2010/627/EU: Decision No 3/2010 of the European Union/Switzerland Statistical Committee of 1 October 2010 amending Annex B to the Agreement between the European Community and the Swiss Confederation on cooperation in the field of statistics
Date: 2010-10-01
Institutions: Cooperation Committee
Subjects: Switzerland, cooperation agreement, statistical method, statistics








L_2010277EN.01003101.xml










21.10.2010   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


L 277/31








            DECISION No 3/2010 OF THE EUROPEAN UNION/SWITZERLAND STATISTICAL COMMITTEE
         
of 1 October 2010
         
amending Annex B to the Agreement between the European Community and the Swiss Confederation on cooperation in the field of statistics
(2010/627/EU)


THE EUROPEAN UNION/SWITZERLAND STATISTICAL COMMITTEE,

Having regard to the Agreement between the European Community and the Swiss Confederation on cooperation in the field of statistics (1), and in particular Article 4(4) thereof,

Whereas:







(1)


The Agreement between the European Community and the Swiss Confederation on cooperation in the field of statistics (hereinafter referred to as the Agreement) entered into force on 1 January 2007 and contains Annex B concerning the rules governing Switzerland’s financial contribution.












(2)


The experience gained since the start of the implementation of the Agreement has demonstrated the need to simplify its financial application and reduce the corresponding administrative burden. Consequently, Annex B should be revised,





HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:



Article 1
Annex B to the Agreement is replaced by the text appearing in the Annex to this Decision.


Article 2
This Decision shall enter into force on the date of its adoption.




Done at Sofia, 1 October 2010.


For the Joint Committee


The Head of the EU Delegation

Walter RADERMACHER
            

The Head of the Swiss Delegation

Jürg MARTI
            





(1)  
            OJ L 90, 28.3.2006, p. 2.




ANNEX




                     ‘ANNEX B

FINANCIAL RULES GOVERNING THE CONTRIBUTION OF SWITZERLAND REFERRED TO IN ARTICLE 8

1.   Determination of financial participation









1.1.


Switzerland shall contribute financially, on an annual basis, to the European Union Statistical Programme.












1.2.


This contribution shall be based on two elements:






—


The total cost of Eurostat [Cost]










—


The number of Member States in the European Union [# Members]
















1.3.


The financial contribution shall be: [Cost]/[# Members]












1.4.


These elements shall be defined as follows:






1.4.1.


The total cost of Eurostat shall be defined as 85 % of the amount of commitment appropriations in the Statistics Policy Area (Title 29) of the Budget of the European Union, according to the Activity Based Budgeting nomenclature. This shall comprise Management and Support Expenditure of Policy Area Statistics (Expenditure related to staff in active employment, External staff and other management expenditure, Buildings and related expenditure and Support expenditure for operations) and the Financial Interventions in respect of the Production of Statistical Information. [Cost]










1.4.2.


The number of Member States shall be defined as the number of Member States of the European Union on 1 January of the year in question. [# Members]
















1.5.


A draft calculation of this financial contribution shall be made immediately after the adoption of the Preliminary Draft Budget of the European Union for the year in question. The final calculation shall be made immediately after the adoption of the Budget for that year.




2.   Payment procedures









2.1.


The Commission shall issue, at the latest on 15 June each financial year, a call for funds to Switzerland corresponding to its contribution under this Agreement. This call for funds shall provide for the payment of its contribution not later than 15 July. Any delay in the issuance of the call for funds shall give rise to a corresponding deferral of the scheduled payment date, to allow for a payment period of at least 30 days.












2.2.


The contribution of Switzerland shall be expressed and paid in euro.












2.3.


Switzerland shall pay its contribution under this Agreement in accordance with the schedule in point 2.1. Any delay in payment shall give rise to the payment of interest at the rate applied by the European Central Bank to its principal refinancing operations, as published in the C series of the Official Journal of the European Union, in force on the first calendar day of the month in which the due date falls, increased by 1,5 percentage points. The increased rate shall be applied to the entire period of delay. However, the interest shall be due only in respect of any contribution paid more than 30 days after the scheduled payment date mentioned in point 2.1.












2.4.


Costs incurred by Swiss representatives and experts participating in meetings convened by the Commission under this Agreement shall not be reimbursed by the Commission. As stated in Article 6(2), the costs associated with the secondment of Swiss national officials to Eurostat shall be borne entirely by Switzerland.
Subject to an agreement between Eurostat and the Swiss Federal Statistical Office, Switzerland may deduct from its financial contribution the cost for seconded national experts. The maximum amount to be deducted for each official shall not exceed the maximum deducted for officials from EEA-EFTA countries being seconded to Eurostat under the EEA Agreement. This sum shall be agreed on an annual basis in the Joint Committee.












2.5.


Payments effected by Switzerland shall be credited as budgetary revenue earmarked to the corresponding budget line of the statement of revenue of the General Budget of the European Union. The Financial Regulation (1) applicable to the General Budget of the European Communities shall apply to the management of appropriations.




3.   Conditions for implementation









3.1.


The financial contribution of Switzerland in accordance with Article 8 shall normally remain unchanged for the financial year in question.












3.2.


The Commission, at the time of the closure of the accounts relating to each financial year (n), within the framework of the establishment of the revenue and expenditure account, shall proceed to the regularisation of the accounts with respect to the participation of Switzerland, taking into consideration modifications resulting from transfers, cancellations, carry-overs, or by supplementary and amending budgets during the financial year. This regularisation shall be made in the framework of the establishment of the budget for the following year (n + 2) and shall be reflected in the call for funds.




4.   Information









4.1.


At the latest on 31 May of each financial year (n + 1), the statement of appropriations corresponding to Eurostat’s operational and administrative financial obligations, related to the previous financial year (n), shall be prepared and transmitted to Switzerland for information, according to the format of the Commission’s revenue and expenditure account.












4.2.


The Commission shall communicate to Switzerland all other general financial data relating to Eurostat which is made available to EEA-EFTA States.









(1)  Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 of 25 June 2002 on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities (OJ L 248, 16.9.2002, p. 1), as last amended by Council Regulation (EC) No 1525/2007 (OJ L 343, 27.12.2007, p. 9).’