Amended proposal for a Council Regulation (ECSC, EC, Euratom) adjusting the daily subsistence allowance rates for officials on mission within the European territory of the Member States of the European Union laid down in Article 13 of Annex VII to the Staff Regulations of Officials of the European Communities and introducing an annual adjustment procedure
Date: 1997-07-31
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: European official, allowances and expenses, member country, regulations for civil servants, remuneration of work

COMMISSION  OF THE  EUROPEAN  COMMUNITIES 

lit 
•k 

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Brussels,  31.07.1997 
COM(97) 429  final 

96/ 0232  (CNS) 

Amended  proposal  for  a 

COUNCIL  REGULATION  ŒCSC. EC. Euratom) 

ADJUSTING  THE  DAILY  SUBSISTENCE  ALLOWANCE  RATES  FOR  OFFICIALS  ON  MISSION 

WITHIN  THE  EUROPEAN  TERRITORY  OF  THE  MEMBER  STATES  OF  THE  EUROPEAN  UNION 

LAID DOWN  IN ARTICLE  13  OF ANNEX  VII  TO THE  STAFF  REGULATIONS  OF OFFICIALS OF 

THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES AND INTRODUCING AN ANNUAL ADJUSTMENT PROCEDURE 

(presented  by  the  Commission  pursuant  to  Article  189 a (2) 
of the  EC-Treaty) 

EXPLANATORY  MEMORANDUM 

1.  The  Court  of  Auditors  and  the  Court  of  Justice  had  no  comments  to  make  when 

consulted by the Council by letter of 21 October  1996 in accordance with Article 24 

of  the  Treaty  establishing  a  Single  Council  and  a  Single  Commission  of  the 

European  Communities.  European  Parliament,  however,  adopted  a  report  by 

Mr Tappin on  12 March  1997 (PE A4-0039/97) proposing seven amendments to the 

Commission proposal. 

2.  The  Commission  can  accept  amendments 2,  4,  5  and  7  as  they  stand,  and 

amendments  1  and 3  with  some  changes.  Accordingly,  the  amended  proposal  will 

contain a new citation, five new recitals and a new Article 2. The Commission is of 

the  opinion  that  these  amendments  should  increase  budgetary  clarity  and  ensure 

sound financial  management in an area where interinstitutional cooperation is called 

for. 

3.  The Commission was unable to accept amendment 6, giving the budgetary authority 

the  power  to decide whether  or not the allowances  in question  should  be  adjusted. 

The system proposed runs counter to the Commission proposal's objective, which is 

to  simplify  the  existing  adjustment  procedure  provided  for  by  Annex VII,  which 

gives  decision-making  power  to  the  Council,  acting  on  a  proposal  from  the 

Commission. 

4.  The  old  explanatory  memorandum,  reproduced  below,  has  been  amended  to  take 

account of the figures for  1997. 

The last general revision of the daily subsistence allowance rates for  officials  on mission 

within  the  European  terri tory  of  the  Member  States  of  the  European  Union  ,  has  been 

decided by the Council  the 22 July  199Ï  (Regulation No 2232/91). 

Those allowances were based on surveys carried out in the first quarter of 1990. 

The  scales  fixed  then  no  longer  reflect  prevailing  economic  conditions  and  this, 

compounded  by  the  accession  of  three  new  Member  States,  means  that  the  daily 

subsistence  allowance rates and the ceilings for  the reimbursement  of hotel  expenses  for 

missions within the Member States urgently  need revision. 

The  attached  proposal  for  a  Regulation  updates  the  rates  on  the  basis  of  the  consumer 

price indices in the hotel and catering sector supplied by Eurostat and the exchange  rates 

applied between  1990 and 1996. 

However, applying this method of calculation to the entire period would have produced  s 

different  scale from the one used by European Parliament, partly because Partir ment has 

made an annual adjustment  based on the values for  the previous year and partly  because 

column  II  of  the  scale  is  applied  in  Parliament  to  all  grades  other  than  Al  to  A3  for 

missions to the seats of the Community institutions. 

The  attached  proposal  for  a  Regulation  consequent!y  takes  as  its  point  cf  departure 

European Parliament's scale for  1997. 

Moreover, the Staff Regulations make no provision for the régulai' updating  ofrat.es:  this 

would  make the allowances mere realistic as they would better reflect  the costs  incun-Qâ 

by  staff  on mission.  The  Commission  is therefore  proposing  to  introduce  a  system  for 

the regular adjustment  of the scales on the basis of trends in price indices in the he tel and 

catering  sector as published by Eurostat and the exchange rates used for  implementation 

of the general  budget of the Communities.  This adjustment  would  be made annually by 

the Commission, which would then inform the other institutions. 

AMENDED  PROPOSAL  FOR  A 

COUNCIL  REGULATION  (ECSC, EC,  E U R A T O M)  N°... 

OF 

ADJUSTING  THE  DAILY  SUBSISTENCE  ALLOWANCE  RATES  FOR  OFFICIALS  ON  MISSION 

WITHIN  THE  EUROPEAN  TERRITORY  OF  THE  M E M B ER  STATES  OF  THE  EUROPEAN 

UNION  LAID  DOWN  IN  A R T I C LE  13  OF  ANNEX  VII  TO  THE  STAFF  REGULATIONS  OF 

O F F I C I A LS  OF  THE  EUROPEAN  COMMUNITIES  AND 

INTRODUCING  AN  ANNUAL 

ADJUSTMENT  PROCEDURE 

THE  COUNCIL  OF THE  EUROPEAN  UNION, 

Having  regard  to the Treaty establishing  a single Council and a single Commission  of the 

European  Communities, and in particular Article 24 thereof, 

Having  regard to the  Staff  Regulations  of Officials  and the  Conditions  of Employment  of 

Other  Servants  of  the  European  Communities  laid  down  by  Regulation  (EEC,  Euratom, 

ECSC)  No  259/68,1  as  last  amended  by  Regulation  (EC,  Euratom,  ECSC)  No  1329/972, 

and  in particular  Article  13 of Annex VII  to the  Staff  Regulations  and  Articles  22  and  67 

of the Conditions  of  Employment, 

Having  regard 

to  the  proposal  from 

the  Commission  after  consulting 

the  Staff 

Regulations  Committee,3 

Having  regard to the opinion  of the European  Parliament,4 

Having regard  to the opinion  of the Court of Justice,5 

Having regard  to the opinion of the Court of Auditors,6 

OJL  56, 4.3.1969, p. 1. 
OJL  183, 11.07.97, p. 1. 
Opinion n°  158/96 du 3.6.96 
Opinion  given the  12.3.97 
Opinion given the  11.11.96 
Opinion given the 7.11.96 

9 

Whereas  the  rates  of  daily  subsistence  allowance  for  officials  on  mission  should  be 

adjusted  in  order  to  take  account  of  the  increased  costs  recorded  since  1991  in  the 

different  places of employment in the Member States within the European Union; 

Whereas, in the case of missions to the seats of the Community  institutions, the European 

Parliament's  practice of applying the same rates for  officials  in ail  grades, except  grades 

Al, A2 and A3, should be emulated; 

Whereas  daily  allowance  rates  should  be  fixed  for  missions  to  Austria,  Finland  and 

Sweden; 

Whereas, in the interests of equal treatment, the scale of rates should be aligned on those 

already applied by the European Parliament; 

Whereas  (lie financial  perspective  adopted under  the  Interinstitutional  Agreement  of 29 

October  1993 on budgetary  discipline  and improvement of the budgetary  procedure, 

Whereas,  as  part  of  interinstitutional  cooperation  and  in  particular  the  conclus icns  on 

the rationalization  of admimstrative  expenditure,  common criteria  should  be  established 

for  the provisions  governing  mission expenses, 

Whereas a procedure should be introduced for the régulai- adjustment  of daily subsistence 

allowance rates for missions to take account of changes in prices and exchange rates, 

Whereas  the  otlier  institution* must  be  given  details  of  the  annual  adjustments  decided 

by the  Commission, 

Whereas  each  institution  must  justify  the  overall  budget  adopted  for  mission  expenses 

in its estimates  on the basis of an ammal work programme, 

Whereas  each  institution,  in  exercising  the  powers  conferred  upon  it  by  the  Financial 

Regulation  as  regards  autonomous  implementation  of  the  budget,  shall  ensure  strict 

application  of the principles  of  sound  financial  management  and,  in particular  econonr 

and  cost-effectiveness, 

'C 

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: 

Article 1 

Article  13 of Annex VII to the Staff Regulations is hereby amended as follows: 

1.  The scale in paragraph  1 (a) is replaced by the  following: 

j— 

Member  States 

iBelgium 
Denmark 
Germany 
iGreece 
|Spain 
j Fran ce 
jiralanci 
jitaly 
Luxembourg 
Netherlands 
•Austria 
Portugal 
i.-inland 
'•Sweden 
]Ur;iied  Kingdom 

1 
Grades AI  to A3 
and LA3 

3344 
3532 
2953 
2502 
2743 
2852 
3030 
2819 
3222 
3117 
2930 
2774 
4029 
4029 
2916 

II 
Grades A4 to A8, 
LA4 to LA8 and 
category B 
5952 
7004 
5061 
4299 
5627 
5120 
6186 
8064 
5637 
5383 
4794 
5756 
3786 
6786 
5685 

' 

(in BFR) 

III 

Other grades 

5507 
6478 
4684 
3969 
5207 
4739 
5719 
5610 
5211 
5444 
4794 
5326 
6786 
6786 
6186 

2,  The following  subparagraph (c) is added to paragraph  1 : 

"In  the  case  of  missions  to  one  of  the  seats  of  the  institutions,  Column  II  of  the 

foregoing  scale shall apply to categories C and D". 

c 

3.  The first sentence of paragraph 2 is replaced by the  following: 

"In  addition  to  the  rates  set  out  in  Column.I  of  the  foregoing  scale,  the  hotel  bill 

covering  room, service and  taxes, but excluding  breakfast,  shall  be reimbursed  up to 

a maximum of 

Belgian 
Belgian 
Belgian 
Belgian 
Belgian 
Belgian 
Belgian 
Belgian 
Belgian 
Belgian 
Belgian 
Belgian 
Belgian 
Belgian 
Belgian 

francs 
francs 
francs 
francs 
francs 
francs 
francs 
francs 
francs 
francs 
francs 
francs 
francs 
francs 
francs 

4657 
5785 
3863 
3775 
5040 
3822 
5217 
5340 
4201 
5248 
5060 
5028 
6150 
6150 
5001 

for  Belgium 
for  Denmark 
for  Germany 
for  Greece 
for  Spain 
for 
for 
for 
for 
for 
for  Austria 
for  Portugal 
Finland 
for 
for  Sweden 
for 

France 
Ireland 
Italy 
Luxembourg 
the  Netherlands 

j 

the United Kingdom". 

4.  The following  subparagraph is added to paragraph 9: 

The  rates  set  out  in paragraphs  1 and  2 shall  be adjusted  by the  Commission  by  31 

March  each  year  on  the  basis  of  the  hotel  and  catering  price  indices  published  by 

EUROSTAT  for  November  of the preceding  year  and  the relevant  exchange  rates. It 

shall  notify  the  other  institutions  accordingly.  The  decision  shall  take  effect  on  the 

first day of the month following  its adoption/ 

% 

Article 2 

Each  institution  shall  attach  to the annual  estimate  a statement justifying  its request  for 

appropriations  for  mission  expenses  on  the  basis  of  its  annual  work  programme  by 

sector  of  activity,  including  expenses  engendered  by  professional 

training.  This 

statement  shall  take  account  of  the  specific  nature  of  each  institution  and  provide 

information  on  measures,  in  particular  on  the  final  accounts  for  daily  subsistence 

allowances.  These  measures  shall  seek  to ensure  strict  application  of  the  principles  of 

sound  financial  management  and,  in particular,  economy and  cost-effectiveness. 

Article 3 

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

J 

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

Member States. 

Done at Brussels 

For the Council 

The President 

<T 

1997 Daily subsistence  allowances 

« ; C : .Î 

Financial  statement 

Annex 2 

1.  Difference  between  current  and  proposed  allowances 
The European  Parliament  is not taken into account as it already  applies these  indemnities 

Number of 

Total 

allowances  per  Difference  per  difference  per 
allowance 
BFR 

year 
million BFR 

year 

Belgium 
Denmark 
Germany 
Greece 
Spain 
France 
Ireland 
Italy 
Luxembourg 
Netherlands 
Austria 
Portugal 
Finland 
Sweden 
United Kingdom 

| 

24.458 
3.220 
20.620 
12.063 
10.943 
34.509 
3.659 
19.238 
9.383 
5.740 
3.368 
5.795 
2.453 
2.964' 
18.798 

1.262 
884 
836 
1.409 
397 
820 
951 
449 
1.202 
923 
1.153 
1.606 
314 
314 
930 
Total million BFR 

30,9 
2,8 
17,2 
17,0 
4,3 
28,3 
3,5 
8,6 
11,3 
5,3 
3,9 
9,3 
0,8 
0,9 
17,5 

161,6 

Exchange  rate at 

1.5.97 

1 ECU = 

40,4529 

Total million ECU 

3,99 

2. Budget items concerned: A-1300(96%); A-1040(4%) 

/O 

ISSN 0254-1 :75 

COM(97) 429  final 

^TTTvrF.]S[xs 

EN 

01 

Catalogue  number  :  CB-C0-97-433-EN-C 

ISBN 92-78-23S43-C 

Office  for Official  Publications of the European Communities 

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u