[pic] | COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES |

Brussels, 12.10.2005

SEC(2005) 1240 final

Draft

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC, Euratom)

amending Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2342/2002 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities

(presented by the Commission)

EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

1. BACKGROUND

On 3 May 2005, the Commission adopted the proposal on the revision of the Financial Regulation. On that occasion, the Commission noted that it would not be appropriate to include other items such as the simplification of low-value calls for tender in the field of external aid, in the then ongoing fast-track revision of the detailed rules for implementing the Financial Regulation in order not to delay its adoption, given that the interinstitutional consultation had already taken place. Nevertheless, the Commission "undertook to return to this matter in the next revision of the implementing rules, so that the changes could be introduced as early as possible".

With this in mind, the following draft regulation on the revision of the implementing rules for the Financial Regulation deals with technical amendments which can be introduced under the current Financial Regulation, as requested by the Commission in the minutes of its meeting of 3 May. They aim mainly at further simplifying the administrative procedures for the institutions, economic operators and beneficiaries of grants, in particular in external actions, while maintaining a high level of protection of the Communities’ financial interests in the light of the risks involved.

2. AMENDMENTS CONSIDERED NECESSARY

2.1. Budgetary principles

Under the principle of unity, the Commission must inform the budgetary authority by 15 April of the cancellation of carried-over appropriations which have not been committed by 31 March. The 15 April deadline has proved to be too strict and should be replaced by 15 May (Article 6).

In connection with the principle of annuality , for the purpose of applying the provisional twelfths, it should be specified that the maximum in terms of the allotted appropriations of the previous financial year has to be understood as appropriations within the meaning of Article 5 IR, after adjustment for the transfers made during that financial year (Article 6a).

In relation to the principle of the unit of account , it should be clarified that the rules on the rate of conversion between the euro and other currencies contained in Articles 7 and 8 IR only apply to conversions carried out by authorising officers and not to conversions carried out by contractors or beneficiaries following the specific rules agreed in contracts or grant agreements. For reasons of efficiency and simplification, the Commission's accounting officer should establish the monthly accounting exchange rate for the euro to be used for accounting purposes (Article 7(3)IR), as this competence is strictly linked with his duty of preparing and presenting the accounts under Article 61(1) FR. In addition, for reasons of transparency and equal treatment of Community officials, a specific rule on conversion rates is established in Article 8 for staff expenditure paid in a currency other than the euro.

As regards the principle of sound financial management , the content of an ex ante evaluation should be clarified and the scope of ex ante , interim and ex post evaluation should be better targeted, having due regard to the principle of proportionality. The priorities of the evaluation should thus be redirected in order to focus on proposals with a real impact on business and citizens. It is also appropriate to include in the evaluation pilot projects and preparatory actions if it is proposed to continue them as a programme. In addition, where projects or actions are already subject to evaluation (e.g. tasks shared between the Commission, Member States) such evaluation should not be duplicated (Article 21).

2.2. The accounting officer

Following the introduction of accrual accounting on 1 January 2005, as the accounting data are available at any moment in the informatics system, it is more logical and quicker to draw up the trial balance the day on which the accounting officer terminates his duty. If he terminates his/her duty on 31 December, the trial balance could be prepared the same day without waiting for the finalisation of the provisional accounts (Article 56).

In order to render effective the accounting officer's responsibility for treasury management, he should be authorised to communicate to financial institutions with which he has opened accounts the names and specimen signatures of the officials authorised to sign banking operations (Article 60).

Article 64 needs to be adjusted to take account of the developments of the third-party files managed by the accounting officer's staff in order to be able to ascertain at any moment the financial position of third parties with whom the Commission incurs expenses or conducts operations.

2.3. Imprest accounts

The maximum amount which can be paid by the imprest administrator, when payments by budgetary procedures are materially impossible or less effective, should be reasonably increased. At the same time, the accounting officer should be authorised to lay down the detailed instructions on the means of payment which can be used by the imprest administrators (Article 67).

2.4. Liability of the financial actors

The provision on confirmation of instructions received by an authorising officer by delegation or sub-delegation should be brought into line with Article 21a of the Staff Regulations. Where an instruction is confirmed, the authorising officer by delegation or sub-delegation should also be allowed not to carry it out if it is manifestly illegal (Article 73).

2.5. Recovery of debts

The rules on recovery of debts should be clarified and strengthened in the light of recent case law and in order to safeguard better the financial interests of the Union.

Recovery by offsetting has to be streamlined (Article 83). Given the complementary roles of the authorising officer and the accounting officer in the recovery procedure, it is justified to provide for a consultation between them before offsetting. This consultation does not affect the responsibility of the accounting officer to proceed with offsetting once the conditions are met but it may be useful, for example in order to ascertain the identity of the debtor/creditor where several creditors are involved. Recovery by offsetting before the end of the deadline within which if the debtor pays saves himself the interest ("period of grace") should be limited only to the cases where the accounting officer considers that the financial interests of the Community are at stake.

The provision on bank guarantees concerning fines , periodic penalty payments and other penalties, in case of appeal by the debtor, should be adapted (Article 85a). In order to protect the financial interests of the Communities, it is necessary to have a single system of guarantees securing a Community claim pending appeal against a fine. These guarantees should be independent of the obligation laid down in the contract irrespective of the national law applicable. The institutions would thus have the possibility of calling in these guarantees whenever it is deemed necessary or opportune.

2.6. Expenditure operations

The content of the financing decision , which has to be adopted before any budgetary and legal commitment for expenditure implementing a basic act, should be further specified (Article 90). For grants and procurement, it should be made clear that the work programme referred to in Article 110 FR constitutes a financing decision provided that it contains a sufficiently detailed framework. For that purpose, the notion of "essential elements" of an action involving expenditure from the budget should be defined in more detail in the IR so as to ensure uniform application and legal security for the authorising officers.

For the purpose of ex ante verification for the authorisation of expenditure, a series of similar individual transactions relating to routine staff expenditure on salaries, pensions, reimbursement of mission expenses and medical expenses may be considered by the authorising office responsible to constitute a single operation. In that case, the authorising officer, in accordance with his risk assessment, must carry out appropriate ex post verification (Article 47).

For the purpose of administrative simplification, the payment time limits for contracts and grant agreements which depend on the approval of a report or certificate should be revised in order to ascertain that payments are made on the basis of an approved report or certificate. Moreover, the time-limit for approval of a report related to a grant agreement involving actions which are particularly complex to evaluate should be brought into line with the current time limit for complex service contracts (Article 106).

2.7. Public procurement and contracts

The management of procurement and contracts with a value below the thresholds referred to in Directive 2004/18/EC should be further facilitated. The thresholds for low value contracts, dating from 1994, should be updated and raised. It should also be specified that all contracts with a value less than or equal to EUR 60 000 may be awarded after a negotiated procedure (Article 129 and consequently Articles 119, 126, 128, 146). This change will make the management of procedures clearer and simpler without affecting competition since the same number of candidates, selected by the contracting authority, will be invited to tender.

In addition, the implementing rules should define more precisely the procedure to be followed for certain research and development service contracts and certain service contracts intended for broadcasting which are excluded from the scope of the Directive 2004/18/EC. In the light of the principle of transparency, these contracts may be awarded following a negotiated procedure after publication of a tender notice (Article 127).

The documentary burden should be further alleviated for economic operators and the administrative departments of the institutions, thus reducing administrative costs. To this end, for all contracts below the thresholds of Directive 2004/18/EC and in the external field, depending on the risk assessment carried out by the contracting authority, economic operators should be able to participate in a procedure on the basis of a declaration on their honour stating that they are not in one of the situations giving grounds for exclusion from that procurement procedure. However, in line with the principles of the Directive, in order to better protect the financial interests of the Communities, for high-value contracts in the external field, the economic operator to whom the contract is to be awarded should nevertheless have to provide evidence confirming the initial declaration (Article 134). For the sake of clarity, it must be pointed out that all candidates and tenderers should always have to provide evidence that they are not in one of the situations giving grounds for exclusion from contracts awarded by the institutions on their own account with a value above the thresholds set out in Directive 2004/18/EC. Lastly, whenever a candidate or tenderer is required to provide evidence, the contracting authority may consider evidence provided by that candidate or tenderer in another procurement procedure launched by the same contracting authority and provided that the issuing date of the documents does not exceed six months (Article 134). Regarding the technical and economic capacity, the option of not requiring proof of these capacities should be allowed up to the thresholds appropriate for each type of contracts in the field of external actions (Article 135).

In order to simplify the management of the procurement procedure for contracts awarded by the institutions on their own account with a value below EUR 60 000 and, in the external aid, for contracts awarded after a competitive negotiated procedure or on the basis of a single bid, the contracting authority should have the possibility to simplify the content of the tender documents (Article 130). In order to lighten the administrative burden, implementation of the contracts should be made easier, for example by providing scope to adapt the amount of the performance guarantee (Article 151) and waive the requirement for a guarantee in the event of pre-financing to a public body (Article 152), without, however, diminishing the level of protection of the Communities’ financial interests.

2.8. Grants

Certain provisions in the title on grants should be amended in order to simplify the procedures for grants and for grants of small amount (less than or equal to EUR 25 000), in accordance with the general principle of proportionality enshrined in the EC Treaty.

As for the award of grants , in order to reduce the administrative burden, it should be accepted that the de jure or de facto monopoly of the beneficiary can be substantiated in the award decision.

Access to EC financing should be facilitated by enhancing co-financing in kind (Article 172). The notion of bodies which pursue an aim of European general interest and may receive operating grants with no decrease in the event of renewal should include European bodies involved in promoting citizenship and innovation (Article 162).

Procedures should also be simplified. Educational bodies – and not only secondary and higher education bodies – should no longer be subject to verification of their financial capacity (Article 176) and applicants should be informed as soon as possible of the rejection of their application (Article 179). Grant applications (Article 173) and agreements should be made easier for grants of a small amount (Article 164). The requirement for an external audit to be attached to the application should apply only to grants with a value of more than EUR 750 000 for actions and EUR 100 000 for operating grants.

Rules on guarantees for pre-financing should be reinforced in order to protect the Communities’ financial interests while ensuring better proportionality with the risk involved. It should thus be specified that a pre-financing guarantee is required for any pre-financing exceeding 80% of the total amount of the grant and EUR 60 000, and that as a general rule the guarantee must cover the entire amount of pre-financing (Article 182).

In order to take account of the rights of the other contributors, the implementation of the non-profit rule , in the case of operating grants to bodies which pursue an aim of general European interest should be limited to the percentage of co-financing corresponding to the Community contribution to the operating budget concerned if these bodies are also funded by public authorities which are themselves required to recover the percentage of the annual profit corresponding to their contribution. For the purpose of calculating the amount to be recovered, the percentage of the contributions in kind to the operating budget should not be taken into account (Article 165).

2.9. Accounting

The title on presentation of the accounts and accounting should be updated to take account of the adoption by the Commission's accounting officer in December 2004, pursuant to Article 133 of the Financial Regulation, of the accounting rules and methods and the harmonised chart of accounts . It is necessary to delete provisions in the text of the implementing rules which are unnecessary and may create confusion.

2.10. Specific policy sectors in Part Two of the Financial Regulation

The management framework for procurement in the external field should be simplified and made more efficient by taking into account the Court of Auditors' report on decentralised management. In particular, the competitive negotiated procedure should be improved in the same way as for low-value contracts and the negotiated procedure should be allowed in the event of two failures of a competitive negotiated procedure and in the event of one failure when the competitive negotiated procedure follows the unsuccessful use of a framework contract (Articles 241, 242, 243, 244, 245).

The option of waiving the requirement for a guarantee in the case of pre-financing to a public body should be allowed and the performance guarantee should be required only in the event of procurement with a high value (Article 250). Moreover, the pre-information notice should be published as early as possible and not necessarily before the 31st of January(Article 240) and an evaluation committee or a contracting authority should be allowed to ask candidates and tenderers for clarification , as is the case for contracts awarded by the institutions on their own account (Article 252).

Experience has shown that several provisions of the Implementing Rules (interest on delayed payments, rent guarantees) impede delegations in third countries in carrying out their normal activities. It is necessary to adapt the Implementing Rules to take account of obstacles resulting from national laws in third countries (Articles 86, 106 and 264).

2.11. Offices

The list of European offices should be supplemented to take account of Decision 2005/118/EC of the European Parliament, the Council, the Commission, the Court of Justice, Court of Auditors, the European Economic and Social Committee, the Committee of the Regions and the Ombudsman setting up a European Administrative School which is to be attached administratively to the European Communities Personnel Selection Office.

Draft

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC, Euratom)

amending Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2342/2002 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community,

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[1], and in particular Article 183 thereof,

Having consulted the European Parliament, the Council, the Court of Justice of the European Communities, the Court of Auditors, the European Economic and Social Committee, the Committee of the Regions, the Ombudsman and the European Data Protection Supervisor,

Whereas:

(1) The obligation for the Commission to inform the budgetary authority by 15 April of the cancellation of carried over appropriations which have not been committed by 31 March has proven to be too strict and it is therefore proposed to extend it by one month to 15 May.

(2) It should be specified that where provisional twelfths regime are to be allocated, the maximum in terms of the allotted appropriations of the previous financial year is to be understood as referring to appropriations for the financial year after adjustment for any transfers made during that financial year.

(3) It should be made clear that the rules on the rate of conversion between the euro and another currency set out in Articles 7 and 8 of Commission Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2342/2002[2] only apply to conversions carried out by authorising officers and not to those carried out by contractors or beneficiaries, on the basis of the specific rules agreed in contracts or grant agreements. For reasons of efficiency, the Commission's accounting officer should be authorised to establish the monthly accounting exchange rate of the euro to be used for accounts purposes. In addition, for reasons of transparency and equal treatment of Community officials, a specific rule on conversion rates is established in Article 8 for staff expenditure paid in a currency other than the euro.

(4) As regards the principle of sound financial management , the content of the ex ante evaluation should be clarified and the scope of the ex ante , interim or ex post evaluation should be better targeted, having due regard to the principle of proportionality. The priorities of evaluation should thus be redirected in order to focus on proposals with an impact on business and/or citizens and to cover pilot projects and preparatory actions to be continued. In addition, when projects or actions are already subject to evaluation (e.g. tasks shared between the Commission and Member States), that evaluation should not be duplicated.

(5) For the purpose of ex ante verification for the authorisation of expenditure, a series of similar individual transactions relating to routine staff expenditure on salaries, pensions, reimbursement of mission expenses and medical expenses may be considered by the authorising office responsible to constitute a single operation. In this case, the authorising officer, in accordance with his risk assessment, must carry out appropriate ex post verification.

(6) It is appropriate to include in the report on negotiated procedures only the cases of the use of negotiated procedures which constitute exceptions to the normal procurement procedures.

(7) Following the introduction of accrual accounting on 1 January 2005, and the availability of accounting data at any moment in the informatics system, it is more logical and quicker to draw up the trial balance the day on which the accounting officer terminates his duty. If he terminates his duty on a 31 December, the trial balance could be prepared the same day without waiting for the provisional accounts to be finalised.

(8) In order to render effective the accounting officer's responsibility for treasury management, he should be authorised to communicate to financial institutions with which he has opened accounts the names and specimen signatures of the officials authorised to sign banking operations.

(9) The maximum amount which can be paid by the imprest administrator should be increased from EUR 30 000 to EUR 60 000 when payments by budgetary procedures are materially impossible or less effective. The accounting officer should be authorised to lay down the detailed instructions on the means of payment which can be used by the imprest administrators.

(10) In the light of Article 21a of the Staff Regulations, the authorising officer by delegation or sub-delegation should, in case of confirmation of instruction, be allowed not to carry out the instruction if it is manifestly illegal.

(11) Given the complementary roles of the authorising officers and the accounting officer in the process of recovery by offsetting, it is justified to provide for a consultation between them before offsetting, in particular when offsetting involves several debtors.

(12) Recovery by offsetting before the end of the deadline within which if the debtor pays saves himself the interest ("period of grace") should be limited only to cases where the accounting officer considers that the financial interests of the Communities are at stake.

(13) In order to protect the financial interests of the Communities, bank guarantees that secure a Community claim pending appeal against a fine should be completely independent of the obligation laid down in the contract, irrespective of the applicable national laws.

(14) The content of the financing decision should be further specified. For grants and procurement, the notion of "essential elements" of an action involving expenditure from the budget should be defined in more detail. Moreover, it should be made clear that the work programme referred to in Article 110 of the Financial Regulation may constitute a financing decision provided that it contains a sufficiently detailed framework.

(15) Where a global budgetary commitment is made, any authorising officer – not only the authorising officer by delegation – may be responsible for the legal commitments implementing the global commitment.

(16) The payment time-limits for contracts and grant agreements which depend on the approval of a report or certificate should be revised in order to make ascertain that payments are made on the basis of an approved report or certificate. Moreover, the time-limit for approval of a report related to a grant agreement involving actions which are particularly complex to evaluate should be brought into line with the current time limit for complex service contracts.

(17) The thresholds for low-value contracts, fixed in 1994, should be updated and raised from EUR 50 000 to EUR 60 000 and from EUR 13 800 to EUR 25 000 respectively. Moreover, it should be specified that all contracts with a value equal to or less than EUR 60 000 may be awarded after a negotiated procedure.

(18) In addition, the implementing rules should define more precisely the procedure to be followed for certain research and development service contracts and certain service contracts intended for broadcasting which are excluded from the scope of the Directive 2004/18/EC on the coordination of procedures for the award of public work contracts, public supply contracts and public service contracts[3]. In the light of the principle of transparency, these contracts may be awarded following a negotiated procedure after publication of a tender notice.

(19) With a view to further simplifying the management of procurement procedure for all contracts not covered by Directive 2004/18/EC, i.e. below the thresholds laid down in that Directive and in the external field, depending on the contracting authority’s risk assessment, economic operators should be able to participate in a procedure on the basis of a declaration on their honour stating that they are not in one of the situations giving grounds for exclusion from that procurement procedure. However, in line with the principles of the Directive 2004/18/EC and in order to better protect the financial interests of the Communities, for high-value contracts in the external field, the economic operator to whom the contract is to be awarded should nevertheless have to provide evidence confirming the initial declaration. Whenever a candidate or tenderer is required to provide evidence, the contracting authority may also consider evidence provided by that candidate or tenderer in another procurement procedure launched by the same contracting authority, provided that the issuing date of the evidence does not exceed six months.

(20) In order to simplify the management of the procurement procedure for contracts awarded by the institutions on their own account with a value below EUR 60 000 and, in the external aid, for contracts awarded after a competitive negotiated procedure or on the basis of a single bid, the contracting authority may limit the content of the tender documents to what is strictly necessary.

(21) In external actions, the competitive negotiated procedure should be rendered more efficient and the negotiated procedure should be allowed in the event of two failures of a competitive negotiated procedure and in the event of one failure when the competitive negotiated procedure follows the unsuccessful use of a framework contract. The option of not requiring proof of technical and economic capacity should be allowed up to the thresholds appropriate in that specific policy area for each type of contract. In that case also, the authorising officer should be able to justify his choice. The evaluation committee or the contracting authority should have the option of asking candidates or tenderers to supply additional documents or clarify information, as provided for in the case of contracts awarded by the institutions on their own account.

(22) In external actions, the legal framework for the procurement should also be simplified as regard the publication of the pre-information notice for international calls for tenders and the requirement of a performance guarantee. The pre-information notice should be published as early as possible and not necessarily before the 31st of January. Moreover, the performance guarantee should be required only in the event of procurement with a high value. The option of adapting the amount of the performance guarantee should be introduced, for the sake of proportionality, and a possibility should be given to the authorising officer to waive the requirement of a guarantee in the case of pre-financing to a public body, depending on his risk assessment.

(23) With regard to the award of grants, in order to reduce the administrative burden, it should be accepted that the de jure or de facto monopoly of the beneficiary can be substantiated in the award decision.

(24) The requirement to attach an external audit to the application shall apply only to applications for grants with a value equal to or more than EUR 750 000 for actions and to operating grants with a value equal to or more than EUR 100 000.

(25) Co-financing in kind by beneficiaries should be made easier and the notion of bodies which pursue an aim of European general interest and which may receive operating grants should include European bodies involved in promoting citizenship or innovation.

(26) Educational bodies – not only secondary and higher education bodies – should no longer be subject to the verification of their financial capacity, and applicants should be informed as soon as possible of the rejection of their application.

(27) For grants of a small amount, applications and agreements should be limited to what is strictly necessary.

(28) In the case of operating grants to bodies which pursue an aim of general European interest, the implementation of the non-profit rule should be limited to the percentage of co-financing corresponding to the Community’s contribution to the operating budget in order to take account of the rights of the other public contributors which are also required to recover the percentage of annual profit corresponding to their contribution. For the purpose of calculating the amount to be recovered, the percentage of the contributions in kind to the operating budget should not be taken into account.

(29) In order to protect the Community's financial interests, the requirement of guarantees for pre-financing should apply to any pre-financing exceeding 80% of the amount of the grant and EUR 60 000 and must, as a general rule, correspond to the amount of pre-financing.

(30) Where pre-financing is split, the requirement of a consumption of 70% of any earlier pre-financing should be removed. In the event the earlier pre-financing has not been entirely consumed, the amount of the new payment shall take into account the degree of implementation of the grant agreement.

(31) Following the adoption by the Commission's accounting officer in December 2004, pursuant to Article 133 of the Financial Regulation, of the accounting rules and methods and the harmonised chart of accounts, the Title on presentation of the accounts and accounting should be updated to take out provisions which are no longer necessary and which may create confusion.

(32) The list of European offices should be supplemented to take account of Decision 2005/118/EC of the European Parliament, the Council, the Commission, the Court of Justice, Court of Auditors, the European Economic and Social Committee, the Committee of the Regions and the Ombudsman of 26 January 2005 setting up a European Administrative School[4] which is presently attached administratively to the European Communities Personnel Selection Office.

(33) Experience has shown that several provisions of Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2342/2002 create difficulties for delegations in third countries. It is necessary to adapt those provisions to take account of obstacles resulting from national laws in third countries,

(34) Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2342/2002 should therefore be amended accordingly,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2342/2002 is amended as follows:

1. In Article 6(3), second subparagraph, "15 April" is replaced by "15 May".

2. The following Article 6a is inserted:

"Article 6aProvisional twelfths(Article 13(2) of the Financial Regulation)

The maximum commitments and payments of the allotted appropriations of the previous financial year, as specified in Article 13(2) of the Financial Regulation, shall be understood to refer to the appropriations for the financial year referred to in Article 5 of this Regulation, after adjustment for the transfers made during that financial year."

3. Article 7 is replaced by the following:

"Article 7 Rate of conversion between the euro and other currencies (Article 16 of the Financial Regulation)

1. Without prejudice to specific provisions arising from the application of Community sectoral regulations and except where the specific arrangements for conversion between the euro and another currency are contained in procurement contracts, grant agreements or financing agreements, conversion by the responsible authorising officer shall be calculated using the daily euro exchange rate published in the C series of the Official Journal of the European Union .

2. If no daily euro exchange rate is published in the Official Journal of the European Union for the currency in question, the responsible authorising officer shall use the accounting rate referred to in paragraph 3.

3. For the purposes of the accounts provided for in Articles 132 to 137 of the Financial Regulation and subject to Article 213 of this Regulation, conversion between the euro and another currency shall be made using the monthly accounting exchange rate of the euro. That accounting exchange rate shall be established by the Commission's accounting officer by means of any source of information he regards as reliable, on the basis of the exchange rate on the penultimate working day of the month preceding that for which the rate is established."

4. Article 8 is replaced by the following:

"Article 8 Rate to be used for conversion between the euro and other currencies (Article 16 of the Financial Regulation)

1. Without prejudice to specific provisions deriving from the application of sector-specific regulations, or from specific procurement contracts, grant agreements and financing agreements, the rate to be used for conversion between the euro and other currencies shall, in cases where the conversion is carried out by the competent authorising officer, be that of the day on which the payment order or recovery order is drawn up by the authorising department.

2. In case of euro imprest accounts, the rate to be used for the conversion between the euro and other currencies shall be determined by the date of payment by the bank.

3. For the regularisation of imprest accounts in national currencies, as referred to in Article 16 of the Financial Regulation, the rate to be used for the conversion between the euro and other currencies shall be that of the month of the expenditure from the imprest account concerned.

4. For the reimbursement of flat-rate expenditure, or expenditure arising from the Staff Regulations of Officials of the European Communities and the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Communities (hereinafter: “Staff Regulations”) which is fixed at a ceiling, and which is paid in a currency other than the euro, the rate to be used shall be that which is in force when the entitlement arises."

5. Article 21 is replaced by the following:

"Article 21 Evaluation (Article 27 of the Financial Regulation)

1. All proposals for programmes or activities occasioning budget expenditure shall be the subject of an ex ante evaluation, which shall address:

(a) the need to be met in the short or long term;

(b) the added value of Community involvement;

(c) the objectives to be achieved;

(d) the policy options available, including the risks associated with them;

(e) the results and impacts expected, in particular economic, social and environmental impacts, and the indicators needed to measure them;

(f) the most appropriate method of implementation for the preferred option(s);

(g) the internal coherence of the proposed programme or activity and its relations with other relevant instruments;

(h) the volume of appropriations, human resources and other administrative expenditure to be allocated with due regard for the cost-effectiveness principle;

(i) the lessons learned from similar experiences in the past.

Moreover, the proposal shall set out the arrangements for monitoring, reporting and evaluation, taking due account of the respective responsibilities of all levels of government that will be involved in the implementation of the proposed programme or activity.

2. All programmes or activities which entail significant spending shall be the subject of an interim and/or ex post evaluation of the human and financial resources allocated and the results obtained in order to verify that they were consistent with the objectives set, as follows:

(a) the results obtained in carrying out a multiannual programme shall be periodically evaluated in accordance with a timetable which enables the findings of that evaluation to be taken into account for any decision on the renewal, modification or suspension of the programme;

(b) activities financed on an annual basis shall have their results evaluated at least every six years.

Points (a) and (b) of the first subparagraph shall not apply to each of the projects or actions conducted within the activities for which the requirement may be met by the final reports sent by the bodies which carried out the action.Pilot projects and preparatory actions shall be evaluated if it is proposed to continue them as a programme.

3. The evaluations referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 shall be proportionate to the resources mobilised for and the impact of the programme and activity concerned."

6. Article 45 is amended as follows:

(a) In paragraph 1, the first sentence is replaced by the following:

"1. The authorising officer responsible may be assisted in his duties by persons covered by the Staff Regulations (hereinafter "staff") entrusted, under his responsibility, with certain operations required for the implementation of the budget and production of the financial and management information."

(b) Paragraph 2 is replaced by the following:

"2. Each institution shall inform the budgetary authority whenever an authorising officer by delegation takes up his duties, changes duties or terminates his duties."

7. Article 47 is amended as follows:

(a) In paragraph 3, the following subparagraph is added:"For the purpose of ex ante verification, a series of similar individual transactions relating to routine expenditure on salaries, pensions, reimbursement of mission expenses and medical expenses may be considered by the authorising officer responsible to constitute a single operation.In the case referred to in the second subparagraph, the authorising officer shall, depending on his risk assessment, carry out an appropriate ex post verification, in accordance with paragraph 4."

(b) Paragraph 5 is replaced by the following:

"5. The members of staff responsible for the verifications referred to in paragraphs 2 and 4 shall be different from those members of staff performing the tasks of initiation referred to in paragraph 1 and they shall not be subordinate to the latter."

8. In Article 54, the first sentence is replaced by the following:"Authorising officers by delegation shall record, for each financial year, contracts concluded under the negotiated procedures referred to in Articles 126(1) a) to g), 127(1) a) to d), 242, 244 and 246."

9. Article 56 is replaced by the following:

" Article 56 Termination of duties of the accounting officer (Article 61 of the Financial Regulation)

1. A trial balance shall be drawn up without delay in the event of termination of the duties of the accounting officer.

2. The trial balance shall be transmitted by the accounting officer who is terminating his duties or, if this is not possible, by an official in his department to the new accounting officer.The new accounting officer shall sign the trial balance in acceptance within one month from the date of transmission and he may make reservations.

3. Each institution shall inform the budgetary authority of the appointment or termination of duties of its accounting officer."

10. In Article 60, the second paragraph is replaced by the following:

"To that end, the accounting officer of each institution shall communicate to all financial institutions with which the institution concerned has opened accounts the names and specimen signatures of the authorised members of staff."

11. Article 64 is amended as follows:

(a) Paragraph 1 is replaced by the following:

"1. The accounting officer may make payments by bank credit transfer only if the payee's bank account details and information confirming the payee's identity, or any modification, have first been entered in a common file by the institution.Any such entry in the file of the payee's legal and bank account details or modification of those details shall be based on a supporting document, the form of which shall be defined by the Commission's accounting officer."

(b) In paragraph 2, the second subparagraph is replaced by the following:"Authorising officers shall check that the legal and bank account details communicated by the payee remain valid during the lifetime of the financing agreement, the contract or the grant agreement concluded with the beneficiary."

12. In Article 66, the second paragraph is replaced by the following:

"2. The imprest administrator may provisionally validate and pay expenditure, on the basis of a detailed framework set out in the instructions from the authorising officer responsible. These instructions shall specify the rules and conditions under which the authorisation of expenditure is granted and, where appropriate, the terms for signing legal commitments within the meaning of Article 94(1)(e)."

13. Article 67 is amended as follows:

(a) In paragraph 2, the second subparagraph is replaced by the following:"The maximum amount which may be paid by the imprest administrator where it is materially impossible or inefficient to carry out payment operations by budgetary procedures may not exceed EUR 60 000 for each item of expenditure."

(b) Paragraph 4 is replaced by the following:

"4. Payments from imprest accounts may be made by bank credit transfer, cheque or other means of payment, in accordance with the instructions laid down by the accounting officer."

14. In Article 68, the first two sentences are replaced by the following:"Imprest administrators shall be chosen from officials or, should the need arise, from other members of staff."

15. Article 70 is amended as follows:

(a) In paragraph 1, the second sentence is replaced by the following:"Statements of that account shall be accessible at all times to the authorising officer responsible and a list of transactions shall be established at least once a month and be sent the following month together with supporting documents by the imprest administrator to the authorising officer for settlement of the imprest operations."

(b) In paragraph 2, the first sentence is replaced by the following:

"2. The accounting officer shall carry out, or have carried out by a staff member in his own department or in the authorising department specially empowered for that purpose, checks, which must as a general rule be effected on the spot and without warning, to verify the existence of the funds allocated to the imprest administrators and the bookkeeping and to check that imprest transactions are settled within the time-limit set."

16. In Article 73(1), the second sentence is replaced by the following:"If that instruction is confirmed in writing and that confirmation is received in good time and is sufficiently clear, in that it refers explicitly to the points which the authorising officer by delegation or subdelegation has challenged, the authorising officer may not be held liable; he shall carry out the instruction, unless it is manifestly illegal or constitutes a breach of the relevant safety standards."

17. In Article 78(3), points b) to e) are replaced by the following:

"b) if payment of the debt is made before the deadline, no default interest will be due;

c) failing payment by the deadline referred to in point b) the debt shall bear interest at the rate referred to in Article 86, without any prejudice to any specific regulations applicable;

d) failing payment by the deadline referred to in point b) the institution shall effect recovery either by offsetting or by enforcement of any guarantee lodged in advance;

e) the accounting officer may effect recovery by offsetting before the deadline referred to in point b), where it is necessary to protect the Communities’ financial interests when he has reasons to believe that the amount due to the Commission would be lost, after the debtor has been informed;"

18. In Article 81(1), point f) is replaced by the following:

"f) the date referred to in Article 78(3)(b);"

19. Article 83 is replaced by the following:

"Article 83 Recovery by offsetting (Article 73 of the Financial Regulation)

1. Where the debtor has a claim on the Communities that is certain, of a fixed amount and due, relating to a sum established by a payment order, the accounting officer shall, following the date referred to in Article 78(3)(b) recover established amounts receivable by offsetting.Before proceeding with any such recovery, the accounting officer shall consult the authorising officer responsible, in particular when offsetting involves several debtors, and inform the debtors concerned. However, where it is necessary to safeguard the financial interests of the Communities, when the accounting officer has reasons to believe that the amount due to the Commission would be lost, the accounting officer shall recover by offsetting before the deadline referred to in Article 78(3)(b).

2. The offsetting referred to in paragraph 1 shall have the same effect as a payment and discharge the Communities for the amount of the debt and of the interest due."

20. In Article 84, paragraph 1 is replaced by the following:

"1. Without prejudice to Article 83, if the full amount has not been recovered by the date referred to in Article 78(3)(b) specified in the debit note, the accounting officer shall inform the authorising officer responsible and shall without delay launch the procedure for effecting recovery by any means offered by the law, including where appropriate, by enforcement of any guarantee lodged in advance."

21. In Article 85, point a) of the first subparagraph is replaced by the following:

"a) the debtor undertakes to pay interest at the rate specified in Article 86 for the entire additional period allowed, starting from the original date referred to in Article 78(3)(b);"

22. The following Article 85a is inserted:

"Article 85a Recovery of fines, periodic penalty payments and other penalties (Article 73 of the Financial Regulation)

Where an action is brought before a Community court against a Commission decision imposing a fine, periodic penalty payment or other penalty under the EC Treaty or Euratom Treaty and until such time as all legal remedies have been exhausted, the accounting officer shall provisionally collect the amounts concerned from the debtor or request him to provide a financial guarantee which shall be regarded in the Member States as independent of the obligation to pay the fine, periodic penalty payment or other penalty and be enforceable upon first call. That guarantee shall cover the claim as to principal and the interest due as specified in Article 86(5)."

23. Article 86 is amended as follows

(a) The first paragraph is replaced by the following:

"1. Without prejudice to any specific provisions deriving from the application of Community sectoral rules, and in case of obstacles resulting from national legislation in third countries, any amount receivable not repaid on the date referred to in Article 78(3)(b) shall bear interest in accordance with paragraphs 2 and 3."

(b) Paragraph 3 is replaced by the following:

"3. Interest shall be calculated from the calendar day following the date referred to in Article 78(3)(b) specified in the debit note up to the calendar day on which the debt is repaid in full."

(c) Paragraph 5 is replaced by the following:

"5. In the case of fines, where the debtor provides a financial guarantee which is accepted by the accounting officer in lieu of a provisional payment, the interest rate applicable from the date referred to in Article 78(3)(b) shall be the rate referred to in paragraph 2 increased by only one and a half percentage points."

24. Article 90 is replaced by the following:

"Article 90 Financing decision (Article 75 of the Financial Regulation)

1. The financing decision shall set out the essential elements of an action involving expenditure from the budget.

2. For grants linked to sectoral programmes, the decision adopting the annual work programme referred to in Article 110 of the Financial Regulation may be considered to be the financing decision within the meaning of Article 75 of the Financial Regulation, provided that it constitutes a sufficiently detailed framework.As regards procurement, where the implementation of the corresponding appropriations is provided for by an annual work programme constituting a sufficiently detailed framework, this work programme may also be considered to be the financing decision for the procurement contracts involved.In order to be considered a sufficiently detailed framework, the work programme adopted by the Commission must set out the following:

(a) For grants:

(i) the reference of the basic act and the budgetary line;

(ii) the priorities of the year, the objectives to be fulfilled and the foreseen results with the appropriations authorised for the financial year;

(iii) the essential selection and award criteria to be used to select the proposals;

(iv) the maximum possible rate of cofinancing and if different rates are envisaged the criteria to be followed for each rate;

(v) the timetable and the indicative amount of the calls for proposals.

(b) For procurement:

(i) the global budgetary envelope reserved for the procurements during the year;

(ii) the indicative number and type of contracts envisaged and if possible their subject in generic terms;

(iii) the indicative timeframe for launching the procurement procedures.

If the annual work programme does not provide this detailed framework for one or more actions, it must be modified accordingly or a specific financing decision must be adopted containing the above information for the actions concerned.

3. Any substantial change in a financing decision already adopted shall follow the same procedure as the initial decision."

25. In Article 94(1), points (d) and (e) are replaced by the following:

"(d) where the global commitment is implemented by a number of legal commitments, for which different authorising officers are responsible;

(e) where, in connection with imprest accounts available for external action, legal commitments must be signed by members of staff of the local units referred to in Article 254 on the instructions of the authorising officer, who remains, however, fully responsible for the underlying transaction;"

26. Article 100 is amended as follows:

(a) Points (b) and (c) are replaced by the following:

"(b) in respect of other remunerations such as staff paid on an hourly or daily basis: a statement signed by the authorised member of staff showing the days and hours worked;

(c) in respect of overtime: a statement signed by the authorised member of staff certifying the amount of overtime worked;"

(b) In point (d), point (ii) is replaced by the following:

"(ii) the statement of mission expenses, signed by the member of staff on mission and by the administrative superior to whom the appropriate powers have been delegated, and 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 authorised on production of supporting documents;"

27. Article 101 is replaced by the following:

"Article 101 Material form of "passed for payment" (Article 79 of the Financial Regulation)

In a non-computerised system, "passed for payment" shall take the form of a stamp incorporating the signature of the authorising officer responsible or of a technically competent member of staff, empowered by the authorising officer responsible in accordance with Article 97. In a computerised system, "passed for payment" shall take the form of an electronically secured validation by the authorising officer responsible or of a technically competent member of staff, empowered by the authorising officer responsible."

28. Article 106 is amended as follows:

(a) Paragraph 3 is replaced by the following:

"3. For contracts and grant agreements under which payment depends on the approval of a report or a certificate, the time-limit for the purposes of the payment periods referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 shall not begin to run until the report or certificate in question has been approved.The time allowed for approval may not exceed:(a) 20 calendar days for straightforward contracts relating to the supply of goods and services;(b) 45 calendar days for other contracts and grant agreements;(c) 60 calendar days for contracts and grant agreements involving technical services or actions which are particularly complex to evaluate.The Commission shall inform the beneficiary of any suspension of the period allowed for approval of the report or certificate by means of a formal document."

(b) In paragraph 5, point (a) is replaced by the following:

"(a) the interest rates shall be those referred to in the first subparagraph of Article 86(2), save in case of obstacles resulting from national laws in third countries;"

29. In Article 114, the fourth subparagraph is replaced by the following:

"On the basis of the report and the hearing, the institution shall adopt either a reasoned decision terminating the proceedings or a reasoned decision in accordance with Articles 22, 86 and Annex IX of the Staff Regulations of Officials of the European Communities. Decisions imposing disciplinary measures or financial penalties shall be notified to the interested party and communicated, for information purposes, to the other institutions and the Court of Auditors."

30. In Article 116, paragraph 1 is replaced by the following:

"1. Building contracts cover the purchase, long lease, usufruct, leasing, rental or hire purchase, with or without option to buy, of land, existing buildings or other real estate."

31. In Article 118, paragraph 3, the second sentence of subparagraph 1 is replaced by the following:

"The contract notice shall be compulsory for contracts with an estimated value equal to or above the thresholds laid down in points (a) and (c) of Article 158(1), in point (b) of Article 158(1) for research and development contracts listed in category 8 of Annex II A, without prejudice to contracts concluded after a negotiated procedure as referred to in Article 126."

32. In Article 119, paragraph 1, point (b) is replaced by the following:

"(b) the annual publication of a list of contractors, specifying the subject and the value of the contract awarded, for contracts with a value equal to or greater than EUR 25 000."

33. In Article 126, paragraph 1, the second subparagraph is amended as follows:

“Contracting authorities may also use the negotiated procedure without prior publication of a contract notice in the case of contracts with a value less than or equal to EUR 60 000.”

34. In Article 127, paragraph 1, the following points (f) and (g) are inserted:

"(f) for research and development services other than those where the benefits accrue exclusively to the contracting authority for its use in the conduct of its own affairs, on condition that the service provided is wholly remunerated by the contracting authority;

(g) for service contracts for the acquisition, development, production or co-production of programme material intended for broadcasting by broadcasters and contracts for broadcasting time."

35. In Article 128, paragraph 1 is replaced by the following:

"1. A call for expressions of interest shall constitute a means of pre-selecting candidates who will be invited to submit tenders in response to future restricted invitations to tender for contracts with a value of more than EUR 60 000, subject to Articles 126 and 127."

36. Article 129 is replaced by the following:

"Article 129 Low-value contracts (Article 91 of the Financial Regulation)

1. A negotiated procedure with consultation of at least five candidates may be used for contracts with a value less than or equal to EUR 60 000.If, following consultation of the candidates, the contracting authority receives only one tender that is administratively and technically valid, the contract may be awarded provided that the award criteria are met.

2. For contracts with a value less than or equal to EUR 25 000, the procedure referred to in paragraph 1 with consultation of at least three candidates may be used.

3. Contracts with a value less than or equal to EUR 3 500 may be awarded on the basis of a single tender.

4. Payments in respect of items of expenditure for an amount less than or equal to EUR 200 may consist simply in payment against invoices, without prior acceptance of a tender."

37. In Article 130, a new paragraph 6 is inserted:

"6. For contracts with a value below EUR 60 000, the contracting authority may limit the content of the documents relating to the invitation to tender to what is strictly necessary."

38. Article 134 is amended as follows:

(a) In paragraph 2, the second subparagraph is deleted.

(b) The following paragraph 2a is inserted:

"2a. The contracting authority may, depending on his assessment of risks, require candidates and tenderers to provide a declaration on their honour, duly signed and dated, stating that they are not in one of the situations referred to in Articles 93 and 94 of the Financial Regulation in the following cases:

i) for contracts, awarded by the institutions on their own account, with a value of less than the thresholds referred to in Article 158,

ii) for contracts, awarded in the field of external actions as laid down in Title III, part II.

However, where the contracting authority has decided to require such a declaration or for contracts awarded in the field of external actions with a value above the thresholds laid down in Article 241(1)(a), Article 243(1)(a), or Article 245(1)(a), the tenderer to whom the contract is to be awarded shall provide, within a time limit defined by the contracting authority, the evidence confirming that initial declaration."

(c) The following paragraph 5 is added:

"5. The contracting authority may waive the obligation of a candidate or tenderer to submit the documentary evidence referred to in paragraphs 1 or 2 if such evidence has already been submitted to him for the purposes of another procurement procedure and provided that the issuing date of the documents does not exceed six months.In such a case, the candidate or tenderer shall declare on their honour that the documentary evidence has already been provided in a previous procurement procedure, confirm that they are still valid and that no changes in his situation have occurred."

39. Article 135 is amended as follows:

(a) Paragraph 2 is replaced by the following:

"2. The selection criteria shall be applied in every procurement procedure for the purposes of assessing the financial, economic, technical and professional capacity of the candidate or the tenderer.The contracting authority may lay down minimum capacity levels below which candidates may not be selected."

(b) Paragraph 6 is replaced by the following:

"6. The contracting authority may, depending on his assessment of the risks, decide not to require proof of the financial, economic, technical and professional capacity of candidates or tenderers in the case of the following contracts:

(a) contracts awarded by the institutions on their own account, with a value of less than or equal to EUR 60 000,

(b) contracts awarded in the field of external actions, with a value below the thresholds referred to in Article 241(1)(a), Article 243(1)(a), or Article 245(1)(a).

Where the contracting authority decides not to require proof of the financial, economic, technical and professional capacity of candidates or tenderers, no pre-financing or interim payment may be made. However, a pre-financing can be made if a financial guarantee of an equivalent amount is provided."

40. In Article 138(1), the first sentence is replaced by the following:

"1. Taking into account the suitability of the tenderers not excluded from participation in the procurement procedure or from award of the contract, contracts shall be awarded in one of the following two ways:"

41. In Article 145, paragraph 2, the first subparagraph is replaced by the following:

"Where the value of a contract exceeds the threshold laid down in Article 129(1), the authorising officer responsible shall appoint a committee to open the tenders".

42. In Article 146(1), the second subparagraph is replaced by the following:

"That committee shall be appointed by the authorising officer responsible to give an advisory opinion on contracts with a value above the threshold referred to in Article 129(1)."

43. In Article 151(2), the first subparagraph is amended as follows:

"2. A guarantee corresponding to between 5 and 10% of the total value of the contract may be constituted by deductions from payments as and when they are made."

44. In Article 152, the following sentence is added to the first subparagraph:

"However, where the contractor is a public entity, the authorising officer may, depending on his risk assessment, waive that obligation.”

45. In Article 162, point (a) is replaced by the following:

"(a) an European body involved in education, training, information, innovation or research and study on European policies, any activities contributing to the promotion of citizenship, or a European standards body;"

46. In Article 164, the following paragraphs 1a and 1b are inserted:

"1a. The grant agreement may lay down the arrangements and time limits for suspension in accordance with Article 183.

1b. For grants with a value of less than or equal to EUR 25 000, the authorising officer may include in the grant agreement only those elements in paragraph 1 which he considers to be strictly necessary."

47. In Article 165, the following paragraph is inserted:

"3. In the case of operating grants to bodies which pursue an aim of general European interest, the Commission shall be entitled to recover the percentage of the annual profit corresponding to the Community contribution to the operating budget of the bodies concerned where these bodies are also funded by public authorities which are themselves required to recover the percentage of the annual profit corresponding to their contribution. For the purpose of calculating the amount to be recovered, the percentage corresponding to the contributions in kind to the operating budget shall not be taken into account."

48. In Article 168(1), point (c) is replaced by the following:

"(c) to bodies with a de jure or de facto monopoly, duly substantiated in the award decision;"

49. Article 172 is amended as follows:

(a) In paragraph 2, the first sentence is replaced by the following:

"2. The authorising officer may accept co-financing in kind."

(b) The following paragraph 3 is inserted:

"3. For grants with a total value of less than or equal to EUR 25 000, the authorising officer responsible may, depending on his risk assessment, waive the obligation to provide the evidence referred to in paragraph 1."

50. Article 173 is amended as follows:

(a) Paragraph 2 is replaced by the following:

"2. The application shall show the legal status of the applicant and his financial and operational capacity to complete the proposed action or work programme, subject to Article 176(4).For that purpose the authorising officer shall request a declaration from potential beneficiaries on their honour. For applications for a grant exceeding EUR 25 000, the profit and loss account, the balance sheet for the last financial year for which the accounts were closed and any other supporting document requested in the call for proposals shall, depending on the risk analysis conducted by the authorising officer responsible on his own responsibility, also be attached to the application."

(b) Paragraph 4 is amended as follows:

(i) The first subparagraph is replaced by the following:

"4. Where the application concerns grants for an action for which the amount exceeds EUR 750 000 or operating grants which exceed EUR 100 000, the application shall be accompanied by an external audit report produced by an approved auditor. That report shall certify the accounts for the last financial year available."

(ii) The fifth subparagraph is replaced by the following:"The authorising officer responsible may, depending on his risk analysis, waive the obligation of external audit for beneficiaries who have accepted joint and several liabilities in the case of agreements with a number of beneficiaries."

(iii) The following sixth subparagraph is added:"The first subparagraph shall not apply to public bodies, educational establishments, and the international organisations referred to in Article 43(2)."

51. In Article 176(4), the first subparagraph is replaced by the following:

"4. The verification of financial capacity in accordance with paragraph 3 shall not apply to natural persons in receipt of scholarships, to public bodies, to educational establishments, or to the international organisations referred to in Article 43 (2).”

52. Article 179 is replaced by the following:

"Article 179 Information for applicants (Article 116 of the Financial Regulation)

Applicants shall be informed as soon as possible and in any case within 15 calendar days after the award decision has been sent to the beneficiaries."

53. In Article 180, the paragraph 1 is amended as follows:

"1. For each grant, where pre-financing is split, each new payment shall be subject to the consumption of any earlier pre-financing. Where the latter has not been entirely consumed, the amount of the new payment shall take into account the degree of implementation of the grant agreement. The statement of the beneficiary's outlay shall be produced in support of any request for a new payment."

54. Article 182 is amended as follows:

(a) Paragraph 1 is replaced by the following:

"1. The authorising officer responsible may require the beneficiary to lodge a guarantee in advance, for the same amount as the pre-financing, in order to limit the financial risks connected with the payment of pre-financing."

(b) In paragraph 2, the first subparagraph is replaced by the following:

"2. Where the pre-financing represents over 80% of the total amount of the grant and exceeds EUR 60 000, a guarantee shall be required."

55. Articles 195, 196, 197, 198, 200 and 202 are deleted.

56. Article 211 is replaced by the following:

"Article 211 Accounting reconciliations (Article 135 of the Financial Regulation)

1. The data in the general ledger shall be kept and organised in such a way as to justify the content of each of the accounts included in the trial balance.

2. As regards the inventory of fixed assets, the provisions of Articles 220 to 227 shall apply."

57. Article 212 is deleted.

58. In Article 213, the following paragraph 3 is added:

"3. The accounting rules adopted under Article 133 of the Financial Regulation shall specify the conversion and re-evaluation rules to be provided for the purposes of accrual accounting."

59. Article 222 is replaced by the following:

"Article 222 Entry of items in the inventory (Article 138 of the Financial Regulation)

All items acquired with a period of use greater than one year, which are not consumables, and whose purchase price or production cost is higher than that indicated in the accounting rules adopted under Article 133 of the Financial Regulation shall be entered in the inventory and recorded in the fixed assets accounts."

60. In Article 240, the first paragraph is replaced by the following:

"1. The pre-information notice for international calls for tender shall be sent to the office for Official Publications of the European Communities as early as possible for supply and service contracts and as quickly as possible after the decision authorising the programme for works contracts."

61. Article 241 is amended as follows:

(a) Paragraph 1 is amended as follows:

(i) In subparagraph 1, point (a) is replaced by the following:

"(a) for contracts with a value of EUR 200 000 or more: an international restricted invitation to tender within the meaning of Article 122(2) and point (a) of Article 240(2);"

(ii) Subparagraph 2 is replaced by the following:"Contracts with a value less than or equal to EUR 5 000 may be awarded on the basis of a single tender."

(b) In paragraph 2, a new subparagraph is added:"If the number of candidates satisfying the selection criteria or the minimum capacity levels is less than the minimum number referred to in subparagraph 1, the contracting authority may invite to submit a tender only those candidates who satisfy the criteria."

(b) Paragraph 3 is replaced by the following:"Under the procedure referred to in point (b) of paragraph 1, the contracting authority shall draw up a list of at least three tenderers of its choice. The procedure involves limited competitive tendering, without publication of a notice and shall be known as a competitive negotiated procedure not covered by Article 124.Tenders shall be opened and evaluated by an evaluation committee with the necessary technical and administrative expertise. The members of the evaluation committee must sign a declaration of impartiality.If following consultation of the tenderers, the contracting authority receives only one tender that is administratively and technically valid, the contract may be awarded provided that the award criteria are met."

62. Article 242 is amended as follows:

(a) Paragraph 1 is amended as follows:

(i) In subparagraph 1, the first sentence is replaced by the following:

"1. For service contracts, contracting authorities may use the negotiated procedure with a single tender in the following cases:"

(ii) In subparagraph 1, the following point (g) is added:

"(g) where one attempt for the use of the competitive negotiated procedure following the unsuccessful use of a framework contract has failed. In this case, after cancelling the competitive negotiated procedure, the contracting authority may negotiate with one or more tenderers of its choice, from among those that took part in the invitation to tender, provided that the original terms of the contract are not substantially altered."

(iii) The following new subparagraph is added:"Where the Commission is not the contracting authority, the use of the negotiated procedure is subject to the prior agreement of the responsible authorising officer."

(b) In paragraph 2, point (b) and the last sentence are replaced by the following:

"(b) additional services consisting in the repetition of similar services entrusted to the contractor providing services under a first contract, provided that :

(i) a contract notice was published for the supply of the first service and the possibility of using the negotiated procedure for new services for the project and the estimated cost were clearly indicated in the contract notice published for the first service;

(ii) the extension of the contract is a single one and for a value and duration not exceeding the value and the duration of the initial contract."

63. Article 243 is amended as follows:

(a) Paragraph 1 is amended as follows:

(i) In subparagraph 1, points (a) and (b) are replaced by the following:

"a) for contracts with a value of EUR 150 000 or more: an international open invitation to tender within the meaning of Article 122(2) and point (a) of Article 240(2);

b) for contracts with a value of EUR 30 000 or more but less than EUR 150 000: a local open invitation to tender within the meaning of Article 122(2) and point (b) of Article 240(2);"

(ii) Subparagraph 2 is replaced by the following:"Contracts with a value less than or equal to EUR 5 000 may be awarded on the basis of a single tender."

(b) Paragraph 2 is replaced by the following:"Under the procedure referred to in point (c) of paragraph 1, the contracting authority shall draw up a list of at least three suppliers of its choice. The procedure involves limited competitive tendering, without publication of notice and shall be known as a competitive negotiated procedure not covered by Article 124.Tenders shall be opened and evaluated by an evaluation committee with the necessary technical and administrative expertise. The members of the evaluation committee must sign a declaration of impartiality.If following the consultation of the suppliers, the contracting authority receives only one tender that is administratively and technically valid, the contract may be awarded provided that the award criteria are met."

64. Article 244(1) is amended as follows:

(a) In subparagraph 1, the first sentence is replaced by the following:"Supply contracts may be awarded by negotiated procedure with a single tender in the following cases:";

(b) The following point (e) is added:

"(e) where after two attempts the competitive negotiated tender procedure has been unsuccessful, that is to say, where no administratively and technically valid tender or no qualitatively and/or financially worthwhile tender has been received, in which case, after cancelling the competitive negotiated procedure, the contracting authority may negotiate with one or more tenderers of its choice, from among those that took part in the invitation to tender, provided that the original terms of the contract are not substantially altered."

(c) The following subparagraph is added:"Where the Commission is not the contracting authority, the use of the negotiated procedure is subject to the prior agreement of the responsible authorising officer."

65. Article 245 is amended as follows:

(a) Paragraph 1 is amended as follows:

(i) In subparagraph 1, points (a) and (b) are replaced by the following:

"(a) for contracts with a value of EUR 5 000 000 or more:

(i) in principle an international open invitation to tender within the meaning of Article 122(2) and point (a) of Article 240(2);

(ii) exceptionally, in view of the characteristics of certain works and after the agreement of the authorising officer responsible if the Commission is not the contracting authority, an international restricted invitation to tender within the meaning of Article 122(2) and point (a) of Article 240(2).

(b) for contracts with a value of EUR 300 000 or more but less than EUR 5 000 000: a local open invitation to tender within the meaning of Article 122(2) and point (a) of Article 240(2)."

(ii) Subparagraph 2 is replaced by the following:"Contracts with a value less than or equal to EUR 5 000 may be awarded on the basis of a single tender."

(b) Paragraph 2 is replaced by the following:"Under the procedure referred to in point (c) of paragraph 1, the contracting authority shall draw up a list of at least three contractors of its choice. The procedure involves limited competitive tendering, without publication of notice and shall be known as a competitive negotiated procedure not covered by Article 124.Tenders shall be opened and evaluated by an evaluation committee with the necessary technical and administrative expertise. The members of the evaluation committee must sign a declaration of impartiality.If following the consultation of the contractors, the contracting authority receives only one tender that is administratively and technically valid, the contract may be awarded provided that the award criteria are met."

66. Article 246(1) is amended as follows:

(a) In subparagraph 1, the first sentence is replaced by the following:"Works contracts may be awarded by negotiated procedure with a single tender in the following cases:"

(b) In subparagraph 1, the following point (d) is inserted:

"(d) where the competitive negotiated tender procedure, after two attempts, has been unsuccessful, that is to say, where no administratively and technically valid tender or no quantitatively and/or financially worthwhile tender has been received, in which case, after cancelling the competitive negotiated procedure, the contracting authority may negotiate with one or more tenderers of its choice, from among those that took part in the invitation to tender, provided that the original terms of the contract are not substantially altered."

(c) The following subparagraph is added:"Where the Commission is not the contracting authority, the use of the negotiated procedure is subject to the prior agreement of the responsible authorising officer."

67. In Article 249, the following paragraph 6 is inserted:

"6. For contracts with a value below the thresholds laid down in Article 241(1)(a), Article 243(1)(c) or Article 245(1)(c), the contracting authority may limit the content of the tender documents relating to the invitation to tender to what is strictly necessary."

68. In Article 250, paragraphs 3 and 4 are replaced by the following:

"3. Where the pre-financing exceeds EUR 150 000, a guarantee shall be required. However, where the contractor is a public entity, the authorising officer may, depending on his risk assessment waive that obligation.The guarantee shall be released as and when the pre-financing is deducted from interim payments or payments of balances made to the contractor in accordance with the terms of the contract.

4. A performance guarantee may be required by the contracting authority for an amount set in the tender file and corresponding at the most to 10% of the total value of the contract.

This guarantee shall be mandatory above:

(i) EUR 345 000 for works contracts,

(ii) EUR 150 000 for supply contracts.

The guarantee shall remain valid at least until final acceptance of the supplies and works. If the contract is not properly performed the entire guarantee shall be retained."

69. In Article 252(3) the following second subparagraph is added:

"However, the evaluation committee or the contracting authority may ask candidates or tenderers to supply additional material or to clarify the supporting documents submitted in connection with the exclusion and selection criteria, within the time-limit they specify and having respect to the principle of equal treatment."

70. In Article 257, point (c) is replaced by the following:

"The European Communities Personnel Selection Office and the European Administrative School administratively attached to it;"

71. In Article 260, the second subparagraph is deleted.

72. In Article 262, the following second subparagraph is added:

"Budgetary commitments corresponding to administrative appropriations of a type common to all titles and which are managed globally may be recorded globally in the budgetary accounting following the summary classification by type as set out in Article 27.

The corresponding expenditure shall be booked to the budget lines of each title according to the same distribution as for appropriations."

73. In Article 264, the following second subparagraph is added:

"However, where, for transactions in third countries, it is not possible to use any of those forms of rent guarantees due to obstacles resulting from national legislations in third countries, the authorising officer may accept other forms provided that those forms ensure equivalent protection of the Communities’ financial interests."

74. In Article 271, paragraph 1 is replaced by the following:

"1. The thresholds and amounts laid down in Articles 54, 67, 119, 126, 128, 129, 130, 135, 151, 152, 164, 172, 173, 180, 181, 182, 226, 241, 243, 245 and 250 shall be updated every three years in line with movements in the consumer price index in the Community."

Article 2

Public procurement and grant award procedures launched before the entry into force of this Regulation shall continue to be subject to the rules applicable when those procedures were launched.

Article 3

This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union .

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Brussels,

For the Commission

Member of the Commission

[1] OJ L 248, 16.9.2002, p. 1.

[2] OJ L 357, 31.12.2002, p. 1.

[3] OJ L 134, 30.4.2004, p. 114.

[4] OJ L 37, 10.2.2005, p. 14.