natgillin/translations-raw huggingface dataset:
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
Nevertheless, this method entails greater risk and its use should therefore be kept to a minimum.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
A large number of tests were carried out over a very long period and the result was finally deemed satisfactory in mid-2008.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
It must be recognised with hindsight that the result has not entirely lived up to expectations.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
In future the PMO will evaluate tests much more strictly before accepting the launch of any new system or the modification of an existing system.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
EN 10.11.2009 OfficialJournaloftheEuropeanUnion 219 THE COURT'S OBSERVATIONS Transfer of acquired pension rights 11.12.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
Insomecases,theinstitutionshavetoreimburse staff members a fraction of the capital value of transferred pension rights (5).
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
The Court’s examination of controls imple­ mented to ensure that calculations are performed correctly and that reimbursements are recovered in the event of erroneous calculations identified a weakness.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
The audit found that the Office for Administration and Payment of Individual Entitlements (PMO) had wrongly reimbursed a total amount of 138 000 euro to two members of staff and that these cases were still unresolved.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
11.12.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
REPLY OF THE COMMISSION As soon as the Court of Auditors identified these two cases and formulated its conclusions, the PMO took appropriate measures.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
It modified the calculation of pension rights and prepared the recovery of the unduly reimbursed amounts.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
This concerns the recovery of the part of the transferred capital that should have produced additional pension rights in the European Community pension scheme, rather than being paid back to the beneficiaries.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
In the long term (from an actuarial point of view) the financial impact is neutral for the Community budget, as the unduly reim­ bursed money will be compensated by lower pension payments in future and inversely, recoveries will be compensated by the attribution of supplementary pension rights.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
In parallel, action has been taken to reinforce the internal control in the field of transfers of pension rights.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
11.13.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
REPLY OF THE COMMISSION The Local Staff Provident Fund was created in order to offer at least basic social security for local Commission staff working in delegations.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
It is a complementary fund managed outside the EU budget that works with capitalisation of pre-defined contributions.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
Local staff are kept up to date about the Provident Fund and can exert control to a justified extent.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
The Commission is currently exploring how to make such a scheme permanent, and its legal and financial implications.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
The current fund's assets are considered sufficient to cover the indi­ vidual rights of local staff.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
A detailed actuarial study is planned in view of the legislative proposal.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
Pension scheme for local staff at Commission Delegations 11.13.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
In1996,theExternalServiceDirectorateofthe General Directorate for External Relations established a pension scheme for the local staff employed at Commission delegations.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
The scheme relies on a fund constituted by monthly contributions from the staff concerned and from the Commission.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
Since 1996, this scheme has been admin­ istered on the basis of provisional rules.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
These rules fail to address the question of the Commission's responsibility for the safeguarding and the return of the fund's assets, neither do they define the detailed provisions for the settlements of the staff’s rights.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
The fund's assets were valued at about 34 million euro at the end of 2008. _____________ (5) Article 11(2) of Annex VIII of the Staff Regulations provides that officials may transfer pension rights acquired during previous employment to the pension scheme of European officials (PSEO).
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
The capital value of transferred pension rights is translated into years of pensionable service in the PSEO.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
The audit examined whether institutions have adequate procedures to correctly value transferred pension rights and to adequately perform transfers.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
While procedures operate satisfactorily in most cases, the complexity of the applicable provisions of the Staff Regulations and of national pension legislations result in delays to process individual transfers and in numerous clerical errors in calculations.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
EN 220 OfficialJournaloftheEuropeanUnion 10.11.2009 THE COURT'S OBSERVATIONS Court of Justice 11.14.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
The Court's audit of the contract showed weaknesses in the internal control system for performing this tendering procedure.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
These led to an overly short deadline for tenderers to obtain the tender specifications(6), and the announcement in the contract notice both of the obligation to submit tenders in one language only (7) and of the holding of a closed meeting for the opening of tenders(8).
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
Enhanced procurement procedures should be established by the Court of Justice in order to help authorising services organise tendering procedures and control adherence to regulatory obligations.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
11.14.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
REPLY OF THE COURT OF JUSTICE After recalling that the procurement procedure referred to by the Court of Auditors concerns the new building complex and was the Court of Justice’s first experience of a joint contract with a Member State under the recent provisions of Article 91 of the Financial Regulation, the Court of Justice wishes to offer the following clarification regarding the weaknesses noted by the Court of Auditors in that procedure.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
With regard first of all to the scheduling of the procedure, the joint contracting authorities were required to reconcile, in their own interest and in that of the tenderers, the need to award the contract at a date enabling the successful tenderer to be operational as soon as the new building complex was delivered with the need, having regard to the complexity of the contract, to provide for a period of sufficient length to allow the tenderers to prepare their tender in good conditions.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
That is why the timetable, although observing the time-limits formally prescribed by the financial regulation, was unavoidably constricted as regards the period allowed for the candidates to request the call for tender documents.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
As for the weak points concerning two particular headings in the contract notice, they were the result of administrative mistakes and were, of course, not deliberate.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
With regard to the language rules, only a want of coordination explains why the contract notice provided for tenders to be submitted in French only (the custom in practice in the Member State concerned), whereas the contract documents provided that tenders could be submitted in any of the official languages of the European Union (the practice followed by the Court of Justice).
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
So far as concerns the committee meeting for the opening of tenders, it is to be borne in mind that if any tenderers had appeared, they would naturally have been permitted to be present, in accordance with the provisions of the financial regulation.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
So far as concerns the Court of Auditors’ recommendation relating to the improvement of the help given to the authorising departments in the field of tendering procedures, the Court of Justice began as long ago as June 2008, and in response to a recommendation of its internal auditor, to take real steps in that direction.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
It will use its best endeavours, so far as the number of staff available permits, to continue to improve its arrangements in this field. _____________ (6) Article 98 of the Financial Regulation states that arrangements for submitting tenders shall be such as to ensure that there is genuine competition.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
The corresponding Implementing Rules (IR) set out minimal time limits to be observed by the contracting authorities.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
(7) Article 125c of the Implementing Rules (IR) of the Financial Regu­ lation provides that, in the case of a joint procurement between one institution and the contracting authority from one or more a Member States, the procedural provisions applicable to the insti­ tution, which include the linguistic regime, shall apply.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
(8) Article 118(3) IR states that, in the case of an open procedure, the meeting of the opening committee shall be open to the tenderers.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
EN 10.11.2009 OfficialJournaloftheEuropeanUnion 221 THE COURT'S OBSERVATIONS Court of Auditors 11.15.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
Theexternalauditor’sreport(seeparagraph11.4) states that, in the auditors' opinion, ‘these financial statements give a true and fair view of the financial position of the European Court of Auditors as of 31 December 2008, and of its financial performance and its cash flows for the year then ended in accordance with Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 of 25 June 2002, the Commission Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2342/2002 of 23 December 2002 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of the said Council Regulation and the European Court of Auditor's Accounting Rules’.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
The report will be published in the Official Journal.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
European Economic and Social Committee 11.16.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
Committee of the Regions 11.17.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
European Ombudsman 11.18.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
European Data Protection Supervisor 11.19.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
CONCLUSIONS 11.20.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
Based on its audit work, the Court concludes that the payments for the year ended 31 December 2008 for the institutions’ administrative expenditure were free from material error (see paragraph 11.6).
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
11.21.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
Based on its audit work, the Court concludes that the supervisory and control systems for the institutions’ administrative expenditure comply with the requirements of the Financial Regulation (see paragraphs 11.7 to 11.19).
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
EN 222 OfficialJournaloftheEuropeanUnion 10.11.2009 THE COURT'S OBSERVATIONS EUROPEAN UNION AGENCIES 11.22.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
AuditsoftheEuropeanUnion'sagenciesandother decentralised bodies are the subject of Specific Annual Reports which are published separately in the Official Journal (9).
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
The Court audited 29 Agencies for the financial year 2008.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
The principal data concerning the agencies are set out in Table 11.2.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
11.23.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
TheCourtissuedunqualifiedopinionsontherelia­ bility of the accounts and the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions for all Agencies except for the European Police College.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
EUROPEAN SCHOOLS 11.24.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
TheCourt’sSpecificAnnualReportontheEuropean Schools (not published in the Official Journal) is submitted to the Board of Governors as the discharge authority.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
The Schools’ 2008 budget of 258,0 million euro was financed mainly by a Commission grant (138,9 million euro) and by contributions from the Member States (54,5 million euro) (10).
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
The principal data concerning the European Schools are set out in Table 11.3.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
11.25.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
TheCourtfoundnomaterialerrorsthatmightcall into question the reliability of the accounts that it audited (Karlsruhe and Mol schools and the Central Office), which were drawn up under the provisions of the Financial Regu­ lation of 24 October 2006 applicable to the budget of the European Schools, and the legality and regularity of the trans­ actions underlying these accounts.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
However, based on the Court’s review, the consolidated accounts are not presented fairly and transparent, in all material respects, in accordance with the relevant accounting standards, with regard to (a) the unsatisfactory application of the accrual based accounting principle and (b) the inclusion of the surplus of the previous year as a revenue of the present year. _____________ (9) The Court’s annual reports on the Agencies accounts are presented on its site (http://www.eca.europa.eu) and will be published in the Official Journal except for the Euratom Supply Agency.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
(10) Source: European Schools, clôtures des comptes 2008.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
(2) Provisional seat.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
(3) Agency having acquired its financial independence in 2008.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
(4) Known as Public Health Executive Agency up to May 2008.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
Total 22,5 467 153 300 44 116 90 49 39 38 — 35 83 28 2 3 626,5
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
(2) Source: European Schools, clôture des comptes 2008.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
(3) Source: 2008 Annual report of the Secretary General to the Board of Governors of the European Schools.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
NB.: Variations in totals are due to the effects of rounding.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
10.11.2009 OfficialJournaloftheEuropeanUnion 225 ANNEX 11.1 RESULTS OF TESTING PART 1: MAIN FEATURES OF SAMPLE BASED TRANSACTION TESTING 1.1 — Size of the sample 2008 57 2007 56 1.2 — Structure of the sample Percentage of transactions tested which were Final/interim payments Advances Total PART 2: OVERALL ASSESSMENT OF SUPERVISORY AND CONTROL SYSTEMS 2.1 — Assessment of selected supervisory and control systems Year Number of transactions tested 2008 2007 Expenses related to staff of the Institutions Expenses related to buildings Other expenses Total 55 19 26 100 100 0 0 0 0 0 55 19 26 100 100 Overall assessment Legend: 2007 EN 2008 Effective Partially effective Not effective N/A Not applicable: does not apply or not assessed
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
EN 226 OfficialJournaloftheEuropeanUnion 10.11.2009 Court observation Multiplication factor applicable to salaries Action taken Court analysis Institution’s reply Annual Report concerning the financial year 2007, paragraphs 11.7 to 11.11: The European Parliament’s replies The Parliament and the Economic and Social Committee do not apply the provisions of the Staff Regulations concerning the multiplication factor in the same way as the other institutions.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
This resulted in the granting of a financial advantage to their staff, which the other insti­ tutions do not grant, and in higher expenses.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
The Parliament and the Economic and Social Committee continue to apply their current practice while waiting for the Court of Justice’s final rulings in cases brought in this respect by staff of the institutions.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
The Court of Auditors will monitor the follow-up to the Court of Justice ruling.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
The European Parliament fully shares the cautious approach as defined by the Court and will continue to examine the substance of the issue.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
Reimbursement of accommodation costs incurred on mission Annual Reports concerning the financial years 2004 to 2007, most recently Annex 11.2 to the 2007 report: The European Parliament’s replies The amended Staff Regulations, which entered into force on 1 May 2004, state that accommodation costs incurred on mission are reimbursed up to a maximum fixed for each country, on production of supporting documents (Article 13 of Annex VII to the Staff Regulations).
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
Contrary to this rule, all the institutions, except the Court of Justice, the Court of Auditors and the Ombudsman, provided in their internal rules for the payment of a flat-rate sum, ranging from 30 to 60% of the maximum allowable amount, to staff who do not produce any evidence of having incurred accommodation costs.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
The Parliament’s Bureau confirmed its support for the existing scheme of flat-rate reimbursement while agreeing to a modification of the system.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
As a result, the Parliament continues to pay accommodation costs on a lump-sum basis for claims relating to overnight stays in Luxembourg, Strasbourg and Brussels.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
The Parliament should ensure that accom­ modation costs incurred on mission are reim­ bursed in compliance with the Staff Regulations.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
Following a change in the relevant internal rules, as from 1 September 2008, only nights spent within duly certified times of work can be claimed for on a flat-rate basis.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
Moreover in spring 2009, a new set of implementing rules and internal rules were put in place in order to clarify the situation.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
This package is due to enter into force in early September 2009.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
EN 10.11.2009 OfficialJournaloftheEuropeanUnion 227 Court observation Action taken Court analysis Institution’s reply Allowances for assistance to Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) Annual Report concerning the financial year 2006, paragraphs 10.10 to 10.12, and Annex 11.2 to the 2007 report: The European Parliament’s replies In its Annual Report for 2006, the Court of Auditors considered that there was insufficient documentation to demonstrate that MEPs actually employed or engaged the services of assistants, and that the duties or services mentioned in the contracts signed by the MEPs had been really carried out.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
The Bureau should take action in order to obtain the documents considered essential to prove that the expenditure was justified.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
From the new parliamentary term starting in 2009, assistance to Members will be provided by accredited parliamentary assistants chosen by MEPs, engaged by the Parliament, and by local agents engaged by Members.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
The Court will monitor the clearance by the Parliament of the MEPs’ statements of expenditure related to the financial years 2004-2007.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
The regularisation exercise for Parliamentary Assistance Expenses paid during the years 2004 and 2006 is 100 % completed.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
For the years 2005 and 2007, there is one single file open for each of these years, for an amount of about 10 000 euro (less than 0,1 % of the total expenditure).
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
Specifically as regards the outstanding file for 2005, the EP services are waiting the reimbursement of an amount excessively paid from the Belgian Social Security Administration.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
The 2007 file is the subject of litigation and is presently being dealt with by the Legal Service.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
Council Regulation (EC) No 160/2009 (OJ L 55, 27.2.2009, p.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
1) amended the conditions of employment of other servants of the European Communities and created a category for accredited parliamentary assistants, which will be recruited starting from the new parliamentary term.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
These will be chosen by MEPs, employed by the European Parliament and paid at standard pay scales.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
They will be based in Parliament’s offices, and provide assistance to specific Members of Parliament.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
For the 2008 financial year, the Parliament should clear all statements of expenditure, including checks on original invoices.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
The European Parliament’s replies Lastly, in the context of the budget for 2010, the remarks against Item 3000, ‘Expenses on staff missions’, have been amended.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
Budget Item 3000 will in future be headed ‘Expenses on staff missions and duty travel between the three working places’ while the remarks explicitly state that the appropriations are intended to cover expenditure on duty travel by staff of the institution, seconded national experts and trainees between the place of employment and any of the European Parliament's three places of work (Brussels, Luxembourg and Strasbourg) and on missions to any location other than the three places of work, thus providing the budgetary basis for the rules which Parliament applies to travel between the three places of work.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
Ultimately, Parliament intends to propose amendments to the Staff Regulations of Officials in this context in order to ensure that the special nature of duty travel between the three places of work, as against normal missions, is properly highlighted.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
EN 228 OfficialJournaloftheEuropeanUnion 10.11.2009 Court observation Action taken Court analysis Institution’s reply According to the Bureau’s amended rules of December 2006, invoices and fee statements issued by paying agents and service providers are no longer required to be submitted by MEPs, but must be retained by them.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
Instead, MEPs are required to submit copies of ‘statements of expen­ diture’ and ‘statements of amounts invoiced’ issued by paying agents and service providers.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
These new rules apply for periods since July 2004.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
Implementing measures for local assistants engaged by Members of Parliament, for the new parliamentary term, were adopted by the Bureau on 7 July 2008.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
The use of paying agents by Members of Parliament becomes obligatory; payments to MEP’s family members are excluded; and paying agents are required to submit annual statements of expenses by 30 March of the following year.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
In every single case where doubts of information existed, the services have requested from Members proper expla­ nations, including the presentation of bills and invoices.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
In specific cases the matter was also referred to OLAF.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
The Parliament’s administration has obtained over 98 % of statements of expenditure and amounts invoiced for 2004 and 2005; over 99 % for 2006 and 2007, and 87% for 2008.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
Parliament’s services are still finalising the collecting of statements of expenditure relating to 2008.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
With regard to the financial year 2008, Parliament considered it desirable to keep in place the verification arrangements by means of which very significant results had been obtained for the years 2004 to 2007.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
The Parliament performed random ex-post checks in 2008 on statements received from Members relating to 2007 payments, and on internal procedures used by the Parliament’s services to correctly process these statements.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
Only in some cases, these checks included the examination of invoices that MEPs had in their possession in support to the summary statements.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
Indeed, as from the new Parliamentary term which has commenced 14 July 2009, the system of Parliamentary Assistance Allowance was overhauled to include two separate categories of assistants.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
In particular, under the new rules accredited assistants (working in the premises of the Parliament) assume the status of other agents of the institution.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
They will be employed under contracts concluded with Parliament and will be subject to payment procedures similar to other staff working for the institution.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
This alleviates the need for regularisation papers.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
Local assistants, operating in the Members' Member State of election, will continue to conclude private law contracts with Members which will be governed by the applicable national law.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
However, the new rules provide that, from now on, all contracts must be compulsorily managed by a duly authorised paying agent.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
Moreover, self-employed service providers will henceforth be paid only upon presentation of invoices or fee statements which must be certified by the paying agent as complying with the applicable national law before being submitted to Parliament's services for payment.
BG 10.11.2009 г. 
Accordingly, the new legal framework is expected to ensure proper compliance with the relevant rules and principles and in many respects goes even beyond what a procedure of ex-post control could achieve since such a procedure is, by defi­ nition, limited to a random selection of cases.