COMMISSION DECISION - NON-AUTOMATIC CARRYOVER OF NON-DIFFERENTIATED APPROPRIATIONS FROM 2003 TO 2004

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to Article 9, points 1 and 2 and Article 149 point 3 of the Financial Regulation of 25 June 2002 applicable to the general budget of the European Communities [1], Council Regulation No 1605/2002, [2] [3]

[1] OJ L 248, 16.09.2002, p.1

[2] Regulation of 25.06.2002

[3] These provisions are set out on the following pages.

HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:

Sole Article

1. The following appropriations from Section III (Commission) of the 2003 budget are hereby carried over to 2004 for the reasons set out in the annex.

EUR 42 097 000.00 for non-differentiated appropriations

2. The Council and Parliament shall be informed of this decision.

Brussels , 10 February 2004

For the Commission

Michaele Schreyer

Member of the Commission

ANNEX

Extract from the Financial Regulation

Article 9

1. Appropriations which have not been used at the end of the financial year for which they were entered shall be cancelled.

However, they may be carried over to the following financial year only, by a decision taken by the institution concerned by 15 February at the latest, in accordance with paragraphs 2 and 3 or be carried over automatically in accordance with paragraph 4.

2. Appropriations for commitment of differentiated appropriations and non-differentiated appropriations not yet committed at the close of the financial year may be carried over in respect of:

(a) amounts corresponding to commitment appropriations for which most of the preparatory stages of the commitment procedure have been completed by 31 December. These amounts may then be committed up to 31 March of the following year;

(b) amounts which are necessary when the legislative authority has adopted a basic act in the final quarter of the financial year and the Commission has been unable to commit the appropriations provided for this purpose by 31 December.

Article 149

3. Uncommitted EAGGF Guarantee Section appropriations relating to rural development may be carried over to the next financial year only, up to a maximum of 3% of appropriations under the title concerned. Such carryover shall be possible only if the appropriations provided for under the relevant headings of the budget for the following financial year will not make it possible to make good the shortfall in implementation of the rural development programmes in relation to the level decided the previous year. The carryover decision shall be taken, at the latest on 15 February of the year to which the carryover is being made, by the Commission, which shall inform the budgetary authority.

CARRYOVER OF NON-DIFFERENTIATED APPROPRIATIONS

>TABLE POSITION>

CARRYOVER OF NON-DIFFERENTIATED APPROPRIATIONS

Grounds

1. B1-406 Improving the processing and marketing of agricultural products

Appropriation authorised 2003: 187.475.000,00 EUR

Commitments at 31.12.2003: 178.768.957,90 EUR

Amount not used at 31.12.2003: 8.706.042,10 EUR

Carryover: 8.700.000,00 EUR

The 2004 budget allocation for Article 05 04 01 (former B1-40) "Rural development" is EUR4 803 000 000 i.e. the ceiling for sub-heading 1b. It is EUR233.2 million less than the 2004 expenditure forecasts sent by the Member States on 30 September 2003. Thus it cannot cover full implementation of the programmes as provided by Article 149(3) of the new Financial Regulation.

After examination of the lines where there was underutilisation, it has been decided to carry over appropriations totalling EUR41 200 000 for lines in respect of which a deficit is forecast for 2004. These are items 05 04 01 09 (B1-4060) Marketing/processing and 05 04 01 11(B1-4070) Forestry (new system) (see following budget item).

2. B1-4070 Forestry (new system, Article 31)

Appropriation authorised 2003: 143.200.000,00 EUR

Commitments at 31.12.2003: 110.698.255,00 EUR

Amount not used at 31.12.2003: 32.501.745,00 EUR

Carryover: 32.500.000,00 EUR

The 2004 budget allocation for Article 05 04 01 (former B1-40) "Rural development" is EUR4 803 000 000 i.e. the ceiling for sub-heading 1b. It is EUR233.2 million less than the 2004 expenditure forecasts sent by the Member States on 30 September 2003. Thus it cannot cover full implementation of the programmes as provided by Article 149(3) of the new Financial Regulation.

After examination of the lines where there was underutilisation, it has been decided to carry over appropriations totalling EUR41.200.000 for lines in respect of which a deficit is forecast for 2004.

3. A-421 Operation of radio and television studios and audiovisual equipment

Appropriation authorised 2003: 5.300.000,00 EUR

Commitments at 31.12.2003: 4.902.949,60 EUR

Amount not used at 31.12.2003: 397.050,40 EUR

Carryover: 397.000,00 EUR

The public procurement contract organised by DG PRESS, Unit B3 (TV, radio services and studios) was published in the Official Journal for the first time on 8.7.2003 (reference: 2003/S 128-114408).

On receipt of the tenders, the authorising department found calculation errors in the price tables submitted by three out of five tenderers. It was therefore recommended that the procedure be cancelled (notice of non-award published on 4.10.2003, reference 2003/S 191-171553) and started again to ensure genuine competition. The notice launching the new procedure was published on 10.10.2003 (2003/S 195-175108), operators being given a week to learn about the closing of the procedure.

The new procedure went ahead without mishap and was successfully concluded (favourable opinion of the Internal Committee on Procurement No 03/046 of 15 December 2003). However, under Articles 105 of the Financial Regulation and 158 of the Implementing Rules, the contract with the successful tenderer for the supply of audiovisual equipment could only be signed after 15 days.

The authorising officer found himself in an unforeseeable situation for which he was in no way responsible: it was created by the lack of care on the part of certain tenderers who replied to the first invitation to tender. The decision taken by the authorising officer - not to restrict the procedure to two tenders but to relaunch it - was a sound financial management decision which produced substantial savings for the Commission.

4. A-707 Development of management and information systems

Appropriation authorised 2003: 28.736.065,50 EUR

Commitments at 31.12.2003: 28.076.382,99 EUR

Amount not used at 31.12.2003: 659.682,51 EUR

Carryover: 500.000,00 EUR

As part of the 2003 mopping-up procedure organised by DG Budget, EUR500 000 was allocated to DGT in mid-December in order to cover the cost of developing and consolidating the applications underlying the management of requests for translations (internal and external).

Because the amount was made available late, the expenditure could not be committed before the end of 2003.

Under Article 6(1) and (2) of the Implementing Rules, all the preparatory stages such as the selection of the contractor and the drawing up of the contract have been carried out from which it can be assumed that the budgetary and legal commitment can be made before 31 March 2004.