4.9.82 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 231/15 
II 
Proposal for a Council Regulation amending Regulation (EEC, Euratom, ECSC) No 
2891/77 implementing the Decision of 21 April 1970 on the replacement of financial 
contributions from Member States by the Communities' own resources 
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN 
COMMUNITIES, 
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the 
European Coal and Steal Community, and in 
particular Article 78h thereof, 
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the 
European Economic 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 the Decision of 21 April 1970 on 
the replacement of financial contributions from 
Member States by the Communities' own 
resources ('), hereinafter referred to as 'the Decision 
of 21 April 1970', and in particular Article 6 (2) 
thereof, 
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, 
Having regard to the opinion of the European Parl­
iament, 
Having regard to the opinion of the Court of 
Auditors, 
Whereas the conciliation procedure provided for in 
the joint declaration of 4 March 1975 by the 
European Parliament, the Council and the 
Commission (2) has taken place in the Conciliation 
Committee; 
Whereas Article 22 of Council Regulation (EEC, 
Euratom, ECSC) No 2891/77 (3), provides that the 
Commission shall, where appropriate, make any 
proposals for amendments thereto; 
Whereas the application of Regulation (EEC, 
Euratom, ECSC) No 2891/77 since it came into force 
has revealed that a number of its provisions require 
adjustment; 
Whereas certain provisions must be adjusted to bring 
them into line with Council Regulation (ECSC, EEC, 
Euratom) No ... of amending the Financial 
Regulation of 21 December 1977; 
Whereas, in view of the Community nature of own 
resources, the Community's financial autonomy 
should be enhanced by a provision that the balances 
(') OJ No L 94, 28. 4. 1970, p. 19. 
O OJNoC 89,22.4. 1975, p. 1. 
(J) OJ No L 336, 27. 12. 1977, p. 1. in the Commission's accounts with the Treasuries of 
the Member States should bear interest; 
Whereas it appears necessary to adjust certain 
provisions relating to the making available to the 
Commission of adjustments to the monthly entries of 
own resources derived from value added tax, herein­
after referred to as 'VAT resources', or financial 
contributions based on gross national product, herei­
nafter referred to as 'GNP-based financial contri­
butions', consequent upon an amending or supp­
lementary budget; 
Whereas the provisions relating to the making 
available of VAT resources or financial contributions 
if the budget has not been finally adopted before the 
beginning of the financial year require clarification; 
Whereas the provisions relating to the adjustment of 
GNP-based financial contributions following receipt 
of the annual statements of VAT resources require 
clarification; 
Whereas Regulation (EEC, Euratom, ECSC) No 
2891/77 should be supplemented so as to contain 
provisions relating to the budgetary management of 
corrections to the annual statements of VAT 
resources; 
Whereas, in view of the increased divergences 
between rates of discount in the Member States, it is 
necessary to adjust the rates of interest applied when 
own resources are not made available by the due 
date; 
Whereas the balance to be carried forward to the 
next financial year should be redefined; 
Whereas the provisions governing verifications and 
inquiries concerning the establishment and making 
available of own resources should be extended to 
permit direct inspections by the Commission, 
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: 
Article 1 
Regulation (EEC, Euratom, ECSC) No 2891/77 is 
hereby amended as follows: 
1. The following paragraph is added to Article 3: 
'If examination of these supporting documents 
shows that an establishment to which they relate 
may have to be corrected, they shall be kept 
beyond this time limit for a sufficient period to 
permit the correction to be made and inspected'. 
2. Article 5 becomes Article 8. It is amended as 
follows: 
No C 231/16 Official Journal of the European Communities 4. 9. 82 
(a) after 'a summary account' the words 'of 
entitlements established' are inserted; 
(b) 'inspection' is replaced by 'entry in the 
accounts'; 
(c) 'July' is replaced by 'April'. 
3. Article 6 becomes Article 5. It is amended as 
follows: 
In the second sentence the words 'expressed as a 
figure to four decimal places and' are deleted 
and, after 'agricultural levies', the words 
'financial contributions to Euratom supp­
lementary programmes' are inserted. 
4. Article 7 becomes Article 6. It is amended as 
follows: 
(a) in the first subparagraph of paragraph 2, 
'20th' is replaced by 'first working day after 
the 19th'; 
(b) in the second indent of the second subpar­
agraph of paragraph 2, the words 'and the 
adjustments referred to in Article 10 (6)' are 
added; 
(c) paragraph 3 is replaced by the following: 
'3. Each Member State shall forward to 
the Commission each month a statement of 
its accounts within the period specified in 
paragraph 2'. 
5. Article 8 becomes Article 7. 
6. Article 9 is amended as follows: 
(a) in the second subparagraph of paragraph 1, 
'Article 10 (3) and (4)' is replaced by 'Article 
10 (3), (4), (5) and (6)'; 
(b) in the third subparagraph of paragraph 1 the 
words 'be kept free of charge' are replaced by 
'yield interest calculated at the discount rate 
in force in the Member State where the 
account is held, less half a point. The interest 
for each month shall be entered on the first 
working day after the following month'; 
(c) in paragraph 3 the words 'in European units 
of account (EUA) on the basis of the 
quotations obtaining on the last day 
corresponding to the time limit for entry or 
on the first preceding day for which such 
quotations are available' are replaced by 'in 
ECU as provided for in Article 30 (2) of the 
Financial Regulation'. 
7. Article 10 is amended as follows: 
(a) in paragraph 1 '20th' is replaced by 'first 
working day after the 19th'; 
(b) the following is added to the third subpar­
agraph of paragraph 3: 'if it is adopted before 
the 16th day of the month. Otherwise, it shall 
be carried out when the second entry 
following final adoption is made.'; (c) the following is inserted in the first sentence 
of the fourth subparagraph of paragraph 3 
after 'the amounts provided for in the draft 
budget': 'referred to in Article 78 (3) of the 
ECSC Treaty, Article 203 (3) of the EEC 
Treaty and Article 177 (3) of the Euratom 
Treaty'; 
(d) in the second sentence of the fourth subpar­
agraph of paragraph 3 the words 'shall 
similarly be calculated from the amounts 
entered in the draft budget' are replaced by 
'of VAT resources shall be calculated by 
reference to the VAT base in the draft budget 
or, if there is no draft budget, in the prel­
iminary draft budget, using the rate fixed for 
the last budget to have been finally adopted. 
Twelfths of financial contributions shall be 
calculated on the basis of the amounts 
entered in the draft budget or, if there is no 
draft budget, in the preliminary draft budget. 
This "draft budget" shall be the draft in the 
form in which it stands at the beginning of 
the financial year for which the budget has 
not been finally adopted. Where the absence 
of a budget is due to the rejection of the 
draft budget by Parliament as provided for by 
Article 78 (8) of the ECSC Treaty, Article 
203 (8) of the EEC Treaty and Article 177 
(8) of the Euratom Treaty, the "VAT base" 
and the "financial contributions" shall be 
those contained in the rejected draft budget 
or, where appropriate, the draft budget 
established after the rejection decision but 
before the start of the financial year'; at the 
end of the second limb of the sentence, the 
following is added: 'if it is adopted before the 
16th day of the month. Otherwise, it shall be 
made on the second due date.'; 
(e) paragraph 5 is replaced by the following: 
'The Commission shall then calculate 
adjustments to the financial contributions so 
as to restore, in the light of the actual yield 
from VAT resources, the original distribution 
in the budget between the latter and the 
financial contributions based on GNP. In 
calculating these adjustments, the balances 
referred to in paragraph 4 shall be converted 
into ECU at the rates of exchange applying 
on the first working day after 15 July before 
the entries provided for in paragraph 4. For 
each Member State concerned, the total of 
VAT balances shall be adjusted by the ratio 
between VAT resources and the financial 
contributions entered in the budget. The 
Commission shall communicate the results of 
this calculation to the Member States which, 
during the previous financial year, paid 
financial contributions based om GNP so that 
they can make a credit or debit entry as 
4. 9. 82 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 231/17 
appropriate in the account referred to in 
Article 9 (1) on the first working day of 
August of the same year.'; 
(f) the following new paragraph 6 is inserted: 
'6. Any corrections to the VAT resources 
basis under Article 10b (1) of Regulation 
(EEC, Euratom, ECSC) No 2892/77 shall 
give rise for each Member State concerned to 
the following adjustments to the balance 
referred to in paragraph 4 of this Article: 
— the corrections under the first sub­
paragraph of Article 10b (1) shall give rise 
to a general adjustment to be entered in 
the account referred to in Article 9 (1) of 
this Regualtion on the first working day 
of August of the same year, 
— the corrections under the second sub­
paragraph of Article 10b (1) shall give rise 
to an adjustment to be entered in the 
account referred to in Article 9(1) of this 
Regulation one month after the expiry of 
the period allowed by the Commission in 
its reasoned decision for making the 
correction. 
The adjustments to be made to the VAT 
balances by the first working day of August 
of each year under the preceding sub­
paragraphs of this paragraph shall also give 
rise to the calculation by the Commission of 
further adjustments to the GNP-based 
financial contributions. The exchange rates to 
be employed in calculating these further 
adjustments shall be those used for the initial 
calculation referred to in paragraph 5. The 
Commission shall communicate these 
adjustments to the Member States so that 
they can enter them in the account referred 
to in Article 9 (1) on the first working day of 
August of the same year.'; 
(g) paragraph 6 becomes paragraph 7. It is 
amended as follows: 'paragraphs 4 and 5' are 
replaced by 'paragraphs 4, 5 and 6.' 
8. In Article 11 the words 'the highest rate of 
discount ruling in the Member States on the due 
date' are replaced by 'the rate of discount applied 
in the Member State on the due date, increased 
by five points'. 
9. Article 13 is amended as follows: 
(a) in paragraph 2 the words 'on the basis of 
statistics compiled by the Statistical Office of 
the European Communities' are replaced by 'by the Statistical Office of the European 
Communities, on the basis of statistics 
prepared according to the European System 
of Integrated Economic Accounts (ESA)', 
and the following sentence is added: 
'No account shall be taken of any revisions of 
statistical data made after the final adoption 
of the budget.'; 
(b) in paragraph 3 'EUA' is replaced by 'ECU'. 
10. In Article 14, under (b), the word 'taxes' is 
replaced by 'VAT on products and net taxes'. 
11. Article 15 is amended as follows: 
(a) in the second indent of the first paragraph the 
words 'Articles 6 and 95' are replaced by 
'Article 6 (1) (b) and (c), (2) (b) and (3) (b) 
and the third subparagraph of Article 88 (5)'; 
(b) the second paragraph is replaced by the 
following: 
'This difference shall be increased or 
decreased by, on the one hand, the net 
amount of appropriations carried forward 
from previous financial years which have 
lapsed and, on the other hand, by way of 
derogation from Article 4 of the Financial 
Regualtion, by: 
— payments made in excess of non-
differentiated appropriations carried over 
from the previous financial year under 
Article 6 (1) of the Financial Regulation 
as a result of changes in ECU rates and 
— the balance resulting from exchange gains 
and losses during the financial year.'; 
(c) the third paragraph is deleted. 
12. Article 16 is amended as follows: 
(a) in the second subparagraph of paragraph 1 
the words 'shall give rise to' are replaced by 
'may give rise to'; 
(b) in paragraph 2 the words 'Article 10 (4) and 
(5)' are replaced by 'Article 10 (4), (5) 
and (6)'. 
13. Article 17 (3) is amended as follows: 
(a) the words 'Member States shall report to the 
Commission, where appropriate within the 
framework of existing procedures,' are 
replaced by 'Member States shall send to the 
Commission two separate reports, one on the 
results of their inspections and the other 
containing'; 
(b) the following two sentences are added: 
'These reports shall be submitted during the 
month following the end of each half year 
and shall include the number of cases of 
No C 231/18 Official Journal of the European Communities 4. 9. 82 
irregularities concerning own resources, an 
overall estimate of the own resources evaded 
and the amount of own resources established 
or still to be established. The reports shall 
also describe serious irregularities which 
could have a significant financial impact on 
own resources.' 
14. Article 18 is amended as follows: 
(a) in the third sentence of the second sub­
paragraph of paragraph 2, after 'minimum', 
the remainder of the sentence is replaced by: 
'(a) the Commission may, in specific cases, 
request that certain documents be 
forwarded to it; 
(b) in the monthly statement of accounts 
referred to in Article 7 (3), the amounts 
entered in the accounts which relate 
to irregularities or delays in the 
establishment, entry in the accounts and 
making available of own resources, 
discovered during the inspections 
referred to above, must be identified by 
means of appropriate notes.'; 
(b) the following new paragraph 3 is inserted: 
'3. Without prejudice to the inspections 
referred to in paragraph 2, the Commission 
may itself undertake on-the-spot inspections. 
The officials appointed by the Commission to 
undertake these inspections shall, to the 
extent necessary for the correct application of 
this Regulation, have access to the supporting documents referred to in Article 3 and to all 
other related documents. The Commission 
shall give adequate notice of the inspection to 
the Member State concerned by the 
inspection or on whose territory the 
inspection is to take place. Representatives of 
the Member State concerned may take part in 
these inspections.'; 
(c) paragraph 3 becomes paragraph 4. The words 
'paragraphs 1 and 2' are replaced by 
'paragraphs 1, 2 and 3'; 
(d) paragraph 4 becomes paragraph 5. 
15. In Article 19 the words 'in particular regarding 
nomenclature, origin, value for customs purposes, 
Community transit and inward processing,' are 
deleted. 
16. In Article 21, under (c), the words 'and (3)' are 
added after '9 (2)'. 
Article 2 
This Regulation shall enter into force on the day 
following its publication in the Official Journal of the 
European Communities. 
It shall apply from the financial year 1983. 
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and 
directly applicable in all Member States.