Report on the annual accounts of the Community Plant Variety Office concerning the financial year 2004 together with the Office's replies
Date: 2005-10-05
Institutions: European Court of Auditors
Subjects: Community Plant Variety Office, European Court of Auditors, administration of the Institutions, financial control, interinstitutional relations (EU), operating result, report

28.12.2005

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 332/105

on the annual accounts of the Community Plant Variety Office concerning
the financial year 2004 together with the Office’s replies

REPORT

(2005/C 332/15)

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

THE COURT’S OPINION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

OBSERVATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Paragraph

1-2

3-6

7-8

Tables 1 to 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Office’s replies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Page

106

106

106

107

111

C 332/106

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

28.12.2005

INTRODUCTION

The Court has obtained a reasonable basis for the opinion

6.
expressed below.

1.
The Community Plant Variety Office (hereinafter referred
to as ‘the Office’) was created by Council Regulation (EC)
No 2100/94 of 27 July 1994 (1). Its main task is to register and
examine applications for the grant of Community industrial prop-
erty rights for plant varieties and to ensure that the necessary
technical examinations are carried out by the competent offices
in the Member States. Table 1 summarises the Office’s competen-
cies and activities on the basis of information it has supplied.

2.
For information, the annual accounts drawn up by the
Office for the financial year 2004 are summarised in Tables 2,
3 and 4.

THE COURT’S OPINION

Reliability of the accounts

The Office’s accounts for the financial year ended 31 Decem-
ber 2004 are, in all material respects, reliable.

Legality and regularity of the underlying transactions

The transactions underlying the Office’s annual accounts,
taken as a whole, are legal and regular.

The observations which follow do not call the Court’s opi-
nion into question.

This opinion is addressed to the Administrative Council of
3.
the Office, pursuant to Article 111 of Council Regulation (EC)
No 2100/94.

OBSERVATIONS

The Office’s accounts for

the financial year ended
4.
31 December 2004 (2) were drawn up by its President, pursuant
to Article 112 of Regulation (EC) No 2100/94, and sent to the
Court, which is required to give its opinion on their reliability and
on the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions.

5.
The Court conducted an audit in accordance with its poli-
cies and standards, which are based on international auditing
standards that have been adapted to the Community context. The
audit was planned and performed to obtain reasonable assurance
that the accounts are reliable and the underlying transactions are
legal and regular.

As regards operating appropriations, the Office’s budget
7.
has adopted the system of differentiated appropriations, which
distinguishes between commitment appropriations and payment
appropriations. However, the presentation of its accounts does
not take the type of appropriations that are managed by it into
consideration.

8.
In 2004, the Office took into account for the first time the
annual depreciation on its premises. However, it has not taken
account of the depreciation that it ought to have made since it
that relating to the period
acquired the premises, namely,
2000-2003 (3).

This report was adopted by the Court of Auditors in Luxembourg at its meeting of 5 October 2005.

For the Court of Auditors
Hubert WEBER
President

(1) OJ L 227, 1.9.1994, p. 27.
(2) These accounts were drawn up on 4 July 2005 and received by the

Court on 11 July 2005.

(3) If the historical depreciation of the Office’s building had been taken
into account the total amount for depreciation entered in the balance
sheet would have increased from 525 000 euro to approximately
900 000 euro. To compensate, the amount of own capital would have
fallen by an equivalent amount from 2 508 000 euro to approxi-
mately 2 135 000 euro.

28.12.2005

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 332/107

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C 332/108

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

28.12.2005

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28.12.2005

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 332/109

Community Plant Variety Office — Revenue and expenditure account for the financial years 2004 and 2003

Table 3

2004

2003

(1 000 euro)

Revenue

Own revenue

Miscellaneous revenue

Financial revenue

Expenditure

Staff — Title I of the budget

Payments

Appropriations carried over

Administration — Title II of the budget

Payments

Appropriations carried over

Operating activities — Title III of the budget

Payments

Appropriations carried over

Balance carried over from the previous financial year

Appropriations carried over and cancelled

Exchange-rate differences

Future provision

Extraordinary income

Extraordinary charges

Total revenue (a)

Total expenditure (b)

Out-turn for the financial year (a – b)

8 358

30

371

8 759

3 635

38

861

705

494

4 175

9 908

– 1 149

12 825

462

0

0

127

– 43

8 199

156

401

8 757

3 245

99

583

195

1 179

4 863

10 164

– 1 407

13 977

249

0

6

0

0

NB: Variations in totals are due to the effects of rounding.
Source: The Office’s data — This table summarises the data provided by the Office in its annual accounts.

Balance for the financial year

12 222

12 825

C 332/110

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

28.12.2005

Community Plant Variety Office — Balance sheet at 31 December 2004 and 31 December 2003

Table 4

Assets

2004

2003

Liabilities

2004

2003

(1 000 euro)

Fixed assets

Computer software

Buildings

Computer equipment

Equipment and furniture

Depreciation

Own capital

110

77

Own capital

2 508

2 538

2 460

2 427

260

203

218

161

– 525

– 345

Reserve

Balance for the financial year

12 825

13 977

– 603

– 1 152

Subtotal

14 730

15 363

Indemnities and guarantees

3

3

Suppliers

Subtotal

2 508

2 538

Automatic carry-overs

Current liabilities

Outstanding commitments in respect of
carry-overs from 2002

Advances from customers & sundry accounts
payable

VAT to be paid

Deductions from salaries

Current assets

Recovery orders

Sundry accounts receivable

VAT to be recovered

Cash accounts

Banks

Imprest account

19

11

434

464

3

29

371

403

Subtotal

20 684

20 065

75

75

Subtotal

20 759

20 140

Total

23 734

23 084

NB: Variations in totals are due to the effects of rounding.
Source: The Office’s data — This table summarises the data provided by the Office in its annual accounts.

3 711

4 869

0

125

216

83

2 145

5 156

1

194

216

9

Subtotal

9 004

7 721

Total

23 734

23 084

28.12.2005

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 332/111

THE OFFICE’S REPLIES

The necessary changes will be made to the presentation of

7.
the Office’s budgetary accounts.

The necessary corrections will be made within the frame-
8.
work of the move to accrual accounting, which must be carried
out for the financial year 2005.