CELEX: 31974R0165
Language: en
Date: 1974-01-21 00:00:00
Title: Regulation (EEC, Euratom, ECSC) No 165/74 of the Council of 21 January 1974 determining the powers and obligations of officials appointed by the Commission pursuant to Article 14 (5) of Regulation (EEC, Euratom, ECSC) No 2/71

24 . 1 . 74                           Official Journal of the European Communities                            No L 20/ 1
                                                               I
                                            (Acts whose publication is obligatory)
                    REGULATION ( EEC, EURATOM , ECSC) No 165/74 OF THE COUNCIL
                                                     of 21 January 1974
                determining the powers and obligations of officials appointed by the Commis­
                  sion pursuant to Article 14 (5) of Regulation (EEC, EURATOM, ECSC) No 2/71
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN                                       tional recovery control carried out following a
 COMMUNITIES,                                                     reasoned request by the Commission ;
 Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European            Whereas the conditions to be observed by the officials
 Coal and Steel Community, and in particular Article
                                                                  appointed by the Commission during inspections
 78 (f) thereof ;
                                                                  should be defined, particularly with regard to profes­
 Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European            sional secrecy and the detailed rules according to
 Economic Community, and in particular Article 209                which they exercise " their powers of investigation ;
 thereof ;
                                                                  Whereas the other provisions for implementing
 Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European            Article 14 of Regulation (EEC, Euratom, ECSC) No
Atomic Energy Community, and in particular Article                2/71 should be defined ;
 183 thereof ;
 Having regard to the Treaty establishing a single                Whereas, pursuant to Article 14 (3) of Regulation
 Council and a single Commission of the European                  ( EEC, Euratom , ECSC) No 2/71 , the measures of
 Communities, and in particular Article 20 thereof ;              control referred to in that Article shall not prejudice,
                                                                   inter alia, those measures of control carried out by
 Having regard to the Decision of 21 April 1 970 ( a ) on         the Member States in accordance with their own provi­
the replacement of financial contributions from                   sions laid down by law, regulation or administrative
Member States by the Communities' own resources,                  action ,
and in particular Article 6 (2) thereof ;
 Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC, Euratom ,
 ECSC) No 2/71 (2) of 2 January 1971 , implementing
                                                                  HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION :
the Decision of 21 April 1970 on the replacement of
financial contributions from Member States by the
Communities' own resources, and in particular Article
                                                                                          Article 1
 14 (5) thereof ;
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission ;               The     Commission    shall  be   associated  with   the
Having regard to the Opinion of the European Parlia­              measures of control referred to in Article 14 of Regula­
ment (3) ;                                                        tion (EEC, Euratom , ECSC) No 2/71 in the person of
                                                                  those of its officials whom it has specifically
Whereas the Member States are introducing measures                appointed for this purpose .
of control relating to the establishment and making
available of own resources ; whereas however, they are
obliged to associate the Commission with such                                             Article 2
measures     of   controls  should     the  Commission    so
request ;                                                         The measures of control referred to in Article 1 shall
Whereas that obligation covers both measures of                   be all those required for the establishment and the
control carried out by the Member States and the addi­            making available of own resources, both being
                                                                  provided for in Regulation ( EEC, Euratom, ECSC) No
(') OJ No L 94, 28 . 4. 1970 , p. 19 .                            2/71 . They shall be carried out by the departments,
\2) OJ No L 3, 5. 1 . 1971 , p. 1 .                               agencies or national authorities, a list of which shall
 3) OJ No C 112, 27 . 10 . 1972, p. 13 .                          be notified to the Commission, at the latter's request.
 ---pagebreak--- No L 20 /2                           Official Journal of the European Communities                              24 . 1 . 74
Member States and the Commission shall regularly               (b) conformity of the operations establishing and
maintain those contacts likely to facilitate the imple­               making available own resources with the Commu­
mentation of Article 14 (2) of Regulation (EEC,                       nity rules laid down in the Decision of 21 April
Euratom, ECSC) No 2/71 .                                              1970 and Regulation (EEC, Euratom, ECSC) No
                                                                      2/ 71 ;
Each inspection visit, with which the Commission has
requested to be associated, shall be preceded by               (c) the existence of the supporting documents
contacts between the Member States concerned and                      provided for in Article 3 of Regulation (EEC,
the Commission in order to lay down detailed proce­                   Euratom , ECSC) No 2/71 , and their conformity
dures .                                                              with the above operations.
For each visit, the Commission officials must be given                                   Article 5
written terms of reference by the Commission stating
their identity and official capacity.
                                                                1 . All information gathered on the measures of
                                                                control dealt with in this Regulation shall be subject
                          Article 3                             to professional secrecy. It may not be communicated
                                                                to persons other than those within the institutions of
                                                                the Communities or the institutions whose duty it is
1.      When the Commission is associated with the
                                                                to know, or be used for purposes other than those
measures of control carried out by the Member States,           which are laid down in Regulation (EEC, Euratom,
the officials which it has appointed :                          ECSC) No 2/71 unless prior consent has been given
                                                                by the Member State which originally provided that
(a) shall conduct themselves during the inspections in          information .
      a manner compatible with the rules and usages
      prescribed for officials of the Member States with
     which they are associated ;                                2. This Article shall apply to all officials and servants
                                                                of the Communities .
(b) shall be bound by professional secrecy, under the
      conditions laid down in Article .5 below ;
                                                                                         Article 6
(c) shall be entitled to have contact with debtors only
      through the responsible national civil servant, on        Save as otherwise provided in Article 5 :
      the understanding that it is for the competent
      national administration to determine where such            1 . The results of the measures of control carried out
      contacts may take place.                                       shall be brought to the attention of the Member
                                                                     State concerned through the appropriate channels
2. As regards organization of work and, more gener­                  within a period of two months, and the Member
ally, relations with the departments involved in the                 State may submit its observations within the two
measures, the measures of control shall be under the                 months following receipt of the communication .
direction of the department designated by the
Member State pursuant to Article 2 to carry out the             2. Following the procedure provided for in paragraph
measures of control provided for in Article 14 of Regu­              1 , these results and observations shall be made
                                                                     known to the other Member States within the Advi­
lation (EEC, Euratom , ECSC) No 2/71 .
                                                                     sory Committee on the Communities' Own Resour­
                                                                     ces .
                          Article 4
                                                                                         Article 7
 1 : The Member States shall ensure that the depart­
ments or agencies responsible for establishing and
making available their own resources and the authori­           Subject to provisions to be adopted at the appropriate
ties which they have instructed to carry out measures           time pursuant to Article 1 of Regulation (EEC,
of control in this respect, afford the officials appointed      Euratom , ECSC) No 2/71 , this Regulation shall not
by the Commission every assistance necessary for                apply to own resources derived from Value Added
                                                                Tax .
carrying out their duties .
2. Such officials may be associated with national
                                                                                         Article 8
measures of control relating to :
(a) establishment, based on information available to            This Regulation shall enter into force on the day
      the national departments, of own resources,               following its publication in the Official Journal of
      accounting therefor and making available thereof ;         the European Communities.
 ---pagebreak--- 24. 1 . 74                    Official Journal of the European Communities                        No L 20/3
           This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member
           States .
           Done at Brussels, 21 January 1974.
                                                                    For the Council
                                                                      The President
                                                                         J. ERTL
                                                                                                  \