CELEX: 51982PC0316(02)
Language: en
Date: 1982-07-20
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL REGULATION ( ECSC, EEC, EURATOM ) AMENDING REGULATION ( EEC, EURATOM, ECSC ) NO 2891/77 IMPLEMENTING THE DECISION OF 21 APRIL 1970 ON THE REPLACEMENT OF FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTIONS FROM MEMBER STATES BY THE COMMUNITIES OWN RESOURCES

4.9.82                           Official Journal of the European Communities                            No C 231/15
                                                           II
              Proposal for a Council Regulation amending Regulation (EEC, Euratom, ECSC) No
              2891/77 implementing the Decision of 21 April 1970 on the replacement of financial
                         contributions from Member States by the Communities' own resources
 THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN                                   in the Commission's accounts with the Treasuries of
 COMMUNITIES,                                                  the Member States should bear interest;
 Having regard to the Treaty establishing the                  Whereas it appears necessary to adjust certain
 European Coal and Steal Community, and in                     provisions relating to the making available to the
 particular Article 78h thereof,                               Commission of adjustments to the monthly entries of
                                                               own resources derived from value added tax, herein-
 Having regard to the Treaty establishing the                  after referred to as 'VAT resources', or financial
 European Economic Community, and in particular                contributions based on gross national product, herei-
Article 209 thereof,                                           nafter referred to as 'GNP-based financial contri-
 Having regard to the Treaty establishing the                  butions', consequent upon an amending or supp-
 European Atomic Energy Community, and in                      lementary budget;
 particular Article 183 thereof,                               Whereas the provisions relating to the making
 Having regard to the Decision of 21 April 1970 on             available of VAT resources or financial contributions
the replacement of financial contributions from                if the budget has not been finally adopted before the
Member       States    by the        Communities'     own      beginning of the financial year require clarification;
resources ('), hereinafter referred to as 'the Decision       Whereas the provisions relating to the adjustment of
of 21 April 1970', and in particular Article 6 (2)             GNP-based financial contributions following receipt
thereof,                                                      of the annual statements of VAT resources require
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,             clarification;
Having regard to the opinion of the European Parl-            Whereas Regulation (EEC, Euratom, ECSC) No
iament,                                                        2891/77 should be supplemented so as to contain
                                                              provisions relating to the budgetary management of
Having regard to the opinion of the Court of                   corrections to the annual statements of VAT
Auditors,                                                      resources;
Whereas the conciliation procedure provided for in            Whereas, in view of the increased divergences
the joint declaration of 4 March 1975 by the                  between rates of discount in the Member States, it is
European      Parliament, the Council and the                  necessary to adjust the rates of interest applied when
Commission (2) has taken place in the Conciliation             own resources are not made available by the due
Committee;                                                     date;
Whereas Article 22 of Council Regulation (EEC,                Whereas the balance to be carried forward to the
Euratom, ECSC) No 2891/77 (3), provides that the               next financial year should be redefined;
Commission shall, where appropriate, make any
proposals for amendments thereto;                              Whereas the provisions governing verifications and
                                                               inquiries concerning the establishment and making
Whereas the application of Regulation (EEC,                    available of own resources should be extended to
Euratom, ECSC) No 2891/77 since it came into force             permit direct inspections by the Commission,
has revealed that a number of its provisions require
adjustment;                                                    HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Whereas certain provisions must be adjusted to bring                                   Article 1
them into line with Council Regulation (ECSC, EEC,
Euratom) No . . . of              amending the Financial       Regulation (EEC, Euratom, ECSC) No 2891/77 is
Regulation of 21 December 1977;                                hereby amended as follows:
Whereas, in view of the Community nature of own                  1. The following paragraph is added to Article 3:
resources, the Community's financial autonomy                       'If examination of these supporting documents
should be enhanced by a provision that the balances                 shows that an establishment to which they relate
                                                                    may have to be corrected, they shall be kept
                                                                    beyond this time limit for a sufficient period to
(') OJ No L 94, 28. 4. 1970, p. 19.                                 permit the correction to be made and inspected'.
O O J N o C 89,22.4. 1975, p. 1.                                 2. Article 5 becomes Article 8. It is amended as
(J) OJ No L 336, 27. 12. 1977, p. 1.                                follows:
 ---pagebreak--- No C 231/16                            Official Journal of the European Communities                             4. 9. 82
    (a) after 'a summary account' the words 'of                   (c) the following is inserted in the first sentence
         entitlements established' are inserted;                      of the fourth subparagraph of paragraph 3
    (b) 'inspection'    is replaced by 'entry in the                  after 'the amounts provided for in the draft
          accounts';                                                  budget': 'referred to in Article 78 (3) of the
                                                                      ECSC Treaty, Article 203 (3) of the EEC
    (c) 'July' is replaced by 'April'.                                Treaty and Article 177 (3) of the Euratom
 3. Article 6 becomes Article 5. It is amended as                     Treaty';
    follows:                                                      (d) in the second sentence of the fourth subpar-
    In the second sentence the words 'expressed as a                  agraph of paragraph 3 the words 'shall
    figure to four decimal places and' are deleted                    similarly be calculated from the amounts
    and, after 'agricultural levies', the words                       entered in the draft budget' are replaced by
    'financial contributions to Euratom supp-                         'of VAT resources shall be calculated by
    lementary programmes' are inserted.                               reference to the VAT base in the draft budget
                                                                      or, if there is no draft budget, in the prel-
4. Article 7 becomes Article 6. It is amended as                      iminary draft budget, using the rate fixed for
    follows:                                                          the last budget to have been finally adopted.
    (a) in the first subparagraph of paragraph 2,
                                                                      Twelfths of financial contributions shall be
         '20th' is replaced by 'first working day after
                                                                      calculated on the basis of the amounts
         the 19th';
                                                                      entered in the draft budget or, if there is no
    (b) in the second indent of the second subpar-                    draft budget, in the preliminary draft budget.
         agraph of paragraph 2, the words 'and the                    This "draft budget" shall be the draft in the
         adjustments referred to in Article 10 (6)' are               form in which it stands at the beginning of
         added;                                                       the financial year for which the budget has
                                                                      not been finally adopted. Where the absence
    (c) paragraph 3 is replaced by the following:
                                                                      of a budget is due to the rejection of the
         '3.    Each Member State shall forward to                    draft budget by Parliament as provided for by
         the Commission each month a statement of                     Article 78 (8) of the ECSC Treaty, Article
         its accounts within the period specified in                  203 (8) of the EEC Treaty and Article 177
         paragraph 2'.                                                (8) of the Euratom Treaty, the "VAT base"
                                                                      and the "financial contributions" shall be
5. Article 8 becomes Article 7.
                                                                      those contained in the rejected draft budget
6. Article 9 is amended as follows:                                   or, where appropriate, the draft budget
                                                                      established after the rejection decision but
    (a) in the second subparagraph of paragraph 1,                    before the start of the financial year'; at the
         'Article 10 (3) and (4)' is replaced by 'Article             end of the second limb of the sentence, the
         10 (3), (4), (5) and (6)';                                   following is added: 'if it is adopted before the
    (b) in the third subparagraph of paragraph 1 the                  16th day of the month. Otherwise, it shall be
         words 'be kept free of charge' are replaced by               made on the second due date.';
         'yield interest calculated at the discount rate
                                                                  (e) paragraph 5 is replaced by the following:
         in force in the Member State where the
         account is held, less half a point. The interest             'The Commission shall then calculate
         for each month shall be entered on the first                 adjustments to the financial contributions so
         working day after the following month';                      as to restore, in the light of the actual yield
    (c) in paragraph 3 the words 'in European units                   from VAT resources, the original distribution
                                                                      in the budget between the latter and the
         of account (EUA) on the basis of the
                                                                      financial contributions based on GNP. In
         quotations obtaining on the last day
                                                                      calculating these adjustments, the balances
         corresponding to the time limit for entry or
                                                                      referred to in paragraph 4 shall be converted
         on the first preceding day for which such
                                                                       into ECU at the rates of exchange applying
         quotations are available' are replaced by 'in                 on the first working day after 15 July before
         ECU as provided for in Article 30 (2) of the                  the entries provided for in paragraph 4. For
         Financial Regulation'.                                        each Member State concerned, the total of
 7. Article 10 is amended as follows:                                 VAT balances shall be adjusted by the ratio
     (a) in paragraph 1 '20th' is replaced by 'first                   between VAT resources and the financial
          working day after the 19th';                                 contributions entered in the budget. The
     (b) the following is added to the third subpar-                   Commission shall communicate the results of
          agraph of paragraph 3: 'if it is adopted before              this calculation to the Member States which,
          the 16th day of the month. Otherwise, it shall               during the previous financial year, paid
          be carried out when the second entry                         financial contributions based om GNP so that
          following final adoption is made.';                          they can make a credit or debit entry as
 ---pagebreak--- 4. 9. 82                        Official Journal of the European Communities                              No C 231/17
          appropriate in the account referred to in                      'by the Statistical Office of the European
         Article 9 (1) on the first working day of                       Communities, on the basis of statistics
         August of the same year.';                                     prepared according to the European System
                                                                        of Integrated Economic Accounts (ESA)',
     (f) the following new paragraph 6 is inserted:                     and the following sentence is added:
                                                                        'No account shall be taken of any revisions of
          '6.    Any corrections to the VAT resources                   statistical data made after the final adoption
         basis under Article 10b (1) of Regulation                      of the budget.';
          (EEC, Euratom, ECSC) No 2892/77 shall                    (b) in paragraph 3 'EUA' is replaced by 'ECU'.
         give rise for each Member State concerned to
         the following adjustments to the balance             10. In Article 14, under (b), the word 'taxes' is
         referred to in paragraph 4 of this Article:               replaced by 'VAT on products and net taxes'.
         — the corrections under the first sub-               11. Article 15 is amended as follows:
              paragraph of Article 10b (1) shall give rise
              to a general adjustment to be entered in             (a) in the second indent of the first paragraph the
              the account referred to in Article 9 (1) of              words 'Articles 6 and 95' are replaced by
              this Regualtion on the first working day                  'Article 6 (1) (b) and (c), (2) (b) and (3) (b)
              of August of the same year,                               and the third subparagraph of Article 88 (5)';
                                                                   (b) the second paragraph is replaced by the
         — the corrections under the second sub-
                                                                       following:
              paragraph of Article 10b (1) shall give rise
              to an adjustment to be entered in the                    'This difference shall be increased or
              account referred to in Article 9 ( 1 ) of this           decreased by, on the one hand, the net
              Regulation one month after the expiry of                 amount of appropriations carried forward
              the period allowed by the Commission in                  from previous financial years which have
              its reasoned decision for making the                     lapsed and, on the other hand, by way of
              correction.                                              derogation from Article 4 of the Financial
                                                                       Regualtion, by:
         The adjustments to be made to the VAT                         — payments made in excess of non-
         balances by the first working day of August                        differentiated appropriations carried over
         of each year under the preceding sub-                              from the previous financial year under
         paragraphs of this paragraph shall also give                       Article 6 (1) of the Financial Regulation
         rise to the calculation by the Commission of                       as a result of changes in ECU rates and
         further adjustments to the GNP-based                          — the balance resulting from exchange gains
         financial contributions. The exchange rates to                     and losses during the financial year.';
         be employed in calculating these further
                                                                  (c) the third paragraph is deleted.
         adjustments shall be those used for the initial
         calculation referred to in paragraph 5. The
                                                             12. Article 16 is amended as follows:
         Commission       shall   communicate         these
         adjustments to the Member States so that                 (a) in the second subparagraph of paragraph 1
         they can enter them in the account referred                   the words 'shall give rise to' are replaced by
         to in Article 9 (1) on the first working day of               'may give rise to';
         August of the same year.';
                                                                  (b) in paragraph 2 the words 'Article 10 (4) and
                                                                       (5)' are replaced by 'Article 10 (4), (5)
     (g) paragraph 6 becomes paragraph 7. It is                        and (6)'.
         amended as follows: 'paragraphs 4 and 5' are
         replaced by 'paragraphs 4, 5 and 6.'                13. Article 17 (3) is amended as follows:
                                                                  (a) the words 'Member States shall report to the
 8. In Article 11 the words 'the highest rate of                       Commission, where appropriate within the
    discount ruling in the Member States on the due                    framework of existing procedures,' are
    date' are replaced by 'the rate of discount applied                replaced by 'Member States shall send to the
    in the Member State on the due date, increased                     Commission two separate reports, one on the
    by five points'.                                                   results of their inspections and the other
                                                                       containing';
 9. Article 13 is amended as follows:
                                                                  (b) the following two sentences are added:
     (a) in paragraph 2 the words 'on the basis of                     'These reports shall be submitted during the
         statistics compiled by the Statistical Office of              month following the end of each half year
         the European Communities' are replaced by                     and shall include the number of cases of
 ---pagebreak--- No C 231/18                          Official Journal of the European Communities                              4. 9. 82
        irregularities concerning own resources, an                   documents referred to in Article 3 and to all
        overall estimate of the own resources evaded                  other related documents. The Commission
        and the amount of own resources established                   shall give adequate notice of the inspection to
        or still to be established. The reports shall                 the Member State concerned by the
        also describe serious irregularities which                    inspection or on whose territory the
        could have a significant financial impact on                  inspection is to take place. Representatives of
        own resources.'                                               the Member State concerned may take part in
                                                                      these inspections.';
14. Article 18 is amended as follows:
                                                                  (c) paragraph 3 becomes paragraph 4. The words
    (a) in the third sentence of the second sub-                      'paragraphs 1 and 2' are replaced by
        paragraph of paragraph 2, after 'minimum',                    'paragraphs 1, 2 and 3';
        the remainder of the sentence is replaced by:
        '(a) the Commission may, in specific cases,               (d) paragraph 4 becomes paragraph 5.
             request that certain documents be
                                                             15. In Article 19 the words 'in particular regarding
             forwarded to it;                                     nomenclature, origin, value for customs purposes,
         (b) in the monthly statement of accounts                 Community transit and inward processing,' are
             referred to in Article 7 (3), the amounts            deleted.
             entered in the accounts which relate
             to irregularities or delays in the              16. In Article 21, under (c), the words 'and (3)' are
             establishment, entry in the accounts and             added after '9 (2)'.
             making available of own resources,
             discovered    during    the     inspections
             referred to above, must be identified by
             means of appropriate notes.';                                             Article 2
    (b) the following new paragraph 3 is inserted:           This Regulation shall enter into force on the day
        '3.    Without prejudice to the inspections          following its publication in the Official Journal of the
        referred to in paragraph 2, the Commission           European Communities.
        may itself undertake on-the-spot inspections.
        The officials appointed by the Commission to         It shall apply from the financial year 1983.
        undertake these inspections shall, to the
        extent necessary for the correct application of      This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and
        this Regulation, have access to the supporting       directly applicable in all Member States.