Source: EURLEX
Language: en
Format: md

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| 5.12.2008 | EN | Official Journal of the European Union | C 311/178 |

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REPORT

on the annual accounts of the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market for the financial year 2007 together with the Office's replies

(2008/C 311/26)

CONTENTS

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| 1-2 | INTRODUCTION |

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| 3-6 | STATEMENT OF ASSURANCE |

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| 7-10 | OBSERVATIONS |

Tables 1 to 4

The Office's replies

INTRODUCTION

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| 1. | The Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (hereinafter ‘the Office’) was set up by Council Regulation (EC) No 40/94[(1)](#ntr1-C_2008311EN.01017801-E0001) of 20 December 1993. Its mandate is to implement the Community legislation on trade marks and designs, which gives undertakings uniform protection throughout the entire area of the European Union. |

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| 2. | Table 1 summarises the Office's competences and activities. Key data summarised from the financial statements drawn up by the Office for the financial year 2007 are presented in Tables 2, 3 and 4 for information purposes. |

STATEMENT OF ASSURANCE

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| 3. | This Statement is addressed to the Office Budget Committee in accordance with Article 137 of Council Regulation (EC) No 40/94. |

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| 4. | The Office's accounts for the financial year ended 31 December 2007[(2)](#ntr2-C_2008311EN.01017801-E0002) were drawn up by its President, pursuant to Article 119 of Council Regulation (EC) No 40/94, and sent to the Court, which is required to provide a statement on their reliability and on the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions. |

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| 5. | The Court conducted its audit in accordance with the IFAC and ISSAI[(3)](#ntr3-C_2008311EN.01017801-E0003) International Auditing Standards and Codes of Ethics, in so far as these are applicable in the European Community context. The audit was planned and performed to obtain reasonable assurance that the accounts are reliable and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular. |

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| 6. | The Court has thus obtained a reasonable basis for the Statement set out below:  Reliability of the accountsThe Office's accounts for the financial year ended 31 December 2007 are, in all material respects, reliable.Legality and regularity of the underlying transactionsThe 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 Statement into question |

OBSERVATIONS

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| 7. | The Office's 2007 budget amounted to 276 million euro, as compared with 212 million euro the previous year. The 2007 budget includes a reserve of 118 million euro, as compared with 77 million euro the previous year. The Office's budget is financed by fees paid by the users of its services. |

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| 8. | In recent years, the Office has significantly reduced the number of its permanent staff while increasing the volume of its activities via a systematic automatisation of processes and an outsourcing of supporting activities. Expenditure on IT consultancy, development and maintenance increased from 7,5 million euro in 2000 to 17 million euro in 2006 and to 22 million euro in 2007. The benefits of this approach should be evaluated by the Office through a global cost-benefit analysis. |

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| 9. | For the 2007 projects managed by the Office's Quality management department, cost/benefit analysis, financial estimates and due justifications were not always prepared. A direct link between the projects and the budgetary commitments was not established, which did not permit efficient cost controlling and management. |

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| 10. | In its report[(4)](#ntr4-C_2008311EN.01017801-E0004) on the Office's annual accounts for 2006, the Court observed the need for the Office to propose a level of fees to the Commission which reflects more accurately its real costs[(5)](#ntr5-C_2008311EN.01017801-E0005). The accumulated budgetary surplus[(6)](#ntr6-C_2008311EN.01017801-E0006) in 2006 was 201 million euro and in 2007 it reached 273 million euro. The Office, together with the Commission, also needs to reflect on how it can make better and more productive use of the funds currently held in reserves. |

This report was adopted by the Court of Auditors in Luxembourg at its meeting of 18 September 2008.

For the Court of Auditors

Vítor Manuel da SILVA CALDEIRA

President

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