OPINION No 1/98 concerning a proposal for a Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) implementing Decision No 94/728/EC, Euratom on the system of the Communities' own resources (98/C 145/01)

THE COURT OF AUDITORS OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community and in particular Article 209 thereof,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community and in particular Article 183 thereof,

Having regard to Council Decision No 94/728/EC, Euratom of 31 October 1994 concerning the European Communities' system of own resources (1),

Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 1552/89 of 29 May 1989, implementing Decision No 88/376/EEC, Euratom concerning the European Communities' system of own resources (2), as last amended by Council Regulation (Euratom, EC) No 1355/96 of 8 July 1996 (3),

Having regard to the Commission's proposal of 3 July 1997 (4),

Having regard to the Commission's proposal of 5 December 1997 (5),

Having regard to the Council Decision of 6 January 1998, in accordance with Article 209 of the EC Treaty, to consult the Court of Auditors with regard to this proposal, which was received by the Court on 16 January 1998,

Whereas the Commission's proposal aims to consolidate the amendments made to Council Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 1552/89 by: Council Regulation (Euratom, EC) No 3464/93 (6), Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2729/94 (7) and Council Regulation (Euratom, EC) No 1355/96 (8);

Whereas the amendments contained in the Commission's proposal of 3 July 1997 (9) and discussed in the Court's opinion No 5/97 (10) need to be included in the consolidated text,

HAS ADOPTED THIS OPINION:

PART I

1. The Court wishes to stress that Regulations should be consolidated at a time when no amendments are pending. For this reason, it recommends waiting for the Council to adopt the Regulation put forward in the Commission's proposal of 3 July 1997 and cited above under the second recital. Consequently, the Court proposes that Articles 2 and 17 should be amended.

2. The Court has taken note of the changes to the text of the consolidated version, as conditioned by the inclusion of the successive amendments. It feels that these amendments comply with the Regulation to be consolidated.

3. The Court proposes replacing the reference to Council Regulation (EEC) No 1468/81 in the eighth indent of the second subparagraph of Article 6(5) with a reference to Council Regulation (EC) No 515/97, which has replaced the former Regulation.

PART II

The table below gives a summary of the above observations.

This opinion was adopted by the Court of Auditors in Luxembourg at the Court meeting of 1 and 2 April 1998.

For the Court of Auditors

Bernhard FRIEDMANN

President

(1) OJ L 293, 12.11.1994, p. 9.

(2) OJ L 155, 7.6.1989, p. 1.

(3) OJ L 175, 13.7.1996, p. 3.

(4) Doc. COM(97) 343 final.

(5) Doc. COM(97) 652 final.

(6) OJ L 317, 18.12.1993, p. 1.

(7) OJ L 293, 12.11.1994, p. 5.

(8) OJ C 15, 9.1.1998, p. 1.

OPINION OF THE COURT OF AUDITORS CONCERNING A PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL REGULATION (EC, EURATOM) IMPLEMENTING DECISION No 94/728/EC, EURATOM ON THE SYSTEM OF THE COMMUNITIES' OWN RESOURCES

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