CELEX: 51980PC0760
Language: en
Date: 1980-12-12
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL REGULATION ( ECSC, EEC, EURATOM ) AMENDING THE FINANCIAL REGULATION OF 21 DECEMBER 1977 APPLICABLE TO THE GENERAL BUDGET OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES

21.5.81                            Official Journal of the European Communities                         No C 119/1
                                                           II
                                                   (Preparatory Acts)
                                              COMMISSION
                        Proposal for a Council Regulation amending the Financial Regulation
                 of 21 December 1977 applicable to the general budget of the European Communities
                         (Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 12 December 1980)
 THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN                                   Whereas, in view of the evolution of the general
 COMMUNITIES,                                                  budget of the European Communities and of the
                                                               application of the Financial Regulation of
 Having regard to the Treaty establishing the Euro-            21 December 1977 since its entry into force, it is
 pean Coal and Steel Community, and in particular              necessary to adjust many of the provisions of the
 Article 78 h thereof,                                         said Financial Regulation;
 Having regard to the Treaty establishing the Euro-
 pean Economic Community, and in particular                    Whereas, in order to cover all the appropriations
 Article 209 thereof,                                          entered in the general budget of the European
                                                               Communities, the Financial Regulation should be
 Having regard to the Treaty establishing the Euro-            extended to include the special provisions required
 pean Atomic Energy Community, and in particular               for the budgetary management of Community
 Article 183 thereof,                                          external aid;
 Having regard to the proposal from the Commis-
 sion,
                                                               Whereas, in the light of the experience acquired
 Having regard to the opinion of the European                  since its entry into force, it is necessary to make
 Parliament,                                                   more detailed or revise certain provisions of the
                                                               Financial Regulation of 21 December 1977, notably
                                                               in respect of the presentation of appropriations in
 Having regard to the opinion of the Court of Audi-            the general budget, the arrangements for provisional
 tors,                                                         twelfths, transfers and carryovers, and the
                                                               scheduling of certain deadlines for entering items in
Whereas the conciliation provided for in the Joint             the accounts and for presenting and auditing the
Declaration of 4 March 1975 of the European                    accounts;
Parliament, the Council and the Commission (')
took place in a Conciliation Committee;
Whereas Article 107 of the Financial Regulation of            Whereas it would appear to be in the general
21 December 1977 (2), as amended by Regulation                interests of the institutions concerned to shorten the
(ECSC, EEC, EURATOM) No                      1252/79(5),      additional period for entering in the accounts
provides for the said Financial Regulation to be              expenditure under the EAGGF, Guarantee Section,
examined by the European Parliament and the                   in order to rationalize the various deadlines
Council in the light of a proposal from the Commis-           governing the procedure for presenting and auditing
sion;                                                         the accounts;
                                                               Whereas it is necessary to amend certain provisions
(») OJ No C 89,22. 4. 1975, p. 1.                              so that it is possible, in connection with the activi-
(2) OJ No L 356,31. 12. 1977, p. 1.                            ties of the Joint Research Centre, to utilize revenue
(3) OJ No L 160,28.6. 1979, p. 1.                              from third parties;
 ---pagebreak--- No C 119/2                         Official Journal of the European Communities                              21.5.81
Whereas, in view of the rise in the cost of living, it is          'The entries intended for multiannual activities
necessary to update certain amounts relating to the                and consisting of commitment and payment
award of contracts referred to in Articles 52, 54, 56,             appropriations shall be shown in the budget as
57 and 94;                                                         follows:
                                                                   — the commitment appropriation authorized for
Whereas, in the light of experience and in the inter-                 the financial year concerned and the
ests of greater flexibility in the management of the                  payment appropriation considered necessary
Communities' own resources, any surplus or deficit                    for the same financial year shall be entered
from one financial year should be entered, for the                    under the appropriate heading;
purposes of adjustment, in the budget of the next
but one financial year;                                           — the estimated annual payment appropriations
                                                                      required for subsequent financial years shall
                                                                      be set out against the commitment appropria-
Whereas the provisions referring to the drawing-up                    tions in an indicative schedule in the remarks
by the Court of Auditos of its annual report must be                  column.'
aligned on the text of the Treaties (Article 78 f (4) of
the ECSC Treaty, Article 206 a (4) of the EEC
Treaty and Article 180 a (4) of the Euratom Treaty);
                                                               3. Article 1: Paragraph 4 is deleted.
Whereas account should be taken of some of the
suggestions made by the Court of Auditors in its
supplementary opinion on the Financial Regulation
of 21 December 1977, adopted at its meeting of                 4. Article 1: Paragraph 5 is deleted.
8 June 1978;
                                                               5. Article 3 (2): The first subparagraph is replaced
                                                                  by the following:
                                                                  '2. Notwithstanding paragraph 1, revenue
                                                                  earmarked for a specific purpose, such as
HAS ADOPTED THIS FINANCIAL REGULATION:                            income from foundations, subsidies, gifts,
                                                                  bequests, contributions to Community activities
                                                                  from non-member States or various bodies, and
                                                                  revenue from third parties in respect of work
                        Article 1                                 carried out at their request shall not be used for
                                                                  any other purpose.'
The Financial Regulation of 21 December 1977
applicable to the general budget of the European
Communities, as amended by Council Regulation
(EEC) No 1252/79 of 25 June 1979, is amended as
follows:                                                       6. Article 4:The following paragraph 2 is added:
                                                                  '2. No expenditure may be entered into or
                                                                  authorized in excess of the authorized appro-
                                                                  priations, without prejudice to Article 22 (2).'
 1. Article 1 (2): The second subparagraph is
    replaced by the following:
    'Without prejudice to paragraph 3 below,
    expenditure may not be authorized for a period             7. Article 5: The last three paragraphs are replaced
    going beyond the financial year.                              by the following:
                                                                  'The readjustment of entries in respect of value
    Operating expenditure arising from contracts                  added tax own resources or, if appropriate, of
    which have been concluded in accordance with                  financial contributions, which under the second
    local usage for periods going beyond the finan-               subparagraph of Article 10 (3) of the Regulation
    cial year shall not be subject to the provisions of           is carried out when the first entry is made
    the preceding subparagraph. Such expenditure                  following the final adoption of the supplemen-
                                                                  tary or amending budget, shall be entered in the
    shall be charged to the budget for the financial
                                                                  accounts for the financial year of the supple-
    year in which it is effected.'
                                                                  mentary or amending budget in question.
                                                                  The allotted appropriations shall be used solely
 2. Article 1 (3): The fourth        subparagraph     is          to cover expenditure properly entered into and
    replaced by the following:                                    paid in the financial year for which they were
 ---pagebreak--- 21. 5. 81                          Official Journal of the European Communities                          No C 119/3
    granted, save as otherwise provided in Articles 6,                from the Guarantee Section of the European
    88 and 99, and to cover the debts relating to                     Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund
    preceding financial years for which no appropri-                  may be submitted until not later than
    ation was carried forward.                                        15 March.
                                                                      In the case of requests to carry over appro-
    The commitments shall be entered in the                           priations in respect of expenditure neces-
    accounts on the basis of the commitments                          sarily resulting from the Treaties or acts
    contracted up to 31 December.                                     adopted in accordance therewith, the Council
                                                                      shall consult Parliament, which shall deliver
                                                                      its opinion in good time, i.e. normally within
     The expenditure of a financial year shall be                     four weeks of receiving the request from the
     entered in the accounts for that year on the basis               Council.
     of the expenditure for which authorization
                                                                      Unless the Council, acting by a qualified
    reached the financial controller not later than
                                                                      majority, decides otherwise within six weeks
     31 December and the accounting officer not
                                                                      of receiving the request, the carryover of
     later than the following 10 January, and for
                                                                     those appropriations shall be deemed to have
    which payment was effected by the accounting
                                                                     been approved.
     officer not later than 15 January.'
                                                                      In the case of requests to carry over appro-
                                                                     priations in respect of expenditure other than
                                                                     that necessarily resulting from the Treaties or
 8. Article 6: Paragraphs 2 to 8 are replaced by the                 acts adopted in accordance therewith, Parlia-
    following:                                                       ment shall act within six weeks of receiving
    '2. In the case of budget headings' where a                      the request, after consulting the Council,
        distinction is made between commitment                       which shall deliver its opinion in good time.
        appropriations and payment appropriations:                    If no decision is taken within this period, the
                                                                     requests shall be deemed to have been
                                                                     approved.
        (a) commitment          appropriations       not
            committed at the end of the financial year
            for which they were entered in the budget
                                                                  5. Unused revenue and appropriations avail-
            shall remain available for the following
                                                                     able at 31 December arising from the specific
            financial year;
                                                                     revenue referred to in Article 3 (2) shall be
        (b) payment appropriations which have not                    carried over automatically.
            been used at the end of the financial year
            for which they were entered shall be
            carried over automatically to the next
                                                                  6. The appropriations referred to in para-
            financial year only.
                                                                     graph 1 (b) which have not been committed
                                                                     by 31 December and in respect of which
                                                                     authorization has been given to carry them
    3. In the case of appropriations which were                      over to the next financial year shall lapse if
        entered in the budget chapter containing                     they are not committed and paid by the end
        "provisional appropriations" and which                       of the said financial year.
        remain available at the end of the financial
        year:
                                                                  7. The appropriations for the Guidance Section
        (a) appropriations in respect of staff and                   of the European Agricultural Guidance and
            administrative expenditure (Titles 1 and                 Guarantee Fund and for the European
            2) may not be carried over;                              Regional Development Fund may be used by
        (b) appropriations in respect of other expen-                way of exception to finance projects for
            diture may be carried over to the next                   which they were not initially committed,
            financial year only.                                     under the conditions laid down in Regula-
                                                                     tions (EEC) No 3171/75 0) and (EEC)
                                                                     No 214/79 (2) respectively.
    4. In the case of the appropriations referred to
        in paragraphs 1 (b) and 3 (b), the Commis-
        sion shall submit to the budgetary authority,
                                                                  8. Parliament and the Council shall be prov-
        not later than 1 February, the requests to
                                                                     ided, for their information, before 15 April,
        carry over appropriations, duly substantiated,
                                                                     with a list of the automatic carryovers.
        made by Parliament, the Council, the Court
        of Justice, the Court of Auditors and the
        Commission itself. However, requests                  ;») OJNoL315,5. 12. 1975, p. 1.
        relating to the carryover of appropriations           ?) OJNoL35,9.2. 1979, p. 1.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 119/4                         Official Journal of the European Communities                             21.5.81
     9. For the purpose of implementing the budget,                — as long as this measure does not have the
         the use of appropriations carried forward                    effect of placing at the disposal of the
         shall be shown separately, by article, in the                Commission, for any month, appropriations
         accounts for the current financial year.'                    in excess of one twelfth of those provided for
                                                                      in the draft budget or, in the absence thereof,
                                                                      in the preliminary draft budget.
 9. Article 7: The third paragraph is replaced by the
     following:
     'Expenditure relating to rents or certain asso-              3. The "draft budget" referred to in paragraphs
     ciated expenditure which is payable in advance               2 (a) and 2 (b) shall be the draft in the form in
     in accordance with local usage may give rise to              which it stands at the start of the financial year
    payments from 20 December onwards to be                       when the provisional twelfths arrangements
    charged to the appropriations for the next finan-             began to be applied.
    cial year.
     The advances intended, within the meaning of                 4. Where the absence of a budget is due to the
     Articles 96 and 116, to finance the expenditure              rejection of the draft budget by Parliament as
     of the Guarantee Section of the European Agri-               provided for by Article 78(8) of the ECSC
     cultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund, and                    Treaty, Article 203 (8) of the EEC Treaty and
     expenditure on food aid, may be paid from                    Article 177 (8) of the Euratom Treaty, the appro-
     10 December onwards.'                                        priations referred to in the second indent of
                                                                  paragraph 2 (a) and in the second indent of
                                                                  paragraph 2 (b) shall be those entered in the
                                                                  rejected draft budget or, where appropriate, in
10. Article 8: This article is replaced by the                    the new draft budget drawn up, following the
    following.                                                    rejection decision, before the start of the finan-
                                                                  cial year.
    '1. If the budget is not finally adopted at the
    beginning of the financial year, Article 78 b of
    the ECSC Treaty, Article 204 of the EEC Treaty                5. At the request of the Commission, the
    and Article 178 of the Euratom Treaty shall                   Council, acting by a qualified majority, may, as
    apply to commitment and payment of expendi-                   dictated by administrative requirements and
    ture of a kind already approved in principle in               after consulting Parliament, authorize the simul-
    the last budget duly adopted.'                                taneous payment or commitment of two or more
                                                                  provisional twelfths in addition to those auto-
                                                                  matically made available under paragraphs 2 (a)
     2(a) Commitments may be entered into in                      and 2 (b). The additional twelfths shall be
    respect of any chapter:                                       authorized in whole and may not be split.
    — up to one quarter of the total appropriations
        entered in the relevant chapter for the                  6. Decisions concerning several provisional
        preceding financial year plus one twelfth for            twelfths and relating to expenditure other than
        each completed month;                                    that necessarily resulting from the Treaties or
                                                                 from acts adopted in accordance therewith shall
    — without exceeding the appropriations pro-                  be taken in accordance with the procedure laid
        vided for in the draft budget or, in the absence         down in Article 78 b (2) of the ECSC Treaty,
        thereof, in the preliminary draft budget.                Article 204 of the EEC Treaty and the third
                                                                 paragraph of Article 178 of the Euratom Treaty.
   The provisonal global commitments referred to
    in Article 96 of this Regulation shall be treated            7. If, for a given chapter, the expenditure
    as commitments for the purposes of these provi-              required to prevent any interruption of
    sions.                                                       Community action in the sector concerned
                                                                 cannot be met by application of the procedures
                                                                 referred to in paragraphs 2 to 6, appropriations
   2(b) Payments may be made monthly in                          available under the twelfths arrangements may,
   respect of any chapter:                                       on a proposal from the Commission, be trans-
                                                                 ferred between chapters.
    — up to one twelfth of the total appropriations              Decisions on the proposal for transfer shall be
        entered in the chapter concerned for the                 taken in accordance with the procedure laid
        preceding financial year;                                down in Article 78 b (2) of the ECSC Treaty,
 ---pagebreak---  21. 5. 81                          Official Journal of the European Communities                            No C 119/5
      Article 204 of the EEC Treaty and the third                   they shall be published in the Official Journal of
      paragraph of Article 178 of the Euratom Treaty.                the European Communities.
      If, however, in the case of transfers involving               3. Any conversion between the ECU and a
      both expenditure necessarily resulting from the               national currency shall be effected at the rate
      Treaties or from acts adopted in accordance                    obtaining on the day, without prejudice to the
      therewith and other expenditure, the Council                  special provisions referred to in Article 123 (2).'
      and Parliament disagree on the amount to be
      transferred, the smaller of the amounts accepted
      by one of the two institutions shall be deemed to        12. Title II: The heading is replaced by the
      have been approved. Where one of the institu-                 following:
      tions rejects the principle of the transfer, such
      transfer shall not be made.                                                     TITLE II
      8. Article 92 shall apply in respect of research         ESTABLISHMENT AND STRUCTURE OF THE
      and investment appropriations.                                                  BUDGET
      9. The decisions referred to in the preceding
      paragraphs shall specify the requisite measures          13. Section 1: The heading is replaced by the
      in respect of resources for the purposes of this              following:
      Article.'
                                                                                     'SECTION 1
                                                                         ESTABLISHMENT OF THE BUDGET
 11. Article 10: This article is replaced by the
     following:
     4                                                         14. Article 7/:The second paragraph is replaced by
       1. The budget shall be drawn up in ECUs. The                the following:
     ECU is the sum of specified amounts of the
     currencies of the Member States as set out in                  'The Economic and Social Committee shall, for
     Council Regulation (EEC) No 3180/78 of                         1 June, forward to the Council an estimate of its
     18 December 1978 changing the value of the                    revenue and expenditure for the following year.'
     unit of account used by the European Monetary             15. Article 12 (5): A third indent is added as follows:
     Cooperation Fund (') (2).
                                                                   '— the plans referred to in Article 90.'
     Any change in the composition of the ECU
     decided on by the Council in the context of the           16. Article 12(6): This paragraph is replaced by the
     European Monetary System, as provided for by                  following:
     Article 2 of Regulation (EEC) No 3180/78, shall               '6. The Commission may on its own initiative
     automatically apply to this provision.                        or if requested by Parliament, the Council, the
                                                                   Court of Justice or the Court of Auditors,
                                                                   present to the Council a letter of amendment to
     2. The value of the ECU in a given currency                   the preliminary draft budget necessitated by the
     shall be equal to the sum of the equivalents in               receipt of new information which was not avail-
     that currency of the amounts of the currencies                able at the time the preliminary draft was estab-
     which make up the ECU. It shall be determined                 lished.
     by the Commission on the basis of the exchange
                                                                   However, save in very exceptional circum-
     rates recorded each day on the exchange
                                                                   stances, the Commission must send such letter
     markets.
                                                                   of amendment to the Council at least 30 days
     The daily rates for conversion into the various               before the first reading of the draft budget by
     national currencies shall be available each day:              Parliament, and the Council must send a letter
                                                                   of amendment to the draft budget to Parliament
                                                                   at least 15 days before the said first reading.
(') OJL379,30.12. 1978, p. 1.                                      7. If circumstances arise which it could not
(2) The following amounts applied when this Regulation             have taken into account when establishing the
    entered into force:                                            draft budget, the Council may, if necessary, send
    German marks              0 828;                               to Parliament a letter of amendment to the said
    Pounds sterling           0 0885;                              draft; the time limit set in the second subpara-
    French francs             1 15;                                graph of paragraph 6 shall apply.
    Italian lira            109
    Dutch guilders            0 286;                               8. In the event of unavoidable, exceptional or
    Belgian francs            3 66;                                unforeseen circumstances, the Commission may
    Luxembourg francs         0 14;
    Danish kroner             0 217;                               submit preliminary draft supplementary and/or
    Irish pounds              0 00759.                             amending budgets.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 119/6                         Official Journal of the European Communities                              21.5.81
    Also, particularly to enable policies to be                      (b) as regards the statement of expenditure:
    adapted, the Commission may submit prelimi-                          (ba) in the case of the various items,
    nary draft amending budgets which do not alter                            articles, chapters and titles:
    the total amount of the annual budget and to
    which the corresponding necessary draft Regula-                           — the appropriations made avail-
    tions would be attached.                                                      able for the financial year, in
                                                                                  question, these appropriations
    Requests for supplementary or amending                                        being the commitment appro-
    budgets from Parliament, the Council, the Court                               priations and the payment
    of Justice or the Court of Auditors shall be                                  appropriations for the budget
    forwarded by the Commission to the budgetary                                  headings for which this distinc-
    authority. The Commission may attach a                                        tion has been agreed,
    dissenting opinion. These budgets shall be
    submitted, examined, prepared and finally                                 — the appropriations made avail-
    adopted in the same form and according to the                                 able for the preceding financial
    same procedure as the budget whose estimates                                  year,
    they are amending. They must be substantiated                             — the actual expenditure in the
    by reference to the latter. The competent auth-                               last financial year for which the
    orities shall discuss them in the light of their                              accounts have been closed;
    urgency. All preliminary draft supplementary
    budgets must, as a general rule, be forwarded to                              This expenditure shall be deter-
    the Council by the date laid down for the                                     mined as follows:
    submission of the preliminary draft budget for                                — for the budget headings
    the following financial year.'                                                    where       the     distinction
                                                                                      between commitment appro-
                                                                                      priations     and     payment
17. Section II: The heading is replaced by the                                        appropriations has not been
    following:                                                                        made:
                                                                                      — actual payments in the
                       SECTION II                                                         last financial year for
                                                                                          which the accounts have
STRUCTURE        AND      PRESENTATION        OF   THE                                    been closed plus the
                        BUDGET                                                            carryovers to the next
                                                                                          financial year;
                                                                                  — for the headings where the
18. Article 15 (5): The first subparagraph is replaced                                distinction between commit-
    by the following:                                                                 ment appropriations and
    4                                                                                 payment appropriations has
      5. The statement of revenue and expenditure                                     been made:
    in respect of the Office for Official Publications
    of the European Communities, drawn up in                                          — in commitments: commit-
    accordance with Article 118(2), shall be                                              ments      entered     into
    attached to the Commission section.'                                                  during the financial year
                                                                                          against     appropriations
19. Article 16: Paragraph 2 is replaced by the                                            for that financial year
    following:                                                                            and against appropria-
    '2. in the section for each Institution:                                              tions remaining from the
                                                                                          preceding financial year;
         (a) as regards the statement of revenue:
                                                                                      — in payments: payments
             — the estimated revenue for each                                             effected during the finan-
                  Institution for the financial year in                                   cial year against appro-
                  question, divided into titles, chap-                                    priations for, that finan-
                  ters, articles and items, following a                                   cial year and against
                  decimal classification system,                                          appropriations      carried
             — the revenue entered in the budget                                          over from the preceding
                  for the preceding financial year and                                    financial year:
          \       the revenue established for the last
                  financial year for which accounts                      (bb) in the case of the appropriations
                  have been closed, using the same                            intended for the implementation of
                  decimal classification,                                     multiannual activities and cons-
             — appropriate remarks on each                                    isting of commitment appropria-
                  revenue heading;                                            tions and payment appropriations:
 ---pagebreak--- 21. 5. 81                           Official Journal of the European Communities                          No C 119/7
                    in the remarks column, an indica-              responsibility in accordance with this Financial
                    tive schedule of the payments                  Regulation and within the limits of the appro-
                    relating to the financial year                 priations allotted.'
                    concerned and subsequent finan-
                    cial years;
              (be) appropriate remarks on each subdi-          21. Article 18(3): The first subparagraph is replaced
                    vision ;                                       by the following:
                                                                   '3. With the exception of decisions overruling
         as regards total staff:                                   the Financial Controller provided for in Arti-
                                                                   cles 23, 24, 35, 44 and 47, the Commission and
         — for each section of the budget, a list of               each of the other Institutions may delegate their
              posts fixing the number of posts for each            powers in accordance with the conditions laid
              grade in each category and in each                   down by their internal rules of procedure and
              service,                                             within the limits which they themselves lay
                                                                   down in the act of delegation/
         — a list of posts paid from research and
              investment appropriations, classified by
              category and grade, distinguishing               22. Article 20: This article is replaced by the
              between permanent and non-permanent                  following:
              staff whose employment is authorized
                                                                   'In each Institution, the collection of revenue
              within the limits of the budget appro-
                                                                   and the payment of expenditure shall be carried
              priations. As regards scientific and tech-
                                                                   out by an accounting officer.
              nical staff, the classification may be
              based on groups of grades, in accord-
              ance with the conditions laid down in                This accounting officer shall be appointed by
              each budget. The list of posts must                  the Institution.
              specify the number of highly qualified
              technical or scientific personnel who are
                                                                   Without prejudice to the system provided for in
              accorded special advantages under the
                                                                   Articles 4 and 5 of Regulation (EEC) No 729/70
              Staff Regulations applicable to these
                                                                   and subject to the second paragraph of
              officials,
                                                                   Article 48, to Article 49 and to Article 108 of this
                                                                    Financial Regulation, the accounting officer
         — a list of posts of the Official Publica-                alone is empowered to manage funds and assets.
              tions Office fixing the number of posts               He shall be responsible for their care.
                                                    /
              for each grade in each category.
                                                                    He may be assisted in his duties by one or more
         The list of posts shall constitute an absolute
                                                                    assistant accounting officers, appointed under
         limit for each Institution; no appointment
                                                                    the same conditions as the accounting officer.
         may be made in excess of the limit set.
                                                                    The special rules applicable to the accounting
         However, in cases of half-time work author-                officer and to assistant accounting officers shall
         ized by the appointing authority in accord-                be laid down in implementing measures pro-
         ance with Article 55 a of the Staff Regula-                vided for in Article 121.'
         tions of officials of die European Communi-
         ties, a post in a given grade may serve for the
         assignment of two officials of the same
         grade or of a lower grade. Such assignment            23. Article 21: This article is replaced by the
         shall automatically terminate when the                    following:
         authorization expires.'                                   '1. Appropriations shall be classified by
                                                                   chapter and by article.
Paragraph 3 becomes paragraph 4.                                   2. The Commission may make proposals to the
                                                                   budgetary authority, as provided in paragraphs 3
                                                                   and 4, for transfers within each budget section.
                                                                    Proposals made by the other institutions for
20. Article 18: Paragraph 1 is replaced by the                     transfers from one chapter to another shall be
     following:                                                    automatically forwarded to the authority; the
     ' 1. The Commission shall, without prejudice to               Commission may attach its own opinion to such
     Article 102 (2), implement the budget on its own              proposals.
 ---pagebreak--- No C I 19/8                        Official Journal of the European Communities                             21.5.81
   3. The appropriations which may be trans-                         (bb) transfers of appropriations from one
   ferred, as provided in paragraph 5, shall be as                         chapter to another within the titles
   follows:                                                                relating to staff expenditure and admin-
                                                                           istrative expenditure in its own section.
   (a) within the category of appropriations where                         It shall inform the budgetary authority
         no distinction is made between commitment                         two weeks before making such trans-
         appropriations and payment appropriations:                        fers;
        (aa) appropriations for the current financial
              year;                                                  (be) in each section, transfers from one
                                                                           article to another within each chapter
        (ab) appropriations carried over by virtue of                      shall be made by the Commission,
             Article 6 (l)(c);                                             deciding according to the urgency of
                                                                           the matter. As regards sections which do
   (b) within the category of appropriations where                         not relate to the Commission, such
        a distinction is made between commitment                           transfers shall be deemed effective if,
        appropriations and payment appropriations:                         except in urgent cases, the Commission
        (ba) commitment appropriations         for  the                    does not take a decision within six
             current financial year;                                       weeks from the date when the proposals
                                                                           was lodged.
        (bb) commitment appropriations remaining
             available by virtue of Article 6 (2) (a)            (c) Parliament and the Council may transfer
             and Article 88 (3);                                     appropriations from one chapter to another
                                                                     and from one article to another within their
        (be) payment appropriations carried over by                  own sections of the budget. The Commis-
             virtue of Article 6 (2) (b).                            sion shall be informed of such transfers.
                                                                 6. In the case of proposals for transfers relating
                                                                 to expenditure necessarily resulting from the
   4. Appropriations may also be transferred, by                 Treaties or from acts adopted in accordance
    decision of the budgetary authority as provided              therewith, the Council shall, after consulting
    in paragraph 6, between headings where a                     Parliament, act by a qualified majority within
    distinction is made between commitment appro-                six weeks, except in urgent cases. Parliament
    priations and payment appropriations and head-               shall deliver its opinion within such time as will
    ings where no such distinction is made.                      permit the Council to be apprised of it and to
                                                                 act within the time limit indicated. Where the
                                                                 Council does not act within this time limit, the
                                                                 proposals for transfers shall be deemed to be
    5. Transfer decisions shall be taken as follows:             approved.
    (a) the budgetary authority shall take decisions,
         in accordance with the procedure laid down
         in paragraph 6, on:
                                                                 In the case of proposals for transfers relating to
        —     all transfers from one chapter to                  espenditure other than that necessarily resulting
              another provided for in paragraph 3                from the Treaties or from acts adopted in
             (aa), (ba) and (bb), subject to para-               accordance therewith, Parliament shall, after
              graph 5 (bb) and (c) below;                        consulting the Council, act within six weeks,
                                                                 except, in urgent cases. The Council shall
        —     all transfers from one article to another          deliver its opinion within such a time as will
              and from one chapter to another prov-              permit Parliament to be apprised of it and to act
              ided for in paragraphs 3 (ab) and 4.               within the time limit indicated. Where Parlia-
                                                                 ment does not act within this time limit, the
                                                                 prosposals for transfers shall be deemed to be
   (b) the Commission shall take decisions, in                   approved.
        accordance with its internal procedure, on:
                                                                 Proposals for transfers relating both to expendi-
        (ba) all transfers of payment appropriations             ture necessarily resulting from the Treaties or
             provided for in paragraph 3 (be) and                from acts adopted in accordance therewith, and
             (bd) from one article to another and                to other expenditure shall be deemed to be
              from one chapter to another in its own             approved if neither the Council nor Parliament
             section;                                            has decided otherwise within six weeks of the
 ---pagebreak--- 21.5.81                            Official Journal of the European Communities                             No C 119/9
    date on which the two Institutions received the           27. Article 27: This article is replaced by the
    proposals.                                                     following:
    If, in the case of the proposals for transfers                 'The, balance from each financial year, calcu-
    referred to in the preceding subparagraph,                     lated in accordance with Article 15 of Council
    Parliament and the Council reduce the proposal                 Regulation (EEC, Euratom, ECSC) No 2891/77,
    for a transfer by different amounts, whichever is             shall be entered as revenue in the case of a
    the smaller of the amounts accepted by one of                 surplus or expenditure in the case of a deficit in
    the two Institutions shall be deemed to be                    a supplementary or amending budget in the
    approved. Where one of the Institutions rejects               second financial year following the financial
    the principle of the transfer, such transfer shall            year in question.
    not be made.                                                   However, if the situation requires, a decision
                                                                  may be taken to enter all or part of this balance
    7. Every proposal for a transfer within a                     in advance in a supplementary or amending
    chapter or from one chapter to another shall be               budget in the financial year immediately
    subject to the approval of the financial                      following the financial year in question.'
    controller, who shall attest that the appropria-
    tions are available.
     8. Appropriations may be transferred only to             28. Article 28:The following paragraph 2 is inserted:
    budget headings for which the budget has                       '2. If the budget is not finally adopted before the
    authorized appropriations or carried a token                   start of the financial year, the contributions
     entry.                                                        provided for in paragraph 1 shall be based on
                                                                   the amount shown in the draft budget, as
     9. This Article shall apply to the appropria-                 referred to in Article 8 (3) and (4) of this Regula-
     tions corresponding to revenue earmarked for a                tion or, if this does not exist, in the preliminary
     specific purpose under Article 3 (2) only as long             draft budget.'
     as the revenue is not used for any other purpose.
                                                                   Paragraph 2 becomes paragraph 3.
     10. No transfer shall be made between Parts I
     and II of the budget.1                                        Paragraph 3 becomes paragraph 4.
                                                              29. Article 29: This article is replaced by the
24. Article 22 (2): The first line is replaced by the              following:
    following:
                                                                   'The Commission shall, four times a year,
    '2. By way of derogation from Articles 3 and 4,
                                                                  present to Parliament and the Council a report
    the following sums may be re-used:'
                                                                   on the Communities' financial situation,
                                                                   covering both revenue and expenditure. This
                                                                   report sha^l also give details of appropriations
                                                                   carried forward from previous financial years, as
25. Article 24 (%).The third subparagraph is replaced              well as of any changes brought about by the
    by the following:                                              adoption of supplementary or amending
    'The accounting officer shall inform the author-               budgets.'
    izing officer and the financial controller of any
    revenue not recovered within the time limits laid
    down. If necessary, he shall initiate the recovery
    procedure.'                                               30. Article 30: This article is replaced by the
                                                                  following:
                                                                  '(1) The Member States shall credit the amounts
                                                                  due to the account referred to in Article 9 (1) of
26. Article 26: This article is replaced by the                   Council Regulation (EEC, Euratom, ECSC)
    following:                                                    No 2891/77 in their national currency in accord-
                                                                  ance with the following provisions:
    'Estimates of the own resources and, if appro-
    priate of the contributions referred to in Article            (a) the own resources referred to in Article 2 (a)
    4 (2), (3) and (6) of the Decision of 21 April 1970                 and (b) of the Decision of 21 April 1970 and
    to be paid by the Member States shall be entered                    the balance of VAT resources referred to in
    in the budget, expressed in ECU. They shall be                      Article 10 (4) of Council Regulation (EEC,
    made available in accordance with Council                           Euratom, ECSC) No 2891/77, both amounts
    Regulation (EEC, Euratom, ECSC) No 2891/77,                         expressed in national currency, shall be
    and with Article 28 of this Financial Regula-                       credited to the abovementioned account as
    tion.'                                                              they stand;
 ---pagebreak--- No C 119/10                        Official Journal of the European Communities                                 21.5.81
    (b) the own resources accruing from VAT                   35. Article 50: Paragraph 1 is replaced by the
         referred to in Article 4 (1) of the Council               following:
         Decision of 21 April 1970, the amounts of                 '1. Contracts for the purchase or hiring of build-
         which are expressed in ECU in the general                ings or goods, for the provision of services or for
         budget of the European Communities, and,                 the performance of construction work shall be in
         where appropriate, the financial contribu-               writing. Apart from contracts relating to build-
         tions based on GNP and the adjustments to                ings, all such contracts shall be concluded
         such contributions provided for in Article 10            following an automatic public tendering or
         (5) of Council Regulation (EEC, Euratom,                 discretionary tendering procedure.
         ECSC) No 2891/77 shall be converted at the
         rate for the ECU applying on the first                    However, contracts may be made by private
         working day following the fifteenth of the               treaty in the circumstances referred to in
         month preceding that in which they are                   Article 52.
         credited to the account;                                 Contracts may be made against invoice or bill of
    (c) the financial contributions referred to in                costs in the cases provided for in Article 57.'
         Article 4 (6) of the Decision of 21 April 1970
         shall be converted at the rate from the ECU
         applying on the last but one working day of          36. Article 52 (a): '6 500 EUA' is replaced by '10 000
         the month preceding that in which they are                ECU'.
         credited to the account;
    (d) all other contributions or additional
         payments referred to in Article 28 (3) of this       37. Article 54: '18 000 EUA' is replaced by '30 000
         Financial Regulation shall be converted in                ECU'.
         accordance with whichever of the methods
         laid down at (a) to (c) above applies to the
         case to which, depending on their nature,            38. Article 56, third paragraph: '200 000 EUA' is
         such contributions or additional payments                replaced by '300 000 ECU'.
         correspond.
    (2) The Commission shall enter the amounts                39. Article 57: This article is replaced by the
     credited to the account referred to in para-                 following:
     graph 1 in its accounts kept in implementation
     of the statement of revenue for the general                  'Contracts may be made against invoice or bill
     budget of the European Communities on the                    of costs only where the expected value of the
     basis of the rate for the ECU applying for the               goods and services supplied does not exceed
     month in which they are credited.'                           500 ECU. This limit shall be increased to 1 200
                                                                  ECU for expenditure to be entered into outside
                                                                  the provisional places of work of the institution.'
31. Article 32 (3): This paragraph is replaced by the
     following:
     '3. The procedure for implementing para-                 40. Article 58: This article is replaced by the
     graphs 1 and 2 above shall be determinded by                 following:
     the implementing measures provided for in                    'Without prejudice to the provisions laid down
    Article 121. This procedure shall ensure that an              in this Financial Regulation, when concluding
    exact account is kept of commitments and                      contracts referred to in this Regulation, each
    authorizations.'                                              institution shall comply with the Directives^)
                                                                  adopted by the Council, pursuant to the Treaty
32. Article 37 (2): This paragraph is deleted. Para-              establishing       the    European         Economic
    graph 3 becomes paragraph 2.                                  Community, in respect of public works and
                                                                  supplies, whenever the amounts involved are
                                                                  equal to or greater than the amounts provided
33. Article 40: The third indent is replaced by the               for in those Directives.
    following:
                                                                  The implementing measures provided for in
    '— the amount to be paid (in figures and                      Article 121 shall include the supplementary
         words), expressed in national currency or                provisions which may be required in order to
          ECU,'                                                   implement this Article.'
34. Article 42: The second paragraph is replaced by
    the following:                                            (') The following Directives were in force at the time this
    'The authorizing officer may grant advances if a              Regulation was drawn up:
                                                                  (a) Public works: Directive 71/305/EEC, as amended
    provision laid down by regulation specifically                     by Directive 78/669/EEC;
    provides therefor.'                                           (b) Supplies: Directive 77/62/EEC.
 ---pagebreak--- 21.5.81                            Official Journal of the European Communities                          No C 119/11
41. Article 59, first paragraph: This paragraph is                1. a table of revenue including:
    replaced by the following:                                       — estimated revenue for the financial year,
    'Permanent inventories showing the quantity
                                                                     — amendments to the revenue estimates as a
    and value of all movable and immovable
                                                                         result of supplementary or amending
    property belonging to the Communities shall be
    kept in accordance with a model drawn up by                          budgets and additional revenue as speci-
    the Commission. Only movable property                                 fied in the first subparagraph of Article 3
    exceeding a specific value laid down in the                           (2),
    implementing measures provided for in Article
    121 shall be entered in those inventories.'                      — entitlements established in the course of
                                                                         the financial year,
                                                                     — entitlements still to be collected from the
42. Article 61, first paragraph: This paragraph is                       preceding financial year,
    replaced by the following:
                                                                     — revenue collected during the financial
    'A statement or record shall be drawn up by the                      year and revenue carried over pursuant to
    authorizing officer and authenticated by the                         Article 6 (5),
    financial controller whenever any property in
    the inventory is sold, given away free of charge,                — amounts still to be collected at the end of
    scrapped, hired out, or missing on account of                        the financial year.
    loss, theft or any other reason.'
                                                                     Statements shall be attached to this table
                                                                     showing revenue carried over pursuant to
43. Article 64, second paragraph: This paragraph is                  Article 6 (5) and, where appropriate, the
    replaced by the following:                                       balances and the gross payments arising from
    "These entries shall make it possible to draw up                 the transactions referred to in Article 22 (2);
    a general monthly balance, and a statement by
    chapter and article, of budgetary revenue and
    expenditure, which shall be forwarded to the                 2. tables showing the movement in appropria-
    financial controller and the authorizing officer.'               tions for the financial year and, with a
                                                                     distinction being made between commitment
                                                                     appropriations, payment appropriations and
                                                                     non-differentiated       appropriations,    indi-
44. Article 68: This article is replaced by the                      cating:
    following:
    'Authorizing officers who, when establishing                     — the initial appropriations,
    entitlements to be recovered or issuing recovery
    orders, entering into a commitment of expendi-                   — any amendments introduced by means of
    ture or signing a payment order do so without                        supplementary or amending budgets,
    complying with this Financial Regulation and                     — any amendments to appropriations intro-
    the rules for its implementation, shall render                       duced by means of transfer,
    themselves liable to disciplinary action and,                    — the final appropriations for the financial
    where appropriate, to payment of compensation.                       year,
    The same shall apply if they omit to draw up a
    document establishing a debt or if they neglect                  — the appropriations remaining or carried
    to issue recovery or payment orders or are,                          over under Article 6;
    without justification, late in issuing them,
    thereby rendering the institution liable to civil
    action by third parties.'                                     3. tables showing the use of the appropriations
                                                                      allocated for the financial year and, with a
                                                                      distinction being made between commitment
45. Article 73 (1), (2), (3) and (4): These paragraphs                appropriations, payment appropriations and
    are replaced by the following:                                    non-differentiated      appropriations,     indi-
                                                                      cating:
    'The Commission shall draw up, not later than
     15 April of the following year, a revenue and                    — the commitments entered into and charge-
    expenditure account for the Communities,                              able to the financial year,
    which shall include the following documents
     classified in accordance with the budget nomen-                 — the payments made and chargeable to the
     clature:                                                            financial year,
 ---pagebreak--- No C 119/12                        Official Journal of the European Communities                              21.5.81
       — the settlement of the commitments of the             47. Article 76: This article is replaced by the
           financial year and the calculation of the              following:
           sums still to be paid at the close of that             'l.The Commission shall draw up, within the
           financial year,                                        time limit provided for in Article 73, a balance
       — the commitment appropriations remaining                  sheet of assets and liabilities of the Communi-
           by virtue of Articles 6 and 88,                        ties as at 31 December of the proceeding finan-
       — the payment appropriations carried over                  cial year. A statement, showing the movements
           in accordance with Articles 6 and 88,                  and balances of the accounts, drawn up on the
                                                                  same date, shall be attached thereto.
       — the non-differentiated          appropriations
           carried over in accordance with Article 6.             2. These documents shall be submitted to the
                                                                  financial controller.'
       — cancelled appropriations.
                                                              48. Article 77: This article is replaced by the
       Where appropriate/ a statement shall be                    following:
       attached to this table showing the balances
       and gross payments arising from the transac-               'The Commission shall forward the revenue and
       tions referred to in Article 22 (2);                       expenditure account, the financial analysis and
                                                                  the balance sheet to Parliament, the Council and
                                                                  the Court of Auditors by 15 April at the latest.'
    4. tables showing the use of the appropriations
       available from previous financial years and            49. Article 78: This article is replaced by the
       indicating:                                                following:
       — the amount of appropriations remaining                   "The Court of Auditors and its members may, in
           or carried over, a distinction being made              carrying out the task of the Court, be assisted by
           between commitment appropriations,                     officers of the Court.
           payment appropriations and non-differen-
                                                                  The Court itself or one of its members shall
           tiated appropriations,                                 notify the authorities with which the delegated
       — the commitments entered into and charge-                 officer is to work of the tasks delegated to him.'
           able to available commitment appropria-
           tions,
       — the payments made from payment appro-                50. Article 79: The reference to .'Article 19' of Regu-
           priations and non-differentiated appro-                lation No 2891/77 is corrected to 'Article 18'.
           priations which have been carried over,
       — the settlement of sums still to be paid at
           the close of the previous financial year           51. Article 80: The reference in the third paragraph
           and the calculation of the sums still to be            to 'Article 18 and 19' of Regulation No 2891/77
           paid at the end of the current financial               is corrected to 'Articles 17 and 18'.
           year,
       — the amount unused and maintained for
           the following financial year,                      52. Article 83: This article is replaced by the
       — the amount cancelled, a distinction being                following:
           made between commitment appropria-                      1. The Court of Auditors shall, by 15 July at the
           tions, payment appropriations and                      latest, adopt the report provided for in Article
           non-differentiated appropriations.'                    78 f (4) of the ECSC Treaty, Article 206 a (4) of
                                                                  the EEC Treaty and Article 180 a (4) of the
                                                                   Euratom Treaty. It shall transmit the report
                                                                  without delay to the institutions of the Commu-
46. Article 74: This article is replaced by the                   nities. They shall address their replies to the
    following:                                                    Court of Auditors and shall forward them to the
    'Each institution shall, not later than 1 March,              Commission by 15 October at the latest.
    forward to the Commission the information                     The Court of Auditors shall transmit its report
    required for drawing up the revenue and                       together with the replies of the institutions to the
    expenditure account and the balance sheet,                    authorities responsible for giving discharge and
    together with a contribution to the analysis of               to the other institutions by 15 November at the
    the financial management referred to in Article                latest and it shall ensure publication thereof in
    75, after submitting them to its financial                    the Official Journal of the European Communi-
    controller.'                                                   ties.
 ---pagebreak--- 21.5.81                           Official Journal of the European Communities                        No C 119/13
    2. The Court of Auditors shall attach to the                 5. Supporting documents pertaining to the
    annual report an assessment of the soundness of              accounts and the drawing up of the revenue and
    the financial management.'                                   expenditure account and the balance sheet shall
                                                                 be kept for a period of five years following the
                                                                 date of the decision giving discharge in respect
53. Article 84: This article is replaced by the                  of the implementation of the budget, referred to
    following:                                                   in Article 85.
    'The Court of Auditors may, at any time, submit              However, the documents relating to transactions
    observations on specific questions and deliver               not finally closed shall be kept for longer than
    opinions at the request of one of the institutions           the said period until the end of the year
    of the Communities.                                          following the year in which Such transactions are
                                                                 finally closed.'
    It shall transmit any observations made or
    opinions given pursuant to the preceding para-
    graph to Parliament, the Council, the Commis-
    sion and, where appropriate, to the institution or       55. Article 88: This article is replaced by the
    body concerned.                                              following:
    The Commission and, where appropriate, the                   '1. An overall allocation covering several years
    institution concerned shall have six weeks in                (hereinafter called 'tranche') shall be made for
    which to forward to the Court of Auditors, and               each type of action project referred to in Article
    to Parliament and the Council, any comments                  87 corresponding to a research and investment
    they wish to make on the observations or                     objective defined by the Council in the
    opinions in question.                                        programme decisions or corresponding deci-
    Should the Court of Auditors decide to have                  sions.
    such observations or opinions published in the               In budgetary terms, the tranche shall be the total
     Official Journal of the European Communities, it            allocation provided in the budget for each
    shall include after them any comments                        research and investment objective, taking into
    submitted pursuant to the previous paragraph.'               account any financial reserves, except where the
                                                                 objective as defined by the Council in the
                                                                 programme decisions or corresponding deci-
54. Article 85: This article is replaced by the                  sions comprises several specific stages, each
    following:                                                   forming a self-contained whole.
    '1. Parliament, upon a recommendation from the               2. The figures given in programme decisions or
    Council, which shall act by a qualified majority,            corresponding decisions shall be merely indica-
    shall, before 30 April of the next year, give a              tive.
    discharge to the Commission in respect of the                3. Amounts authorized annually in the budget to
    implementation of the budget. If that date                   cover research and investment expenditure shall
    cannot be met, Parliament or the Council shall               comprise commitment appropriations and
    inform the Commission of the reasons for the                 payment appropriations.
    postponement.
                                                                 4. The commitment appropriations within each
    2. The financial controller shall take account of            tranche are intended to enable the Commission
    the comments made in the decisions giving                    to meet all the legal obligations which it may
    discharge.                                                   contract.
    3. The Institutions shall take all appropriate
    steps to take action on the comments appearing               They constitute the upper limit of expenditure to
    in the decisions giving discharge. At the request            which the Commission may commit itself during
    of Parliament or the Council, the institutions               the financial year in question for the implemen-
    shall report on the measures taken in the light of           tation of the operations to which the expendi-
    these comments and, in particular, on the                    ture relates.
    instructions given to those of their departments
    which are responsible for the implementation of              However, with regard to additional revenue as
    the budget. Such reports shall also be forwarded             specified in the first subparagraph of Article 3
    to the Court of Auditors.                                    (2), additional appropriations may be made
                                                                 available corresponding to the amounts pro-
    4. Without prejudice to the reports provided for
                                                                 vided for in agreements and contracts with third
    in the third paragraph, the institutions must give
                                                                 parties. These appropriations shall be made
    an account, in an annex to the revenue and
                                                                 available under the relevant budget heading.
    expenditure account for the financial year
    following the discharge of the measures taken in             Notwithstanding Article 6 (2) (a), the commit-
    the light of the comments appearing in the deci-             ment appropriations shall remain valid until
    sions giving discharge.                                      cancelled under the budgetary procedure.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 119/14                         Official Journal of the European Communities                               21.5.81
     5. The payment appropriations represent the                    2. Notwithstanding Article 21 (2), the Commis-
     upper limit of expenditure which may be paid or                sion may, within the limits and subject to the
     authorized for payment during each financial                   conditions fixed at the final adoption of the
     year to cover commitments entered into during                 budget, transfer appropriations from one article
     the current year or earlier financial years.                  to another and from one item to another within
     However, with regard to additional revenue as                 the special chapter referred to in Article 87, the
     specified in the first subparagraph of Article 3              said Articles and items being specified, provided
     (2), additional appropriations may be made                    that such transfers relate to direct action projects
     available corresponding to the additional                      and do not include action projects financed
     amounts actually received under agreements or                  according to a special budgetary scale.
     contracts with third parties. These appro-
     priations shall be made available under the
     relevant budget heading.                                      3. Notwithstanding Article 52 (a), a contract for
     Payment appropriations not used by the end of                 scientific and technical supplies and for works
     the financial year for which they were entered                may be made by private treaty where the amount
     shall be carried over automatically in accord-                 does not exceed 45 000 ECU without prejudice
     ance with Article 6 (2) (b), without prejudice to             to those cases where private treaties are allowed
     Article 6 (5).'             ,                                  under Article 52 (b), (c) and (d) and subject to
                                                                   the general obligation to invite competitive
                                                                    tenders, as far as possible and by all suitable
                                                                    means, from those capable of supplying the
                                                                    goods and services required by the contract.
56. Article 90 (2): A fourth indent is added at (b) as
     follows:
     '— the major installations;'
                                                                   4. Notwithstanding Article 54, the following
                                                                   shall be submitted, before the decision of the
                                                                   authorizing officer, for the opinion of an Advi-
57. Article 91 (2): The second subparagraph is                     sory Committee on procurements and contracts,
    replaced by the following:                                     whose composition and functioning shall be
                                                                   determined by the implementing measures pro-
    "The charges to the appropriation accounts shall               vided for in Article 121:
    not exceed the amount of the appropriations
    entered in the articles and items in Part I of the
    financial plans referred to in Article 90 (2) (a).'            (a) contracts of a scientific or technical nature,
                                                                       for sums exceeding 200 000 ECU, and the
                                                                       acquisition of immovable property;
58. Article 91 (3): The fourth subparagraph is                     (b) contracts for supplies and equipment of a
    replaced by the following:                                         nature other than scientific or technical, for
    'The charges booked to research and investment                     sums exceeding 45 000 ECU;
    objectives and other activities in Part I of the
    financial plan shall be allocated monthly m the                (c) contracts for supplies and equipment of a
    budget to the articles and items in the special                    nature other than scientific or technical for
    chapter provided for in Article 87.'                               sums exceeding 15 000 ECU, to which points
                                                                       (c), (d) and (e) of Article 52 apply.
59. Article 92: A paragraph 3 is added as follows:
    '3. The general provisions relating to provisional             5. Notwithstanding the provisions of the first
    twelfths set out in Article 8 (3), (4), (5), (6), (7)          paragraph of Article 60, scientific and technical
    and (9) shall apply to research appropriations.'               equipment may be sold, without first being
                                                                   advertised, following a decision taken by the
                                                                   authorizing officer after he has consulted the
                                                                   Advisory Committee on procurements and
                                                                   contracts.'
60. Article 94: This article is replaced by the
     following:
     '1. For the purposes of applying Article 21, the
     items of the chapter provided for in Article 87           61. Articles 98, 99, 100 and 101: These articles are
    shall be treated as chapters.                                  replaced by the following:
 ---pagebreak--- 21.5.81                          Official Journal of the European Communities                          No C 119/15
    'Article 98                                                  the procedure provided for in Article 13 of Reg-
                                                                 ulation (EEC) No 729/70, which must be
    1. Expenditure shall be taken into account for a
                                                                 completed not later than 28 February.
    financial year on the basis of payments made up
    to 31 December by the authorities and bodies
    referred to in Article 4 of Regulation (EEC) No             3. The procedure referred to in paragraph 2 shall
    729/70, provided that their commitment and                  also apply to transfers between the EAGGF
    authorization have reached the accounting                   Guarantee chapters and the food aid chapter, in
    officer not later than 28 February of the                   so far as such transfers are made necessary by
    following year.                                              changes, in relation to the appropriations
                                                                 authorized, in the parts of the expenditure
    2. Any adjustments to the expenditure declared               chargeable to the respective chapters.
    which may be authorized separately from the
    clearance of the accounts, under the imple-                  4. The Commission shall inform the budgetary
    menting provisions adopted pursuant to Article               authority of such transfers immediately.'
    5 (3) of Regulation (EEC) No 729/70, may be
    charged to the accounts of the following finan-
    cial year.
                                                            62. Title IX: This title is replaced by the following:
    Article 99
                                                               SPECIAL PROVISIONS APPLICABLE TO
     1. Any difference which may exist between the                             EXTERNAL AID
    total expenditure charged to the accounts for a
    financial year pursuant to Articles 97 and 98 and                              SECTION I
    the total expenditure established by the
    Commission when clearing the accounts as                                GENERAL PROVISIONS
    provided for in Article 5 (2) (b) of Regulation
    (EEC) No 729/70 shall be charged, under a
    single article, as over- or under-expenditure to
    the financial year in which the accounts are                Article 102
    cleared.                                                     1. The appropriations assigned by the
                                                                Community to its development cooperation
                                                                policy shall be used either under global coopera-
    2. For the purpose of paragraph 1, the adjust-              tion agreements of a contractual nature or as aid
    ments referred to in Article 98 (2) shall be                granted unilaterally.
    deemed to have been- charged to the accounts of
    the original financial year.
                                                                2. These appropriations may be earmarked for
                                                                grants, special loans, risk capital, or interest rate
    Article 100                                                 subsidies, and shall be paid out by the Commis-
    1. Provisional global commitments which have                sion, which may confer on the European Invest-
    been made for a financial year in accordance                ment Bank general authority on behalf of the
    with Article 96 and which have not been specifi-            Community to administer a part thereof.
    cally committed under the budget nomenclature
    in accordance with Article 97 by 1 March of the             3. The appropriations paid out by the Commis-
    following financial year, shall be released under           sion shall be used in accordance with the
    the original financial year.                                following provisions.
    2. A provisional global commitment corres-
    ponding to the amount released shall be made
    from the appropriations for the current financial           Article 103
    year.                                                       1. A financing agreement shall be drawn up
                                                                between the Commission, acting for the
                                                                Community, and the Government or the compe-
    Article 101                                                 tent authority of the recipient State in respect of
    1. Appropriations made available in one chapter             any investment project on which the Commis-
   of expenditure may not be allocated to another               sion takes a financing decision.
   chapter of expenditure.
                                                                2. In addition, a loan contract shall be drawn up
   2. Transfers from one chapter to another and                 between the Commission, acting for the
   transfers within a chapter shall be made by                  Community, and the borrower in respect of any
   decision of the Commission in accordance with                investment project financed by a special loan.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 119/16                      Official Journal of the European Communities                             21.5.81
                       SECTION II                               authorizing officer shall issue invitations to
                                                                tender, receive tenders, preside over the exami-
                  EXECUTIVE AGENTS                              nation of tenders and establish the results of the
                                                                tendering procedure.
    Article 104                                                 3. He shall transmit to the Commission for
                                                                agreement the results of the examinations of the
    Where finance is provided by the Community                  tendering procedure and a proposal for the
   under a global cooperation agreement, the                    award of the contract. He shall sign contracts
   disbursement of funds shall, as a rule, be                   and riders thereto and estimates and notify the
   entrusted to a chief authorizing officer, a                  Commission thereof.
   national authorizing officer, a Commission dele-
   gate and a paying agent.
                                                                4. The national authorizing officer shall clear
                                                                and authorize expenditure against appropria-
                                                                tions committed by the Commission clears the
                                                                operations for the execution of which he is
   Article 105                                                  responsible.
   1. The Commission shall perform the functions
  of chief authorizing officer, which shall be to
   ensure that financing decisions are carried out
  and to be responsible for the management of
  resources. In this capacity it commits, clears and
                                                               Article 107
  authorizes expenditure.
                                                                1. For the purposes of applying the agreement
                                                               or convention between the Community and the
   2. The chief authorizing officer, in close cooper-          recipient State, and in respect of the appropria-
   ation with the national authorizing officer, shall          tions for which it is the authorizing officer, the
   ensure that participants in tendering procedures            Commission may be represented in the recipient
   can compete on an equal footing, that there is              State by a delegate approved by that State.
   no discrimination and that the tender selected is
   economically the most advantageous. In parti-
   cular, he shall approve the terms of the invita-            2. At the request of the recipient State, the
  tion to tender before it is issued, be apprised of           delegate shall give technical assistance in
   the results of the examination of the tenders,              preparing and appraising projects.
   and approve the proposal for the award of the
   contract, save where such powers are conferred
                                                               3. The delegate shall, regularly, and in certain
   on the Commission delegate.
                                                               cases acting on special instruction from the
                                                               Commission, inform the authorities of the State
  3. The chief authorizing officer shall make any              to which he has been appointed of Community
  adjustments and take commitment decisions                    activities which may directly concern coopera-
  which prove necessary to ensure the proper                   tion between the Community and that State.
  execution of approved projects and programmes
  in the best economic and technical conditions.               4. The delegate shall make sure, on behalf of
                                                               the Commission, that the projects financed by
                                                               the Community are executed properly from the
                                                               financial and technical angles. To this end he
                                                               shall approve all payment authorizations issued
   Article 106                                                 by the national authorizing officer. This
                                                               approval shall not constitute the Commission's
   1. The Government of the recipient State shall              clearance of the operation concerned and shall
  appoint a national authorizing officer to repre-             not discharge the national authorizing officer
  sent the national authorities in all operations              from his liability under Article 106 (4).
  relating to projects financed by the Community.
  2. The national authorizing officer shall submit
  invitations to tender to the Commission for
  agreement before issuing them. On the basis of
  the decisions thus endorsed and in close cooper-
  ation with the chief authorizing officer and with           Article 108
  the delegate referred to in Article 105 where such           1. For payments in a currency other than that
  a delegate has been appointed, the national                 of the recipient State, the Commission shall
 ---pagebreak--- 21.5.81                           Official Journal of the European Communities                         No C 119/17
   make payment direct for services provided in                 Article 111
   connection with projects financed with grant                  1. Participation in tendering procedures shall
   aid.                                                         be open on equal terms to all natural persons
                                                                and firms coming within the scope of applica-
   2. For payments in the currency of the reci-                 tion of Treaty and to all natural persons and
   pient State, accounts denominated in the                     firms in the recipient State.
   currency of a Member State shall be opened on                The specifications shall therefore require
   behalf of the Commission with the recipient                  tenderers to state their nationality and to present
   State's central bank, which shall exercise the               the supporting evidence normally acceptable
   functions of paying agent.                                   under their own law.
   3. The accounts referred to in paragraph 2 shall             2. By way of exception, it may be decided, by
   be replenished to meet actual cash requirements.             mutual agreement between the Commission and
   Transfers shall be made in the currency of a                 the recipient State, to allow nationals of
   Member State and converted into the currency                 non-member countries to compete for contracts
   of the recipient State as payments fall due, at the          financed by the Community.
   exchange rate ruling on the day of payment.
                                                                3. For financial and technical cooperation
   4. The paying agent shall not be remunerated                 projects in favour of non-associated developing
   for his services; nor shall interest be paid on the          countries funded from the budget appropria-
   funds deposited.                                             tions earmarked for that purpose, eligibility to
                                                                participate in tendering procedures and
                                                                contracts may be extended to other developing
   5. Within the limits of the funds available, the             countries which have received Community aid
   paying agent shall make the payments author-                 from these appropriations in the current finan-
   ized after verifying that the supporting docu-               cial year and the two preceding years.
   ments provided are substantively accurate and
   in order, and that the discharge is valid.
   6. At regular intervals, and at least once a
   quarter, the paying agent shall send the
   Commission a statement of expenditure                        Article 112
   effected, together with supporting documents.                1. The Commission and the relevant auth-
                                                                orities of the recipient State shall take the neces-
                                                                sary implementing measures to ensure that parti-
                                                                cipants in tendering procedures and other proce-
                                                                dures for the award of contracts financed by the
                                                                Community can compete on an equal footing.
                                                                2. To this end, without prejudice to Article 113,
                       SECTION III                              care shall be taken in particular to:
                AWARD OF CONTRACTS                              (a) ensure advance publication in reasonable
                                                                    time of invitations to tender in the Official
                                                                    Journal of the European Communities and the
   Article 109                                                      official journal of the recipient State;
   By way of derogation from Title IV of this                   (b) eliminate any discriminatory practice or tech-
   Financial Regulation, the award of contracts                     nical specification liable to hamper participa-
   financed by the Community shall be governed                      tion on equal terms by all natural or legal
   by the following provisions.                                     persons of the Member States and of the reci-
                                                                    pient State.
   Article 110
   The procedure to be followed prior to the award
   of works, supply or service contracts, or the
   conclusion of technical cooperation contracts,               Article 113
   shall be specified in the technical and adminis-             In urgent cases or where the nature, small scale
   trative provisions annexed to the financing                  or particular characteristics of certain works or
   agreement, subject to the following principles.              supplies so warrant, the relevant authorities of
 ---pagebreak--- No C 119/18                       Official Journal of the European Communities                             21. 5. 81
   the recipient State may, in agreement with the                concerned, has entered the economically most
   Commission, exceptionally authorize:                          advantageous bid.
    — the award of contracts after restricted invita-
       tions to tender;                                          3. Service contracts shall, as a rule, be
    — the conclusion of contracts by private treaty;            prepared, negotiated and concluded by the
    — the performance of contracts through public                relevant authorities of the recipient State, with
       works departments.                                        the agreement and assistance of the Commission
                                                                 delegate.
                                                                 However, they may be prepared, negotiated and
                                                                 concluded by the Commission where they relate
                                                                to urgent, short-term expert services in connec-
                                                                tion with the preparation, appraisal, execution
    Article 114                                                 on utilization of projects, or where special provi-
   The Commission and the relevant authorities of               sions in the financing agreements referred to in
   the recipient State shall ensure that Articles 112           Article 103 (1) so stipulate.
   and 113 are observed for each operation and
   that the tender selected is economically the most
   advantageous, with due regard notably to the
   qualifications of and the guarantees offered by
   the tenderers, the nature and conditions of
   execution of the works or supplies, and the
   price, utilization costs and technical value of
   those works or supplies.                                                         SECTION IV
                                                                                     FOOD AID
   The Commission and the relevant authorities of
   the recipient State shall ensure that all the selec-         Article 116
   tion criteria are specified in the invitation to
   tender dossier.                                              1. Every food-aid programme shall as soon as
                                                                possible be made the subject of a proposal for
                                                                commitment in accordance with the procedure
   The result of invitations to tender shall be                 laid down in Articles 32 to 35.
   published at the earliest possible date in the
   Official Journal of the European Communities.                The advances paid to Member States shall be
                                                                entered globally against the abovementioned
                                                                commitments; the sum set aside for the commit-
                                                                ments may not be exceeded.
                                                                Articles 97, 98 and 99 shall apply as regards
                                                                entry as payment of expenditure effected by the
                                                                Member States using the funds advanced by the
  Article 115                                                   Commission, and as regards the clearance of
   1. For technical cooperation projects, service               accounts.
  contracts shall be concluded with a consultancy
  bureau, a consultant engineer or an expert. Such
  contracts shall be made by private treaty or,                2. Articles 32 to 48 shall apply as regards the
  where justified on technical, economic or finan-             commitment and payment of expenditure
  cial grounds, following competitive tendering.               effected by the Commission direct, particularly
                                                               in respect of purchases on the world market, the
                                                               occasional transport or storage of goods, or
  2. For each technical cooperation project the                quality controls on products supplied.
  Commission shall select one or more candidates
  according to criteria guaranteeing their qualifi-
  cations,       experience      and        independ-          3. The Commission may decide, up to.
  ence and taking into account their availability              28 February of the following financial year, on
  for the proposed project.                                    transfers from one article to another within the
                                                               chapter relating to food aid.
  Where a private treaty procedure is used and the
  Commission has selected a number of candi-
  dates, the recipient State shall choose freely               4. The provisions of Article 101 (3) shall apply
  which of these candidates it wishes to deal with.            to transfers made necessary by changes, in rela-
                                                               tion to the appropriations authorized, in the
  Where a tendering procedure is used, the                     parts of the expenditure chargeable to the
  contract shall be awarded to the candidate who,              EAGGF Guarantee chapters and the food aid
  in the opinion of the Commission and the State               chapter.
 ---pagebreak--- 21. 5. 81                         Official Journal of the European Communities                        No C 119/19
                        SECTION V                                (b)upon expiry of that period, the Commission
                                                                     may submit to the Council and forward to
                 AUDITING OF ACCOUNTS                                Parliament, by 1 February, the lists of appro-
                                                                     priations remaining committed, for which a
                                                                     duly substantiated request for carryover is
    Article 117                                                      being made. The decision shall be taken in
    1. The Community's Court of Auditors may,                        accordance with the second subparagraph of
    on the basis of records and, if necessary, on the                Article 6 (3).
    spot, conduct a full audit of the accounts,                  2. The conditions under which the ECU is to
    records of accounting operations and any other
                                                                 be applied to revenue and expenditure shall be
    documents relating to projects which are kept by
                                                                 determined by the implementing measures prov-
    recipients of Community aid.
                                                                 ided for in Article 121.'
    2. Should the Court of Auditors wish to carry
    out audits on the territory of recipient States, or
    States in which recipients are located, it may do        65. Article 109 becomes Article 124.
    so only by agreement with the relevant auth-
    orities of the State concerned. Such audits
    would be limited to the inspection arrangements          66. Article 110 becomes Article 125.
    implemented pursuant to the provisions
    governing Community aid and would not apply
    in respect of the execution arrangements which
    are the responsibility of the national authorizing
    officer.'
                                                                                     Article 2
63. Article   103 becomes Article 118.                       (1) In Articles 18, 19, 23, 24, 32, 33, 34, 37, 41, 42,
     Article  104 becomes Article 119.                       48,49, 51, 54, 56, 59,60,66, 70,94 and 108 the refer-
                                                             ences to Article 106 concerning implementing
     Article  105 becomes Article 120.                       measures shall be understood as being to Article
     Article  106 becomes Article 121.                        121.
     Article  107 becomes Article 122.                       (2) The name 'the European Parliament' in the
                                                             present text of the Financial Regulation is replaced
                                                             by 'Parliament'.
64. Article 108 becomes Article 123 and is amended                                   Article 3
     as follows:
     ' 1. Appropriations for the Guidance Section of
     the European Agricultural Guidance and Guar-            References to provisions of the Financial Regula-
                                                             tion of 21 December 1977 shall be understood as
     antee Fund entered in the budget for the finan-
                                                             being to the corresponding provisions as amended
     cial year 1976 and in the budgets of previous
                                                             by this Regulation.
     financial years shall be carried over under the
     following conditions:
                                                                                     Article 4
     (a) where they relate to payment remaining due
         under commitments, they shall be carried
         over automatically for a period of five years       This Regulation shall enter into force on . . .
         reckoned from 31 December of the financial          It shall be binding in its entirety and directly appli-
         year during which they were committed;              cable in all Member States.