1993R3418 — EN — 01.01.2002 — 007.001 — 1
This document is meant purely as a documentation tool and the institutions do not assume any liability for its contents
►B COMMISSIONREGULATION(EURATOM,ECSC,EC)No3418/93
of9December 1993
laying down detailed rules for the implementation of certain provisions of the Financial Regula-
tionof21December 1977
(OJ L 315, 16.12.1993, p. 1)
Amended by:
Official Journal
No page date
►M1Commission Decision 97/594/ECSC, EC, Euratom of 30 July 1997 L 239 54 30.8.1997
►M2Commission Decision 98/539/EC, ECSC, Euratom of 7 September 1998 L 252 67 12.9.1998
►M3Commission Decision 1999/537/EC, ECSC, Euratom of 23 July 1999 L 206 24 5.8.1999
►M4Commission Decision 2000/716/EC of 16 November 2000 L 290 52 17.11.2000
►M5Commission Decision 2001/642/EC of 21 August 2001 L 226 7 22.8.2001
►M6Commission Regulation (EC) No 1687/2001 of 21 August 2001 L 228 8 24.8.2001
►M7Commission Decision 2002/443/EC of 12 June 2002 L 153 15 13.6.2002
NB: This consolidated version contains references to the European unit of account and/or the ecu, which from 1 January 1999
should be understood as references to the euro — Council Regulation (EEC) No 3308/80 (OJ L 345, 20.12.1980, p. 1) andCouncil Regulation (EC) No 1103/97 (OJ L 162, 19.6.1997, p. 1).
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COMMISSIONREGULATION(EURATOM,ECSC,EC)No3418/
93
of9December 1993
layingdowndetailedrulesfortheimplementationofcertainprovi-
sionsoftheFinancialRegulationof21December 1977
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Coal and SteelCommunity,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy
Community,
Having regard to the Financial Regulation of 21 December 1977
applicable to the general budget of the European Communities(
1), as
last amended by Council Regulation (Euratom, ECSC, EEC) No 610/
90(2), and in particular Article 126 thereof,
After consulting the European Parliament and the Council,
Having regard to the opinionsof the Court of Jus tice, the Court of
Auditorsand the Economic and Social Committee,
Whereascertain provis ionsof Articles11, 22, 23, 24, 25, 28, 29, 36,
37, 38, 41, 45, 46, 49, 53, 54, 56, 58, 59, 60, 63, 64a, 65, 66, 70,
70a, 75, 94, 97 and 123 of the Financial Regulation explicitly providethat detailed ruleswill be drawn up for their implementation;
Whereas Commission Regulation 86/610/EEC, Euratom, ECSC(
3)
requires a number of changes, in particular as a result of the revision
of the Financial Regulation;
Whereasimplementing ruless hould be laid down to clarify the treat-
ment of certain contributionsby third partiesto Community activities ;
Whereasit would be clearer and more rational to incorporate all the
implementing rulesin force in one text and to repeal Regulation 86/
610/EEC, Euratom, ECSC;
Whereasthe drawing-up of the rulesin ques tion doesnot preclude the
drawing-up at a later date of other implementing rulesfor which no
formal provision is made in the Financial Regulation but which might
subsequently appear appropriate,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
TITLE I
EVALUATIONOFEXPENDITURE
(Article 2 of the Financial Regulation)
Article 1
1. Proposals for all new programmes and actions occasioning expen-
diture from the general budget of the European Communitiess hall be
the subject of an ex ante evaluation, which shall identify:
(a) the need to be met in the short or long term;
(b) the objectivesto be realis ed;
(c) the results expected and the indicators needed to measure them;1993R3418 — EN — 01.01.2002 — 007.001 — 2
(1) OJ No L 356, 31. 12. 1977, p. 1.
(2) OJ No L 70, 16. 3. 1990, p. 1.
(3) OJ No L 360, 19. 12. 1986, p. 1.▼M6
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(d) the added value of Community involvement;
(e) the risks, including fraud, linked with the proposals and the alterna-
tive optionsavailable;
(f) the lessons learned from similar experiences in the past;
(g) the volume of appropriations, human resources and other adminis-
trative expenditure to be allocated with due regard to the cost-effectiveness principle;
(h) the monitoring system to be set up.
2. All programmes or actions shall then be the subject of an ex post
evaluation in termsof the human and financial res ourcesallocated andthe results obtained in order to verify that they were in keeping withthe objectivess et.
3. The results obtained in carrying out a multiannual programme
shall be periodically evaluated in accordance with a timetable which
will allow the findingsof thisevaluation to be taken into account forany decision on the continuation, modification or suspension of theprogramme.
Actions financed on an annual basis shall have their results evaluated
at least every six years.
TITLE Ia
CONDITIONS UNDERWHICH THE ►M6 EURO ◄IS TO BE
APPLIEDTOREVENUEANDEXPENDITURE
(Article 11 (4) of the Financial Regulation)
Article 1
Conversions between the ►M6EURO◄and national currencies
shall as a rule be made at the daily ►M6EURO◄rate published
in theOfficial Journal of the European Communities . However, for
accounting purposes provided for in Articles 69 to 72 of the Financial
Regulation, pursuant to Article 11 (4) of the Financial Regulation,
conversion between the ►M6EURO◄and national currenciess hall
be made at the monthly ►M6EURO◄ratescalculated on the bas is
of the rate on the penultimate working day of the month preceding thatfor which the rates are established.
Article 1a
1. The Commission shall determine the rate of the euro against each
of the currencies which the institutions have to use for the implementa-tion of the budget on the basis of the reference exchange ratesestablished by the European Central Bank and published in the Official
Journal of the European Communities .
2. Conversions between the euro and national currencies shall be
made at the daily euro rate published in the Official Journal of the
European Communities . However, for the accounting purposes
provided for in Articles69 to 72 of the Financial Regulation, purs uantto Article 11(4) of the Financial Regulation, conversion between theeuro and national currenciess hall be made at the monthly euro rates
calculated on the basis of the rate on the penultimate working day of
the month preceding that for which the rates are established.
3. The Commission shall use any source of information it considers
reliable when determining the rate of the euro against currencies forwhich the daily rate isnot publis hed in the Official Journal of the
European Communities .1993R3418 — EN — 01.01.2002 — 007.001 — 3
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Article 2
Where commitment proposals and debt establishments are drawn up in
a national currency, they shall be converted into ►M6EURO◄in
accordance with the rule laid down in ►M6Article 1a ◄.
The corresponding payment order and the recovery order must be
drawn up in the same currency.
The balance, expressed in ►M6EURO◄, of a commitment or of an
established entitlement in a national currency shall be revalued everymonth when the statement of the budgetary accounts is established.The final revaluation of the balance of commitmentsfor the financialyear shall be made at the December rate; the balance of established
entitlementss hall be revalued at the rate of 31 December for the
purposes of drawing up the balance sheet.
In addition, these balances may also be revalued in the course of a
month if there hasbeen a currency realignment.
Article 3
By way of derogation from the provisions of ►
M6Article 1a ◄, the
rate to be used for the month ‘n’ for which statements of expenditureout of advancesfinanced by the EAGGF Guarantee Section are madepursuant to Article 3 (5) of ►
M6Commission Regulation (EC) No
296/96◄(1), shall be that of the tenth day of the month ‘n + 1’ or
the first preceding day for which a general quotation is available.
This rate shall also be used for the corresponding advances laid down
in Articles4 and 5 of ►M6Commission Regulation (EC) No 296/
96◄.
The differencesin national currency between the financial res ources
made available to the Member Statesfor month ‘n’ and the expenditureentered in the accounts for the same month shall be reconverted into►
M6EURO◄at the rate on the tenth day of the month ‘n + 2’.
Article 4
The December ratesof the ►M6EURO◄shall be used to calculate
the commitmentsouts tanding at the end of the financial year and, in
the case of non-differentiated appropriations, to determine the appro-
priationsto be carried over.
Payments made in respect of a given financial year between the first
and 15th day of January of the following year shall be entered in theaccounts, for budget purposes, at the December rate of the►
M6EURO◄.
Article 5
Payments against outstanding commitments under non-differentiated
appropriationss hall be made, for the equivalent of the amountscarried
over, in national currenciesor in ►M6EURO◄; paymentss hall be
entered in the accountsat the ratesin force at the time of payment.Any paymentsmade in exces sof the appropriationscarried over foreach budget heading shall be taken into account when the balance forthe year isbeing calculated in accordance with Article 15 of Council
Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 1552/89(
2).
In the case of differentiated appropriations, the adjustments of commit-
mentsouts tanding from earlier yearsworked out at the time of the
revaluationss hall be entered in the budget accountsand included in
the table in the revenue and expenditure account recording paymentsagainst commitments from previous financial years.1993R3418 — EN — 01.01.2002 — 007.001 — 4
(1) OJ No L 249, 8. 9. 1988, p. 9.
(2) OJ No L 155, 7. 6. 1989, p. 1.
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TITLE II
DELEGATIONSANDSUBCONTRACTING
(Article 22 of the Financial Regulation)
Article 6
The actsby which powersare delegated purs uant to Article 22 (4) of
the Financial Regulation shall designate those members of staff of theinstitution authorized to sign for and on behalf of the delegator.
In such acts reference shall be made to the provisions of the rules of
procedure referred to in Article 22 (4) setting out the conditions
governing the delegation of powers.
Article 7
The acts referred to in Article 6, accompanied by a specimen signature
of the official to whom powershave been delegated, s hall be commu-nicated:
— to the delegatee,
— to the institution's accounting officer, who may not make any
payment which hasbeen authorized by officialsnot empowered todo so,
— to the institution's financial controller, who shall be responsible for
verifying the legality and regularity of revenue and expenditure,
— to the authorizing officers, only in the case of delegation of powers
by the financial controller or by the accounting officer, or of thesubdelegation of powers by authorizing officers within the limits
of the powersdelegated to them,
— to the Court of Auditors.
The acts terminating such delegations of powers shall also be commu-
nicated asprovided for above.
Article 8
In every case act of delegation shall specify the limits within which the
delegatees are authorized to draw up proposals for the establishment ofdebts and for recovery orders, proposals for the commitment of expen-
diture and payment orders, the numbers of the articles and items in
respect of which powers have been delegated and, where appropriate,the length of time for which powershave been delegated.
Article 9
Acting in accordance with the provisions of the Financial Regulation
and of this Regulation, each institution shall adopt such measures foradministering appropriations as it deems necessary for the properimplementation of itss ection of the budget.
Each institution shall draw up a document containing the internal
provisions adopted for this purpose. This document shall include thebasic rules on the assignment of responsibilities to authorizing officersand administering departments for the implementation of the statement
of expenditure and statement of revenue within the section for each
institution.
The document referred to in the second paragraph and any other
internal instructions of general scope for implementing the budget and
the accountss hall be made available to all the departmentsinvolved in
the management of the budget and to the Court of Auditors.
Article 9a
Before embarking on any act implementing the budget, delegatorsand
delegatees shall declare to their hierarchical superior, in writing, anyconfusion or conflict of interests which might impair their ability to1993R3418 — EN — 01.01.2002 — 007.001 — 5
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perform their dutiesimpartially and objectively. Thisconfus ion or
conflict of interests may arise in particular through family or emotionalties, political or national affinity, economic interest or any other perti-
nent connection with the beneficiary. The hierarchical superior of the
delegator or delegatee shall confirm in writing whether or not a confu-sion or conflict of interests exists. If it does, the act may not be carriedout by thisdelegator or delegatee.
Delegatorsor delegateeswho fail to declare the exis tence of a confu-
sion or conflict of interests shall be liable to disciplinary action and
payment of compensation in accordance with Articles 73 to 77 of the
Financial Regulation. They shall be similarly liable if they carry out anact implementing the budget when their hierarchical superior hasconfirmed the existence of a confusion or conflict of interests.
Article 9b
In order to guarantee the transparency of subcontracted operations,
management costs and expenses shall be broken down separately andthe interest and other revenue from the funds held by the co-contractor
on behalf of the Commission shall be identified.
The contracts concluded shall contain appropriate provisions
concerning matters such as the treatment of interest and other revenue,the keeping of accountsand the recovery of unduly paid amounts .
Rules on the management of funds made available to subcontractors,
especially as regards payments to the beneficiaries of Communityprogrammesor actions , and rulesof conduct asregardsincompatibil-
ities, confusion of interest and confidentiality shall be laid down in
the contracts which the institutions conclude with subcontractors.
TITLE III
MANAGEMENTBYMEANSOFINTEGRATEDCOMPUTERSYSTEMS
(Article 23 of the Financial Regulation)
Article 10
1. For the purposes of Article 23 of the Financial Regulation ‘inte-
grated computer systems’ means computerized management andaccounting programmeswhich require the intervention of the author-izing officer, the financial controller and the accounting officer andset up by joint agreement between these departments.
2. Use of the systems is subject to the following rules:
(a) the system must check the availability of appropriations for the
operation proposed and reject any operation for which appropria-
tionsare not available;
(b) the system must ensure that each operation is handled only by
those officials empowered to do so in the departments of the
authorizing officer, the financial controller and the accounting
officer, in accordance with the provisions adopted by each institu-tion under Article 9;
(c) the system must ensure effective separation of the functions of the
authorizing officer, the financial controller and the accounting
officer;
(d) the institution shall ensure that its internal and external procedures
guarantee the security of the information and of the operation of
the system;
(e) the institution shall ensure that the physical security of the system
isguaranteed;
(f) without prejudice to the provisions of Articles 84, 87 and 89 of the
Financial Regulation, each institution may, where the authorizingofficer, the financial controller and the accounting officer considerby common accord that the system offers guarantees satisfying itssecurity requirements, substitute computer media for the paper1993R3418 — EN — 01.01.2002 — 007.001 — 6
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documents used previously, viz. commitment proposals,
►M6payment orders, estimates of amounts receivable and
recovery orders. This shall also apply to the replacement of original
supporting documents by electronic document management
systems◄.
3. When operations are managed by integrated computer systems in
accordance with paragraphs1 and 2, the verificationscarried out by the
accounting officer to validate payment operationsmay be replaced or
supplemented by regular verifications of these systems which may becarried out on the spot if necessary.
TITLE IV
RULES APPLICABLE TO THE ACCOUNTING OFFICER, TO THE
ASSISTANT ACCOUNTING OFFICERS AND TO THE IMPREST
ADMINISTRATORS
(Articles25 and 75 of the Financial Regulation)
Section I
General provisions
Article 11
Each institution shall, by reasoned decision, appoint an accounting
officer who shall be responsible for:
(a) the recovery of debts, the collection of receipts, the payment of
expenditure and cash management;
(b) the keeping of the accountsand the preparation of financial s tate-
mentsin accordance with Articles69 to 72 and 78 to 81 of theFinancial Regulation.
Article 12
The institution may appoint, on the basis of the reasoned opinion of the
accounting officer, one or more assistant accounting officers who shall
report to the accounting officer and whose responsibilities shall be
determined by the latter.
Article 13
The accounting officer shall be appointed by each institution from offi-
cialsof category A or B who are nationalsof the Member States .
Assistant accounting officers shall be appointed by each institution
from officials of categories A and B and, in special cases, of categoryC who are nationalsof the Member States .
The imprest administrators appointed under Article 83 of this Regula-
tion shall be chosen from officials of categories A, B and C, or, shouldthe need arise, from other staff having a status equivalent to those cate-gories.
Article 14
The accounting officer and assistant accounting officers shall be chosen
by the institution on the grounds of their particular qualifications as
evidenced by diplomas or by equivalent professional experience.
Imprest administrators shall be appointed on the grounds of their parti-
cular qualificationsasevidenced by diplomasor by equivalentprofessional experience or appropriate prior training, having due regardto the size of the imprests they are required to administer.1993R3418 — EN — 01.01.2002 — 007.001 — 7
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Article 15
The duties performed by the accounting officer and the assistant
accounting officersare incompatible with thos e of the authorizing offi-cers, the imprest administrators and the financial controller.
The duties performed by the imprest administrators are incompatible
with those of the financial controller.
Article 16
The accounting officer shall exercise his specific responsibilities in
accordance with the provisions of the Financial Regulation.
In particular, the accounting officer shall ensure objectiveness in the
keeping of the accountsand the preparation of the financial s tatementsin accordance with Articles69 to 72 and 78 to 81 of the FinancialRegulation.
The institution shall provide the accounting officer with the personnel
and equipment required for the proper performance of hisduties .
Prior to the implementation of expenditure, the accounting officer shall
ensure compliance with the requirements laid down by the Financial
Regulation and by this Regulation, and shall ascertain the validity of
the discharge and the absence of any material error.
He shall suspend payment and indicate all the reasons for this decision
whenever the checkscarried out reveal that the provis ionsreferred toin the first four paragraphs have not been complied with.
Paymentseffected in non-compliance with the requirementsof Article
51 (3) of the Financial Regulation shall result in disciplinary andpossibly financial measures against accounting officers, assistantaccounting officers and imprest administrators under the terms laid
down in Article 22 and Articles86 to 89 of the Staff Regulationsof
officialsof the European Communitiesand the conditionsof employ-ment of other servants of the Communities (hereinafter referred to as‘the Staff Regulations’).
Article 17
When the preliminary draft budget isbeing drawn up, the accounting
officer shall be consulted on any problem of budgetary presentationwhich may affect budgetary accounting.
Section II
Performance of duties relating to the keeping of accounts and the
preparationoffinancialstatements
Article 18
1. In accordance with the fourth paragraph of Article 25 of the
Financial Regulation, the accounting officer shall prepare the periodical
statements and the revenue and expenditure account and balance sheet
of the institution to which he belongs. For this purpose, he shall keepthe accounts of all operations in the financial year and shall close theaccountsat the end of the year.
2. The financial statements shall be submitted pursuant to Articles
79 and 81 of the Financial Regulation to the financial controller, thenfinally adopted by the institution.
3. In the event of an accounting officer terminating hisduties , an
interim statement of account shall be drawn up on the date of thetermination of the officer'sduties .
The statement shall be signed in acceptance by the accounting officer
who isterminating hisdutiesand by the new accounting officer.1993R3418 — EN — 01.01.2002 — 007.001 — 8
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Article 20
The Commission's accounting officer shall centralize all the informa-
tion he needs and shall draw up the consolidated revenue and
expenditure account and balance sheet of the European Communitiesso that the Commission can adopt them and send them to the EuropeanParliament, the Council and the Court of Auditorsby 1 May.
Article 21
After itsaccounting officer hascons ulted the accounting officersof the
other institutions, the Commission shall:
— adopt accounting methods common to all the institutions,
— adopt and keep up to date the structure of the chart of accounts of
the institutions,
— harmonize the presentation of balance sheets.
It shall justify and explain any chance in accounting practice in the
notesannexed to the balance s heet.
Section III
Performance ofdutiesrelatingtocashmanagement
Article 22
In accordance with the first paragraph of Article 25 of the Financial
Regulation the accounting officer, who is responsible for the collectionof revenue and the payment of expenditure, shall manage the corre-sponding monies.
The institution shall open or cause to be opened the necessary bank
accountsafter negotiating the termsin accordance with the principlesof sound financial management. The operating terms for the accountsshall be subject to periodic review and where necessary to renegotia-tion; they shall be monitored by the financial controller.
The Commission's accounting officer shall be responsible, after consul-
tation with the accounting officersof the other ins itutions , forharmonizing the operating termsfor the accountsopened by the variousinstitutions.
Article 23
The accounting officer shall be responsible for managing the assets of
the institution to which he belongs, for authorizing transfers betweenbank accountsand for conducting currency convers ion operationsinsuch a way that none of these accounts are in debit.
Transfers between bank accounts must be made within the limits of
available funds.
Article 24
The Commission's accounting officer shall divide the funds available in
the national treasuries and the central banks of the Member States
between the Member Statesin accordance with Article 12 of
►
M6Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1150/2000 ◄.
Article 25
The accounting officer shall regularly reconcile the bank accounts with
the bookkeeping and shall check that the terms negotiated are being
properly applied.
Article 26
The accounting officer shall replenish the imprest accounts and monitor
the financial aspects of these accounts.1993R3418 — EN — 01.01.2002 — 007.001 — 9
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Section IV
Insurance
Article 28
The accounting officer, assistant accounting officers and imprest
administrators shall insure themselves, through the institution, againstthe financial risks inherent in their duties.
Article 29
The premiums for the insurance shall be paid direct to the insurer by
the institution.
Article 30
Without prejudice to:
— Articles86 to 89 to the Staff Regulations ,
— Article 75 of the Financial Regulation,— the institution's right of recovery vis-à-vis third parties,
the institution, in accordance with the second paragraph of
►
M6Article 288 ◄of the EEC Treaty, shall bear all risks and defi-
cits not covered by the insurers, in so far as the amounts credited to the
guarantee account opened in the name of the official whose liability is
involved are not sufficient to cover the deficit.
Section V
Specialallowance andguaranteeaccount
Article 31
The monthly amount of the special allowance referred to in Article
75(4) of the Financial Regulation shall be:
(a) EUR ►M7142◄for the accounting officer;
(b) EUR ►M796◄for assistant accounting officers;
(c) EUR ►M748◄for imprest administrators, where the amount of
the imprest is at least EUR 3 800 and where the period of theimprest is at least 30 consecutive days.
Thisallowance s hall be denominated in euro and the appropriate
amount shall be credited in euro to the guarantee account provided forin Article 32.
Article 32
A guarantee account in the name of each staff member concerned shall
be opened in the institution's general accounts. At the request of eachinstitution concerned, this account may be centralized in the Commis-sion's general accounts. ►
M6Thisaccount s hall be credited
periodically with the monthly allowance referred to in Article 31 and
with annual interest corresponding to the annual average of themonthly ratesapplied by the European Central Bank to itsmain refi-nancing operationsin euro. ◄
It shall be debited by the amount of the deficit for which the person
concerned isdeclared liable by the ins titution which appointed him, in
so far as the deficit is not covered by payments from the insurers.
Article 33
1. When an accounting officer or assistant accounting officer termi-
nates his duties, any balance standing to his credit in the guarantee1993R3418 — EN — 01.01.2002 — 007.001 — 10
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account shall be paid to him or to those entitled through him, after a
decision has been taken by the authorities referred to in Article 22 ofthe Financial Regulation and the final discharge referred to in Article
77 of the Financial Regulation hasbeen granted, and after the
accounting officer, save where he himself is concerned, and the finan-cial controller have given a favourable opinion.
2. When an imprest administrator terminates his duties, any balance
standing to his credit in the guarantee account shall be paid to him or
to those entitled through him, after agreement and verification by the
accounting officer and the authorizing officer concerned and after thefinancial controller hasgiven a favourable opinion.
3. The payments referred to in the first and second paragraphs shall
be made exclusively on the written instructions of the head of theDirectorate-General or administrative unit to which the accounting
officer is assigned.
TITLE V
RULES APPLICABLE TO THE FINANCIAL CONTROLLER, THE
ASSISTANT FINANCIAL CONTROLLERS AND THE INTERNAL
AUDITOR
(Articles24 and 24a of the Financial Regulation)
Article 34
Each institution shall, by reasoned decision, appoint a financial
controller who shall be responsible for verification of the commitment
and authorization of all expenditure and verification of all revenue
under the budget of the Communities in respect of which the institutionisthe authorizing body.
Article 35
The institution may appoint one or more assistant financial controllers.
They shall report to the financial controller, who shall decide on thepowers to be delegated to them. They shall bear responsibility for the
approvalsthey grant in purs uance of the powersdelegated to them.
Article 36
The financial controller and the assistant financial controllers shall be
chosen by the institution from nationals of the Member States on thegroundsof their particular qualifications .
Article 37
The institution shall place at the disposal of the financial controller the
staff and equipment necessary for the proper discharge of his control
duties.
Article 38
All decisions relating to the delegation and subdelegation of powers by
the financial controller or the assistant financial controllers shallcomply with the provisions of Articles 6, 7 and 8.
Article 39
In carrying out his control duties, the financial controller shall be
completely independent and shall be accountable only to the institution.
He may not receive any instructions nor accept any constraint as
regards the performance of the duties assigned to him pursuant to theprovisions of the Financial Regulation by virtue of his appointment.
These provisions shall also apply to the assistant financial controllers,
within the limitsof the powersdelegated to them by their immediatesuperior, the financial controller.1993R3418 — EN — 01.01.2002 — 007.001 — 11
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Article 40
The financial controller may present reports to the institution at any
time and on any subject having financial implications, especially asregardsthe application of Article 2 of the Financial Regulation.
The institution shall, on request, send these reports to the European
Parliament and the Court of Auditors unless it considers them confi-
dential.
Article 41
The financial controller and assistant financial controllers shall have
access to all supporting documents and to all other documents relating
to the expenditure and revenue to be checked. They may carry out on-
the-spot checks.
Article 42
The liability of the financial controller and of the assistant financial
controller to disciplinary action and, where appropriate, to payment of
compensation, within the meaning of Article 74 of the Financial Regu-
lation, can be invoked only by the institution itself, in thecircumstances set out in the second, third, fourth and fifth paragraphs.
The institution shall take a reasoned decision to conduct an inquiry.
This decision shall be communicated to the person concerned and, ifhe is an assistant financial controller, to the financial controller. Theinstitution may, on its direct responsibility, instruct one or more offi-
cialsof a grade not lower than that of the member of s taff concerned
and not carrying out the dutiesof financial controller, authorizingofficer or accounting officer, to conduct the inquiry. During the inquirythe person concerned and, if he is an assistant financial controller, thefinancial controller, must be given a hearing.
The report on the inquiry shall be communicated to the person
concerned and, if he is an assistant financial controller, to the financial
controller. The person concerned shall then be given a hearing by the
institution with regard to that report.
On the basis of the report and of the hearing, the institution shall take a
reasoned decision to give the person concerned a discharge in respectof the matter examined or a reasoned decision under Articles 22 and 86to 89 of the Staff Regulations. Decisions entailing disciplinary actionand/or financial penalties shall be communicated to the personconcerned and, for information purposes, to the other institutions, the
Court of Auditors and, if the person concerned is an assistant financial
controller, to the financial controller.
The person concerned may lodge an appeal with the Court of Justice,
in accordance with the provisions of the Staff Regulations, in respect ofsuch decisions.
Article 43
Without prejudice to the appeal proceduresprovided for in the Staff
Regulations, the financial controller and the assistant financial control-lersmay lodge an appeal with the Court of Jus tice with regard to anyact relating to their control duties. Such appeals must be lodged withinthree monthsfrom the date of notification of the act in ques tion.
The provisions of the first paragraph shall also apply to appeals by the
institution against its financial controller or its assistant financial
controllers.
Appeals shall be investigated and heard as provided for in Article 91
(5) of the Staff Regulations.
Article 43a
The internal audit function shall be performed in accordance with the
relevant international standards. Internal audit activities shall focus on1993R3418 — EN — 01.01.2002 — 007.001 — 12
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the effectiveness and efficiency of management and control systems.
The audit reports shall be sent to the services audited and to the bodiesdesignated by each institution to ensure that its services follow up the
recommendations.
Article 43b
The internal auditor shall be chosen from nationals of the Member
Stateson the groundsof their particular qualifications .
TITLE VI
RECOVERYOFDEBTS
(Articles28 and 29 of the Financial Regulation)
Article 44
►M6In accordance with Article 28(1) of the Financial Regulation,
the competent authorising officer shall draw up an estimate of amountsreceivable for any measure or situation which may give rise to ormodify a debt due to the Communities. ◄An estimate shall also be
drawn up even where it is not possible from the act or decision giving
rise to a future debt to ascertain the amount or due date: wherepossible, it shall indicate the estimated amount and the probable duedate.
The estimate shall be forwarded to the financial controller for his
approval and to the accounting officer for provisional registration.
Article 45
1. In accordance with Article 28 (2) of the Financial Regulation, the
competent authorizing officer shall make out a recovery order withoutdelay in respect of every established debt.
The recovery order shall be forwarded to the financial controller for his
approval and to the accounting officer for registration. In particular, itshall indicate the due date.
2. The accounting officer shall proceed with recovery of the debt
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3. Upon actual recovery of the sum due the accounting officer shall
make out a revenue voucher, which shall be registered in the accounts.He shall inform the authorizing officer and the financial controller of
the recovery effected.
4. Where a debt isnot paid by the due date, the accounting officer
shall take all due care to initiate the procedure for effecting recovery,where necessary, by all legal means.
5. Where a debt is to be recovered in successive instalments either
in the course of a single financial year or over several financial years,it shall be registered in the accounts by means of a recovery ordermade out for the full amount as soon as it is established.
Article 46
Forward estimate within the meaning of Article 28 of the Financial
Regulation shall be strictly limited to recurring revenue.
Individual cases to which such a forward estimate relates need not,
therefore, be submitted separately to the financial controller for his
approval.
Before the end of the financial year, the authorizing officer shall
submit amendments to forward estimates to the financial controller forhis approval to ensure that they correspond to the debts actually estab-lished.1993R3418 — EN — 01.01.2002 — 007.001 — 13
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Article 47
In accordance with Article 45 (3), the authorizing officer and the finan-
cial controller must be informed as soon as possible of each paymentreceived. Where no recovery order hasbeen made out purs uant to
Article 45 in respect of a payment received, the amount in question
shall be immediately credited to a suspense account in the generalaccountsand the competent authorizing officer s hould initiate theprocedure for establishing the debt and make out the necessaryrecovery order with a view to booking the revenue to the budget. Any
sum credited to such a suspense account which is found to have been
unduly paid shall be repaid as soon as possible.
Article 48
Estimates and recovery orders shall be entered separately in the
accountsand numbered chronologically s o that the following can bereadily ascertained in respect of all the debts of the institution:
— the measures taken which may give rise to a debt,
— the amountsof debtsto be recovered,— the due datesfor payment of the debts ,— the debtswhich have been recovered,
— the debts still to be recovered together with the steps taken to
secure recovery.
Article 49
The accounts must be organized in such a way that the financial
controller isable to check, at any given moment, that the regis tration
of the estimate of a debt and of recovery orders is correct and to carry
out the tasks required of him under Article 29 (3) of the FinancialRegulation.
Article 50
In accordance with Article 29 (2) of the Financial Regulation any
proposal by the authorizing officer to waive the right to recover anestablished debt shall specify in particular the debtor, the type ofrevenue, the estimated amount, the budget item in question, the steps
taken to secure recovery and the grounds for the proposed waiver.
If the superior authority of the institution overrules the financial
controller's refusal to give approval, the decision shall be forwarded tothe authorizing officer, who shall return the waiver proposal, togetherwith the decision, to the financial controller. The waiver proposal,together with the decision, shall be registered in accordance with thefirst subparagraph of Article 28 (2) of the Financial Regulation.
TITLE VII
COMMITMENTOFEXPENDITURE
(Article 36 of the Financial Regulation)
Article 51
Before taking any measure which may give rise to expenditure, the
competent authorizing officer must present the financial controllerwith a commitment proposal. The authorizing officer must ensure inadvance that this measure is in conformity with the principles of soundfinancial management and in particular those of economy and cost-
effectiveness provided for in Article 2 of the Financial Regulation.
Such proposals shall in principle be drawn up in accordance with astandard form to be adopted by unanimous agreement by the author-izing officer, the accounting officer and the financial controller. Suchcommitment proposals must give the information referred to in Article37 of the Financial Regulation.1993R3418 — EN — 01.01.2002 — 007.001 — 14
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Article 52
Decisions of principle taken by the institution and entailing an obliga-
tion vis-à-vis third parties to incur expenditure shall constitutecommitmentsof expenditure.
Article 53
If an item of expenditure requires a decision of principle by the institu-
tion, the draft of that decision cannot be adopted by the institution
unless it has first received the agreement of the financial controller.
The financial controller shall give his agreement only if the draft satis-fies the requirements of sound financial management. The authorisingofficer shall submit a commitment proposal in respect of the decisionof principle to the financial controller together with the draft decision
itself.
When the institution has approved the draft decision, the corresponding
global commitment proposal together with the corresponding draft legal
commitment, as appropriate, shall be submitted to the financial
controller for approval.
Where the institution does not approve the draft decision or reduces the
amount of expenditure proposed, the commitment proposal shall be
amended or cancelled or, where applicable, replaced by an appropriatecommitment proposal, which shall be submitted to the financialcontroller for approval.
The authorising officer shall conclude the individual legal commit-
mentswithin the time limitslaid down in Article 36(2) of theFinancial Regulation. Before being signed by the authorising officer,each individual budget commitment shall be submitted to the financialcontroller for approval in accordance with the second paragraph of
Article 37 of the Financial Regulation, recorded in the accountsby
the authorising officer and booked to the global budget commitment.
On expiry of the time limit for implementation of the global commit-
ment, the authorising officer shall, without delay and, at the latest,
within three months, decommit the difference between the amount ofthe commitment referred to in the second paragraph and the sum ofthe of the amountsrecorded in the central accountsin accordancewith the fourth paragraph.
Article 54
Provisional commitments within the meaning of Article 36 (1) of the
Financial Regulation shall be strictly limited to recurring expenditure.
Individual commitments covered by such provisional commitments
need not be submitted separately to the financial controller forapproval.
In the case of provisional commitments, the authorizing officer shall
check, on his own responsibility, that the individual commitments donot exceed the provisional commitment covering them.
Such provisional commitments shall not give rise to the automatic
carryover of appropriationsasprovided for in Article 7 of the FinancialRegulation unless they correspond, at the end of the financial year, tofinancial commitmentsactually entered into before the deadlineslaiddown in the Financial Regulation.
Expenditure of an administrative nature which is incurred repeatedly
during the same budgetary year such as:
— staff expenditure (salaries and various allowances, recruitment
expenditure, etc.),
— mission expenses,
— representation expenses,
— meeting expenses,
— freelance interpreters ►
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— exchangesof officials ,1993R3418 — EN — 01.01.2002 — 007.001 — 15
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— rent,
— miscellaneous insurance,
— cleaning and maintenance,
— leasing,— telecommunications,— water, gasand electricity,— periodicals(monthly bulletins , etc.),— subscriptions,
shall be regarded as recurring expenditure.
Article 55
If, in the case of certain measures which may give rise to expenditure,
no exact figurescan be given for the expenditure when the relevant
commitment proposal is presented to the financial controller andcommunicated to the accounting officer, the authorizing officer mustestimate the expenditure involved and set out in his commitmentproposal the basis on which he has arrived at his estimate.
Article 56
All commitment proposals must be submitted to the financial controller
sufficiently early for him to state his position and make any commentshe considers appropriate which may then be taken into account.
Article 57
Without prejudice to Article 23 of the Financial Regulation, proposals
for the commitment of expenditure must be accompanied by all rele-vant supporting documents and, where appropriate, by any other
documents and information which are necessary to enable the financial
controller to establish what is required by Article 38 (1) of the Finan-cial Regulation.
TITLE VIII
REGISTRATION OF PROPOSALS FOR THE COMMITMENT OF
EXPENDITURE AFTER THE FINANCIAL CONTROLLER HAS
GRANTEDAPPROVAL
(Article 37 of the Financial Regulation)
Article 58
Commitment proposals shall be registered by the institution's accounts
department. This registration procedure must make it possible to ascer-
tain at any given moment for each budget item or heading for the
financial year:
1. the appropriationsavailable;
2. the amountsof commitmentsentered into;3. the payments made against these commitments;4. the balance of commitmentsouts tanding.
The registration must also make it possible to ascertain at any given
moment:
1. the amount of the initial commitment, increased where applicable by
any additional commitments;
2. the payments made against these commitments under previous
financial years;
3. the amount of the commitment still to be paid at the beginning of
the financial year;
4. paymentsin res pect of the financial year;
5. the balance outstanding.1993R3418 — EN — 01.01.2002 — 007.001 — 16
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The amount of global provisional commitments under Article 99 of the
Financial Regulation shall be similarly registered.
Article 59
The accounts must be organized in such a way as to guarantee that the
financial controller isable to check that commitmentsand paymentshave been registered accurately.
TITLE IX
APPROVALOFPROPOSALSFORTHECOMMITMENTOFEXPENDI-
TURE
(Article 38 of the Financial Regulation)
Article 60
Subject to the provisions of Articles 10 and 61, approval shall take the
form of the signature of the financial controller — or of an assistant
financial controller or an official to whom powershave been delegatedor subdelegated in accordance with Article 38 — on the commitmentproposal, which shall be stamped and dated.
Article 61
In urgent cases, approval may be given in a note or by telex or by any
other meanswhich leavesno doubt asto the fact that the commitmentproposal in question has been approved.
Article 62
If, pursuant to Article 39 of the Financial Regulation, the superior
authority of the institution overrules the financial controller's refusal
to grant approval, the decision shall be forwarded to the authorizingofficer, who shall return the commitment proposal, together with thedecision, to the financial controller. The commitment proposal, togetherwith the decision to overrule, shall be registered in accordance with the
provisions of Article 37 of the Financial Regulation.
Article 63
Articles 60, 61 and 62 shall apply to the proposals of global provisional
commitmentswithin the meaning of Article 99 of the Financial Regu-lation.
Article 64
If the financial controller considers that the supporting documents
provided for in Articles28 (2), 37, 41 and 45 of the Financial Regula-tion and further defined in Articles65 to 73 of thisRegulation areinadequate or incomplete, he shall postpone approval and return the
proposal to the authorizing officer, specifying the supporting evidence
required.
TITLE X
SUPPORTINGDOCUMENTS
(Articles28 (2), 37, 41 and 45 of the Financial Regulation)
Section I
Recovery ofdebts
Article 65
For recovery orders, the following shall constitute supporting docu-
ments: the decision or act giving rise to the debt, accompanied bydocumentsenabling a check to be made of the type of debt, the calcu-1993R3418 — EN — 01.01.2002 — 007.001 — 17
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lation of the amount, the due date and the identity of the debtor, such
as:
(a) in the case of own resources(1):
— for customs duties, agricultural levies and sugar levies: the
statements of accounts from the Member States in accordancewith the implementing regulations(
2);
— for VAT and GNP-based resources: the budget for the financial
year (year n) which determinesthe amount, and, for the res pec-
tive balances (year n+1 and subsequent years), the various
statements, summary documents and statements of accountsprovided for by the implementing regulations(
2);
(b) in the case of other miscellaneous revenue: the basic act, decision,
contract or agreement giving rise to the debt and the documents
giving all the componentsof the calculation.
Section II
Commitmentofexpenditure
Article 66
For proposals for the commitment of expenditure, the following draft
acts constituting obligations on the part of the institution shall consitutesupporting documents:
(a) for expenditure incurred by virtue of contracts:
the draft agreement, contract, order form or similar document,
accompanied, in the case of contracts, by the tenders received, thereasons for private treaty and, where appropriate, the opinion of theAdvisory Committee on Procurement and Contracts (hereinafterreferred to as‘the CCAM’);
(b) for aid granted autonomously:
— for financial assistance under the various funds or similar
schemes: any documents which may be provided for in the rele-
vant basic regulations and the decisions to grant the aid;
— for subsidies in general:
— the application submitted by the recipient, accompanied,
where applicable, by an implementation report on previously
granted subsidies,
— the reasons for the amount granted,
— the draft letter of agreement or similar documents,— the budget estimate for the year for which the subsidy is
requested or any substituting document.
Section III
Validationandpaymentofexpenditure
Article 67
For supplies in general, the invoice drawn up by the supplier, accom-
panied, where appropriate, by a copy of the document giving rise to theCommunity's obligation (e.g. order form or contract) shall constitute asupporting document.
In all cases the document drawn up by the supplier must indicate:
— the nature and quantity of the supplies or, where appropriate, a
description of the services rendered in that connection,
— the unit price and the total price,1993R3418 — EN — 01.01.2002 — 007.001 — 18
(1) Council Decision 88/376/EEC, Euratom (OJ No L 185, 15. 7. 1988, p. 24).
(2) — Council Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 1552/89;
— Council Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 1553/89 (OJ No L 155, 7. 6.
1989, p. 9).
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— the Community'sexemption from chargesand taxesand, where
appropriate, the amount of any charges, taxes and customs dutiesincluded in the price of the goodss upplied.
This document or an attached document must be endorsed by the
authorizing officer, or the official to whom he hasdelegated authority,
to the effect that:
— the supplies have been duly received, with an indication of the date
and the place of receipt,
— the supplies have been entered in the inventory, where this is
required,
— all itemsin the invoice have been checked, and
— the opinion of the CCAM hasbeen given where required.
Article 68
For services, the invoice (or bill of costs) drawn up by the supplier,
accompanied, where appropriate, by the contract, shall constitute avalid supporting document.
This invoice (or bill of costs) must:
— state the nature of the service, where appropriate the unit price, the
total price and the Community'sexemption from chargesand taxes
or, in so far as this is possible, the amount of any charges and taxesin respect of the service which are included in the price,
— bear the endorsement ‘passed for payment’ signed by the author-
izing officer or by the official to whom he hasdelegated authority,
certifying that the service has been rendered properly and that allthe items in the invoice (or bill of costs) have been checked.
Article 69
1. For study and research contracts, the following shall constitute
supporting documents.
(a) a copy of the contract and of any supplementary agreements, to be
attached to the first order to pay;
(b) any document which, pursuant to the financial provisions in the
contract, substantiates the corresponding payments (request fromthe contractor, invoices, titles of the management committees inthe case of contracts of association, or any other document substan-tiating expenditure). The final payment must be accompanied by a
document drawn up by the authorizing officer certifying that the
service has been rendered.
2. For decisions granting financial support under the various funds
or similar measures, the following shall constitute supporting docu-ments:
(a) a copy of the decision to be attached to the first order to pay;
(b) any document which, pursuant to the financial provisions in the
basic regulations or the decisions to grant financial support,substantiates the corresponding payments (request for payment,declaration that the work hasbegun, progres sreportsand other
documents). The final payment must be accompanied by a docu-
ment certifying that the programme or project hasbeen completedand containing a statement of the expenditure actually incurred onthe programme or project.
3. For the subsidies referred to in the second indent of point (b) of
Article 66, the following shall constitute supporting documents:
(a) a copy of the decision granting the subsidy;
(b) confirmation by the recipient that he acceptsthe Community
checksreferred to in Article 87 of the Financial Regulation and, ifthe volume of the subsidy warrants, a report on the implementationof the project and use of the funds received.1993R3418 — EN — 01.01.2002 — 007.001 — 19
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Article 70
For staff expenditure, the following shall constitute supporting docu-
ments:
(a) in respect of monthly salary:
— the complete list of staff, giving all the components of remu-
neration. This list shall be attached to the payment order,
— a form (personal information sheet) showing any change occur-
ring in any component of remuneration. Thisform s hall bedrawn up on the basis of the decisions taken in each particularcase,
— in the case of recruitments or appointments, a certified true
copy of the recruitment or appointment decision shall accom-pany the first salary payment;
(b) in respect of other remunerations (staff paid on an hourly or daily
basis):
— a statement produced by the authorizing officer showing the
daysand hoursof attendance;
(c) in respect of overtime:
— a statement signed by the authorized official certifying the
amount of overtime worked by the member of staff;
(d) in respect of mission expenses:
— the travel order duly signed by the competent authority,
— the ‘statement of mission expenses’ showing, in particular, the
place of mission, the dates and times of departure and arrival
at the place of mission, travel expenses, subsistence expenses,
and other expenses duly authorized on production of supportingdocuments; this statement shall be signed by the official onmission and by the administrative superior to whom the appro-priate powershave been delegated;
(e) in respect of other staff expenditure:
— the supporting documents referring to the decision on which the
expenditure isbas ed and giving all the componentsof the
calculation.
Article 71
In the case of all commitments which involve payments in instalments,
a certified true copy of the contract or the decision granting financial
support shall be attached to the first payment order. Reference to thatdocument and to the preceding payment(s) shall be made on the otherpayment orders.
When the final payment order isdrawn up, the authorizing officer s hall
certify that the operation hasbeen completed s o that the appropriatemeasures may be taken as regards the accounts with, where appro-priate, the cancellation of any commitment which hasbeen enteredinto but not implemented.
Where, pursuant to Article 1 (7) of the Financial Regulation, a time
limit has been determined, the accounts shall make it possible to iden-tify and extract commitmentswhich have not been definitivelyimplemented one month prior to the date in question. The authorizing
officers shall then be required to prepare the proposal for cancelling the
commitment which hasnot been implemented or, where the require-ments of Article 1 (7) are fulfilled, to submit a proposal amending theinitial commitment accompanied by appropriate reasons.
Article 72
If a single supporting document covers several payments, all the
payment orderss hall bear a reference to the original document andthe number of the payment order to which it isattached.1993R3418 — EN — 01.01.2002 — 007.001 — 20
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Article 73
Except in the cases referred to in Articles 65 to 72 above, if an original
supporting document cannot be produced, a certified true copy may be
substituted for it by the authorizing officer, who must explain why theoriginal could not be produced and must certify that the payment hasnot been made.
TITLE XI
THEGRANTINGOFADVANCES
(Article 46 of the Financial Regulation)
Article 74
Apart from the advancesprovided for in the Staff Regulationsor a
provision laid down by regulation, the authorizing officer may grantadvancesto cover expenditure to be incurred by an official or otherservant on behalf of his institution. Such expenditure, which generallycomes under staff and administrative expenditure, may arise fromspecific business or relate to likely expenditure, the nature or amount
of which isuncertain.
Article 75
The granting of such advances and the designation of the official or
other servant shall be the subject of a decision by the authoritiesreferred to in Article 22 of the Financial Regulation, on a proposal
from the authorizing officer, after the financial controller hasgranted
approval and a favourable opinion hasbeen given by the accountingofficer. Such decisions shall specify the amount of the advance andthe period during which it isto be us ed.
Where the nature of the expenditure iss ufficiently certain, a commit-
ment proposal shall be made before any advance is paid.
Article 76
The designated official or other servant shall be responsible for the
funds placed at his disposal and shall take every precaution to ensuretheir safekeeping.
No later than 10 daysafter the purpos e for which the advance was
granted hasbeen achieved, he s hall give the accounting officer a
detailed account of the use made of it and shall pay back any unusedamount.
No later than six weeks after the above point in time the authorizing
officer shall clear the advance in order to close the suspense account
opened when it wasgranted.
TITLE XII
BANKANDPOSTOFFICEGIROACCOUNTS
(Article 53 of the Financial Regulation)
Article 77
To carry out financial transactions the institution may open bank and/or
post office giro accounts in the Member States and, where appropriate,in non-member countries.
Article 78
The institution may also hold accounts with each Member State's
central bank or approved financial institution.
Article 79
The institution shall communicate to all the financial institutions with
which it has opened accounts the names and specimen signatures of1993R3418 — EN — 01.01.2002 — 007.001 — 21
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the staff designated by it who are specifically authorized to open and
draw on such accounts, and any limits on the withdrawals authorizedfor each member of staff so designated.
Article 80
To draw on accountsthe joint s ignaturesof two duly authorized
members of the staff shall be required, one signature necessarily being
that of the accounting officer, an assistant accounting officer or an
imprest administrator.
In accordance with Article 53 of the Financial Regulation the institu-
tion shall designate officials empowered to sign cheques and postaland bank credit transfers.
Before signing any such document those officials shall check that the
payment ordersand the relevant chequesand pos tal and bank credittransfers correspond.
Article 81
Asa general rule, payment of:
— the monthly remunerations of officials and other servants, and
— expenditure relating to supplies or services exceeding
►
M6EUR 420 ◄must be made by cheque, post office giro or
bank credit transfer.
Article 81a
1. The accounting officer may make paymentsby bank credit
transfer or post office giro only if the payment beneficiary's bank
account detailshave previous ly been entered in a ledger managedcentrally by each institution.
Entry in the ledger of the beneficiary'sbank account detailsor modifi-
cation of those details shall be carried out on the basis of a document
issued on paper or in electronic form by the beneficiary's bank or, inthe case of payments to officials and other servants, by the beneficiary.
2. With a view to payment by bank credit transfer or post office
giro, authorising officers may enter into a commitment vis-a-vis a third
party on behalf of their institution only if that third party has providedthe documentation required for itsentry in the ledger.
Authorising officers shall ensure that the bank account details commu-
nicated by the beneficiary remain valid during the period corresponding
to the institution's commitment vis-a-vis the beneficiary. Where appro-
priate, the authorising officer shall update the bank account details inaccordance with the second subparagraph of paragraph 1.
TITLE XIII
IMPRESTS
(Article 54 of the Financial Regulation)
Article 82
Imprest accounts may be set up when, because of its nature or parti-
cular urgency, the payment of certain expenditure cannot be effectedby meansof a payment order s igned by the authorizing officer andapproved by the financial controller. By way of derogation from Arti-
cles40 and 51 of the Financial Regulation the impres t account
administrator shall be authorized to make provisional withdrawals andeffect the payment of expenditure subject to the subsequent applicationof Articles40, 41, 44, 45, 47 and 50 of the Financial Regulation.
Decisions to set up imprest accounts or to amend or substantially alter
the conditionsgoverning their operation s hall be taken by the1993R3418 — EN — 01.01.2002 — 007.001 — 22
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accounting officer on a duly reasoned proposal from the authorising
officer after obtaining the financial controller'sapproval.
Article 83
Decisions to appoint imprest administrators shall be taken by the
accounting officer on a duly reasoned proposal from the authorisingofficer.
Such decision shall indicate the responsibilities of the imprest adminis-
trator.
Article 84
The decisions referred to in Articles 82 and 83 shall be communicated
to the authorizing officers, the financial controller, the accounting
officer and the Court of Auditors.
Article 85
1. The decision setting up an imprest shall specify, in particular:
(a) the maximum amount which can be set aside as an imprest and its
purpose;
(b) whether a bank and/or post office giro account is to be opened in
the name of the institution concerned;
(c) the nature and maximum amount of every item of expenditure
which may be effected without prior authorization;
(d) the frequency with which supporting documents must be produced
and the procedure for producing them;
(e) the procedure to be followed if the imprest has to be replenished;
(f) the time within which imprest system transactions must be settled.
2. Paymentsmay be made only on the bas isand within the limitsof
prior commitmentss igned by the authorizing officer and approved by
the financial controller.
Article 86
In accordance with the second paragraph of Article 54 of the Financial
Regulation, only the accounting officer may replenish the imprest
accounts.
However, miscellaneous local revenue such as that arising from:
— sales of equipment,
— publications,— miscellaneous repayments,— interest, etc.,
shall be entered directly into the appropriate imprest accounts and the
situation shall be regularized in accordance with the applicable provi-sions of the Financial Regulation and this Regulation.
The amounts in question shall be deducted by the accounting officer
when he subsequently replenishes these imprest accounts.
Article 87
Every imprest administrator shall be accountable to the authorizing
officer for the settlement of sums due to third parties and to theaccounting officer for the making of payments.1993R3418 — EN — 01.01.2002 — 007.001 — 23
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Article 88
The imprest administrator shall keep an account of the funds at his
disposal and of the expenditure effected and amounts received, in
accordance with the instructions of the accounting officer.
Article 89
The imprest administrator shall take all the necessary precautions to
safeguard the funds placed at his disposal.
Article 90
Without prejudice to the auditsperformed by the financial controller,
the accounting officer must himself, or through an assistant accountingofficer, or through an official specially empowered for this purpose,carry out checks, which should normally be effected on the spot andwithout warning and, as far as possible, at frequent intervals, on thefunds allocated to the imprest administrators and on their accounts.
Article 91
The accounting officer and the financial controller shall inform each
other of the results of their checks and shall communicate them to the
authorizing officer.
TITLE XIV
CONDITIONS FORTHE PAYMENT OF INTER EST WHEN UNDUE
PAYMENTSARERECOVERED
(Article 49 of the Financial Regulation)
Article 92
The provisions of this Title shall apply to the recovery of undue
paymentsby the Community without prejudice to any provis ionslaiddown in the basic sectoral acts relating to Community policies.
Article 93
1. The recovery order referred to in Article 28 (2) of the Financial
Regulation shall indicate, in respect of every debt established, the duedate for the recovery of amountswrongly paid.
2. The accounting officer, in collaboration with the authorizing
officer concerned, may allow additional time for payment only at the
written request of the debtor, with due indication of the reasons,provided that the debtor undertakes to pay interest at the rate specifiedin Article 94 for the entire additional period allowed, starting from thedate on which the payment wasoriginally due.
3. When additional time isallowed, the accounting officer may as k
the debtor to lodge a security covering both the principal sum and the
interest in order to safeguard the Community's rights more effectively.
Article 94
1. Any debt not repaid on the due date shall be subject to interest as
follows:
— debtsdenominated in ►
M6EURO◄: the rate of interest applied
by the►M6European Central Bank to itsmain refinancing opera-
tionsin EURO ◄(1), increased by one and a half percentage
points,
— debtsdenominated in a national currency: the three-month inter-
bank offer rate for the appropriate market, increased by one and ahalf percentage points.1993R3418 — EN — 01.01.2002 — 007.001 — 24
(1) Rate published every month in the C series of the Official Journal of the
European Communities .
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2. The rate of interest applicable is that in force during the month in
which the debt isdue.
3. Interest shall be calculated from the due date laid down in the
recovery order to the date on which the debt isrepaid in full.
Article 95
The accounting officer, in agreement with the financial controller, may
waive interest where, by reason of either the amount of the debt or thelength of time by which it isoverdue, the amount involved isnegligiblein relation to the administrative cost of the operation.
Article 96
Any partial repayments shall first cover the interest determined in
accordance with Article 94 and then the principal.
TITLE XV
PROCUREMENTPROCEDURES
(Articles56 and 58 of the Financial Regulation)
Article 97
1. The Council directives on public works, supply and service
contracts shall be applicable to the award of contracts by the institu-
tionswhenever the amountsinvolved are equal to or greater than theamounts provided for in those directives.
The provisions of these directives govern in particular:
(a) contract award procedures;
(b) common advertising rules;
(c) common rules on technical specifications;
(d) common ruleson participation;
(e) qualitative selection criteria;
(f) contract award criteria.
2. This shall also apply to contracts awarded by the Commission in
accordance with the provisions of the Plurilateral Agreement onGovernment Procurement concluded within the World Trade Organisa-tion. The rules of procedure which the Commission is to follow in
applying thisagreement are thos e contained in the Council directives
coordinating the procedures for the award of public works, supply andservice contracts.
Article 97a
The terms ‘works contracts’, ‘supply contracts’ and ‘service contracts’
shall be construed in accordance with the definitions laid down in the
directivesreferred to in Article 97.
Article 97b
Where the contractsare financed from appropriationsentered in their
own section of the budget of the European Communities, the institu-tions shall be regarded as the ‘contracting authorities’ within the
meaning of the directives referred to in Article 97, save when the insti-
tutionsact for a beneficiary non-member country or a body it hasdesignated.
Article 97c
For contractsother than thos e referred to in Articles97 to 97b, Articles
97d and 97e shall apply.1993R3418 — EN — 01.01.2002 — 007.001 — 25
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Article 97d
1. Contractss hall be awarded by invitation to tender, by open or
restricted procedure, or by private treaty or by negotiated procedure.
2. Contractsby invitation to tender are contractsconcluded between
the contracting partiesfollowing a competitive tendering procedure.
An open tendering procedure isone where any bidder may s ubmit a
tender; a restricted procedure is one where only bidders selected bythe institution on the strength of their particular qualifications maysubmit tenders.
3. Contractss hall be concluded by private treaty or by negotiated
procedure where the contracting authoritiescons ult the tenderersof
their choice and negotiate the termsof the contract with one or moreof them.
Article 97e
For contractsto which the directivesdo not apply, the deadline for the
submission of tenders shall be fixed according to the nature of thecontract and shall be dependent on the length of time necessary forthe preparation of the reply to the invitation to tender.
For open or restricted procedures, it may not be less than 21 calendar
days. In cases of emergency making it impossible to comply with this
time limit, the deadline for the submission of tenders may be reducedto 10 calendar days, in the case of a restricted procedure, provided itallowsgenuine competition between tenderers .
Article 97f
The following provisions shall apply to all contracts.
Article 98
The contract noticess hall be drawn up in accordance with the models
annexed to the Council directiveson public contractsreferred to in
Article 97.
Article 98a
1. The purpose of the contract must be stated in comprehensive,
clear and precise terms.
2. In all procurement proceduresthe following s election criteria
shall apply:
(a) admissibility of the bidder for the contract in question after verifi-
cation of the cases of exclusion;
(b) criteria for assessing the bidders' financial and economic standing
and technical and professional competence.
3. In all procurement proceduresthe following award criteria s hall
apply:
(a) either to the lowest among comparable bids submitted that are in
order and satisfy the conditions laid down;
(b) or to the bid offering the best value for money having regard, in
particular, to the price proposed, running costs, technical merit
and characteristics, methodology, time required for performance or
delivery, and after-sales service. The documentation for the invita-tion to tender must specify any weighting of award criteria and themethod used to determine value for money.
4. Criteria for selection and awarding of contracts must be set out in
the contract notice, the specifications or the call for tenders.
Article 98b
1. The invitation to tender shall clearly state whether a firm, non-
revisable price must be quoted.1993R3418 — EN — 01.01.2002 — 007.001 — 26
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If this is not the case, it shall lay down the conditions and/or formulas
for revision of prices during the lifetime of the contract.
2. If pricescan be revis ed during the lifetime of the contract, the
institution shall take particular account of:
(a) the type of goods/services and the economic situation in which they
are to be supplied;
(b) the type of contract and itsduration;
(c) the institution's financial interests.
Article 99
In addition, every invitation to tender shall:
(a) specify the procedure for submitting tenders and stipulate how they
are to be presented, including, in particular, any requirement as tothe use of a standard reply form;
(b) state that the Protocol on Privileges and Immunities applies and
make reference to the general conditionsapplicable to the contractconcerned (supplies, works, services or publications) and to anydocument containing conditionss pecifically 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, to be set
out in detail in the case of on-the-spot inspections;
(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) in accordance with the provi-sions of Articles 65 to 73;
(h)►
M6prohibit any contact between the institution and tenderers
during a procurement procedure save in the following exceptionalcircumstances: ◄
before the closing date for the submission of tenders:
— at the instance of tenderers:
the institutions may provide additional information solely for
the purpose of clarifying the nature of the contract; such infor-
mation shall be communicated simultaneously to all tenderers
who have requested the specifications,
— at the instance of the institution:
if the institution's departments notice an error, a lack of preci-
sion, an omission or any other clerical defect in the text of thecontract notice, the invitation to tender or the specifications,they may inform those concerned simultaneously under exactlythe same conditions as for the invitation to tender;
— after the opening of tenders:
if some clarification is required in connection with a tender or
if obviousclerical errorsin the tender need to be corrected, theinstitution may contact the tenderer provided that the terms of
the tender are not modified asa res ult.
Article 100
In every case where contact has been made under the conditions
provided for in Article 99 (h), a ‘Note for the file’ shall be drawn up1993R3418 — EN — 01.01.2002 — 007.001 — 27
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and such contact shall be mentioned in the report to be submitted
subsequently to the CCAM.
Article 101
Specificationss hall be drawn up for each contract and attached to the
invitation to tender. The general termsand conditionsapplicable to
contracts shall also be attached.
Article 103
Tenderers may submit tenders:
— either 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 by thepostmark. Tenders submitted by post must be registered,
— or by hand-delivery to the institution direct or by any agent of the
tenderer, including ►
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in which case the invitation to tender must state the date and time
by which tenders must be submitted to the institution and specifythe department to which they must be delivered against a signedand 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: ‘Tenders must besubmitted in a sealed envelope itself enclosed within a second sealedenvelope. The inner envelope shall bear, in addition to the name ofthe department to which it is addressed, as indicated in the invitation
to tender, the words“Invitation to tender — Not to be opened by the
mail service”. If self-adhesive envelopes are used they must be sealedwith adhesive tape and the sender must sign across this tape.’
Article 104
1. All tenders that satisfy the requirements of Article 103 shall be
opened.
2. Tenderss hall be opened by an opening committee appointed for
thispurpos e.
The committee shall have at least three members, representing at least
two different departments, a department being one of the highest tier
administrative units created within the institution.
The financial controller shall be informed of the opening of tenders.
The financial controller or his representative may be present as an
observer if he considers it necessary.
3. The membersof the opening committee s hall:
(a) either initial each page of each tender, or
(b) initial the cover page and the pagescontaining the financial details
of each tender, the integrity of the initial tender being guaranteedby the placing of seals or any other equivalent technique by a
department that isindependent of the department handling the
tender, and
(c) sign a written record of the opening of the tenders received, listing
those tenders which satisfy the requirements and those which donot, and stating the grounds on which tenders rejected do notsatisfy the requirements.
4. All tenders declared to satisfy the requirements shall be evaluated
by an evaluation committee appointed for this purpose which alsocarries out a classification among the tenders.1993R3418 — EN — 01.01.2002 — 007.001 — 28
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The committee shall have at least three members, representing at least
two different departments. The committee may be composed of thesame members as the committee opening the tenders.
Tenders which do not satisfy the essential requirements set out in the
supporting documentation for invitations to tender or the specificrequirementsof the contract notice, the invitation to tender and/or the
specifications shall be eliminated. However, the evaluation committee
may ask candidates or tenderers to supply additional material or toclarify within a deadline it fixes the supporting documents submitted,where it is a question of documentation for the purpose of determiningwhether candidates or tenderers satisfy the selection criteria.
A written record of the evaluation and classification of tenders declared
to satisfy the requirements shall be drawn up and signed by all themembersof the committee. It s hall be kept for future reference.
Article 105
All the tenderers shall be informed of the decision taken with regard to
their tenders.
TITLE XVI
DETERMINATIONOFTHEVARIOUSTHRESHOLDSINRESPECTOF
CONTRACTS
Article 106
The limit below which contractsmay be made by private treaty under
point (a) of Article 59 of the Financial Regulation shall be EUR 13 800.
Article 107
1. The limit above which the powersof the Advis ory Committee on
Procurement and Contractsprovided for in Article 63 of the Financial
Regulation take effect shall be:
(a) EUR 500 000 for the Commission;
(b) EUR 100 000 for the other institutions.
In the case of contracts worth between EUR 50 000 and EUR 500 000
for the Commission or between EUR 50 000 and EUR 100 000 for theother institutions, the authorising officer shall send the ACPC an infor-
mation sheet to enable it to decide whether or not an opinion should be
given on the contract. The ACPC shall inform the authorising officer ofits decision within five working days of receiving the request. In themeantime the authorising officer may not enter into any commitmentson behalf of the institution.
2. An authorising officer may also request that the ACPC deliver an
opinion a contract which he hass ubmitted.
3. Information sheets and requests for opinions by authorising offi-
cerss hall be examined by a permanent department under the authorityof the chair of the ACPC. Thisdepartment s hall make recommenda-tions to the ACPC, in the light of volume, risks involved and unusualnature, asto which itemss hould be examined in detail by the ACPC.
Article 108
The threshold for compulsory security provided for in Article 64a of
the Financial Regulation shall be EUR 345 000.
Article 109
The limitsbelow which contractsmay be made agains t an invoice or a
bill of costs under Article 60 of the Financial Regulation shall be:
(a) EUR 1 050 for expenditure at the placesof work of the ins titution;1993R3418 — EN — 01.01.2002 — 007.001 — 29
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(b) EUR 2 700 for expenditure away from the placesof work of the
institution.
Article 110
In accordance with Article 97 of the Financial Regulation, with regard
to the award of contractsrelating to res earch and technological devel-opment appropriations, the limit below which contracts may be made
by private treaty (Article 59(a) of the Financial Regulation) shall be
EUR 103 500 for scientific and technical equipment and for workscontracts.
The limit above which the powersof the ACPC take effect s hall be
fixed in accordance with Article 107 of thisRegulation. For s cientific
and technical contractsand for workscontractsthe thres hold abovewhich the authorising officer shall submit the information sheetreferred to in the second subparagraph of Article 107(1) shall beEUR 103 500.
TITLE XVII
FUNCTIONING OF THE ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON PROCURE-
MENTANDCONTRACTS(ACPC)
(Articles63 and 97 of the Financial Regulation)
Section I
General provisions
Article 111
The CCAM shall be required to give its opinion, in an advisory capa-
city,►M6in accordance with the provisions of Articles 63, 64 and 97
of the Financial Regulation ◄, on:
(a) all proposed contracts for works, supplies or services, including
studies, involving amounts exceeding those given in Articles 107
and 110 of this Regulation and on proposed purchases of immo-
vable property, irrespective of the amount involved;
(b) any proposed agreement supplementary to any contract as referred
to in (a) whenever there are significant changes, particularly whenthe effect of such supplementary agreement would be to alter theamount 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 to an amount above the limitsreferred to in (a);
(d) the standard forms and texts for invitations to tender and any
proposed texts involving an appreciable departure from such stan-
dard texts;
(e) proposed invitations to tender which are particularly important or
are of a special nature;
(f) 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 specificationsand general conditions of contract), should the matter be suffi-ciently serious to justify a request for an opinion;
(g) at the request of the competent authorizing officer or of a member
of the CCAM, proposed contracts involving an amount below thelimits referred to in (a), where he considers that such contractsinvolve questions of principle or are of a special nature.1993R3418 — EN — 01.01.2002 — 007.001 — 30
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Article 112
The CCAM shall make:
(a) recommendationswith regard to the general s upply policy both
within and outside the Community and shall carry out, or havecarried out, such investigations and studies as may be necessary;
(b) recommendationswith regard to general conditionsfor procure-
ment and contracts.
Article 113
The files submitted to the CCAM for an opinion shall be accompanied
by a report drawn up and presented by the competent official or by an
alternate designated by the authorizing officer.
Thisreport s hall include:
(a) a technical and financial assessment of each tender, including a
comparative table of unit prices;
(b) the groundsfor the choice of tenderer recommended.
Article 114
Every case shall be the subject of an opinion, which shall be signed by
the chairman of the CCAM. Such opinionss hall be communicated to
the departmentsconcerned.
Article 115
Each CCAM shall draw up its own rules of procedure, which shall be
communicated to the institution concerned, to the CCAM of the other
institutions and to the Court of Auditors.
Each CCAM shall ensure proper application of the Council directives
referred to in ►
M6Article 97 ◄.
Section III
Advisory committee on procurement and contracts common to the
institutions(CCAMI) (1)
Article 117
The heads of administration of the institutions of the Community may
take the necessary measures to set up a CCAMI with the objective of
stepping up cooperation between the institutions, in accordance with
the requirementsof s ound financial management for the joint awardof certain supply contracts and other contracts in connection with themanagement of appropriationsfor financing interins titutional opera-tions.
Article 118
The CCAMI shall exercise the following powers in particular:
(a) it shall be consulted when all or several institutions decide to award
joint contractsin the areass pecified in Article 117 in view of thefinancial advantageswhich thisprocedure might bring.
It shall give its opinion on the correctness of the procedure
followed, the choice of tenderer and, in general, the conditionsfor
the award of the contract with due regard for the interests of all theinstitutions.1993R3418 — EN — 01.01.2002 — 007.001 — 31
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In this case, CCAM of the individual institutions shall no longer
need to be consulted on the matter but shall be informed of theopinion delivered;
(b) it may be called upon, in particular at the request of one or more
headsof adminis tration or one or more CCAM of the individualinstitutions, to examine and make recommendations on any matter
likely to be of interest or to have repercussions from an interinstitu-
tional angle in respect of the award of contracts in the areasspecified in Article 117.
It shall examine the question raised and make whatever suggestions
it considers appropriate.
Article 119
The CCAMI shall consist of two representatives from each institution,
appointed, asfar aspos s ible, from the membersof the CCAMI of eachinstitution, and shall at all events, by agreement between the institu-
tions, comprise the following representatives in addition to the
representatives of the respective administrative departments:
— one representative of the departments responsible for legal ques-
tions,
— one representative of the departments responsible for finances,— one representative of the financial controller as an observer.
A revolving system may be agreed by the institutions for the represen-
tatives of these three departments.
The CCAMI shall be chaired by each of the institutions in turn for a
period of two years.
The Commission shall provide secretariat services.
Article 120
As regards procedures, Articles 113 and 114 shall apply.
Article 121
The CCAMI shall draw up its own rules of procedure, which shall be
communicated to each institution.
TITLE XVIII
GUARANTEES AND PRELIMINARY DEPOSIT BY WAY OF GUAR-
ANTEEOFPERFORMANCEOFCONTRACTS
(Article 64A of the Financial Regulation)
Article 122
When, by way of guarantee of performance of contracts, the supplier,
contractor or provider of services is required to provide a preliminary
deposit, such deposit must cover not only the entire period of the guar-
antee but also a period long enough to allow the guarantee to beinvoked. The deposit must, in principle, consist of a payment made tothe institution in the same currency as that prescribed for the paymentto be made for the supplies or works.
Article 123
This deposit may be replaced by a joint and several personal guarantee
given by a third party approved by the institution's accounting officer.The guarantee shall be denominated in the currency prescribed forpayment in the contract and must comply with the same rules as theguarantee referred to in Article 122.1993R3418 — EN — 01.01.2002 — 007.001 — 32
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Article 124
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 accountingofficer, 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 125
Deposits shall be repaid, or the guarantees referred to in Article 123
given in place thereof released, in accordance with the provisionsrelating to the conclusion of contracts, except in cases of non-perfor-mance or late performance asreferred to in the fourth paragraph►
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TITLE XX
VALUE ABOVE WHICH MOVABLE PROPERTY MUST BE ENTERED
INTHEINVENTORY
(Article 65 of the Financial Regulation)
Article 130
Entriesmus t be made in the inventory for all movable property:
— with a purchase price of at least ►M6EUR 420 ◄,
— with a normal useful life of more than one year (two years in the
case of movable property of a scientific or technical nature)(1) and
— which isnot cons umable.
For each item acquired, the entriesin the inventory, of which the
receipts form an integral part, shall provide an appropriate descriptionof the item acquired and specify its location, the date of acquisition andthe unit cost.
Detailed receipts shall be regarded as an appropriate description.
Article 131
Inventory checks by the institutions should verify the physical exis-
tence of each item and itsconformity with the inventory entry. Thecheckss hould form part of a three-year audit programme.
TITLE XXA
RULES FOR WRITING DOWN THE VALUE OF ASSETS AND
CONSTITUTINGPROVISIONS
(Article 70a of the Financial Regulation)
Article 131a
The Commission's accounting officer shall lay down the accounting
rulesapplicable to depreciation and inventoriesafter cons ulting theaccounting officers of the other institutions, in accordance with theprocedure laid down in Article 21 of thisRegulation.1993R3418 — EN — 01.01.2002 — 007.001 — 33
(1) Defined for the joint research centre in the ‘Recueil des instructions relatives
aux inventaires’ (Doc. 13.131/XV/68-F) and the ‘Nomenclature des matér-
iels— canevasgénéral’ (Doc. 2168/IX/1972-F and updatings ).▼M6
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Article 131b
1. The value of fixed assets, other than financial fixed assets, at the
closure of accounts (balance sheet value) shall be determined in accor-dance with a depreciation plan.
2. The depreciation plan shall apply the straight-line method of
depreciation for each full year since the year when the asset came
into service.
3. When the current value of non-depreciable fixed assets is lower
than their book value, an exceptional depreciation shall be applied ifthe loss in value is judged to be irreversible.
Article 131c
1. A reduction in the value of an asset or an increase in liabilities
due in the more or less long term must lead to the establishment ofprovisions.
2. The establishment of these provisions must result from causes
whose effects are not necessarily irreversible.
TITLE XXI
ADVERTISEMENTOFSALESOFMOVABLEPROPERTY
(Article 66 of the Financial Regulation)
Article 132
1. The sale of movable property shall be:
(a) suitably advertised locally if the unit purchase price was at least
►M6EUR 8 100 ◄; at least 14 days must elapse between the
date of publication of the last advertisement and the conclusion of
the contract of sale;
(b) advertised by a notice of sale published in the Official Journal of
the European Communities if the unit purchase price was at least
►M6EUR 391 100 ◄. Such sales may also be suitably adver-
tised in the press of the Member States. At least one month mustelapse between the date of publication of the notice in the Official
Journal of the European Communities and the conclusion of the
contract of sale.
2. Advertisements in the press shall not be necessary if, in view of
the cost involved, no particular benefit would be gained.
3. The institutions shall always seek to obtain the best prices for the
sale of movable property.
TITLE XXII
THE DRAWING-UP AND OPERATION OF THE CHART OF
ACCOUNTS
(Article 70 of the Financial Regulation)
Article 133
The accounts shall distinguish between general accounts and budget
accounts, and these two accounts shall be coordinated with oneanother. The chart of accounts shall be drawn up so as to permit thekeeping of these two sets of accounts.1993R3418 — EN — 01.01.2002 — 007.001 — 34
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Article 134
Budgetaccounts
1. The budget accounts shall show, for every subdivision of the
budget:
(a) in the case of expenditure:
— the appropriationsauthorized in the initial budget, the appro-
priations entered in supplementary and/or amending budgets,the appropriationsavailable asa res ult of contributionsby thirdparties, transfers of appropriations and the total appropriationsthusavailable. Commitment appropriationsand payment appro-
priations shall be entered separately,
— the commitmentsand paymentsin res pect of the financial year
in question;
(b) in the case of revenue:
— the estimates entered in the initial budget, the estimates entered
in supplementary and/or amending budgets, revenue fromcontributionsby third partiesand the total amount of es timatesthusdetermined,
— the entitlements established and the amounts received in respect
of the financial year in question;
(c) a record of commitments still to be paid out and of revenue still to
be recovered from previousfinancial years .
The global provisional commitments relating to the EAGGF Guarantee
Section and the corresponding payments in the form of advances shallalso be recorded in the budget accounts.
These commitments shall be presented in respect of total EAGGF
Guarantee appropriations.
2. Separate accounts shall be opened so that
— the use of appropriations carried over,
— the use of appropriations made available again,
— the payments made against outstanding commitments,
can be recorded separately.On the revenue side, separate accounts shall be opened so that amounts
still to be recovered from previous financial years can be recordedseparately.
3. The accountsmay be itemized in order to provide a bas isfor
analytical results.
4. The accounts shall be kept in books, or on file cards, or by means
of any computerized system.
Article 135
General accounts
1. The general accounts shall make it possible to ascertain the insti-
tution's assets and liabilities.
2. The list of accounts to be used for the general accounts shall be
drawn up on the basis of a decimal classification system.
3. The list of accounts shall consist of the following classes:
— class 1: fixed capital account,
— class 2: fixed asset accounts,
— class 3: stock accounts,
— class 4: accounts with third parties,
— class 5: financial accounts,
— class 6: expenditure accounts,
— class 7: income accounts,
— class 8: special accounts.1993R3418 — EN — 01.01.2002 — 007.001 — 35
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4. Each class shall be divided into groups and subgroups, depending
on the requirementsof the ins titution, to allow operationsto be enteredin accordance with the accounting principlesreferred to in Article
136(10).
5. Class 4 ‘Accounts with third parties’ shall record all operations
with third parties and adjustment accounts.
In particular, it shall contain suspense accounts for the entry of revenue
deriving from the repayment of advancesprovided for in point 7 ofArticle 7 of the Financial Regulation and accountsrecording the re-
utilization operationsprovided for in Article 27 (2) of the Financial
Regulation.
6. Class 5 ‘Financial accounts’ shall indicate the transactions in
securities, cash office, bank and post office giro transactions, and trans-actions carried out by the assistant accounting officers and the imprestadministrators. A separate account shall be opened for each bankaccount, post office giro account, cash office and imprest.
7. Class 6 ‘Expenditure accounts’ shall record the gross amounts of
itemsof expenditure entered in the budget accounts .
Separate accountss hall be opened for expenditure relating to:
— appropriationsfor the current financial year,
— appropriationscarried over purs uant to point 1 (b) of Article 7 of
the Financial Regulation,
— appropriationscarried over purs uant to point 1 (a) of Article 7 of
the Financial Regulation,
— appropriationscarried over purs uant to point 2 of Article 7 of the
Financial Regulation,
— appropriationsrelating to contributionsby third partiespurs uant to
Article 4 (2) of the Financial Regulation.
8. Class 7 ‘Income accounts’ shall indicate the amounts of revenue
entered in the budget accounts.
Separate accountss hall be opened for the recovery of:
— entitlements established in the course of the current financial year,
— established entitlements still outstanding from previous financial
years.
9. Class 8 ‘Special accounts’ shall record the operations to close the
accountsat the end of the year.
10. Without prejudice to Article 21, the accounting officer of each
institution shall draw up a detailed chart of accounts in line with the
list of accounts referred to in paragraph 3. He shall create groups,subgroups and individual accounts depending on his particular manage-ment requirements, indicating in every case the purpose of theseaccountsand the conditionsof operation.
Article 136
Operationofthegeneral accounts
1. The general accounts shall be kept for each calendar year using
the double entry method.
2. The accountss hall be kept by meansof a computer program.3. The accountss hall enable the general balance of the accountsto
be established, i. e. the statement of all the institution's assets andliabilities accounts, including the balanced accounts with, in each case:
— account number,
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— balance.
4. The accounts shall be kept in such a way as to enable a detailed
analysis of the transactions and balances to be made. The financialstatements shall be drawn up so as to reflect properly, by means ofappropriate headings, the assets and liabilities of the institution. The
revenue to be recovered shall appear in the liabilities section under
accruals and deferred income and the corresponding claims shallappear in the assets section under the heading ‘receivable account’ orother appropriate headings. Expenditure for the financial year not yetcharged to the revenue and expenditure account shall appear in theassets section under the heading ‘expenditure to be charged’. The
revenue and expenditure account shall include all the information
necessary for the purposes of the balance sheet.
The balance shown by each account shall be periodically compared
with the supporting documents and other external evidence, and, inparticular:
—►
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— cash at bank and post office giro account — by monthly reconcilia-
tion of the statements of account from the financial institutions,
— cash in cash offices — by reconciliation with the cash book,
— imprest accounts and other advances under Article 74 — by veri-
fying compliance with the conditionsrelating to impres t accountsand the granting of advancesand with the rulesfor accounting,
— the expenditure accountsand income accountsof clas s es6 and 7 —
to be reconciled monthly with the corresponding totals in thebudget accounts.
5. The interinstitutional liaison accounts shall be cross-checked
monthly and cleared periodically.
6. The suspense accounts shall be reviewed periodically as follows:
— amountsouts tanding — by the accounting officer informing the
authorizing officer of revenue not covered and of the steps taken,
— paymentsouts tanding — by the accounting officer communicating
to the authorizing officer the groundsfor non-implementation and
the amountsinvolved,
— funds to be transferred — by reference to payroll summaries or
other similar statements,
— other suspense accounts — by means of analysis of balances on the
account and by notification to the authorizing officer of any itemnot cleared within the periodsto be defined annually.
The suspense accounts shall be cleared without delay and in any case
within the periodslaid down in Article 71 of the Financial Regulation.
8. The financial (bank and post office giro) accounts shall be kept in
national currenciesand in euro.
Amounts expressed in national currencies shall be converted into euro
at ratesto be determined in accordance with Article 1a. The balances
in euro of accountsheld in national currenciess hall be revalued each
month.
9. The accounts of the Joint Research Centre shall be consolidated
in the Commission's general accounts.
10. The financial statements must comply with the rules and be
accurate and comprehensive and present a true and fair view of assets,
the financial situation and the outturn of the financial year. They shallbe drawn up on the basis of generally accepted accounting principles.The practical arrangements for applying these principles, which will beupdated periodically, shall be laid down in accordance with the provi-sions of Article 21.1993R3418 — EN — 01.01.2002 — 007.001 — 37
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11. The accounting officer shall enter provisions for liabilities and
charges to cover past or ongoing events of a specified nature whoseoutcome isuncertain.
12. The provisions for liabilities and charges provided for in para-
graph 11, for reductions in the value of assets provided for in Article131c and for depreciationsprovided for in Article 131b s hall be enteredin the non-budget expenditure and income account and shown sepa-
rately in the annex to the balance sheet.
TITLE XXIII
PROVISIONSAPPLICABLETORTDAPPROPRIATIONS
(Article 94 and 96 of the Financial Regulation)
Article 137
For activities coming under the Joint Research Centre, a table shall be
drawn up to accompany the budget showing the equivalence betweenthe purpose of expenditure — research objectives and other activities— and the nature of the meansof implementation employed:
— staff covered by the Staff Regulations and staff not covered by the
Staff Regulations,
— administrative and technical infrastructure,
— scientific and technical support,— direct operating costs.
For the management of each of the activitiesfalling within itsjuris dic-
tion, including activities regarding services for third parties and supportfor Commission departments, the Joint Research Centre shall keepappropriate accountswhich enable actual cos tsto be monitored on thebasis of the information contained in the table of equivalence.
Article 138
For activitiescoming under indirect action, a table s hall be drawn up to
accompany the budget showing the equivalence between the purpose— research objectives and other activities — and nature of expendi-
ture, in accorance with the following breakdown:
— operations,
— staff not covered by the Staff Regulations(
1),
— administration,— infrastructure,— information and publications,— staff covered by the Staff Regulations (
1).
Appropriate measures shall be taken for the keeping of accounts to
ensure that budgetary implementation can be monitored for eachresearch objective by reference to the various components containedin the table of equivalence.1993R3418 — EN — 01.01.2002 — 007.001 — 38
(1) ‘Staff covered by the Staff Regulations’ are officials in posts contained in
the establishment plan and staff covered by the Conditions of employment.
‘Staff not covered by the Staff Regulations’ are all other staff (agency staff,
seconded national officials, service contracts, work contracts, etc.) — see
the Commission's rules of 22 May 1990 on mini-budgets.▼B
▼M6
TITLE XXIV
PROVISIONS APPLICABLE TO THE MANAGEMENT OF APPRO-
PRIATIONS FOR ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENDITURE OUTSIDE THE
COMMUNITY
(►M6Articles121 and 123 ◄of the Financial Regulation)
Section I
Imprests
Article 140
For the payment of certain categoriesof expenditure, an impres t
account shall be set up for each local unit outside the Community inaccordance with Article 54 of the Financial Regulation.
The decision establishing such imprest account shall lay down the
terms for its operation on the basis of the specific needs of each localunit.
Section II
CommitmentsandPayments
Article 141
Proposals for global provisional commitments shall be drawn up for all
local units.
Such proposals, accompanied by an estimate of expenditure for each
local unit, shall be sent to the financial controller for approval andthen recorded in the accounts: these global commitments may be
reviewed in line with changing requirements.
Article 142
1. In delegationswith only a limited number of officialsor s taff
who may be empowered to sign cheques or post office or bank trans-
fers, the authorities referred to in Article 22 of the Financial Regulationmay, on a proposal from the authorizing officer and after receiving afavourable opinion from the accounting officer and financial controller,allow a single signature.
2. The Commission shall lay down the conditions under which the
staff it designates and empowers to administer accounts under the dele-gation procedure are authorized to communicate the namesandspecimen signatures to local banks.
Section III
Specificconditionsforreferring contractstotheCCAM
Article 143
1. In accordance with ►
M6Article 63 ◄of the Financial Regula-
tion and Article 111 of thisRegulation, contractsinvolving the renting
of a building outside the Community may, by way of exception, beconcluded directly by the authorizing officer provided that the CCAMhas been suitably informed in advance about the state of the market inthe country or citiesconcerned and hasaccepted the bas ic criteria to beadopted concerning:
— the type of building to be rented, depending on proposed use
(accommodation, offices, etc.),
— surface area and price parameters, with indication of range where
appropriate,
— detailsof contracts .1993R3418 — EN — 01.01.2002 — 007.001 — 39
▼B
▼B
2. Where the authorizing officer isfaced with a s ituation which
divergesfrom the criteria agreed upon purs uant to paragraph 1 andaccepted in advance by the CCAM, the specific case or cases shall
again be referred to the CCAM.
3. The authorizing officer shall report periodically to the CCAM on
the application of paragraph 1.
Section IV
Inventories
Article 144
1. In the case of the delegations, the permanent inventories of
movable property belonging to the Communitiess hall be kept locally.They shall be sent regularly to the central departments in accordancewith the rules adopted by the Commission.
Movable property in transit to the delegations shall be entered on a
provisional list before being recorded in the permanent inventories.
2. The advertising arrangements for sales of delegations' movable
property shall be adapted to the local situation and local legal condi-tions.
TITLE XXV
TRANSITIONALANDFINALPROVISIONS
Article 144a
For a transitional period, the limit referred to in Article 107 above
which the powersof the ACPC take effect s hall be reduced, for theCommission, to EUR 300 000 from the entry into force of thisamending regulation until such time as the Commission approves anevaluation report relating to the first six months of its application and
showing that the threshold of EUR 500 000 is appropriate in view of
the quality requirementsfor the control of Community management.
Article 145
The fixed amounts specified in this Regulation shall be updated in
proportion to changesin the Community cons umer price index asfollows:
— save in the event of an exceptional change in this index, every three
yearsin the cas e of the amountsreferred to in Articles31 (amountof the imprest), 81, 130 and 132 and in Articles 106 to 110; theseamountss hall be rounded asappropriate,
— every year in the case of the amounts referred to in Article 31
(amount of the allowance); these amounts shall be rounded up ordown to the nearest ►
M6EURO◄.
The Commission shall establish these new amounts in accordance with
the above timetable and criteria and shall communicate them to the
other institutions.
Article 146
The provisions of this Regulation shall not affect the application of the
special provisions of the Financial Regulation relating to research andtechnological development appropriations(Title VII of the FinancialRegulation), the Guarantee Section of the European AgriculturalGuidance and Guarantee Fund (Title VIII of the Financial Regulation),
external aid (Title IX of the Financial Regulation), the management of
appropriations relating to staff serving outside the Community and totheir administration (Title X of the Financial Regulation) and theOffice for Official Publicationsof the European Communities(TitleXI of the Financial Regulation).1993R3418 — EN — 01.01.2002 — 007.001 — 40
▼M6
▼B
▼B
Article 147
Within six months of the date of entry into force of this Regulation, the
institutions shall inform the Court of Auditors of the provisions that
they have adopted in order to apply it.
Article 148
Regulation 86/610/EEC, Euratom, ECSC ishereby repealed.
Article 149
ThisRegulation s hall enter into force on 1 January 1994.
ThisRegulation s hall be binding in itsentirety and directly applicable
in all Member States.1993R3418 — EN — 01.01.2002 — 007.001 — 41