RESOLUTION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT  
of 10 May 2012  
with observations forming an integral part of its Decision on discharge in respect of the 
implementation of the budget of the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union 
for the financial year 2010  
THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT,  
— having regard to the final annual accounts of the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European 
Union for the financial year 2010,  
— having regard to the Court of Auditors’ report on the annual accounts of the Translation Centre for the 
Bodies of the European Union for the financial year 2010, together with the Centre’s replies (  1 ), 
— having regard to the Council’s recommendation of 21 February 2012 (06083/2012 – C7-0051/2012),  
— having regard to Article 319 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,  
— having regard to Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 of 25 June 2002 on the Financial 
Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities (  2 ), and in particular 
Article 185 thereof,  
— having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 2965/94 of 28 November 1994 setting up a Translation 
Centre for bodies of the European Union (  3 ), and in particular Article 14 thereof,  
— having regard to Commission Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2343/2002 of 19 November 2002 on the 
framework Financial Regulation for the bodies referred to in Article 185 of Council Regulation (EC, 
Euratom) No 1605/2002 on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European 
Communities (  4 ), and in particular Article 94 thereof,  
— having regard to Rule 77 of, and Annex VI to, its Rules of Procedure,  
— having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgetary Control (A7-0125/2012),  
A. whereas the Court of Auditors has stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the annual 
accounts of the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union (‘the Centre’) for the financial 
year 2010 are reliable and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular,  
B. whereas on 10 May 2011 Parliament granted the Director of the Centre discharge for implementation 
of its budget for the financial year 2009 (  5 ), and whereas in its resolution accompanying the discharge 
decision, inter alia, called on the Centre:  
— to further develop the evaluation of its performance by improving the links between its strategic 
actions and the actions envisaged in its Annual Work Programme and by reviewing the indicators 
for monitoring its performance in order to comply with SMART criteria,EN L 286/142 Official Journal of the European Union 17.10.2012  
( 1 ) OJ C 366, 15.12.2011, p. 117.  
( 2 ) OJ L 248, 16.9.2002, p. 1.  
( 3 ) OJ L 314, 7.12.1994, p. 1.  
( 4 ) OJ L 357, 31.12.2002, p. 72.  
( 5 ) OJ L 250, 27.9.2011, p. 125.
— to take more effective measures to remedy its constant rise in surplus; in 2009 the surplus 
amounted to EUR 24 000 000, whereas it was EUR 26 700 000 in 2008, EUR 16 900 000 in 
2006, EUR 10 500 000 in 2005 and EUR 3 500 000 in 2004,  
— to inform the discharge authority of the steps put forward for making the ABAC accounting system 
effectively operational,  
C. whereas the Centre’s final budget for 2010 was EUR 55 928 077 compared with EUR 62 630 000 in 
2009, which represents a decrease of 11,98 %,  
D. whereas the volume of translation in 2010 was the highest since the establishment of the Centre, 
representing an increase of 20,1 % of the number of translated pages compared to 2009,  
Budget and financial management  
1. Notes from the its Annual Activity Report (AAR) and its annual accounts for the financial year 2010 
that the original budget of the Centre, EUR 48 100 000, was the subject of two amending budgets; 
acknowledges in particular that the purpose of the two amending budgets was twofold:  
— to include the budgetary surplus from previous years, of EUR 24 000 000, in order to pay the 
employers’ contributions to the Commission for pensions from 1998 -2009, namely a total sum of 
EUR 18 400 000 and to reimburse the Centre’s largest client agency, the Office for Harmonization 
in the Internal Market, with the economic outturn for 2009, namely the sum of EUR 6 121 255,  
— to rebalance the budget with the sum of EUR 8 000 000, following a significant increase in client 
forecasts;  
2. Acknowledges from its AAR that, due to the higher total number of pages translated in 2010, the 
revenue of the Centre rose to EUR 51 200 000 in 2010, an increase of 13,71 % compared to 2009; 
notes also from its AAR that the Centre’s implementation rate of expenditure rose to EUR 43 040 000, 
i.e. 86,79 % of the appropriations, which represents an increase of 18,27 % compared to 2009;  
3. Recalls that, under Article 10 of its founding Regulation (EC) No 2965/94, the Centre revenue and 
expenditure shown in its budget must be balanced; notes that for the financial year 2010 the Centre’s 
accumulated 2009 surplus amounted to EUR 24 000 000; takes note, however, that principally 
through the transfer of funds to the Union’s pension scheme and the reimbursements to its clients, 
the Centre managed to reduce the aforementioned surplus to EUR 9 200 000; acknowledges moreover 
from the Centre that the Management Board decided in 2011 to use these EUR 9 200 000 to create a 
reserve for exceptional investment (EUR 4 300 000) and a reserve for price stabilisation (EUR 
4 900 000);  
4. Welcomes the settlement of the long-lasting dispute between the Centre and the Commission on the 
question of the employer’s contribution to the Union’s pension scheme;  
5. Welcomes the above-mentioned decision of the Management Board, adopted in 2011, to create a 
reserve of EUR 4 300 000 for investments into an e-CDT programme to be realised over the years 
2012-2013 and a reserve of EUR 4 900 000 for the stabilisation of the prices, in order to compensate 
for the potential decrease of its revenue due to the anticipated reduction of translation requests from its 
clients;  
6. Welcomes that following the request of the discharge authority the final annual accounts of the Centre 
for the financial year 2010 have been made publicly available on the Centre’s website;EN 17.10.2012 Official Journal of the European Union L 286/143
Procurement procedures  
7. Calls on the Centre to ensure compliance with Article 60 of its Financial Regulation by establishing 
financing decisions for operational expenditure; asks the Centre in particular to establish stronger 
controls in the process of procurement planning;  
8. Acknowledges from its AAR that the Centre launched two new procedures for the provision of 
translation/revision services in the rail and maritime fields;  
9. Notes also that a total of 47 framework contracts were signed;  
Human resources (HR)  
10. Acknowledges that, given that eight staff members with higher points were not promoted whereas 
some other staff in the same grade were promoted, Article 45 of its Staff Regulations was not 
respected, as additional discretionary elements were actually incorporated into the final decision to 
award promotion; notes the Centre’s statement according to which the Internal Audit Service (IAS) 
acknowledged that the decisions on career and promotion of officials and of temporary staff adopted 
by the Management Board on 7 February 2008 were subject to interpretation and that following the 
final IAS assessment on ‘Implementation of the staff promotion’, issued in September 2010, the Centre 
adapted its interpretation to the one of the IAS while the additional criteria which were previously used 
for promotion were abandoned;  
11. Acknowledges, in addition, from its AAR that the Centre conducted 22 selection procedures for 
temporary and contract staff, as well as two competitions for established posts in 2010;  
12. Notes that the Centre implemented a professional orientation service in order to identify possibilities for 
staff and enable mobility or career orientation;  
Performance  
13. Welcomes the Centre’s increase of its services, in terms of volume of translation, to the Union 
institutions compared to 2009, and notably the increase by 20,1 % of the number of translated 
documents, while its budget was reduced by 11,98 % compared to the previous year;  
14. Notes from the Centre’s AAR that in 2010 agreements were signed with six new clients, i.e. the Joint 
Undertakings Artemis, ENIAC, IMI and FCH, the European Asylum Support Office and the Agency for 
the Cooperation of Energy Regulators and first contacts were established with the European Banking 
Authority, the European Securities and Markets Authority and the European Insurance and Occupa ­
tional Pensions Authority;  
15. Acknowledges from the Centre’s AAR that during the financial year 2010 around 55 % of the total 
volume of pages translated was outsourced; notes from its AAR that the Centre took steps to 
consolidate the management of its translation workflow in 2010 by merging the Demand Management 
and Freelance Management Sections; acknowledges, in particular, that an external study on validation of 
the ratio between works carried out internally and outsourcing has been completed and that the 
calculation model used by the Centre was validated;  
16. Welcomes the efforts of the Centre to improve the quality of translation; underlines the fact that 17 
terminology projects were finalised until the end of 2010, which improved the terminology database; 
supports the Centre in organising training events for its translators, which helps to improve their 
productivity;  
17. Calls on the Centre to analyse the current data flow and tools used for budget planning and establish 
controls; notes, in this respect, that the Centre’s budget planning is based on excel tools and manual or 
system-based controls of data which could result in calculation errors and wrong expenditure planning, 
and ultimately have a negative impact on the Centre’s pricing;EN L 286/144 Official Journal of the European Union 17.10.2012
18. Encourages the Centre to apply minimum requirements for forecasting information and enhance the 
cooperation and exchange on forecasting with selected clients, in order to avoid overestimate of 
expenditure and pricing;  
Internal audit  
19. Notes that 12 ‘very important’ recommendations from the IAS were still open as at 31 December 
2010; is concerned that the implementation of seven of those recommendations was delayed; acknowl ­
edges, in particular, that those delays concern the following important issues:  
— the quality of client forecast,  
— the disclosure of the 2008 exercise,  
— the assessment of the Internal Control System,  
calls therefore on the Centre to explain those delays to the discharge authority and to remedy the 
situation;  
20. Notes that out of the 12 ‘very important’ recommendations from the IAS, the Centre rejected the 
recommendation on financial reporting; calls on the Centre to inform the discharge authority about the 
reasons for this decision;  
21. Observes that the IAS conducted an audit on ‘Budgeting of expenditures’, finalised a follow-up audit on 
‘HR management’ and on the ‘implementation of internal control standards’, and carried out an IT risk 
assessment;  
22. Notes from the Centre’s AAR that the IAS final audit follow-up report revealed that 41 recommen ­
dations were made, 29 recommendations were still in progress, 10 implemented and two partially or 
not accepted;  
23. Acknowledges that the Internal Audit Capability carried out formal consulting activities on the 
following areas:  
— advice on the optimisation of the organisational structure and related cost reduction,  
— coordination of the IT risk assessment exercise,  
— facilitation and advice for the Centre’s annual risk management exercise,  
— support and guidance to the Quality Audit activity;  
24. Draws attention to its recommendations from previous discharge reports, as set out in the Annex to 
this resolution;  
25. Refers, in respect of the other observations accompanying its Decision on discharge, which are of a 
horizontal nature, to its resolution of 10 May 2012 (*) on the performance, financial management and 
control of the agencies.EN 17.10.2012 Official Journal of the European Union L 286/145  
(*) Texts adopted, P7_TA(2012)0164 (see page 388 of this Official Journal).
ANNEX  
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RECOMMENDATIONS OVER THE PAST YEARS  
Translation Centre for the 
Bodies of the European 
Union  2006  2007  2008  2009  
Performance  n.a.  — Objectives and performance indicators 
are often not measurable 
— Notes that in 2007 refunded EUR 
9 300 000 to its client  — Improvements in IT (FLOSYSWEB) 
— Notes that in 2008 refunded EUR 
11 450 000 to its client.  Calls on the Centre to further develop the 
evaluation of its performance by improving 
the links between its strategic actions and 
the actions foreseen in its Work 
Programme and by reviewing the indicators 
for monitoring its performance in order to 
comply with SMART criteria  
Budgetary and financial 
management  n.a. The programming should be based on a 
clear and consistent link between the set 
objectives and the implementation of the 
budgetary resources needed to achieve 
them  — Calls on the Centre to take more 
effective measures to remedy the 
constant rise in its surplus → 2008: 
EUR 26 700 000; 2006: EUR 
10 500 000 
— Calls on the Commission to examine 
the scope of the Centre’s cash 
holdings: EUR 48 405 006 
— Calls on the Centre to offer its clients 
cost-covering services in the future  — Calls on the Centre to systematically 
apply Article 8.2 of its Financial Regu ­
lation in which it is stated that ‘com ­
mitment appropriations shall cover the 
total cost of the legal commitments 
entered into the current financial year’ 
— Calls on the Centre to take more 
effective measures to remedy its 
constant rise in surplus, this surplus is 
mainly linked to the lack of precision in 
the forecasts for translation requests 
received from its clients  
Human resources  — Weaknesses in the recruitment 
procedures: no written evidence of 
the rules applied to the evaluation of 
the candidates’ file 
— The conflict between the Centre and 
the Commission on the employer’s 
share contributions for staff has not 
been solved  n.a. — The Centre should plan its recruitment 
procedures more realistically and effec ­
tively in order to respect the time 
limits and meet all the needs arising 
from an increase in the Centre’s staff 
(in quantitative and qualitative terms) 
— The conflict between the Centre and 
the Commission on the employer’s 
share contributions for staff has not 
been solved  — Calls on the Centre to include 
information on sensitive functions in 
job descriptions and ensure that all miti ­
gating controls put in place are 
identified 
— Encourages the Centre to update the 
implementing rules for training and 
define new timing for this.  
Internal audit  n.a.  n.a.  n.a.  Calls on the Centre to issue a comprehensive 
written procedure defining roles, riming and 
workflows for the establishment, validation 
and booking of recovery orders for trans ­
actions delivered to customersEN L 286/146 Official Journal of the European Union 17.10.2012