1994D0442 — EN — 25.10.2000 — 001.001 — 1
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►B COMMISSIONDECISION
of1July1994
setting up a conciliation procedure in the context of the clearance of the accounts of European
Agricultural GuidanceandGuarantee Fund(EAGGF)Guarantee Section
(94/442/EC)
(OJ L 182, 16.7.1994, p. 45)
Amended by:
Official Journal
No page date
►M1Commission Decision 2000/649/EC of 12 October 2000 L 272 41 25.10.2000
▼B
COMMISSIONDECISION
of1July1994
setting up a conciliation procedure in the context of the clearance
oftheaccountsofEuropeanAgriculturalGuidanceandGuarantee
Fund(EAGGF) GuaranteeSection
(94/442/EC)
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,
Having regard to Regulation (EEC) No 729/70 of the Council of 21
April 1970 on the financing of the common agricultural policy(1), as
last amended by Regulation (EEC) No 2048/88(2), and in particular
Article 5 (3) thereof,
Whereas it is intended to reform the clearance procedures for EAGGF
Guarantee Section accounts and to submit to the Council a proposal forcertain amendments to Regulation (EEC) No 729/70 whereby, in parti-
cular, before any decision is taken by the Commission to refuse
financing by the Community of expenditure disbursed by the MemberState, the two parties are to endeavour to conciliate their respectivepositions;
Whereas the rules in force concerning the clearance of accounts do not
preclude the Commission from setting up conciliation machinery;whereas a conciliation body should therefore be set up in order topermit a reconciliation of the positions of the Commission and a
Member State when these differ, and the detailed rules governing its
operation should be established;
Whereas the Fund Committee has given a favourable opinion on the
measures proposed in this Decision,
HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:
Article 1
1. For the purposes of the clearance of EAGGF Guarantee Section
accounts, a Conciliation Body, hereinafter referred to as the ‘Body’, ishereby set up in the Commission. Its tasks shall be:
(a) to examine any matter referred to it by a Member State which,
following inspections pursuant to Article 9 of Regulation (EEC)No 729/70 and bilateral discussion of the findings of such inspec-tions, receives formal notification from the competent Commission
departments, with reference to this Decision, of the conclusion that
certain items of expenditure incurred by that Member State are notchargeable to the EAGGF Guarantee Section,
(b) to try to reconcile the divergent positions of the Commission and
the Member State concerned, and
(c) at he end of its investigations, to draw up a report on the outcome
of its efforts at reconciliation, making any remarks it deems useful
should all or some of the points of dispute remain unresolved.
2. For the purposes of the subsequent stages of the accounts clear-
ance procedure:
(a) the position of the Body shall be without prejudice to the Commis-
sion's final decision on the clearance of the accounts and shall not
affect the Member State's right to institute proceedings underArticle 173 of the Treaty;1994D0442 — EN — 25.10.2000 — 001.001 — 2
(1) OJ No L 94, 28. 4. 1970, p. 13.
(2) OJ No L 185, 15. 7. 1988, p. 1.
▼B
(b) the fact of not referring a matter to the Body shall not be prejudi-
cial to a Member State which receives notification from theCommission within the meaning of paragraph 1 (a).
Article 2
1. A Member State must refer a matter to the Body within thirty
working days of its receipt of notification as referred to in Article 1
(1) (a), by sending a reasoned request for conciliation to the Secretariatof the Conciliation Body, the address of which will be notified to theMember States through the EAGGF Committee.
2. A request for conciliation is admissible only where the financial
adjustment recommended by the Commission in respect of a budget
heading:
either,
— exceeds ECU 0,5 million; or
— represents more than 25 % of the Member State's total annual
expenditure under the budget heading concerned.
In addition, if, during the bilateral discussions referred to in Article 1
(1) (a), the Member State claims, and demonstrates, that the matter isone of principle relating to the application of Community rules, the
Chairman of the Body may declare a request for conciliation to be
admissible.
3. The Secretariat of the Body shall acknowledge receipt of the
request for conciliation.
4. The Body shall conduct its investigations as informally and
promptly as possible, basing itself on the evidence in the dossier andon a fair hearing of the Commission staff and national authorities
concerned. At the end of its investigations it shall send them the report
referred to in Article 1 (1) (c).
5. Where, within four months of a case being referred to it, the
Body has failed to reconcile the positions of the Commission and theMember State, the conciliation procedure is deemed to have failed.The report referred to in Article 1 (1) (c) shall state the reasons why
the positions could not be reconciled.
6. The report drawn up within the stipulated limit shall be sent:
— to the Member State which referred the matter to the Body;
— to the other Member States in the framework of the EAGGF
Committee; and
— to the Commission when the accounts clearance decision is
proposed.
Article 3
1.►
M1The Body shall be composed of five members selected
from among eminent persons offering every guarantee of independenceand highly qualified in EAGGF Guarantee Section matters or in the
practice of financial audit. They must be nationals of different Member
States.◄
The Chairman and the members shall be appointed by the Commission
after the matter has been referred to the EAGGF Committee underArticle 14 (1) (a) of Regulation (EEC) No 729/70.
By the same procedure, the Commission shall appoint substitute
members who meet the criteria referred to in the first subparagraph,
and who may be called upon in the order listed by the Commission.
The names of the Chairman, the members and the substitute members
shall be published in the ‘C’ series of the Official Journal of the
European Communities .
2. The members of the Body shall be remunerated having regard to
the complexity of the questions likely to be raised and to the timewhich they will be required to dedicate to the task.1994D0442 — EN — 25.10.2000 — 001.001 — 3
▼B
3. The term of office of the members of the Body shall be three
years. It shall be renewable.
After expiry of the three-year period, the members of the Body shall
remain in office until they are replaced or until their term is renewed.
4. Before the expiry of the three-year period, a term of office may
be terminated as a result of voluntary or compulsory resignation, ordeath. In such cases a substitute shall be appointed for the remainderof the term by the first available substitute member.
A member who no longer meets the conditions required for the accom-
plishment of his duties with the Body or who commits a seriousoffence or who, for whatever reason, declares that he is unavailable
for an indeterminate period may be retired by the Commission after
consultation of the EAGGF Committee.
5. If a member declares himself unavailable for a stated period, the
Chairman may decide that he be replaced for that period by a substitutemember.
Article 4
1. The Body shall meet at the headquarters of the Commission. In
his absence, and without prejudice to Article 3 (4), the oldest membershall take the Chair.
The secretariat of the Body shall be provided by Commission staff.2. No member may take part in the work of the Body or sign a
report if, in an earlier office, he has been personally involved in the
matter at issue.
3. Without prejudice to paragraph 2, reports must be adopted by an
absolute majority of members present, the quorum being three.
The reports shall be signed by the Chairman and members wo have
taken part in the deliberations. They shall be registered by the secre-tariat.
Article 5
1. The members of the Body shall carry out their duties quite inde-
pendently, neither seeking nor accepting instructions from any
government or body.
2. Without prejudice to Article 214 of the Treaty, the members of
the Body may not disclose any information acquired by them in thecourse of their work for the Body. Such information is confidentialand covered by the obligation of professional secrecy.
Article 6
This Decision is addressed to the Member States.1994D0442 — EN — 25.10.2000 — 001.001 — 4