Council Act of 29 April 2004 amending the Financial Regulation applicable to the budget of Europol
Date: 2004-04-29
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: Europol, budget, inclusion in the budget

30.4.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 114/1

(Acts adopted under Title VI of the Treaty on European Union)

COUNCIL ACT

of 29 April 2004

amending the Financial Regulation applicable to the budget of Europol

(2004/C 114/01)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

Having regard to the Convention on the establishment of a
European Police Office (‘Europol Convention’) (1) and in par-
ticular Article 35(9) and Article 36(6) thereof,

Having regard to the opinion of the Management Board of
Europol,

Having regard to the opinion of the Joint Audit Committee,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

It is desirable to amend the Financial Regulation of 4
October 1999 applicable to the budget of Europol (2)
(‘the Financial Regulation’).

It is for the Council, acting unanimously, to lay down
the financial
regulations applicable to Europol and
subsequent amendments thereof,

2.
The establishment plan adopted pursuant to Article
13 and 14 shall indicate the number of posts on which
the budget is based. However, save in the case of salary
scales 1 and 2, the Director may propose to the Manage-
ment Board to modify the establishment plan by up to
10 % of the posts authorised, subject to two conditions:

(a) that the volume of staff appropriations corresponding

to a full financial year is not affected, and

(b) that the limit of the total number of posts authorised

by the establishment plan is not exceeded.

In doing so, the Management Board shall act unanimously.

Instances of part time work may be compensated for

3.
by the engagement of other staff within the limits set.’

HAS ADOPTED THIS ACT:

2) Article 6 shall be replaced by the following:

Article 1

‘Article 6

The Financial Regulation is hereby amended as follows:

1) Article 4 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 4

1.
No revenue shall be collected and no expenditure
effected unless credited to or charged against an article in
the budget.

Without prejudice to Article 22, no expenditure may be
the authorised
committed or authorised in excess of
appropriations.

(1) OJ C 316, 27.11.1995, p.2. Convention as last amended by the

Protocol of 27 November 2003 (OJ C 2, 6.1.2004, p. 3).

(2) OJ C 312, 29.10.1999, p. 1

The following rules shall govern the utilisation of

1.
appropriations:

(a) appropriations still uncommitted at the end of the
financial year for which they were entered shall, as a
rule, lapse;

(b) appropriations relating to remuneration and allow-

ances of staff may not be carried over.

(c) appropriations in respect of payments still outstanding
at 31 December by virtue of commitments duly
entered into between 1 January and 31 December shall
be carried over automatically to the next financial year
only.

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Notwithstanding paragraph 1,

2.
the Director may
forward to the Management Board, before 31 January,
duly substantiated requests to carry over to the next finan-
cial year appropriations not committed at 31 December.

4.
Under the circumstances referred to in paragraph 1,
Member States' contributions amounting to three twelfths
of the contributions called up according to the last budget
duly adopted may be called up.

The Management Board shall act on such requests for
carry over by 1 March. It shall act unanimously.

Unused revenue and appropriations still available on
3.
31 December, arising out of
the donations and work
carried out on behalf of third parties (see Article 3(2)),
shall be carried over automatically.

4.
Appropriations carried over from one financial year
to the following lapse if still uncommitted at the end of
the financial year to which they were carried over.

A list of the appropriations to be carried forward
5.
automatically shall be forwarded to the Management Board
for information before 1 March.

6.
For the purpose of implementing the budget, the
utilisation of appropriations carried forward shall be
shown separately, for each budget item, in the accounts
for the current financial year.’

5.
At the request of the Director, and after obtaining
the opinion of the Management Board, the Council may,
in the light of financial needs, authorise further Member
States' contributions to be called up. In doing so it shall
act unanimously.’

4) Article 11 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 11

1.
On the basis of a review of the existing business
plan, the Director shall each year draw up a draft business
plan setting out the planned activities and developments
for Europol for the following five years. As an integral part
of the business plan, the financing plan shall describe the
financial and human resources deemed necessary for the
different yearly activities foreseen in the business plan.

2.
The draft business plan shall be submitted to the
Management Board which, after obtaining the opinion of
the Financial Committee, shall take a decision on it. The
Management Board shall act unanimously.’

3) Article 8 shall be replaced by the following:

5) Article 14 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 8

‘Article 14

If the budget is not adopted at the beginning of the
1.
financial year, expenditure already approved in principle in
the last budget duly adopted may be effected under the
conditions laid down in this Article. An item of expendi-
ture shall be considered as having been approved in prin-
ciple in the last budget duly adopted if it could have been
charged to a specific budget heading under the financial
year concerned.

Payments may be made monthly in respect of any
2.
chapter up to one twelfth of
the total appropriations
entered in the chapter in question for the preceding finan-
cial year insofar as this is required to meet Europol's legal
obligations.

At

the Director,

the request of

the Management
3.
Board may, in the light of administrative and operational
needs, authorise two or more provisional twelfths at the
same time or, in exceptional cases, payments, even when
no legal obligations exist. In doing so it shall act unani-
mously.

1.
The draft budget and the draft financing plan shall
be accompanied by explanatory notes containing in par-
ticular:

(a) a general policy declaration on the objectives to be

achieved with the budget;

(b) a description of

the activities and objectives to be
realised for which the appropriations are requested,
taking account of the principles set out in Article 2
and the business plan as provided for in Article 11;

(c) a description of

the assumptions and the rate for
conversion between the euro and the various national
currencies of the non-participating Member States and
currencies of Third Countries on which the drafts are
based;

(d) an explanation of the changes in appropriations from

one financial year to the next.

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Official Journal of the European Union

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2.
In respect of staff, the draft budget shall further be
accompanied by a working document containing the
following information:

(a) for each category of staff, a detailed list of budgetary
posts and numbers of persons in post on the date of
the submission of the draft budget,
indicating their
distribution by grade and administrative unit;

7) Article 17 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 17

1.

The Director may transfer:

(b) where a change in the number of persons is proposed,

a statement justifying such changes.’

— a maximum of 25 % of the total appropriations within

each chapter;

6) Article 15 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 15

The budget shall be subdivided into titles, chapters and
articles according to the nature of the revenue or expendi-
ture or the intended purpose thereof, following a decimal
classification system.

The budget shall contain separate headings for activities
financed by third parties. It shall show:

(a) as regards the statement of revenue:

— the revenue for the financial year in question;

— the revenue entered for the preceding financial year
and the revenue established for the last financial
year for which accounts have been closed;

— appropriate remarks on each revenue heading;

(b) as regards the statement of expenditure:

— the appropriations made available for the financial
year in question, divided into titles, chapters and
articles;

— the appropriations made available for the preceding
financial year for which the accounts have been
closed, increased by the amounts carried forward,
using the same classification;

— appropriate remarks on each subdivision.

Such remarks may include financial
relation to:

information in

— projects within Europol's working programme;

— services provided for third parties;

— the participation of third parties in Europol's activ-

ities.’

— appropriations between chapters within the same title
in order to increase the total sum of appropriations
within any chapter by no more than 25 %.

However, such transfers may not lead to an increase or
decrease of the total appropriations under any of the chap-
ters concerning salary-related costs by more than 10 %.

inform the Management Board three
The Director shall
weeks before making such transfers. However, this notifi-
cation period can be shortened to two weeks during
November and one week during December.

The Director may propose transfers of appropriations

2.
other than those provided for in paragraph 1.

The Management Board shall
proposals for transfers. It shall act unanimously.’

take a decision on such

8) Article 19 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 19

the Director, being accountable

In accordance with Article 29(3) of

1.
the Europol
to the
Convention,
Council, shall implement the budget on his own responsi-
bility in accordance with this Regulation and within the
limits of the appropriations allotted.

The Director may delegate his powers under conditions to
be laid down by him and within the limits set by the act
of delegation, which shall be communicated to the
empowered person, the Accounting Officer, the Financial
Controller, the Management Board and the Joint Audit
Committee.

2.
Every three months the Director shall report to the
Management Board and the Financial Committee on the
implementation of the budget and on the number and
scale of posts filled.

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3. With the prior concurrence of
the Management
Board, the Director may, if necessary, enter into commit-
ments for future financial periods provided that such
commitments relate to work authorised in the current
budget and concern:

3.
Interest shall be charged on basis of EURIBOR (Euro
to be specified in the imple-
Interbank Offered Rate)
menting rules provided for in Article 57(2), on that part of
a Member State's contribution which has not been paid by
the time limit specified in paragraph 2.

(a) administrative requirements of a continuing nature;

(b) contracts where longer lead times are required; or

The Management Board shall be informed whenever this
provision is applied.’

(c) purchases for which payment

is to be made over

several years.’

11) Article 40 shall be replaced by the following:

9) Article 35 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 40

‘Article 35

the

Should

1.
Financial Controller withhold his
approval as provided for in Article 25(2), Article 26(2),
Article 26(4), Article 27(2), Article 29(3) or Article 34(2),
he shall give his reasons therefore in a written statement
which shall be forwarded to the Accounting Officer, who
shall inform the Authorising Officer of the refusal.

In the event of a refusal to approve, except for cases
2.
where the availability of appropriations is in doubt, the
Director may confirm the debt forecast, recovery order,
proposal
for cancellation, commitment of expenditure,
payment order or advance in a reasoned decision.

The debt forecast, recovery order, proposal for cancella-
tion, commitment of expenditure, payment order or
advance shall then be considered to have been validly
made.

The accounting officer
inform the Management
shall
Board and the Joint Audit Committee immediately when-
ever this provision is applied.'

10) Article 38 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 38

1.
Before 1 December of the year t-1 or no later than
one month after the budget is adopted, whichever date is
the later, the Director shall call up the contributions for
the financial year t.

2.
Subject to Article 8, payment of the Member States'
contributions shall be made in full before 31 March of the
year t or no later than one month after the contributions
are called up, whichever date is the later.

Payment shall be made in euros or in national currency by
the non-participating Member States.

1.
On the basis of the revenue and expenditure account
for the financial year t drawn up in accordance with
Article 53, the Director shall, by applying the actual GNP
figures for t-2 as established in national currencies by the
European Commission and the average exchange rate for
the same year, recalculate the Member States' contributions
necessary for the financial year t in order to finance the
actual expenditure for this year and the carry overs to the
following financial year.

2.
To take account of the surplus from the financial
year t and the differences between the provisional and the
actual GNP figures for t-2, the following procedure shall
be applied:

(a) for those Member States whose contributions actually
paid for the financial year t exceed the contributions
necessary according to paragraph 1, the amount paid
in excess shall be deducted from the contributions
called up for the financial year t+2;

(b) for those Member States whose contributions actually
paid for the financial year t are smaller than the contri-
butions necessary according to paragraph 1,
the
outstanding amount shall be called up together with
the contributions called up for the financial year t+2.

3.
Notwithstanding paragraph 2, the total amount of
Member States' contributions to be called up for the year
t+2 cannot exceed the amount foreseen in the budget for
that year.’

12) Article 41 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 41

Contracts for the purchase and hiring of buildings or
1.
goods, for the provision of services or for the performance
of construction work shall be in writing. The Director or a
person who as Authorising Officer could have issued a
proposal for the underlying commitment shall sign them
on behalf of Europol.

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Official Journal of the European Union

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2.
Apart from contracts relating to the purchase of a
building already constructed or the leasing of a building,
all such contracts shall be concluded after an invitation to
tender has been issued.

‘Article 46

The sale of movable property shall aim at obtaining

1.
the best possible price.

However, contracts may be made by private treaty in the
following circumstances:

(a) within the limit laid down by the implementing rules

provided for in Article 57(2);

(b) where the purchase or hiring of goods, the provision
of services or building works are so urgently needed
that it is not possible to wait for a tendering procedure
to be carried out;

(c) where the tendering procedures do not give any result

or where the prices quoted are not acceptable;

2.
A statement or record shall be drawn up by the
Authorising Officer whenever any property in the inven-
tory is sold, given away free of charge, scrapped, hired out,
or missing on account of loss, theft or other reason. The
statement or record shall be forwarded to the Accounting
Officer, who shall submit it to the Financial Controller for
authentication.

The statement or record shall refer in particular to any
obligation that may devolve on a member of the staff of
Europol or any other person to replace the item in ques-
tion.

(d) where for technical, practical, security or legal reasons
the supply of goods and services can be carried out
only by a particular contractor or supplier;

Apart from sales by public auction, members of staff

3.
may not acquire any movable property sold by Europol.

(e) for contracts for the supply of additional goods and
services or for ancillary building works which, techni-
cally, cannot be separated from their main contract.

The procedures for the sale of movable property
4.
shall be laid down in the implementing rules provided for
in Article 57(2).

In these cases offers must be asked from at least five
different suppliers unless the amount is within the limit
laid down by the implementing rules provided for in
Article 57(2) and provided that
there are a sufficient
number of suitable suppliers.

3.
Invitations to tender shall, as a general rule, be
published in all the Member States and, where appropriate,
in third countries insofar as this is compatible with the
development of relevant industries within the European
Union. However, their publication may be restricted where
the scale or nature of the goods or services is such that
they are not appropriate for a general invitation to tender.

4.
The tendering procedures, award criteria and price
adjustment procedures occurring after the conclusion of
contracts shall be determined and governed by the imple-
menting rules provided for in Article 57(2), given that the
award criteria shall be defined by analogy with the provi-
sions of the directives referred to in Article 44.

Contracts exceeding the limit

5.
laid down by the
implementing rules provided for in Article 57(2) shall be
subject to the authorisation of the Management Board.’

13) Article 46 shall be replaced by the following:

5.
If immovable property or large installations are made
available free of charge, they must be covered by contracts
approved by the Financial Controller. Such immovable
property or large installations can only be accepted after
prior approval by the Management Board. The Manage-
ment Board shall act unanimously.’

14) Article 54 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 54

In addition to its responsibility for auditing the
1.
accounts,
the Joint Audit Committee shall make any
appropriate comments on the accounting methods used,
the sound financial management and, in general, on the
financial
administrative practices
the
followed.

implications of

2.
Any comments which in the opinion of the Joint
Audit Committee should be contained in the audit report
provided for in Article 36(3) of the Europol Convention
shall be brought to the attention of the Director and the
Financial Controller. The Director and the Financial
Controller shall send the Joint Audit Committee their
replies to any such comments as soon as practically
possible.’

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15) Article 55 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 55

1.
The Joint Audit Committee shall, by 31 October,
produce its report on the accounts of the preceding finan-
cial year. The report shall be transmitted to the Manage-
ment Board, the Director and the Financial Controller.

In its report the Committee shall indicate the extent and
nature of the audit performed and give its comments on
the accounts and the balance sheet and a brief assessment
of the financial management of Europol.

The Director and the Financial Controller may, as soon as
practically possible, transmit their respective opinions on
the audit report to the Management Board and to the Joint
Audit Committee.

On the basis of an opinion of

2.
the Financial
Committee, the Management Board shall discuss, as soon
as practically possible, the report and draw up a recom-
mendation to the Council concerning discharge to be
given to the Director in respect of the implementation of
the budget.

the Joint Audit Committee shall,

As soon as the Management Board has drawn up its
in
recommendation,
accordance with Article 36(3) of the Europol Convention,
report
submit
together with the
to the Council,
opinions of
the Director and the Financial Controller
which have been taken into account.

its

Before 30 April of the following year and in accordance
with Article 36(5) of the Europol Convention, the Council
shall take a decision on the discharge.

3.
The timetable for the discharge procedure shall be
further specified in the implementing rules provided for in
Article 57(2).

The Director shall take all appropriate steps to act on

4.
the comments appearing in the decision giving discharge.

The Financial Controller shall take account of the

5.
comments appearing in the decision giving discharge.’

Article 2

This Act shall enter into force on the first day after its adop-
tion.

Article 3

This Act shall be published in the Official Journal of the Euro-
pean Union.

Done at Luxemburg, 29 April 2004.

For the Council

The President

M. McDOWELL