing.
2. All such contracts for which the estimated value equals or
exceeds the thresholds set out in Council Directive 93/36/EEC of 14
June 1993 coordinating procedures for the award of public supply
contracts (1) or Council Directive 92/50/EEC of 18 June 1992 relating
to the coordination of procedures for the award of public servicecontracts (
2) shall be concluded after an invitation to tender has been
issued in accordance with the provisions of those Directives, including
any further amendments which may be agreed to them (hereinafter the
‘Council Directives on public procurement procedures’).
3. Contracts for which the estimated value of the contract in ques-
tion does not exceed the thresholds set out in the Council Directives
on public procurement procedures may be made by private treaty. In
such cases, the Member States referred to in Article 25 shall none theless be bound, as far as possible and by all appropriate means, toenable suppliers who are likely to be able to supply the goods andservices in question to compete.
4. Invitations to tender shall, as a general rule, be published by the
General Secretariat of the Council on behalf of the Member Statesreferred to in Article 25 in all the Member States.
5. The tendering procedures and selection and award criteria shall be
determined and governed by the provisions of the Council Directiveson public procurement procedures, as supplemented by the provisionsof this Financial Regulation.
6. Every invitation to tender shall be prepared by the General Secre-
tariat of the Council on behalf of the Member States referred to inArticle 25 and shall, in particular:
(a) 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;
(b) make reference to the general conditions applicable to the contract
concerned (supplies or services), where appropriate, and to anydocument containing conditions specifically applicable to the parti-cular contract concerned;
(c) include a clause stating that the submission of a tender implies
acceptance of the relevant conditions;
(d) 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 inspec-tions;
(e) specify the period during which a tender will remain valid and may
not be varied in any respect;
(f) specify the penalties for failure to comply with the provisions of
the contract;
(g) specify the details which must be contained in the invoices (or in
the relevant supporting documents);2000D0265 — EN — 01.01.2003 — 002.001 — 9
(1) OJ L 199, 9.8.1993, p. 1.
(2) OJ L 209, 24.7.1992, p. 1. Directive as last amended by Directive 97/52/EC
of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 328, 28.11.1997, p. 1).
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(h) prohibit any contact between the Deputy Secretary-General and his
staff, representatives of the Governments of the Member Statesreferred to in Article 25, representatives of the Governments of
Iceland and Norway and tenderers on matters related to that invita-
tion to tender save, by way of special exception, under thefollowing conditions:
before the closing date for the submission of tenders:
(i) at the instance of tenderers:
additional information solely for the purpose of clarifying the
nature of the invitation to tender may be communicated to alltenderers;
(ii) at the instance of the Deputy Secretary-General:
if the Member States referred to in Article 25, or Iceland and
Norway, or the General Secretariat of the Council notice anerror, a lack of precision, an omission or any other type ofclerical defect in the text of the invitation to tender, theGeneral Secretariat may, in a manner identical withth at
applicable in respect of the original invitation to tender, inform
the persons concerned accordingly;
(iii) after the tenders have been opened and at the instance of the
Member States referred to in Article 25, Iceland or Norway, or
the General Secretariat of the Council, if some clarification isrequired in connection witha tender, or if obvious clericalerrors contained in the tender must be corrected, the GeneralSecretariat 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 drawnup 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 and Norway 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 contractconcerned shall also be attached.
Article 33
Tenderers may submit tenders:
(a) 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 bythe postmark. Tenders submitted by post must be registered; or
(b) 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 theCouncil General Secretariat to which they must be deliveredagainst 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:2000D0265 — EN — 01.01.2003 — 002.001 — 10
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‘Tenders must be submitted in a sealed envelope itself enclosed
within a second sealed envelope. The inner envelope shall bear, inaddition 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 areused they must be sealed with adhesive tape and the sender mustsign 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 threehigh level officials from different directorates of the Council GeneralSecretariat. The financial controller must be informed of the openingof the tenders. The financial controller or his representative shall bepresent as an observer.
The committee shall draw up a report of the opening of the tender, to
be signed by all its members.
Eachpage of eachtender sh all be initialled by at least one member of
the committee. The committee shall make a written record of thetenders received, listing, in particular, all the documents which havebeen received from eachtenderer in connection withth e tender.
Article 35
Every tender shall be assessed by the Member States referred to in
Article 25, together with Iceland and Norway. A report, approvedunanimously by these States, shall be presented by the competent offi-
cial within the Council General Secretariat designated by the
authorising officer or by an alternate, also designated by the author-ising officer, to the Advisory Committee referred to in Article 36.
This report shall include in particular:
(a) a statement of the reasons for the elimination of any of the tenders;
(b) a technical and financial assessment of each tender, including a
comparative table of unit prices;
(c) 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 appropriaterepresentatives of Iceland and Norway after an invitation to tender hasbeen 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 eachMember State referred to in Article 25,
together with one representative from each of Norway and Iceland.The Member States referred to in Article 25, together with Icelandand Norway, shall ensure that the representatives selected haveadequate expertise in informatics and/or financial matters and/or legalmatters. Representatives must not have participated in the assessment
of the files to be submitted to the Advisory Committee. A representa-
tive of the financial controller 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, ingeneral, on the proposed terms of the contract.2000D0265 — EN — 01.01.2003 — 002.001 — 11
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Any other problem concerning the matter forming the subject of this
chapter may be referred to the said Advisory Committee for anopinion.
The Advisory Committee shall endeavour to adopt its opinions by
consensus. If suchconsensus is not possible, th e Advisory Committeeshall adopt its opinions by a simple majority of its representatives. A
quorum of 11 shall be required for the proceedings to be valid. In the
event of a tied vote, the Chairman shall have the casting vote.
The General Secretariat of the Council shall provide secretarial assis-
tance 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:
(a) all proposed contracts for supplies or services, including studies,
for which the estimated value equals or exceeds the thresholds in
the Council Directives on public procurement procedures;
(b) any proposed agreement supplementary to any contract as referred
to in point (a) whenever there are significant changes, particularlywhen the effect of such supplementary agreement would be to alterthe amount involved in the original contract;
(c) any proposed supplementary agreement the effect of which would
be to raise the total amount involved in a contract alreadyconcluded above the thresholds referred to in point (a);
(d) 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 suffi-ciently serious to justify a request for an opinion;
(e) at the request of one of the Member States referred to in Article 25
or of Iceland or Norway, or of a member of the AdvisoryCommittee, or of the Deputy Secretary-General, proposed contractsinvolving an amount below the thresholds referred to in point (a),
where they consider that such contracts involve questions of prin-
ciple 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 approvedunanimously by the Member States referred to in Article 25, as well asIceland and Norway.
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 theintervention of the Advisory Committee, the Member States referred
to in Article 25, as well as Iceland and Norway, may, if they deem it
necessary, impose a reasonable deadline by which an opinion must befurnished. Opinions shall be communicated to the Deputy Secretary-General and to the Member States referred to in Article 25, as well asto Iceland and Norway. Following due consideration of that opinion,
the Member States referred to in Article 25, as well as Iceland and
Norway, shall take a final decision on the case by unanimity. Oncethat decision has been taken, the contract or contracts which form thesubject of each case shall be concluded by the Deputy Secretary-General on behalf of the Member States referred to in Article 25 andby the appropriate representatives of Iceland and Norway.2000D0265 — EN — 01.01.2003 — 002.001 — 12
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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
1. Contracts may be made against an invoice or bill of costs where
the expected value of the goods or services does not exceed EUR 2 000.
2. By way of guarantee of the performance of contracts, suppliers,
contractors or providers of services may be required by a warrantyclause to make a preliminary deposit. Suchdeposit must cover not
only the entire period of the guarantee but also a period long enough
to allow the guarantee to be invoked. The deposit must, in principle,consist of a payment in euro made to a bank account specificallyopened for that purpose in the name of the General Secretariat of theCouncil. Suchdeposit may only be lodged witha first-class credit insti-tution in a sight- or short-term deposit account denominated in euro.
3. The amount of the deposit shall be fixed according to the usual
trade terms and conditions.
4. The provision of such security shall be obligatory where the value
of the contract concerned equals or exceeds the thresholds set out inthe Council Directives on public procurement procedures.
5. This security may be replaced by a joint and several personal
guarantee given by a third party approved by the accounting officer.The guarantee shall, in principle, be denominated in euro and must
comply with the same rules as the guarantee referred to in paragraph 2.
6. Where a contract has not been performed or completion has been
late, the Deputy Secretary-General shall ensure that the Member States
referred to in Article 25, as well as Iceland and Norway, are adequately
compensated in respect of all damages, interests and costs by thededuction of the amount from the deposit, whether this has been lodgeddirectly by the supplier or contractor or by a third party.
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 estab-lishment 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 toin Article 43(6).
CHAPTER VI
Presenting andauditingtheaccounts
Article 46
1. The Deputy Secretary-General shall, within two months from the
end of the budget implementation period, draw up a revenue andexpenditure account and a balance sheet and transmit them to the SISWorking Group.
2. The revenue and expenditure account shall cover all revenue and
expenditure transactions relating to the preceding financial year. It shallbe submitted in the same form and following the same subdivisions asthe budget.2000D0265 — EN — 01.01.2003 — 002.001 — 13
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3. The following shall be attached to the account:
(a) a statement showing the situation of each of the States referred to
in Article 25 as regards payment of its financial contribution, and
(b) an appropriation transfer statement.
4. The balance sheet shall show the budget assets and liabilities as at
31 December of the preceding financial year.
Article 47
1. The Court of Auditors shall be asked to audit the accounts.
2. The Deputy Secretary-General shall forward the revenue and
expenditure account and the balance sheet to the Court of Auditorswithin 15 days following the period laid down in Article 46(1).
3. The purpose of the audit by the Court of Auditors shall be to
establish that all revenue has been received and all expenditure
incurred in a lawful and regular manner in accordance withth econtracts to be managed, the budget and this Financial Regulation.
4. The Deputy Secretary-General shall provide the Court of Auditors
withevery facility it may consider necessary in order to carry out its
task.
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 inArticle 25, meeting within the Council, shall give a discharge to theDeputy Secretary-General in respect of the budget's implementation.
CHAPTER VII
Finalprovisions
Article 49
The introduction of the provisions of the Schengen acquisconcerning
the Schengen information system for a State other than those referred
to in Article 25 (hereinafter referred to as ‘other State’) shall entail:
(a) readjustment of the share of contributions of the States referred to
in Article 25 as laid down in Article 26;
(b) adjustment of the contributions of the States referred to in Article
25 in order to establish the contribution payable by the other Stateto the operation of Sisnet for the whole of the current financial
year;
(c) adjustment of the contributions of the States referred to in Article
25 in order to establishth e proportion of earlier Sisnet installation
costs to be borne by the other State. This percentage shall be calcu-
lated on the basis of the ratio of the VAT resources paid by theother State to the total VAT resources of the European Commu-nities for the earlier financial years in which the necessary Sisnetinstallation costs have been incurred. 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 inaccordance with Article 26. The other States may choose to allo-cate the amount concerned towards their share of the budget orrequest reimbursement.
Article 50
1. This Financial Regulation shall apply to the adoption of the
budget withrespect to th e revenue and expenditure required to meetthe obligations arising out of any action taken pursuant to Article 1 ofDecision 1999/870/EC, for the financial year in which this Regulationenters into force.2000D0265 — EN — 01.01.2003 — 002.001 — 14
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2. By derogation from Article 8, for the purposes of the budget
referred to in paragraph 1, the Deputy Secretary-General of the Councilshall forward the preliminary draft budget to the SIS Working Group as
soon as possible after the adoption of this Financial Regulation.
Following the delivery of the opinion of the SIS Working Group andthe establishment of the draft budget, the Member States referred to inArticle 25, meeting within the Council, shall adopt the budget withoutdelay.
3. By derogation from Article 28, for the purposes of the budget
referred to in paragraph 1, the States referred to in Article 25 shall be
required to pay their contribution in accordance with a schedule to bedetermined by the Member States referred to in Article 25 at the timeof adoption of this budget.
Article 51
1. This Decision shall take effect from the date of its adoption.2. It shall be published in the Official Journal of the European
Communities .2000D0265 — EN — 01.01.2003 — 002.001 — 15