Common Position (EC) No 42/2003 of 3 June 2003 adopted by the Council, acting in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 251 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, with a view to adopting a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Regulation (EEC) No 1210/90 on the establishment of the European Environment Agency and the European Environment Information and Observation Network
Date: 2003-06-03
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: EU environmental policy, European Environment Agency, data processing, environmental cooperation, environmental protection, information network

16.9.2003

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Official Journal of the European Union

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I

(Information)

COUNCIL

COMMON POSITION (EC) No 42/2003

adopted by the Council on 3 June 2003

with a view to adopting Regulation (EC) No . . ./2003 of the European Parliament and of the
Council of . . . amending Council Regulation (EEC) No 1210/90 on the establishment of the
European Environment Agency and the European Environment Information and Observation
Network

(2003/C 219 E/01)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE
EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community, and in particular Article 175 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (1),

Having regard to the opinion of the Court of Auditors (2),

Having regard to the Opinion of the European Economic and
Social Committee (3),

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article
251 of the Treaty (4),

Whereas:

(1) Certain provisions of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1210/90
of 7 May 1990 on the establishment of
the European
Environment Agency and the European Environment
Information and Observation Network (5)
should be
brought into line with Council Regulation (EC, Euratom)
No 1605/2002 of 25 June 2002 on the Financial Regu-
lation applicable to the general budget of the European
‘the general
Communities,
Financial Regulation’) (6) and in particular Article 185
thereof.

referred to as

(hereinafter

(1) OJ C 331 E, 31.12.2002, p. 59.
(2) OJ C 285, 21.11.2002, p. 4.
(3) OJ C 85, 8.4.2003, p. 64.
(4) Opinion of the European Parliament of 22 October 2002 (not yet
published in the Official Journal), Council Common Position of 3
June 2003 and Decision of the European Parliament of . . . (not yet
published in the Official Journal).

(5) OJ L 120, 11.5.1990, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regu-

lation (EC) No 933/1999 (OJ L 117, 5.5.1999, p. 1).

(6) OJ L 248, 16.9.2002, p. 1; Corrigendum in OJ L 25, 30.1.2003,

p. 43.

(2) The general principles and limits governing the exercise of
the right of access to documents, provided for in Article
255 of the Treaty, have been laid down by Regulation (EC)
the
the European Parliament and of
No 1049/2001 of
to
Council of 30 May 2001 regarding public access
European
Commission
documents (7).

Parliament,

Council

and

(3) When Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 was adopted, the
three institutions agreed in a joint declaration that
the
agencies and similar bodies
should have rules which
conform to those of that Regulation.

(4) Appropriate provisions should therefore be included in
Regulation (EEC) No 1210/90 to make Regulation (EC)
No 1049/2001 applicable to the European Environment
Agency, as
should a provision for appeals against a
refusal of access to documents.

(5) Regulation (EEC) No 1210/90 should therefore be amended

accordingly,

HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Regulation (EEC) No 1210/90 is hereby amended as follows:

1. Article 6 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 6

Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of

1.
the European
Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2001 regarding
access to European Parliament, Council and Commission
documents (*) shall apply to documents held by the Agency.

(7) OJ L 145, 31.5.2001, p. 43.

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Official Journal of the European Union

16.9.2003

for

The Management Board shall adopt

the practical
2.
arrangements
(EC)
implementing
No 1049/2001 within six months after the entry into
force of Regulation (EC) No . . ./2003 of
the European
Parliament and of the Council of . . . amending Council
Regulation (EC) No 1210/90 on the establishment of the
European
European
Environment Information and Observation Network (**).

Environment Agency

Regulation

and

the

Decisions taken by the Agency pursuant to Article 8
3.
of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 may form the subject of
a complaint to the Ombudsman or of an action before the
Court of Justice, under the conditions laid down in Articles
195 and 230 of the EC Treaty respectively;
___________
(*) OJ L 145, 31.5.2001, p. 43.
(**) OJ L . . .’

2. In Article 8:

The budgetary authority shall adopt the establishment plan
for the Agency.

It shall become final

The budget shall be adopted by the Management
5.
following final adoption of
Board.
the general budget of the European Union. Where appro-
priate, it shall be adjusted accordingly.

the budgetary

any project which may have

The Management Board shall, as soon as possible,
6.
intention to
authority of
notify
significant
implement
financial
in
particular any projects relating to property such as the
inform the
rental or purchase of buildings.
Commission thereof.

implications for the funding of

the budget,

shall

its

It

Where a branch of the budgetary authority has notified its
intention to deliver an opinion, it shall forward its opinion
to the Management Board within a period of six weeks after
the date of notification of the project.’

(a) Paragraph 6 shall be replaced by the following:

4. Article 13 shall be replaced by the following:

‘6.
The Management Board shall adopt the annual
report on the Agency's activities and forward it by
15 June at the latest to the European Parliament, the
Council, the Commission, the Court of Auditors and the
Member States.’;

(b) The following paragraph shall be added:

The Agency
‘7.
budgetary authority all
outcome of the evaluation procedures.’

forward annually to the
to the

information relevant

shall

3. Article 12 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 12

Each year the Management Board, on the basis of a
1.
draft drawn up by the Executive Director, shall produce a
statement of estimates of revenue and expenditure of the
Agency for the following financial year. This statement of
estimates, which shall
include a draft establishment plan,
shall be forwarded by the Management Board to the
Commission by 31 March at the latest.

2.
The statement of estimates shall be forwarded by the
Commission to the European Parliament and the Council
(hereinafter
“the budgetary authority”)
together with the preliminary draft general budget of the
European Union.

referred to as

On the basis of

the statement of estimates,

the
3.
Commission shall enter in the preliminary draft general
budget of
the European Union the estimates it deems
necessary for the establishment plan and the amount of
the subsidy to be charged to the general budget, which it
shall place before the budgetary authority in accordance
with Article 272 of the Treaty.

The budgetary authority shall authorise the appro-

4.
priations for the subsidy to the Agency.

‘Article 13

The Executive Director shall implement the budget of

1.
the Agency.

accounts

to the Commission's

2.
By 1 March at the latest following each financial year,
the Agency's accounting officer shall communicate the
accounting
provisional
together with a report on the budgetary and
officer
year. The
financial management
that
Commission's accounting officer
the
provisional accounts of the institutions and decentralised
bodies in accordance with Article 128 of
the general
Financial Regulation.

financial
shall

consolidate

for

By 31 March at the latest following each financial
3.
forward
the Commission's accounting officer shall
year,
to the Court of
the Agency's provisional
Auditors,
together with a report on the budgetary and
financial management for that financial year. The report
the
on the budgetary and financial management
financial year shall also be forwarded to the European
Parliament and the Council.

accounts

for

4.
On receipt of the Court of Auditors' observations on
the Agency's provisional accounts under Article 129 of the
general Financial Regulation, the Executive Director shall
draw up the Agency's final accounts under his own respon-
sibility and submit them to the Management Board for an
opinion.

The Management Board shall deliver an opinion on

5.
the Agency's final accounts.

6.
The Executive Director shall, by 1 July at the latest
following each financial year, forward the final accounts to
the European Parliament, the Council, the Commission and
the Court of Auditors,
together with the Management
Board's opinion.

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7.

The final accounts shall be published.

‘Article 14

The Executive Director

8.
send the Court of
Auditors a reply to its observations by 30 September at
the latest. He shall also send this reply to the Management
Board.

shall

9.
The Executive Director shall submit to the European
Parliament, at the latter's request, all information necessary
for the smooth application of the discharge procedure for
the financial year in question, as laid down in Article 146(3)
of the general Financial Regulation.

10.
The European Parliament, on a recommendation
from the Council acting by a qualified majority, shall,
before 30 April of year N+2, give a discharge to the
Executive Director in respect of the implementation of the
budget for year N.’

5. Article 14 shall be replaced by the following:

The financial
rules applicable to the Agency shall be
adopted by the Management Board after the Commission
has been consulted. They may not depart from Commission
Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2343/2002 of 19 November
2002 on the framework Financial Regulation for the bodies
referred to in Article 185 of Council Regulation (EC,
Euratom) No 1605/2002 on the Financial Regulation
European
applicable
Communities (*) unless
specifically
required for the Agency's operation and the Commission
has given its prior consent.
___________
(*) OJ L 357, 31.12.2002, p. 72; Corrigendum in OJ L 2,

general budget of
such departure

to the

the
is

7.1.2003, p. 39.’

Article 2

This Regulation shall enter into force on the first day of the
month 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 . . .

For the European Parliament

The President

For the Council

The President

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STATEMENT OF THE COUNCIL'S REASONS

I. INTRODUCTION

On 17 July 2002 the Commission submitted a proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament
and of the Council amending Council Regulation (EEC) No 1210/90 as regards the budgetary and
financial rules applicable to the European Environment Agency and the European Environment
Information and Observation Network and access to the Agency's documents (1).

The proposal is based on Article 175 of the EC Treaty.

The European Parliament delivered its opinion on 22 October 2002 (2).

The Court of Auditors delivered its opinion on 26 September 2002 (3).

The Economic and Social Committee delivered its opinion on 11 December 2002 (4).

II. OBJECTIVE

The purpose of the above proposal is to amend Regulation (EEC) No 1210/90 as regards the budgetary
and financial rules applicable to the Agency,
in order to bring it into line with the new general
Financial Regulation that entered into force on 1 January 2003 (5), and also as regards access to the
Agency's documents, with a view to implementing within the Agency Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001
of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2001 regarding access to European
Parliament, Council and Commission documents (6).

III. EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AMENDMENTS

At the trialogue meeting held on 18 March 2003, the European Parliament and the Council agreed that
the text of the Regulation should incorporate four European Parliament amendments relating to:

(a) notification of the budgetary authority regarding evaluation procedures (Article 8(7));

(b) the conditions for final adoption of the Agency's budget (Article 12(5));

(c) notification of the budgetary authority regarding projects (in particular those relating to property)

which might have significant financial implications for the budget (Article 12(6));

(d) the discharge procedure (Article 13(9)).

Those amendments have been incorporated in the common position.

Three other European Parliament amendments were not included in the Regulation, but have been
accepted in substance in the form of statements which appear in Addendum 2 to the common position
(8239/03) and are to be published in the Official Journal of the European Union.

IV. MAJOR CHANGES MADE BY THE COUNCIL TO THE COMMISSION'S ORIGINAL PROPOSAL

The Council did not adopt the Commission's proposal for the procedure to appoint the Director, as it
was not technically an amendment to the existing rules.

(1) OJ C 331 E, 31.12.2002, p. 59.
(2) Not yet published in the Official Journal.
(3) OJ C 285, 21.11.2002, p. 4.
(4) OJ C 85, 8.4.2003, p. 64.
(5) OJ L 248, 16.9.2002, p. 1. Corrigendum OJ L 25, 30.1.2003, p. 43.
(6) OJ L 145, 31.5.2001, p. 43.