Source: EURLEX
Language: en
Format: md

|  |  |  |  |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 28.12.2005 | EN | Official Journal of the European Union | C 332/112 |

---

REPORT

on the annual accounts of the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market for the financial year 2004 together with the Office's replies

(2005/C 332/16)

CONTENTS

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| 1-2 | INTRODUCTION |

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| 3-6 | THE COURT'S OPINION |

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| 7-10 | OBSERVATIONS |

Tables 1 to 4

The Office's replies

INTRODUCTION

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| 1. | The Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (hereinafter called ‘the Office’) was set up by Council Regulation (EC) No 40/94[(1)](#ntr1-C_2005332EN.01011201-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. The Office's duties and activities are summarised, on the basis of information submitted by the Office, in Table 1. |

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| 2. | For information, the annual accounts drawn up by the Office for the financial year 2004 are summarised in Tables 2, 3 and 4. |

THE COURT'S OPINION

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| 3. | This opinion is addressed to the Office's Budget Committee pursuant to Article 137 of Council Regulation (EC) No 40/94. |

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| 4. | The Office's accounts for the financial year ended 31 December 2004[(2)](#ntr2-C_2005332EN.01011201-E0002) were drawn up by its President, pursuant to Article 119 of Regulation (EC) No 40/94, and sent to the Court, which is required to give its opinion on their reliability and on the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions. |

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| 5. | The Court conducted an audit in accordance with its policies and standards, which are based on international auditing standards that have been adapted to the Community context. The audit was planned and performed to obtain reasonable assurance that the accounts are reliable and the underlying transactions are legal and regular. |

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| 6. | The Court has obtained a reasonable basis for the opinion expressed below. |

Reliability of the accountsThe Office's accounts for the financial year ended 31 December 2004, in all material respects, are 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 opinion into question.

OBSERVATIONS

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| 7. | The revenue received between 21 and 31 December 2004, i.e. 2,3 million euro, was entered in the accounts as revenue for the financial year 2005, in breach of the principle of the annual nature of the budget. |

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| 8. | In its 2003 Annual Report[(3)](#ntr3-C_2005332EN.01011201-E0003), the Court drew attention to the need for rigorous evaluation of appropriations to be carried over. The checks carried out for the financial year 2004 showed that a total of 515 000 euro was carried over unnecessarily, which also conflicts with the principle of the annual nature of the budget. |

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| 9. | The Office has not made provision in its 2004 balance sheet for two legal disputes, the potential financial impact of which cannot be considered negligible. |

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| 10. | There are still failings in the inventory system[(4)](#ntr4-C_2005332EN.01011201-E0004). The lists of assets entered in the accounts as fixed assets had not been reconciled with the inventories, and discrepancies were found. Beginning in 2004 the Office includes computer licences and software in its fixed assets. However, the corresponding fixed assets have been understated by some 550 000 euro as a result of the use of incorrect criteria for determining the value of the computer licences and software. |

This report was adopted by the Court of Auditors in Luxembourg at its meeting of 5 October 2005.

For the Court of Auditors

Hubert WEBER

President

---

[Top](#document1)