PRELIMINARY DRAFT AMENDING BUDGET No 4 TO THE BUDGET FOR 2004 - GENERAL STATEMENT OF REVENUE - STATEMENT OF REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE BY SECTION

Section I - Parliament

Section II - Council

Section III - Commission

Section IV - Court of Justice

Section V - Court of Auditors

Section VI - Economic and Social Committee

Section VII - Committee of the Regions

Section VIII Part A - European Ombudsman

Section VIII Part B - European Data-Protection Supervisor

(presented by the Commission)

Having regard to

- the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 272 thereof,

- the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community, and in particular Article 177 thereof,

- 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 37 thereof,

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

the European Commission hereby presents to the budgetary authority the preliminary draft amending budget No 4 to the 2004 budget for the reasons set out in the explanatory memorandum.

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The general statement of revenue and the statement of revenue and expenditure by section are forwarded separately via the SEI-BUD system. One language version of the general statement of revenue and of the statement of revenue and expenditure by section is attached as a technical annex by way of example.

EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

The purpose of this preliminary draft amending budget is to adapt all the sections of the 2004 budget to the changes made by the revision of the Staff Regulations of Officials and the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Communities. As the overall budgetary repercussions of the reform have already been incorporated into the appropriations of the 2004 budget, this preliminary draft amending budget relates mainly to the establishment plans, which have to be changed for the entry into force of the reform of the Staff Regulations scheduled for 1 May 2004, and the adjustment of the structure of the budget in order to permit implementation of the new provisions laid down in the Staff Regulations (consideration of a new category of personnel, "contract staff"). It also updates a number of budget remarks and various references to the legal bases introduced by this reform. These changes to the budget will enter into force at the same time as the new Staff Regulations.

This amending budget is based on the Financial Regulation (Articles 46 and 47 concerning the establishment plans) and the amended proposal for a Council Regulation amending the Staff Regulations of Officials and the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Communities [2] approved by the Commission on 18 November 2003, and in particular Annex XIII thereto which will apply during the transitional period planned for the reform.

[2] Amended proposal for a Council Regulation amending the Staff Regulations of officials and the Conditions of Employment of other servants of the European Communities, COM (2003)721 final, 18.11.2003 (Staff Regulations)

I. Parliament

The preliminary draft estimates by Parliament's Bureau on 9 February adapt technically the EP establishment plan to the new Staff Regulations. This consists of mechanically converting the posts in the establishment plan to comply with the new transitional career structure. A new budget item with a token entry is also created to cover expenditure relating to contract staff. Under the new Staff Regulations, contract staff will form a new category of non-established staff. They will in general be assigned non-core tasks and will be supervised by permanent or temporary staff members, ultimately replacing category D auxiliary staff and officials within the institutions.

II. Council

II.1 Amendment of the establishment plan

In accordance with a method coordinated with the Commission, the General Secretariat has applied a simple technical transposition which does not affect the 2004 budget as voted by the budgetary authority (situation after the amendment of the establishment plan in the amending budget approved by Coreper on 18 February 2004) and which is based on the following principles:

a) Elimination of the distinctions for the language services, following the disappearance of this category from Article 5 and Annex I of the Staff Regulations.

b) In the two-year transitional period (up to 30 April 2006) the four categories of permanent and temporary posts in the establishment plans are retained, but they are redefined in accordance with the following rules:

- Existing posts are converted in accordance with Article 2(1) of Annex XIII of the reform text. This article states how the category and grade of officials in posts covered by the Staff Regulations are to be renamed.

- The new posts granted by the budgetary authority for enlargement [3] are converted in accordance with the second indent of Article 11(3) which lays down the table of equivalence between the grade for the competition and the grade of recruitment (from 1 May) if these posts are not to be filled before 1 May 2004.

[3] Posts created for enlargement in 2003: 236 posts.

II.2 Change in budget structure

The new Staff Regulations contain a new category of personnel -"contract staff" - which requires

- the creation of a specific budget line: Item 1115 - Contract staff, with the remarks: This appropriation is intended to cover expenditure on any contract staff to be employed,

- amendment of the budget lines covering the various entitlements of these members of staff (Article 115).

II.3 Budget remarks

Under the provisions of the new Staff Regulations, it is necessary to:

- add the following indent to the remarks to Item 1149 "Other allowances and repayments"

"- allowance for parental or family leave",

- adjust the remarks for the various budget lines relating to implementation of the Staff Regulations and Conditions of Employment to the change in references.

III. Commission

III.1 Adjustment of the establishment plans for the Commission, including those for the Offices, OLAF, the Publications Office and the Translation Centre for the bodies of the European Union

The Commission has applied a simple technical transposition which does not affect the 2004 budget as voted by the budgetary authority. The Commission has transposed its establishment plans (administrative budget, research and Offices) on the basis of the following principles:

- Immediate elimination of the distinctions for the language and scientific and technical services, following the disappearance of these categories from Article 5 and Annex I of the Staff Regulations.

- In the two-year transitional period the four categories of permanent and temporary posts in the establishment plans are retained, but they are redefined in accordance with the following rules:

- Existing posts are converted in accordance with Article 2(1) of Annex XIII of the reform text. This article states how the category and grade of officials in posts covered by the Staff Regulations are to be renamed.

The establishment plan voted by the budgetary authority for 2004 already takes account of the estimated effect of "former career" promotions for 2004 and does not require any adjustment.

- The new posts granted by the budgetary authority for 2004 [4] are converted in accordance with the second indent of Article 11(3) which lays down the table of equivalence between the grade for the competition and the grade of recruitment from 1 May if these posts are not to be filled before 1 May, albeit with the exception of:

[4] The 780 new posts for the Commission are linked to enlargement and will be filled from 1 May 2004 by the successful candidates whose recruitment grade will be determined by Article 11(3) of Annex XIII.

- new grade A1 and A2 posts;

- new posts granted to the cabinets as a result of enlargement.

The Commission is applying Article 2 of Annex XIII to these exceptions as to existing posts, producing career structures which are identical to the situation at present. Moreover, at cabinet level, some posts in the new cabinets may also be filled by temporary staff before 1 May, which means that Article 11 cannot be applied.

The principles set out above have been applied to all the establishment plans - for the operational budget, research and the Offices.

For the Publications Office, however, the six new management posts granted in 2004 to cope with the substantial increase in external staff in recent years in preparation for enlargement have also been converted on the basis of Article 2 of Annex XIII.

All new recruitment for the Translation Centre for the bodies of the European Union will be in the form of temporary posts; the table of equivalence for the permanent posts has therefore been changed entirely in accordance with Article 2 of Annex XIII to the Staff Regulations (in accordance with Article 5(4) of Annex XIII concerning reserve lists for temporary staff already in service). In addition, the A5 grade in the old Staff Regulations (A*11) has been retained for two new posts and the A6 grade (A*10) for three new posts.

The following tables show the changes in the various establishment plans for the Commission, including those for the Offices. Where there are no new posts in 2004, no table needs to be included for temporary posts as they are converted only in accordance with Article 2 of Annex XIII.

The new establishment plans comprise all the footnotes which have been automatically changed in line with these principles, except those contained in the technical annex to "the general statement of revenue point C - Staff" in Section III - Commission.

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III.2 Concerning budget remarks, Article 29 of the rules for the implementation of the Financial Regulation states:

"The budget remarks shall include:

a) the references of the basic act, where one exists;

b) all appropriate explanations concerning the nature and purpose of the appropriations."

By analogy with practice for the rest of the budget and in the revision of the Staff Regulations of Officials and the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants, which had not been finally adopted when this amending budget was presented, the Commission proposes that no reference should be made in the budget remarks to specific articles and/or annexes and that the remarks in the budget lines be standardised as follows:

Staff Regulations of the Officials of the European Communities.

Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Communities.

The explanations concerning the type of appropriations in the budget lines and the use to which they are put remain unchanged.

The tables below show the references used in the 2004 budget for the Staff Regulations of officials and the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants.

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III.3 Budget remarks concerning contract staff

The various budget remarks concerning external staff must be supplemented where necessary to allow the recruitment of contract staff, a new category of personnel created by the reform of the Staff Regulations. The final proposal for the Staff Regulations provides for two types of contract staff: those responsible for non-essential tasks and those responsible for auxiliary tasks. The latter will gradually replace auxiliary staff. The recruitment of contract staff must therefore be provided for wherever the budget currently permits the recruitment of auxiliaries, regardless of whether the appropriations are for external staff (XX 01 02) or for certain expenditure on the support for programmes (XX 01 04). [5] All the changes proposed are set out in the technical annex.

[5] The budget remarks proposed for Title 13 take account of the proposals made in preliminary draft amending budget 3/2004.

III.4 Adaptation of establishment plans for decentralised Agencies

In April 2004 the Commission proposed the PDB 2004 including the amounts for EU 15 and EU 25, as well as the establishment plans for Agencies for EU 15 and EU 25. Although the discussions of the EU Budget Authority concerned EU 15 and EU 25, the final budget adopted in December 2004 was limited to EU 15. The Commission proposed on 3.2.2004 an Amending Budget for EU 25 (AB 1/2004), strictly based on the figures already discussed and accepted by the Budget Authority. However, as agreed with the Budget Authority, this Amending Budget is limited to the financial appropriations.

In a further step the Amending Budget 4/2004 on the Modification of the Staff Regulations will include the transformation of establishment plans for Agencies from EU 15 to EU 25, and in parallel the integration of the new grading scheme following the reform into all establishment plans for EU 25. For the sake of transparency the Commission proposes including in the EU budget for EU 25 two separate sets of establishment plans per Agency:

- the first one ('traditional' establishment plan) showing the increase for statutory staff from EU 15 to EU 25, using the traditional staff nomenclature, for the sake of comparison;

- the second one (establishment plan according to the new nomenclature) transforming the proposed establishment plan for EU 25 into the new grading scheme following the staff reform, to enter into force on 1.5.2004;

The Commission proposal is based on the following principles:

The 'Traditional' establishment plans:

- Basically the establishment plans for EU 25, as already proposed by the Commission in the framework for the PDB 2004, are proposed again. Any deviation to this principle is indicated on a case by case basis.

The establishment plans according to the new nomenclature take into account that

- existing posts, authorised in the Community Budget 2003 shall in principle follow Article 2 of Annex XIII of the new Staff Regulations, which means that posts currently in place (see Authorised posts 2003) shall receive the higher grading; some Agencies have proposed downgrading for '2003 posts' which are still vacant.

- new and additional posts, comparing the Authorised posts of the Community Budget 2003 and the Community Budget 2004 for EU 15, shall basically follow Article 11 3 of Annex XIII of the new Staff Regulations and receive lower grading, unless the Agency concerned has reasonable forecasts for recruitment before 1 May 2004;

- new and additional posts (new enlargement posts authorised in the EU 25 establishment tables), comparing the Community Budget 2004 EU 15 and the Community Budget 2004 EU 25, shall follow Article 11(3) of Annex XIII and receive the lower grading. It is evident that these posts cannot be filled before 1 May 2004, as the necessary resources to do so are not in place;

III.4.1 Establishment plans which are in content identical with PDB 2004 - EU 25:

- European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training,

- European Environment Agency

- European Training Foundation

- European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction

- European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products

- European Food Safety Authority

- European Maritime Safety Agency

- European Aviation Safety Agency

- European Railway Agency for Safety and Interoperability

III.4.2 Establishment plans with some modification in content compared with the PDB 2004 - EU 25:

- European Agency for Safety and Health at Work

The table of the PDB 2004 for EU 25 was corrected and now contains 38 posts.

- European Agency for Reconstruction

The Agency reviewed its forecasts and 114 posts instead of 120 posts (PDB EU 25) are now provided.

- Eurojust

The Agency reviewed its forecasts and 69 posts instead of 76 posts (PDB EU 25) are now provided.

- European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia

Of the planned 34 staff, 1 D post is replaced by 1 C post.

- European Agency for Networks and Information Security

As in the PDB EU 25 the establishment plan includes 15 posts; but they are temporary instead of permanent.

Self-financed Agencies:

- Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs)

The proposed establishment plan respects the total number of staff already proposed in the PDB 2004 for EU 25, but within that framework converts 10 permanent posts into temporary ones (from 460 permanent and 215 temporary posts in the PDB to 450 permanent and 225 temporary posts in the BR4/2004).

- Community Plant Variety Office

The Agency increased its forecast by 2 posts and has now an establishment plan with 37 posts.

III.4.3 Other observations:

- European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions

Although the Staff Regulations applicable to this agency are Regulation 1860/76 of 29 June 1976, the Commission proposes to align for reasons of homogeneity and transparency the establishment plan of this Agency on the provisions of the staff reform for the Commission and the other Agencies.

IV. Court of Justice

IV.1. Adjustment of the Court of Justice's table of posts

The Court of Justice has made a simple technical transposition which does not adversely affect the budgetary authority's voting of the 2004 budget. The adjustment to the table of posts is based on the following principles:

- Immediate removal of the distinction relating to the Language Service as a result of the disappearance of that service as provided for by Article 5 of the Staff Regulations.

- During the two-year transitional period, the four categories (A, B, C and D) in which the temporary and permanent posts in the table of posts are classified are to continue, but the grades will be altered, which calls for conversion of posts:

- Current posts (non-enlargement) are to be converted pursuant to Article 2(1) of Annex XIII to the future Staff Regulations. That provision lays down the manner in which the grade of officials in a position under the Staff Regulations is to be redefined. It is to be noted that the table of posts voted for 2004 by the budgetary authority already takes account of the estimated effect of "old career" promotions for 2004 and does not on that account require amendment.

- The new posts granted by the budgetary authority with a view to enlargement in 2003 and 2004 [6] are transformed in accordance with Article 11(3) of Annex XIII, which contains the table of equivalence between competition grade and recruitment grade as from 1 May, with the exception, however, of the following posts:

[6] The budgetary authority has approved the creation of 501 posts under the 2004 budget and 53 posts under the 2003 budget to meet pre-enlargement requirements.

- a Grade A2 director's post in the Translation Directorate and a Grade LA3 post assigned to the Interpretation Service,

- temporary posts for the new Members' cabinets.

For those posts, conversion will take place in accordance with the provisions of Article 2 of Annex XIII, just as for current posts: as regards the two A2 and LA3 posts, that method of conversion is necessary in order for them to be filled and, as regards the cabinet posts, it is a question of ensuring equal treatment for members of the staff of present and future Members.

- Furthermore, in accordance with Article 12(2) of Annex XIII to the future Staff Regulations, the 238 LA7 lawyer-linguists' posts intended for the new translation divisions are to be converted into 238 Grade A8 posts.

The two following tables show the amendments to the Court of Justice's table of posts resulting from the application of the principles set out above.

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IV.2. Reference to the legal basis

At the time when this amending budget is submitted, the new Staff Regulations will not yet have been adopted. For that reason it is proposed to put back, to the procedure for approval of the 2005 budget, the updating of the references contained in the budgetary comments in order to bring them into keeping with the new Staff Regulations.

IV.3. Creation of a new budgetary item for contract agents

The new Staff Regulations provide for two kinds of contract agents: agents responsible for non-essential duties and agents responsible for auxiliary duties. The latter will gradually replace members of the auxiliary staff. In this connection it is necessary to create a new budgetary item headed "Contract agents" intended to cover the expenditure on new contract agents. This item will be entered as "For the record" and will not receive any appropriations under this amending budget, having regard to the fact that at this stage it is not possible to establish whether, and if so how much, the institution will call on contract agents as from this year.

CHAPTER 11 - STAFF IN ACTIVE EMPLOYMENT

Other staff

Contract agents

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Conditions of employment of other servants of the European Communities, and, in particular, Article 3 and Title IV thereof.

This appropriation is intended to cover expenditure incurred in having recourse to contract agents.

V. Court of Auditors

It is anticipated that the new Staff Regulations will enter into force on 1 May 2004. It is thus necessary to make technical amendments to the 2004 budget to reflect the provisions of this regulation. Specifically, it is necessary to:

a) mechanically recast the Establishment Plan to reflect the revised transitional grades of the Staff Regulation;

b) add a new budget item 1115, with a "p.m." entry, to open up the possibility of employing contract staff instead of auxiliary staff;

c) modify the remarks of item 1149 to include parental and family leave;

d) Remarks on budget lines referring to the Staff Regulations are not modified at this stage as there is no legal basis for so doing until the new Staff Regulations are adopted. It is taken as understood that references to the old Staff Regulations should be understood as references to the corresponding provisions in the new Staff Regulations.

V.1 Changes to the establishment plan

The following table shows how the transformation of the Establishment Plan has been made:

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The revised Establishment Plan, which replaces that which appears in the budget adopted by the European Parliament on 18th December 2003, is in the technical annex to this document.

A specific problem resulting from the new Staff Regulations.

The Court organises from time-to-time internal competitions to encourage a limited number of staff with appropriate qualifications and/or professional experience to pass from one category to the next. Laureats of these competitions are appointed to the higher category at the basic recruitment grade and, in most cases, receive a compensatory allowance until their salary in the higher category increases, following promotions within the category, to equal that they would have received if they had stayed in the previous category. This phenomenon arises because the basic salary in the higher grades of the lower category (e.g. D1) are superior to that paid in the lower grades of the higher category (e.g. C5).

The new Staff Regulation will unify the B, C and D grades into a single linear career structure and will open up the possibility for movement from the equivalent of the current B grade to the A grade providing certain conditions are met. The arrangements in the new Staff Regulation, being more favourable than the Court's present arrangements for transfers from category to category following internal competitions, will result in some present members of the Court's staff finding themselves in a disadvantageous position. In effect, the application of the new Staff Regulation could discriminate against these staff members who have made significant efforts to advance their careers and to contribute to the efficient working of the institution. Staff whose careers advance according to the new Staff Regulation could be graded at a higher level than these staff, despite their later arrival at the equivalent level.

As this amending budget in purely technical in nature, no adjustment is made here to correct the phenomenon described above. However, the Court would like to take this opportunity to inform the budgetary authority that it may seek a one-off correction in the 2005 budgetary procedure. In effect, some four posts reclassified in this amending budget as A*8 may need to be accorded at A*10 and a similar of number of C*2 posts as C*3 or C*4.

VI. Economic and Social Committee

As a result of the introduction of the new Staff Regulations in May 2004, the 2004 budget will have to be amended as regards nomenclature and the establishment plan to take account of these changes, which were not provided for in the European Economic and Social Committee's budget for 2004 adopted by Parliament on 18 December 2003.

VI.1 Reform of the Staff Regulations

As a result of the Reform White Paper of 2000, the Commission adopted an extensive proposal for the reform of the Staff Regulations in April 2002. Since then, the other institutions and staff representatives have been consulted, leading finally to the revised Commission proposal of 18 November 2003. This preliminary draft amending budget is based on that proposal for the revision of the Staff Regulations, which should enter into force on 1 May 2004.

VI.2 Changes to the establishment plan

The new establishment plan is the result of the conversion of all posts existing at 31 December 2003 in accordance with Article 2 of Annex XIII of the draft new Staff Regulations.

As regards the posts granted by the budgetary authority for 2004,

- Those granted for middle management (LA3 and A5) have also been converted in accordance with Article 2 of Annex XIII to the draft new Staff Regulations. In view of the size of the Economic and Social Committee, there can be no doubt that the level of the management grades needed to cope with enlargement is lower than in the Commission. The rationale employed by the Economic and Social Committee for the conversion does not therefore diverge in principle from what the Commission is doing for the new management posts.

- The new posts granted for the starting grades (A7, B5 and C5) have been converted to the new starting grade in accordance with Article 11 of Annex XIII to the draft new Staff Regulations, with the exception of seven of these posts which should be filled before 1 May and to which Article 2 of Annex XIII to the draft new Staff Regulations must be applied. The number of these posts is marginal. Account must also be taken of the fact that the Economic and Social Committee, unlike other institutions, has received virtually no enlargement-related posts in previous years. The posts provided for 1/5/2004 correspond to duties which need to be performed before actual enlargement, in particular within the Directorate of Human Resources.

The multiplication rates mentioned in Article 6(2) of the new Staff Regulations have also been applied to unblock in 2004 the grades considered as being end of career in the current Staff Regulations ([L]A4, B1, C1 and D1). This involves A*13 (5%), B*11 (5%), C*7 (5%) and D*5 (5%). The rates used are those from Articles 9 and 10 of Annex XIII. It is not the policy of the Economic and Social Committee to systematically backdate the entry into force to before 1/5/2004. On the contrary, most promotions will take effect after 1 May. Under the draft new Staff Regulations, Article 6 will be applied (with the rates referred to at Articles 9 and 10 of Annex 13) in the course of the first year. It is therefore important to unblock careers in the Economic and Social Committee at this early stage so that there is no discrimination in relation to officials from institutions which are more likely to be backdating promotions.

The Economic and Social Committee is proposing an establishment plan with a total (unchanged) of 618 permanent and temporary posts in 2004. The establishment plan has also been changed to ensure the equivalence of an average career in the old career structure after 1 May 2004.

There will be no budgetary impact in terms of appropriations.

VI.3 Reference to the legal base

Concerning budget remarks, Article 29 of the rules for the implementation of the Financial Regulation states:

"The budget remarks shall include:

a) the references of the basic act, where one exists;

b) all appropriate explanations concerning the nature and purpose of the appropriations"

By analogy with practice for the rest of the budget and in the revision of the Staff Regulations of Officials and the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants, which had not been finally adopted when this amending budget was presented, the Commission proposes that no reference should be made in the budget remarks to specific articles and/or annexes and that the remarks in the budget lines be standardised as follows:

Staff Regulations of the Officials of the European Communities.

Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Communities.

The explanations concerning the type of appropriations in the budget lines and the use to which they are put remain unchanged.

Annex 1 contains tables showing the references used in the 2004 budget for the Staff Regulations of Officials and the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants.

VI.4 Budget remarks concerning contract staff

The various budget remarks concerning external staff must be supplemented where necessary to allow the recruitment of contract staff, a new category of personnel created by the reform of the Staff Regulations. The final proposal for the Staff Regulations provides for two types of contract staff: those responsible for non-essential tasks and those responsible for auxiliary tasks. The latter will gradually replace auxiliary staff. The recruitment of contract staff must therefore be provided for wherever the budget currently permits the recruitment of auxiliaries, mainly in Items 1110 and 1114.

A new budget line must also be created for contract staff in accordance with Articles 79 to 115 of the new Staff Regulations. At present, this line carries a token entry.

It is also proposed that the words "contract staff" be added to the remarks for the following lines:

1149 Other allowances and repayments

115 Overtime

VI.5 Budget remarks concerning parental or family leave

The following remarks need to be added in view of the new Article 42a inserted in the new Staff Regulations of Officials concerning the allowance for parental or family:

"This line also covers the allowance for parental or family leave"

VII. Committee of the Regions

VII.1 Changes to the establishment plan

The new establishment plan is the result of the automatic conversion of all the grades (new Staff Regulations, Annex XIII, Section 1, Article 2), except for the new posts to be recruited after the new Staff Regulations enter into force on 1 May 2004). The persons in these new posts are to be recruited at the new starting grade in accordance with Annex XIII, Section 1, Article 11 of the new Staff Regulations if they are not to be filled before 1 May.

The Committee of the Regions proposes the following establishment plan for 2004 with a total (unchanged) of 408 permanent and temporary posts in 2004, of which 270 have been converted in accordance with Article 2 and of which the 138 new posts have been converted in accordance with Article 11 of Annex XIII. The establishment plan has also been changed to ensure the equivalence of an average career in the old career structure after 1 May 2004.

VII.2 Changes in nomenclature in anticipation of the new Staff Regulations and contract staff

New item

A new budget line must also be created for contract staff (Articles 79 to 115 of the new Staff Regulations) to replace auxiliary staff. This line carries a token entry.

CHAPTER 11 - STAFF IN ACTIVE EMPLOYMENT

Article 111 - Other staff

New article

Item 1115 Contract staff

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Remarks

New item

This appropriation is intended to cover expenditure on any contract staff to be employed.

1.1.1. Reference to the legal base

Some references to the legal bases have to be adjusted as a result of the entry into force of the new Staff Regulations on 1 May 2004.

Article 1820 Further training

The legal base in the remarks:

Staff Regulations of officials of the European Communities, and in particular the third paragraph of Article 24 thereof

is to be replaced by the following:

Staff Regulations of officials of the European Communities, and in particular Article 24a thereof and Articles 11 to 14 of Annex VII thereto.

Article 1113 Special advisers

The legal base in the remarks:

Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Communities, and in particular Articles 5, 82 and 83 thereof.

is to be replaced by the following:

Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Communities, and in particular Articles 5, 119 and 120 thereof.

VIII Part A. European ombudsman

Article 37 of the Financial Regulation states that, if there are unavoidable, exceptional or unforeseen circumstances, the institutions may present requests for amending budgets to the Commission.

The presentation of this amending budget is justified by the unforeseen and unavoidable circumstances constituted by the political agreement on the revision of the Staff Regulations of Officials of the European Communities and the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants. The amendments made to these regulations entail changes to the establishment plans of the various institutions to bring them into line with the new career structure. This amending budget will have to cover the adjustment of the establishment plan during the transitional phase provided for in Annex XIII to the Staff Regulations and the introduction of a budget line to finance recruitment of the contract staff created by the Conditions of Employment.

VIII.1 Changes to the establishment plan

As regards the old posts, the old categories and grades are automatically converted in accordance with Article 2 of Annex XIII of the Staff Regulations of officials. The two management posts which the budgetary authority had specifically authorised in a higher category (the A2 post for the Ombudsman's Secretary-General and the A4 post of principal administrator in the financial and administrative sector) have also been converted in accordance with this article. This level has to be retained in the new career structure in order to safeguard the objectives aimed at by the budgetary authority in creating these posts, viz. the recruitment of senior-grade officials from the other institutions with the professional experience and qualifications needed to carry out these high-level duties.

As regards the new posts created in 2004, particular with a view to enlargement, Article 11 of the Annex has been applied if they are not to be filled before 1 May.

VIII.2 Changes in the nomenclature in anticipation of the new rules for contract staff

A new budget line for contract staff distinct from that for auxiliaries would appear appropriate for all the institutions. The two budget lines for the Ombudsman would be

111: Other staff

1110: Auxiliary staff, local staff and special advisers

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This appropriation is intended to cover the remuneration and the employer's social security contribution for auxiliary staff, local staff and special advisers provided for in the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Communities.

1115: Contract staff

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Remarks

New item

This appropriation is intended to cover expenditure on any contract staff to be employed.

VIII Part B. European Data-Protection Supervisor

In amending budget 2/2004 the Commission proposed that a section be created for the European Data-Protection Supervisor to provide him with the human and financial resources he needs to carry out his duties.

In that amending budget it proposed an establishment plan based on the Staff Regulations currently in force. This establishment plan must now be converted before the reform of the Staff Regulations takes effect on 1 May 2004. These changes to the budget will enter into force at the same time as the new Staff Regulations.

The Commission proposes a simple technical transposition which will not affect the budgetary authority's vote.

In the two-year transitional period the four categories of permanent and temporary posts in the establishment plans are retained, but they are redefined in accordance with Article 2(1) of Annex XIII of the reform text. This article states how the category and grade of officials in posts covered by the Staff Regulations are to be renamed. As the establishment plan for the Supervisor entered into force before 1 May, the Commission proposes that Article 2 of Annex XIII be applied to all the posts provided in the establishment plan of the European Data-Protection Supervisor.

The attached table sets out this transposition based on Article 2.

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VIII.1 Reference to the legal base

Concerning budget remarks, Article 29 of the rules for the implementation of the Financial Regulation states:

" The budget remarks shall include:

a) the references of the basic act, where one exists;

b) all appropriate explanations concerning the nature and purpose of the appropriations"

By analogy with practice for the rest of the budget and in the revision of the Staff Regulations of Officials and the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants, which had not been finally adopted when this amending budget was presented, the Commission proposes that no reference should be made in the budget remarks to specific articles and/or annexes for the EDPS and that the remarks in the budget lines be standardised as follows:

Staff Regulations of the officials of the European Communities.

Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Communities.

The explanations concerning the type of appropriations in the budget lines and the use to which they are put remain unchanged.

Annex 2 contains tables showing the references used in the 2004 budget for the Staff Regulations of officials and the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants.

VIII.2 Changes in the nomenclature in anticipation of the new rules for contract staff

A new budget line for contract staff distinct from that for auxiliaries would appear appropriate for all the institutions. The two budget lines for the EDPS are set out in the technical annex.