Source: EURLEX
Language: en
Format: md

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| 15.12.2011 | EN | Official Journal of the European Union | C 366/167 |

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REPORT

on the annual accounts of the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market for the financial year 2010, together with the Office’s replies

2011/C 366/30

INTRODUCTION

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| 1. | The Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (hereinafter ‘the Office’), which is located in Alicante, was set up by Council Regulation (EC) No 40/94 of 20 December 1993[(1)](#ntr1-C_2011366EN.01016701-E0001). Its mandate is to implement the Union legislation on trade marks and designs, which gives undertakings uniform protection throughout the entire area of the European Union[(2)](#ntr2-C_2011366EN.01016701-E0002). |

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| 2. | The Office’s 2010 budget amounted to 365 million euro, compared with 338 million euro the previous year. The number of staff employed by the Office at the end of the year was 741, compared with 742 the previous year. |

STATEMENT OF ASSURANCE

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| 3. | Pursuant to the provisions of Article 287(1), second subparagraph, of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the Court has audited the annual accounts[(3)](#ntr3-C_2011366EN.01016701-E0003) of the Office, which comprise the ‘financial statements’[(4)](#ntr4-C_2011366EN.01016701-E0004) and the ‘reports on the implementation of the budget’[(5)](#ntr5-C_2011366EN.01016701-E0005) for the financial year ended 31 December 2010, and the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying those accounts. |

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| 4. | This Statement is addressed to the Office Budget Committee in accordance with Article 137 of Council Regulation (EC) No 40/94. |

The President’s responsibility

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| 5. | As authorising officer, the President implements the revenue and expenditure of the budget in accordance with the financial rules of the Office, under his own responsibility and within the limits of the authorised appropriations[(6)](#ntr6-C_2011366EN.01016701-E0006). The President is responsible for putting in place[(7)](#ntr7-C_2011366EN.01016701-E0007) the organisational structure and the internal management and control systems and procedures relevant for drawing up final accounts[(8)](#ntr8-C_2011366EN.01016701-E0008) that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and for ensuring that the transactions underlying those accounts are legal and regular. |

The Court’s responsibility

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| 6. | The Court’s responsibility is to provide, on the basis of its audit, a statement of assurance as to the reliability of the annual accounts of the Office and the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying them. |

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| 7. | The Court conducted its audit in accordance with the IFAC and ISSAI[(9)](#ntr9-C_2011366EN.01016701-E0009) International Auditing Standards and Codes of Ethics. Those standards require the Court to comply with ethical requirements and to plan and perform the audit so as to obtain reasonable assurance as to whether the accounts are free of material misstatement and whether the underlying transactions are legal and regular. |

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| 8. | The Court’s audit involves performing procedures to obtain audit evidence of the amounts and disclosures in the accounts and of the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying them. The procedures selected, including its assessment of the risks of material misstatement of the accounts or of illegal or irregular transactions, whether due to fraud or error, depend on its audit judgement. In making those risk assessments, internal controls relevant to the entity’s preparation and presentation of accounts are considered in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances. The Court’s audit also includes evaluating the appropriateness of the accounting policies used and the reasonableness of the accounting estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the accounts. |

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| 9. | The Court believes that the audit evidence obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for the opinions set out below. |

Opinion on the reliability of the accounts

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| 10. | In the Court’s opinion, the Office’s Annual Accounts[(10)](#ntr10-C_2011366EN.01016701-E0010) fairly present, in all material respects, its financial position as of 31 December 2010 and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended, in accordance with the provisions of its Financial Regulation. |

Opinion on the legality and the regularity of the transactions underlying the accounts

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| 11. | In the Court’s opinion, the transactions underlying the annual accounts of the Office for the financial year ended 31 December 2010 are, in all material respects, legal and regular. |

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| 12. | The comments which follow do not call the Court’s opinions into question. |

COMMENTS ON THE BUDGETARY AND FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

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| 13. | The Office has not adopted rules for the reimbursement of fees. Reimbursements related to the years 2005, 2006 and 2007 were still pending in the accounts on 31 December 2010. |

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| 14. | In 2010, 15 million euro was spent on 156 consultants. Among them, 29 had worked on the Office’s premises on a full-time basis for more than five years and seven for more than nine years. There is scope to consider the costs and benefits of its use of external consultants. |

FOLLOW-UP ON PREVIOUS YEAR’S FINDINGS

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| 15. | Cash held by the Office as at 31 December 2010 totalled 495,4 million euro (474,2 million euro in 2009). A treasury management policy has been adopted by the Office. The accumulated budgetary surplus as at 31 December 2010 was 428,8 million euro. The corresponding figure for 2009 was 402,6 million euro. |

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| 16. | Over successive years, fees charged by the Office for its services have been in excess of the Office’s real costs, giving rise to this significant and growing surplus. |

This Report was adopted by Chamber IV, headed by Mr Igors LUDBORŽS, Member of the Court of Auditors, in Luxembourg at its meeting of 27 September 2011.

For the Court of Auditors

Vítor Manuel da SILVA CALDEIRA

President

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