2008/750/EC: Council Decision of 15 September 2008 amending Decision 2003/77/EC laying down multiannual financial guidelines for managing the assets of the ECSC in liquidation and, on completion of the liquidation, the Assets of the Research Fund for Coal and Steel
Date: 2008-09-15
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: ECSC, financial management, fund (EU), research, validation of expenditure

L 255/28

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

23.9.2008

(Acts adopted under the EC Treaty/Euratom Treaty whose publication is not obligatory)

II

DECISIONS

COUNCIL

COUNCIL DECISION

of 15 September 2008

amending Decision 2003/77/EC laying down multiannual financial guidelines for managing the
assets of the ECSC in liquidation and, on completion of the liquidation, the Assets of the
Research Fund for Coal and Steel

(2008/750/EC)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

completion of the liquidation, the Assets of the Research
Fund for Coal and Steel.

Having regard to the Treaty
Community,

establishing the European

Having regard to the Protocol annexed to the Treaty estab­
lishing the European Community on the financial consequences
of the expiry of the ECSC Treaty and on the Research Fund for
Coal and Steel,

Having regard to Council Decision 2003/76/EC of 1 February
2003 establishing the measures necessary for the implemen­
tation of the Protocol, annexed to the Treaty establishing the
European Community, on the financial consequences of the
expiry of the ECSC Treaty and on the Research Fund for Coal
and Steel (1), and in particular Article 2(2) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament (2),

Whereas:

(1)

For the purposes of the Protocol annexed to the Treaty
establishing the European Community on the financial
consequences of the expiry of the ECSC Treaty and on
the Research Fund for Coal and Steel, the Commission
manages the assets of the ECSC in liquidation and, on

(1) OJ L 29, 5.2.2003, p. 22.
(2) Opinion of 11 March 2008 (not yet published in the Official

Journal).

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

(6)

(7)

In accordance with Article 2 of Decision 2003/77/EC (3),
the Commission has reassessed the operation and effec­
tiveness of the financial guidelines.

The experience gained in the first five years of implemen­
tation of the financial guidelines and developments in
financial market practice show a need to adapt those
guidelines.

The guidelines should reflect standard market practice
and definitions
the maturity
concepts used, equivalent
in the case of
repurchase agreements and applicable ratings.

inter alia,

securities

regards,

as

Subject
to rating requirements, certain public entities
should be assimilated to Member States or other
sovereigns in the context of the investment limits.

The guidelines should take into account the changes in
the accounting rules of the Commission.

For reasons of efficiency and in order to reduce admin­
istrative costs,
the frequency of reporting should be
adapted.

(3) OJ L 29, 5.2.2003, p. 25.

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Official Journal of the European Union

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(8)

Decision 2003/77/EC should therefore be amended
accordingly,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

public

or
government-controlled
institutions, or by
supranational borrowers,
with a credit rating of not less than “AA” or
its equivalent, EUR 100 million per issuer or
guarantor;

enterprises

Article 1

The Annex to Decision 2003/77/EC is hereby amended as
follows:

(iii) for deposits with and/or debt

instruments,
including bonds, of an authorised bank,
the
lower of either EUR 100 million per bank or
5 % of the bank’s own funds;’;

1. point 3 shall be amended as follows:

(b) point (b) shall be replaced by the following:

(a) point (a)(iii) shall be replaced by the following:

‘(iii) fixed and floating rate bonds with a maturity or, in
the case of asset-backed securities, an expected
maturity not exceeding a remaining life of 10
years and six months from the payment date,
provided that they are issued by any of the cate­
gories of authorised issuers;’;

(b) point (b)(i) shall be replaced by the following:

‘(i) repurchase

and

that

reverse

repurchase

it may have sold at

agreements,
provided the counterparts are authorised for such
transactions, and provided that
the Commission
remains in a position to repurchase equivalent secu­
the contractual
rities
deadline. Equivalent
(i)
securities
issued by the same issuer, (ii) which form part of
the same issue, and (iii) are of an identical
type,
nominal value, description and amount as the secu­
rities lent out except where subject to a corporate
action or redenomination;’;

securities

are

2. point 4 shall be amended as follows:

(a) point (a)(i) to (iii) shall be replaced by the following:

‘(a) The investment shall be limited to the following

amounts:

(i) for bonds

issued or guaranteed by Member
States or institutions of the Union, EUR 250
million per Member State or institution; bonds
local
issued or guaranteed by regional or
and/or
authorities
government-controlled
or
institutions can be included under the limit of
the respective Member State, provided that they
have a credit rating of not less than “AA” or its
equivalent;

government-owned
public

enterprises

or

(ii) for bonds

sovereign borrowers,
authorities

issued or guaranteed by other
local
and/or

government-owned

regional or

their

or

‘(b) The investment in any single bond issue, subject to
the limits given in point (a), shall not be more than
20 % of the total amount of such issue at the time of
purchase.’;

(c)

the following second subparagraph shall be added to
point (d):

the Commission has become

‘Once
a
downgrade below the minimum rating requirements, it
corresponding
shall
investments.’;

endeavour

aware of

replace

the

to

(d) the following point (e) shall be added:

‘(e) If the rating of a bond is higher than the rating of the
issuer or the issuer has no rating, the rating of the
bond is applicable.’;

3. point 6 shall be replaced by the following:

‘6. ACCOUNTING

The management of the funds shall be accounted for in
the annual accounts for the ECSC in liquidation and, on
completion of the liquidation, the Assets of the Research
Fund for Coal and Steel. These shall be based upon and
presented in accordance with the EC Accounting Rules as
adopted by the Commission’s Accounting Officer, taking
into account the specific nature of the ECSC in liqui­
the
dation and, upon completion of
Assets of
the Research Fund for Coal and Steel. The
accounts will be approved by the Commission and
examined by the Court of Auditors. The Commission
shall engage external firms to carry out an annual audit
of its accounts.’;

the liquidation,

4.

in point 7, the second subparagraph shall be replaced by the
following:

‘A detailed report on management operations carried out
under these guidelines shall be drawn up every six months
and sent to the Member States.’

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Official Journal of the European Union

23.9.2008

This Decision shall take effect on the day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European
Union.

Article 2

This Decision is addressed to the Member States.

Article 3

Done at Brussels, 15 September 2008.

For the Council
The President

B. KOUCHNER