Communication from Mrs Grybauskaitė in agreement with the president to the Commission - Streamlining financial rules and accelerating budget implementation to help economic recovery
Date: 2009-04-08
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: budgetary procedure, economic growth, economic policy, economic recession, economic situation, implementation of the budget, reflation

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COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 8.4.2009 
SEC(2009) 477 final 

COMMUNICATION FROM MRS GRYBAUSKAITĖ  
IN AGREEMENT WITH THE PRESIDENT TO THE COMMISSION 

Streamlining financial rules and accelerating budget implementation to help economic 
recovery 

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COMMUNICATION FROM MRS GRYBAUSKAITĖ  
IN AGREEMENT WITH THE PRESIDENT TO THE COMMISSION 

Streamlining financial rules and accelerating budget implementation to help economic 
recovery  

In the face of the current acute economic crisis, every possible measure needs to be taken to 
ensure that public funds are implemented in the most efficient and effective manner: delivery 
should  be  quicker  and  administrative  procedures  should  be  adjusted  to  respond  to  the 
developing  circumstances  without  compromising  the  quality  of  the  projects  or  the 
indispensible checks that ensure sound financial management. 

The simplification and streamlining of financial rules and procedures, which is a prerequisite 
for  better  implementation,  has  been  one  of  the  main  objectives  of  this  Commission  since 
2004. A first step in this dynamic process was accomplished with the revision of the Financial 
Regulation1  (FR)  in  2007,  in  particular  through  the  improvement  of  delivery  methods 
(contracts and grants) and accrued transparency. In parallel, the new generation of spending 
programmes  2007-2013  also  brought  in  significant  simplifications  and  further  enhanced  the 
efficiency of spending of EU money: the number of programmes has been reduced and legal 
instruments  have  been  put  on  the  same  wavelength  as  the  multiannual  financial  framework. 
As a result, the action of the EU has gained in visibility and budget execution has significantly 
improved throughout the mandate of this Commission, ensuring that EU resources are spent 
on the right things in the right place at the right time. 

The next major step will be the forthcoming revision of the financial rules in 2010 (Financial 
Regulation  and  its  Implementing  Rules2)  and  the  "reforming  the  budget,  changing  Europe" 
process,  which  will  also  focus  on  the  delivery  mechanisms,  including  simplification,  of  the 
EU  budget.  Indeed,  this  has  been  identified  as  a  continuing  priority  following  the  public 
consultation  held  in  2008.  Both  these  tracks  offer  the  potential  for  more  significant 
improvements,  but  they  will  take  time  to  come  into  effect  because  they  entail  long 
interinstitutional negotiations.  

With this in mind and building upon the reforms already introduced in 2007, the Commission 
believes  that  certain  immediate  measures  can  be  taken,  without  reopening  the  existing  legal 
texts, in order to generate some additional "quick wins", further enhancing budget execution 
and speeding the flow of EU resources to beneficiaries, thus contributing to the Commission's 
strategy to help economic recovery. The measures will focus on the part of the budget that the 
Commission implements directly (centralised management), so as to maximise the impact of 
public spending in a minimum time.  

This is the purpose of the present Communication. 

1 
2 

OJ L 248, 16.9.2002, p. 1. 
OJ L 357, 31.12.2002, p. 1. 

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This  Communication  is  presented  together  with  a  Commission  proposal  to  reduce  delays  in 
payments by the Member States of invoices in commercial transactions3 (i.e. contracts) to 30 
days. It aims at applying the same time-limits to the payments made by the Commission. Its 
scope  is  even  larger,  as  the  proposed  targets  for  reduced  time-limits  concern  both  contracts 
and grants. 

The following measures are envisaged: 

1. 

QUICKER RELEASE OF EU FUNDS 

The  Commission  has  always  been  concerned  and  engaged  to  ensure  that  payments 
are  made  as  rapidly  as  possible4.  The  last  revision  of  the  Financial  Regulation 
introduced  a  series  of  measures  in  order  to  improve  payment  delays,  including  the 
mandatory  payment  of  interest  for  late  payments.  Significant  progress  has  been 
achieved since 2005, thanks to the measures taken by the Commission to address the 
reasons  for  late  payments,  the  number  of  late  payments  has  been  reduced  from 
approximately 43% to 22%. However, more needs to be done in these difficult times 
given  the  crucial  importance  of  the  need  for  increased  fluidity  of  funds  for  all 
beneficiaries, and especially for the SME and NGOS.  

This is why the Commission is now proposing to go a step further by implementing 
the following measures.  

Measure 1: Speed up 'first' pre-financing payments under 20 calendar days 

Pre-financing payments, by definition, do not involve as many checks as interim or 
final  payments,  which  depend  on  the  completion  of  a  phase  of  a  project  and  the 
approval  of  the  corresponding  reports  and  relevant  supporting  documents.  Pre-
financing payments which are not subject to any further check or condition and are 
due upon signature of the contract, grant agreement or decision ('first pre-financing'), 
should be made well before the 45 days (or 30 days for service and supply contracts) 
time-limit  foreseen  in  the  Implementing  Rules  (Article  106).  The  Commission 
therefore  aims  at  achieving  a  target  date  for  first  pre-financing  payment  below  20 
days, from the date of the conclusion (signature) of the contract, grant agreement or 
decision to the day on which the Commission bank account is debited5.  

Measure 2:  Speed up all other payments 

For all other payments –i.e. 'renewed pre-financing', interim and final payments-, the 
Commission  will  apply  a  30-day  time  limit  where  currently  45  days  apply  (in  the 
case of grants). When cumulated with the limits foreseen in the Implementing Rules 
for  the  approval  of  reports  or  certificates  (Article  106),  the  following  maximum 
time-limits should be respected by all Commission services for both the approval of 

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5 

See  Commission  proposal  of  a  recast  of  Directive  2000/35/EC  on  combating  late  payment  in 
commercial transactions (COM(2009) 126 final). 
This  concern  is  particularly  shared  by  the  European  Ombudsman  who  has  recently  launched  an  own 
initiative enquiry on the issue, following the one conducted in 2008.  
Due to the constraints linked to the annual budgetary closure and the making available of carryovers, 
the period between 15 December and 15 January will not be taken into account for the delay targeted 
under this measure. 

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reports and the related payments (overall):  
- for contracts: 60 days (versus 90 days at the moment); 
- 
In calendar days

(versus 

grants: 

days 

105 

for 

90 

days 

at 

the  moment). 

CURRENT TIME-LIMITS

TARGET

No report or 
certificate

Incl. report or 
certificate

TOTAL

No report or 
certificate

Incl. report or 
certificate

TOTAL

First pre-financing (service 
& supply contracts)
First pre-financing
(other contracts & grants)
Other payments
(contracts)
Other payments
(grants)

30

45

30

45

none

none

30

45

20/45/60

50/75/90

45/60

90/105

20

20

30

30

none

none

20

20

20/30

50/60

45/60

75/90

Meeting  this  ambitious  target  will  require  a  specific  effort,  given  the  number  and 
volume  of  payments  handled  by  the  Commission  and  the  proportion  which  is 
currently overdue compared to existing time-limits6.  

The  Commission  believes  that  measures  1  and  2  should  facilitate  the  start  up  and 
steer  progress  in  the  implementation  of  projects  so  as  to  further  reduce  the  under-
execution  of  EU  funds.  These  measures  are  also  in  line  with  the  Commission's 
announcements  in  the  recovery  plan7  and  its  proposal  on  late  payments  in 
commercial transactions. 

Services  ensure  that  effective  payment  times  for  interim  and  final  payments  only 
exceed the objectives set in the present communication if duly justified in the light of 
particular circumstances such as an objective need to schedule payment over a longer 
period.  Payments  times  however  remain  within  the  limits  set  by  the  Implementing 
Rules. 

The  services  of  the  Accounting  Officer  will  monitor  regularly  progress  in  the 
implementation  of  the  above  measures  on  a  quarterly  basis  in  line  with  the 
Commission's commitment to the Ombudsman on this issue. The first appraisal will 
be  made  on  the  basis  of  payment  delays  observed  during  the  last  quarter  of  2009. 
Interests  for  late  payments  will  continue  to  be  applied  in  accordance  with  the 
regulatory time-limits, as set in Article 106(5) of the Implementing Rules. 

In addition, the Commission recalls that: 

•  Invoices and cost statements should be registered as soon as they are received; 

•  Time-limit  of  60  days  for  the  approval  of  reports  or  certificates  should  only  be 
used  in  particularly  complex  circumstances,  in  accordance  with  Article  106(3), 
second subparagraph.  

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7 

In 2007, 22% payments were late in number, representing 12% in volume.  
COM(2008)800 final, 26.11.2008. 

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•  In  the  cases  where  a  report  or  a  certificate  cannot  be  approved,  for  instance 
because some documents are missing, services should not hesitate to suspend the 
time-limit payment as it is foreseen in the financial rules. In such cases naturally, 
the  time  of  the  suspension  is  not  counted  for  the  purpose  of  the  present 
Communication.  However,  any  suspension  must  be  justified  in  accordance  with 
the financial rules and the beneficiary concerned must be duly informed8. 

Measure 3: Promote the use of flat rates and lump-sums for grants 

Grants awarded from EU funds may take the form of: a) the reimbursement of part or 
all of the eligible costs of a project, b) a lump-sum (fixed amount) or c) a flat rate (a 
scale-of-unit cost). It can also combine these forms. 

In  order  to  accelerate  the  payment  of  grants,  the  Commission  will  make  further 
efforts  to  promote  the  use  of  flat  rates,  for  which  there  is  no  limit  in  the 
Implementing  Rules,  and  lump  sums.  This  should  be  implemented  wherever  it  is 
appropriate, depending on the nature of grants awarded and provided that there is no 
obstacle in the legal bases. It is recalled that the Commission may authorise one or 
more  lump  sums  up  to  EUR  25,000  to  cover  one  or  more  different  categories  of 
eligible costs (Article 181(1) (a) Implementing Rules).  

Services  are  therefore  invited,  and  DG  Budget  will  assist  them,  to  prepare  the 
decisions fixing flat rates and lump sums so as to extend their use. 

In  the  same  perspective,  and  in  line  with  its  proposals  for  the  modification  of  the 
European Social Fund Regulation9, the Commission will propose that, when current 
programmes  and  actions  are  reviewed  and  new  legislative  proposals  made,  they 
include higher lump sums (Article 181(2) Implementing Rules), where appropriate.  

2. 

FLEXIBILITY IN THE INTERPRETATION OF FINANCIAL RULES 

In  the  day-to-day  application  of  the  financial  rules,  it  is  normal  practice  for  the 
Commission to interpret them or define guidelines so that a common practice among 
its services is put in place. 

In order to find as much flexibility as possible in interpreting the existing financial 
rules and thereby ease management, the Commission will focus on the following: 

Measure 4: Possibility to launch calls for proposals covering 2 years  

The  launching  of  calls  for  proposals  is  authorised  by  a  financing  decision  adopted 
with  due  regard  to  the  principle  of  annuality.  Therefore,  under  current  guidelines, 
Commission's  services  should  not  launch  a  call  allowing  applicants  to  submit 
proposals within multiple deadlines spread throughout two successive years, even if 
the criteria of the call remain the same. Two financing decisions leading to two calls 
for proposals are necessary. 

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See Implementing Rules, Article 106 (1), third subparagraph, 106(3), forth subparagraph and 106(4). 
COM(2008)813 final, 26.11.2008.  

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Launching  a  call  for  proposals  covering  two  successive  years  will  be  authorised 
provided  that  Commission  services  optimise  the  adoption  schedule  for  financing 
decisions and insert the appropriate specific clause in the call. 

This means that instead of having two separate calls for proposals, one launched for 
year  N  and  the  other  launched  for  year  N+1,  one  single  call  will  be  launched  and 
potential beneficiaries will submit their proposals only once. The Commission may 
authorise  immediately  after  the  adoption  of  the  Preliminary  Draft  Budget  for  year 
N+1  to  complement  with  N+1  appropriations  a  call  for  proposals  already  launched 
with  a  specific  clause  allowing  such  complement.  In  the  same  way,  a  call  for 
proposal  with  only  one  deadline  may  be  reinforced  with  N+1  appropriations.  This 
measure will save time, energy and resources, thereby benefiting all stakeholders. 

Measure 5: Lighten the content of calls for proposals 

For several policies, in particular Education and Culture, some Research programmes 
(Marie  Curie)  or  Development  Aid,  calls  for  proposals  are  very  repetitive  and/or 
standardised. They usually are long and complex documents. 

In such cases of repetitive and/or standardised calls, the Commission will, wherever 
possible,  produce  documentation  distinguishing  the  stable  information  that  is  in 
principle valid for several calls, from information that is specific for a particular call. 
Subject  to  feasibility  and  the  complexity  of  projects,  the  Authorising  Officer 
concerned  could  then  authorise  its  services  to  opt  for  a  two-steps  approach  for 
defining the framework for the award of grants. 

(1) 

(2) 

The first step would be for the Commission to establish a practical guide for 
the  award  of  grants,  which  would  contain  all  the  general  information, 
guidelines  and  financial  rules  forming  the  bulk  of  calls  for  proposals.  This 
guide would be published on the internet site of the concerned programme. 

The second step would be the adoption of the annual financing decision and 
the publication of the calls for proposals themselves, whose content should be 
limited  to  the  strictly  specific  and  variable  elements,  such  as  the  budget 
foreseen for the call, the dates for the submission of the proposals and other 
elements  which  are  new  or  differ  from  the  guide  (i.e.  new  priorities).  The 
calls for proposals shall explicitly refer to the corresponding documentation. 
These elements will also be published on the internet site of the programme 
together with detailed application forms that can be downloaded. 

Such  an  approach,  which  is  already  being  applied  for  the  education  and  culture 
programmes, should be promoted in other policy areas in order to lighten their task 
and make the launch of calls for proposals easier, once the guide has been elaborated. 
For  the  potential  beneficiaries  of  EU  funds,  this  approach  would  be  more  user-
friendly  and  provide  a  better  oversight:  eventually,  it  should  help  them  answering 
calls for proposals faster and more accurately, and thereby contribute to grants being 
awarded in a shorter time-span. 

This measure will be carried out progressively and be assessed by the end of the year 
2009 in order to evaluate the effects of the approach. 

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3. 

INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL SUPPORT 

In order to facilitate and accelerate implementation of  the Budget, the Commission 
hereby  proposes  the  following  progressive  approach,  to  be  implemented  both  at 
internal and external levels. 

3.1. 

Support from DG Budget to other Commission services 

Measure 6: Reinforce proactive advice by DG Budget 

The Financial Regulation (Article 75(2)) requires as a pre-condition that any use of 
EU  money  be  preceded  by  the  adoption  of  a  financing  decision,  which  marks  the 
political endorsement, by the Commission, of the financing of a project. In order to 
help  the  services  in  the  preparatory  phase  and  thereby  accelerate  the  adoption  of 
financing  decisions  by  the  Commission,  DG  Budget  will  provide  the  following 
additional guidance to facilitate the work of the services, in particular: 

•  Propose a model for all financing decisions: today, financing decisions adopted by 
the Commission often contain much more information than the requirements set in 
the  financial  rules  and  the  basic  act.  A  simple  and  streamlined  model  will 
therefore  be  proposed  to  ease  the  drafting  by  operational  services  directly 
managing  Community  funds.  It  should  also  allow  for  a  quick  appraisal  in  inter-
service  consultations,  reduce  the  volume  of  documents  and  of  required 
translations. This model is envisaged as a support tool only and services who wish 
to  continue  using  their  own  model  agreed  with  DG  Budget  may  chose  to  do  so. 
The model prepared by DG Budget will be subsequently annexed to the Internal 
Rules adopted by the Commission each year. This model will be made available 
by the end of May 2009 so that services can use it as from 1.6.2009. 

•  Encourage the services to make more use of the flexibility offered by the financial 
rules  (Article  90.4  Implementing  Rules)  for  the  modification  of  the  financing 
decisions:  this  notably  allows  Authorising  Officers  to  adopt  non-substantial 
modifications  of  the  implementing  conditions  of  the  action  without  having  to 
modify the initial financing decision by a new Commission decision (by means of 
a  written  procedure,  by  empowerment  or  delegation).  Such  flexibility  clause 
would  notably  be  most  appropriate  when  the  complete  implementation  of  the 
action authorised by the College requires to increase the appropriations up to 20% 
of  the  initial  amount  approved  or  to  extend  the  initial  duration  of  the 
implementation period up to 20%. DG Budget will provide the relevant flexibility 
clause  to  the  services  and  will  include  it  in  the  financing  decision  model.  This 
measure should be operational by the end of April 2009. 

•  Encourage the full use of other flexibility measures foreseen in the financial rules 
as,  for  instance,  where  services  can  decide  whether  appropriate  to  waive  the 
obligation  of  candidates  to  produce  documents  they  have  already  produced  in 
another  procedure,  pursuant  to  Article  134(6)  IR),  or  where  the  presentation  of 
financial  guarantees  and  other  documents  by  procurement  contractors  and  grant 
beneficiaries  is  optional.  In  this  context,  guidelines  will  be  drafted  in  order  to 

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underline the optional character of such requirements and to assist the services to 
evaluate the related risks10.  

•  Encourage  where  appropriate 

financing 
the  services 
decisions/annual  programmes  as  early  as  possible  after  the  adoption  of  the 
Preliminary  Draft  Budget,  in  order  to  have  them  adopted  by  the  Commission 
immediately afterwards. 

to  prepare 

their 

•  Optimising  the  use  of  framework  contracts:  as  far  as  possible,  services  will  be 
further  encouraged  to  share  the  use  of  their  future  framework  contracts  to  the 
profit  of  other  Directorates  General  or  agencies  in  order  to  avoid  duplication  of 
unnecessary procurement procedures. This approach will be sought systematically 
for standard procurements (e.g. furniture, communication) or, for more specialised 
services,  within  the  same  family  of  programmes  such  as  external  actions  or 
research (ongoing). 

•  Promote the use of partnerships for grants: over the life time of projects, the use of 
partnerships  can  significantly  avoid  duplication  of  the  same  formalities.  Within 
the  frame  of  the  internal  guidelines  available,  the  Commission  will  therefore 
further encourage the use of such partnerships.  
A  framework  partnership  arrangement  may  be  established  as  a  long-term 
cooperation  mechanism  between  the  Commission  and  some  beneficiaries  of 
grants,  where  appropriate  (Article  163  of  the  Implementing  Rules).  The 
partnership specifies the common objectives, the nature and the general conditions 
for the planned actions and the procedure for the award of grants. The grants are 
subsequently awarded through specific agreements implementing the partnership, 
which  fix  the  modalities,  the  grant  amount  and  the  duration  of  the  grant.  Only 
specific  agreements  require  in  advance  a  budgetary  commitment,  allowing 
therefore a long–term cooperation with some beneficiaries without committing at 
once all the necessary appropriations. 

3.2. 

Support  from  the  Commission  to  potential  contractors  and  other  beneficiaries 
from EU funds 

Measure 7: accelerated procedures for procurement and grants 

•  The  Commission  will  continue  its  efforts  to  simplify  procurement  procedures 
and  reduce  their  overall  time  span,  in  particular  for  big-value  contracts.  In 
addition  to  this,  the  minimum  time  limits  foreseen  in  restricted  and  negotiated 
procedures with prior publication for the receipt of requests to participate and, in 
case  of  restricted  procedures,  also  for  the  receipt  of  tenders,  will  be,  whenever 
appropriate  and  justified  in  view  of  the  economic  crisis,  reduced  as  provided  in 
Article  142  of  the  Implementing  Rules.  This  provision  allows,  under  certain 
conditions, to reduce these time limits from 77 to 20 days in cases where urgency 
renders impracticable the regular time limits. This is coherent with the guideline 

10 

These documents will be available online on BUDGWEB, the internal Commission website dedicated 
to all financial and management issues. They will also be presented to all Commission services through 
the RUF (Réseau des unités financières). http://www.cc.cec/budg/index_en.html 

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adopted  by  the  European  Council  in  order  to  reduce  the  overall  time  limits  for 
major public projects from 87 to 30 days11 in Member States.  

•  A similar approach should be applied in order to reduce the overall time span in 
the  grant  awarding  procedures,  taking  into  account  that  the  Financial 
Regulation  does  not  impose  time  limits.  This  may  involve  in  particular  the 
following: 

The  acceleration  of  the  selection  process  by  using  the  flexibility  offered  in  the 
Implementing  Rules  (Article  178(1a)).  In  particular  when  a  call  for  proposals 
envisages  that  applicants  submit  their  proposals  in  two  stages  (two  stage 
submission  procedure),  the  first  stage  should  involve  minimum  efforts  from 
applicants:  for  instance,  applicants  should  be  required  to  submit  only  a  short 
concept  note  describing,  in  general  lines,  the  principal  elements  of  their  project 
implementing 
(summary  description,  objectives,  results, 
those 
framework) 
applications upheld in the first phase will submit a complete proposal. 

implementing  budget.  Only 

together  with  a  summary 

time  frame  and 

This  mechanism  is  particularly  relevant  for  programmes  which  traditionally 
encounter a high rate of submission and may save costs for applicants. It allows 
the  Commission  to  concentrate  its  resources  on  the  best  proposals,  by  effecting 
early  elimination  of  many  proposals.  Several  services  apply  this  two-phased 
submission  and  evaluation  procedure  (e.g.  EAC,  AIDCO  and  RTD)  and  the 
feedback has generally been positive. 

However,  where  outline  proposals  require  substantial  efforts  as  in  the  case  of 
complex  projects,  this  procedure  may  entail  a  longer  process  and  thus  a  heavy 
burden  for  applicants.  To  be  efficient,  it  should  therefore  be  privileged  when 
outline proposals are straightforward. 

Alternatively,  a  call  for  proposals  may  provide  that  the  applicants  submit  a 
complete proposal, but only the proposals which pass the first stage of evaluation 
against a limited set of criteria would go forward for further evaluation (two-stage 
evaluation procedure). 

•  Accelerated procedures for contracts and grants also concern developing countries 
in  particularly  difficult  situations  for  which  the  Commission  has  declared  a 
"situation  of  crisis".  The  Commission  will  regularly  monitor  the  situation  of  the 
most  vulnerable  developing  countries  and  adapt  the  list  of  countries  in  "crisis 
situation" accordingly.12 

Measure 8: Simplify and lighten control measures wherever possible 

11 

12 

Cf.  European  Council  conclusions,  12  December  2008,  point  11,  bullet  point  8.  The  Commission 
endorsed this approach in Press Release IP/08/2040, dated 19.12.2008, recognizing that the exceptional 
nature of the current economic situation could justify the use of the accelerated procurement procedure 
according to Article 38(8) of Directive 2004/18/EC, which reduces the relevant time limits to 10 days. 
Cf.  COM(2009)160.  In  accordance  with  article  168  (2)  of  the  Implementing  Rules,  crisis  situations 
allow for the use of more flexible procedures.  

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The  Commission  will  seek  a  better  balance  between  cost  and  efficiency  in  its 
financial  management  and  control  measures:  the  objective  would  be  to  reduce  the 
number of intervening agents (as an example: the lightest financial circuit should be 
systematically  implemented  for  pre-financing  payments  due  upon  signature  of  the 
contract  –  Cf.  Measure  1),  to  reduce  the  delays  in  the  control  and  management 
circuits, and possibly to review their organisational structures. Another objective will 
be  to  rationalise  the  reporting  process  linked  to  payment  with  the  evaluation  of 
various supporting documents and the financial statements running in parallel instead 
of consecutively. 

This  approach  requires  that  services  reconsider  their  systems  in  the  light  of 
experience  gained  in  the  implementation  of  their  programmes,  in  order  to  identify 
bottlenecks  or  unnecessary  checks.  It  also  needs  to  take  into  account  the  risks 
analysis made by authorising officers according to the type of action. The success of 
such  approach  lies  primarily  with  operational  services,  since  they  hold  the 
responsibility  for  the  internal  organisation  of  their  own  management  and  control 
circuits.  

4. 

CONCLUSION 

The measures proposed in this Communication are in line with the Commission's objective to 
simplify and improve delivery in the implementation of the budget and give it a new impetus 
in order to accompany its recovery plan submitted to Parliament and Council. The success of 
the  measures  requires  not  only  the  continuous  commitment  and  efforts  of  the  services  to 
achieve  the  goals  but  also  the  understanding  and  cooperation  of  all  the  stakeholders.  They 
should be appreciated as further steps in a continuing process of simplification to which the 
forthcoming  budget  review  and  the  tri-annual  revision  of  the  Financial  Regulation  will  also 
contribute.  

All the voluntary measures presented in sections 2 and 3 aim at helping Commission services 
reach the objectives set in section 1 for the reduction of payment delays. It is up to services to 
assess  which  of  these  measures  are  the  most  appropriate  for  them  to  reach  the  targeted 
payment  periods.  However,  services  will  be  required  to  justify  their  choice  if  they  cannot 
reach the targets for payments periods. 

These  measures  will  be  included  in  a  continuing  process  of  simplification  of  the  financial 
rules to which the Commission is firmly committed.  

The  Commission  instructs  its  services  to  implement  all  the  above  measures.  In  particular, 
services  should  start  working  without  delay  on  reducing  current  payment  times  in  view  of 
reaching the targets set in measures 1 and 2 on 1 October 2009. The Commission Accounting 
Officer is entrusted with monitoring progress in the delivery of results of these measures, for 
the first time on the basis of payment time-limits observed in the last quarter of 2009. 

Finally, stock-taking will be made in the Annual Activity Reports (AARs) to be provided by 
Directors-General and Heads of Service for the year 2009, as well as in the Annual synthesis 
report on management achievements by the Commission for 2009.  

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