EN Official Journal of the European Union C 332/97

REPORT

on the annual accounts of the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia for the financial year 2004 together with the Monitoring Centre's replies

(2005/C 332/14)

CONTENTS

1-2 INTRODUCTION

3-6 THE COURT'S OPINION

7-10 OBSERVATIONS

Tables 1 to 4

The Monitoring Centre's replies

INTRODUCTION

1. The European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (‘the Centre’) was established by Council Regulation (EC) No 1035/97 of 2 June 1997 (1). The Centre's primary tasks are to provide the Union and the Member States with reliable information on racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism in the Union and to cooperate with the Council of Europe in these areas. Table 1 summarises the Centre's competencies and activities on the basis of information it has supplied.

2. For information purposes the annual accounts drawn up by the Centre for the financial year 2004 are summarised in Tables 2, 3 and 4.

THE COURT'S OPINION

3. The Court's opinion is addressed to the European Parliament and the Council in accordance with Article 185(2) of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 (2); it was drawn up following an examination of the Centre's accounts, as required by Article 248 of the Treaty establishing the European Community.

4. The Centre's accounts for the financial year ended 31 December 2004 (3) were drawn up by its Director, pursuant to Article 12 of Regulation (EC) No 1035/97, and sent to the Court, which is required to give its opinion on their reliability and on the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions.

5. The Court conducted an audit in accordance with its policies and standards, which are based on international auditing standards that have been adapted to the Community context. The audit was planned and performed to obtain reasonable assurance that the accounts are reliable and the underlying transactions are legal and regular.

6. The Court has obtained a reasonable basis for the opinion expressed below.

Reliability of the accountsThe Centre's accounts for the financial year ended 31 December 2004 are, in all material respects, reliable.Legality and regularity of the underlying transactionsExcept for the situations described in points 9 and10, the transactions underlying the Centre's annual accounts, taken as a whole, are legal and regular.]

OBSERVATIONS

7. The cancellations of the appropriations carried over from the previous financial year remained at the same level (20 %) as last year. There is a need for the Centre to improve the way carry-overs are established (4).

8. Internal control standards have been developed. These standards have not yet been formally adopted by the Centre's Management Board as required by its Financial Regulation (5). A risk analysis should be carried out in order to assess their relevance. The ex-ante verification checklists should be improved and filled in all cases.

9. The Centre annually carries out a tendering procedure for selecting 25 national focal points under RAXEN (6). Contrary to the Centre's rules for the implementation of its financial regulation (7), the relative weighting to be applied in order to determine the most economically advantageous offers were included neither in the procurement notice nor the tender documents. One out of the 25 contracts (8) was not awarded to the offer identified as being the most economically advantageous.

10. In the case of one contract for the provision of administrative services (9) the documents relating to the tendering procedure used could not be traced. In another similar case, the services were directly awarded although, there was no reason justifying such procedure (10). In a last case (11), the contract was not awarded to the lowest bidder.

This report was adopted by the Court of Auditors in Luxembourg at its meeting of 5 October 2005. For the Court of Auditors Hubert WEBER President

(1) OJ L 151, 10.6.1997, p. 6.

(2) OJ L 248, 16.9.2002, p. 1.

(3) These accounts were drawn up on 27 June 2005 and received by the Court on 19 September 2005.

(4) Notwithstanding the above the level of carry-over of appropriations under Title III, ‘Operating activities’ significantly decreased (from 36 % in 2003 to 19 % in 2004). This is the result of a more detailed assessment at year end to identify which obligations will give rise to payments in the following financial year.

(5) See Article 38(4) of the Centre's financial regulation.

(6) See Table 1.

(7) Article 116(3) of the Centre's Regulation laying down detailed rules for the implementation of its Financial Regulation.

(8) Amounting to 70 000 euro in total.

(9) Maintenance of photocopiers amounting to approximately 25 000 euro.

(10) Security of the building amounting to approximately 92 000 euro.

(11) Printing of Annual Report amounting to approximately 35 000 euro.

Table 1 European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (Vienna) Areas of Community competence deriving from the Treaty Competence of the Centre as specified in the Council Regulation (Council Regulation (EC) No 1035/97 of 2 June 1997) Governance Resources made available to the Centre in 2004 (2003 data) Products and services supplied in 2004 Free circulation of goods and persons. Freedom of establishment. Objectives — To provide the Community and its Member States with objective, reliable and comparable data at European level on the phenomena of racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism. — Close cooperation with the Council of Europe in order to avoid duplication and obtain added value. Tasks — To study the extent and development of the phenomena of racism and xenophobia. — To collect and analyse information, via the European Racism and Xenophobia Information Network (RAXEN), and in particular: — To carry out scientific surveys. — To encourage widespread dissemination of such information. — To formulate opinions for the Community and its Member States. — To develop indicators and criteria to improve the comparability of data. — To publish an annual report on the situation regarding racism and xenophobia. 1. Management Board Composition One independent person appointed by each Member State, one independent person appointed by the European Parliament, one independent person appointed by the Council of Europe and a representative of the Commission. Duties To adopt the work programme and the general annual report. To adopt the final budget and the establishment plan. To give an opinion on the final accounts. 2. Executive Board Composition — Chairman of the Management Board — One representative of the Council of Europe — One representative of the Commission — Two other members of the Management Board. 3. Director Appointed by the Management Board on a proposal from the Commission. 4. External audit European Court of Auditors. 5. Internal control The Commission's Internal Audit Service. 6. Discharge authority Parliament on a recommendation from the Council. Final budget: 7,9 million euro (6,6 million euro) including Community contribution: 99 % (99 %). Staff numbers at 31 December 2004: 34 (30) posts in establishment plan, posts occupied: 30 (26) + 4 (4) other staff (auxiliary contract, seconded national experts, local and employment-agency staff). Total staff: 34 (30) Assigned to the following duties: operational: 21 (17) administrative: 8 (8) mixed: 5 (5). ORAXEN: number of contributions through the 25 national focal points: 389 number of meetings: 41 meetings for the external evaluators of ORAXEN, 2 meetings to draw up guidelines for the special study on Roma. Research reports: number of reports: 9 number of meetings: — Annual Report: 2 EUMC News: 2 Cooperation with the Member States and the other institutions (number of events organised jointly): — Member States: 7 — Commission: 5 — European Parliament: 3 — COR: 3 — Council of Europe: 2 — OSCE: 7 — UN: 4 — Inter-agency: 3 — NRT:4 — ERT:1 Source: Information sent by the Centre.

Table 2 European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia — Implementation of the budget for the financial year 2004 (1000 euro) Revenue Expenditure Source of revenue Revenue entered in the final budget for the financial year Revenue received Allocation of expenditure Final budget appropriations Appropriations carried over from the previous financial year Available appropriations (2004 budget and financial year 2003) entered committed paid carried over cancelled commitments outstanding paid cancelled appropriations committed paid carried over cancelled Community subsidies 7 800 5 675 Title I Staff 3 316 2 730 2 645 85 586 64 47 17 3 380 2 794 2 692 85 604 Other revenue 100 558 Title II Administration 746 484 447 37 262 51 34 17 797 535 481 37 279 Title III Operating activities 3 838 3 097 2 352 745 741 1 162 955 207 5 000 4 259 3 307 745 947 Total 7 900 6 233 Total 7 900 6 311 5 444 867 1 589 1 277 1 036 241 9 177 7 588 6 480 867 1 830 NB: Totals may include differences due to rounding. Source: Data supplied by the Centre — This table summarises the data supplied by the Centre in its annual accounts.

Table 3 European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia — Revenue and expenditure account for the financial years 2004 and 2003 (1000 euro) 2004 2003 Revenue Community subsidies 5 675 7 318 Other revenue 455 374 Financial revenue 21 21 Phare subsidy 82 676 Total revenue (a) 6 233 8 389 Expenditure Staff — Title I of the budget Payments 2 645 2 618 Appropriations carried over 85 64 Administration — Title II of the budget Payments 447 412 Appropriations carried over 37 51 Operating activities — Title III of the budget Payments 2 352 1 678 Appropriations carried over 745 1 162 Assigned revenue (Phare and other) Payments 7 376 Appropriations carried over 0 694 Total expenditure (b) 6 318 7 055 Outturn for the financial year (a – b) –85 1 334 Balance carried over from the previous financial year 98 –1 579 Appropriations carried over, cancelled 241 301 Appropriations for re-use from the previous financial year, not used 0 37 Amounts due written off –23 0 Exchange-rate differences 0 5 Balance for the financial year 231 98 NB: Totals may include differences due to rounding. Source: Data supplied by the Centre — This table summarises the data supplied by the Centre in its annual accounts.

Table 4 European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia — Balance sheet at 31 December 2004 and 31 December 2003 (1000 euro) Assets 2004 2003 Liabilities 2004 2003 Fixed assets Own capital Computer software 82 72 Own capital 123 108 Computer equipment 206 148 Balance for the financial year 231 98 Furniture and other equipment 252 250 Subtotal 354 206 Depreciation – 417 – 362 Current liabilities Subtotal 123 108 Automatic carry-overs of appropriations 866 1 277 Current assets Automatic carry-overs of assigned revenue and Phare 41 694 Community subsidies 0 23 Taxes and other related expenditure 113 454 Recoverable VAT 159 456 EC Commission 214 0 Phare subsidy 0 169 Sundry accounts payable 111 275 Sundry accounts receivable 138 77 Subtotal 1 345 2 700 Subtotal 297 725 Cash accounts Bank accounts 1 279 2 073 Subtotal 1 279 2 073 Total 1 699 2 906 Total 1 699 2 906 NB: Totals may include differences due to rounding. Source: Data supplied by the Centre — This table summarises the date supplied by the Centre in its annual accounts.