Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1995/2006 of 13 December 2006 amending Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities

• 50.Article 91 is hereby amended as follows: (a)paragraph 1 shall be replaced by the following: ‘1.  Procurement procedures shall take one of the following forms: (a)the open procedure; (b)the restricted procedure; (c)contests; (d)the negotiated procedure; (e)the competitive dialogue. Where a public contract or a framework contract is of interest to two or more institutions, executive agencies or bodies referred to in Article 185, and whenever there is a possibility for realising efficiency gains, the contracting authorities concerned shall seek to carry out the procurement procedure on an interinstitutional basis. Where a public contract or framework contract is necessary for the implementation of a joint action between one institution and a contracting authority from a Member State, the procurement procedure may be carried out jointly by the institution and this contracting authority, as specified in the implementing rules.’; (b)in paragraph 2, the second subparagraph shall be deleted; (c)the following paragraph 4 shall be added: ‘4.  The implementing rules shall define the procurement procedure, referred to in paragraph 1, applicable to service contracts covered by Annex IIB to Directive 2004/18/EC and to contracts which are declared to be secret, whose performance must be accompanied by special security measures, or when the protection of essential interests of the Communities or the European Union so requires.’;

• 51.Article 92 shall be replaced by the following: ‘Article 92 The documents relating to the call for tenders shall give a full, clear and precise description of the subject of the contract and specify the exclusion, selection and award criteria applicable to the contract.’;

• 52.Article 93 is hereby amended as follows: (a)paragraph 1 is hereby amended as follows: (i)the introductory words shall be replaced by the following: ‘Candidates or tenderers shall be excluded from participation in procurement procedures if:’; (ii)point (f) shall be replaced by the following: ‘(f)they are currently subject to an administrative penalty referred to in Article 96(1).’; (iii)the following subparagraph shall be added: ‘Points (a) to (d) of the first subparagraph shall not apply in the case of purchase of supplies on particularly advantageous terms from a supplier which is definitively winding up its business activities, or from the receivers or liquidators of a bankruptcy, through an arrangement with creditors, or through a similar procedure under national law.’; (b)paragraph 2 shall be replaced by the following: ‘2.  Candidates or tenderers shall certify that they are not in one of the situations listed in paragraph 1. However, the contracting authority may refrain from requiring such certification for very low value contracts, as specified in the implementing rules. For the purpose of the correct application of paragraph 1, the candidate or tenderer, whenever requested by the contracting authority, must: (a)where the candidate or tenderer is a legal entity, provide information on the ownership or on the management, control and power of representation of the legal entity; (b)where subcontracting is envisaged, certify that the subcontractor is not in one of the situations referred to in paragraph 1.’; (c)the following paragraph shall be added: ‘3.  The implementing rules shall determine the maximum period during which the situations referred to in paragraph 1 give rise to the exclusion of candidates or tenderers from participation in a procurement procedure. The maximum period shall not exceed 10 years.’;

• 53.Articles 94, 95 and 96 shall be replaced by the following: ‘Article 94 A contract shall not be awarded to candidates or tenderers who, during the procurement procedure for this contract: (a)are subject to a conflict of interest; (b)are guilty of misrepresentation in supplying the information required by the contracting authority as a condition of participation in the procurement procedure or fail to supply this information; (c)find themselves in one of the situations of exclusion, referred to in Article 93(1), for this procurement procedure.

Article 95

The authorities and bodies mentioned in the first subparagraph shall have access to the information contained in the database and may take it into account, as appropriate and on their own responsibility for the award of contracts associated with the implementation of the budget.

Article 96

(a)candidates or tenderers in the cases referred to in point (b) of Article 94; (b)contractors who have been declared to be in serious breach of their obligations under contracts covered by the budget. In all cases, however, the contracting authority must first give the person concerned an opportunity to present his observations.

(a)the exclusion of the candidate or tenderer or contractor concerned from the contracts and grants financed by the budget, for a maximum period of ten years; and/or (b)the payment of financial penalties by the candidate or tenderer or contractor up to the value of the contract in question.’;

• 54.Article 97 shall be replaced by the following: ‘Article 97

• 55.Article 98 is hereby amended as follows: (a)paragraphs 1 and 2 shall be replaced by the following: ‘1.  The arrangements for submitting tenders shall be such as to ensure that there is genuine competition and that the contents of tenders remain confidential until they are all opened simultaneously.

(b)paragraph 4 shall be replaced by the following: ‘4.  All requests to participate or tenders declared by the opening board as satisfying the conditions laid down shall be evaluated, on the basis of the criteria provided in the documents relating to the call for tenders, in order to propose to the contracting authority the award of the contract or to proceed with an electronic auction.’;

• 56.Articles 102 and 103 shall be replaced by the following: ‘Article 102

(a)ensure full performance of the contract; (b)limit the financial risks connected with payment of pre-financing.

Article 103

Where the award procedure proves to have been subject to substantial errors, irregularities or fraud, the institutions shall suspend the procedure and may take whatever measures are necessary, including the cancellation of the procedure. Where, after the award of the contract, the award procedure or the performance of the contract prove to have been subject to substantial errors, irregularities or fraud, the institutions may, depending on the stage reached in the procedure, refrain from concluding the contract or suspend performance of the contract or, where appropriate, terminate the contract. Where such errors, irregularities or fraud are attributable to the contractor, the institutions may in addition refuse to make payments, may recover amounts already paid or may terminate all the contracts concluded with this contractor, in proportion to the seriousness of the errors, irregularities or fraud.’;

• 57.in Article 104, the following sentence shall be added: ‘They shall delegate, in accordance with Article 59, the necessary powers for the exercise of the function of contracting authority.’;

• 58.Article 105 shall be replaced by the following: ‘Article 105

(a)the publication arrangements referred to in Article 90; (b)the choice of procedures referred to in Article 91(1); (c)the corresponding time limits.

• 59.the title of Chapter 1 of Title VI of Part One shall be replaced by the following: ‘CHAPTER 1 Scope and form of grants’;

• 60)Article 108 is hereby amended as follows: (a)in paragraph 1, the second subparagraph shall be replaced by the following: ‘They shall be covered either by a written agreement or by a Commission decision notified to the successful applicant.’; (b)paragraph 2 shall be replaced by the following: ‘2.  The following shall not constitute grants within the meaning of this Title: (a)expenditure on the members and staff of the institutions and contributions to the European schools; (b)loans, risk-bearing instruments of the Community or Community financial contributions to such instruments, the public contracts referred to in Article 88 and aid paid as macro financial assistance and budgetary support; (c)equity investments on the basis of the private investor principle, quasi-equity financing and shareholdings or equity participations in international financial institutions such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) or specialised Community bodies such as the European Investment Fund (EIF); (d)contributions paid by the Communities as subscriptions to bodies of which they are members; (e)expenditure implemented as part of shared, decentralised or joint management within the meaning of Articles 53 to 53d; (f)payments made to bodies to which implementation tasks are delegated in accordance with Article 54(2) and contributions made by virtue of their constitutive basic act to bodies set up by the legislative authority; (g)expenditure relating to fisheries markets referred to in Article 3(2) (f) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 of 21 June 2005 on the financing of the common agricultural policy ([^E0015]); (h)repayment of travel and subsistence expenses incurred by, or where appropriate any other indemnities paid to, persons invited or mandated by the institutions. (c)the following paragraphs shall be added: ‘3.  The following shall be assimilated to grants and shall be governed, as appropriate, by this Title: (a)the benefit deriving from an interest subsidy on certain loans; (b)equity investments or participations other than those referred to in point (c) of paragraph 2.

• 61.the following Article shall be inserted: ‘Article 108a

(a)reimbursement of a specified proportion of the eligible costs actually incurred; (b)lump sums; (c)flat-rate financing; (d)a combination of the forms referred to in points (a), (b) and (c).

• 62.the title of Chapter 2 of Title VI of Part One shall be replaced by the following: ‘CHAPTER 2 Principles’;

• 63.Article 109 shall be replaced by the following: ‘Article 109

They may not be cumulative or awarded retrospectively and they must involve co-financing. On no account may the combined total costs eligible, as specified in the implementing rules, for financing be exceeded.

(a)study, research or training scholarships paid to natural persons; (b)prizes awarded following contests; (c)actions the objective of which is the reinforcement of the financial capacity of a beneficiary or the generation of an income in the framework of external actions.’;

• 64.in Article 110, paragraph 1 shall be replaced by the following: ‘1.  Grants shall be subject to an annual work programme, to be published at the start of the year. That annual work programme shall be implemented through the publication of calls for proposals, save in duly substantiated exceptional cases of urgency or where the characteristics of the beneficiary or of the action leave no other choice for a given action, or where the beneficiary is identified in a basic act as recipient of a grant. The first subparagraph shall not apply to crisis management aid and humanitarian aid operations.’;

• 65.Articles 111 and 112 are replaced by the following: ‘Article 111 Each action may give rise to the award of only one grant from the budget to any one beneficiary, except where the relevant basic acts authorise otherwise. A beneficiary may be awarded only one operating grant from the budget per financial year. The applicant shall immediately inform the authorising officers of any multiple applications and multiple grants relating to the same action or to the same work programme. In no circumstances shall the same costs be financed twice by the budget.

Article 112

In such cases, costs eligible for financing may not have been incurred prior to the date of submission of the grant application, save in duly substantiated exceptional cases as provided for in the basic act or in the case of expenditure necessary for the proper implementation of crisis management aid or humanitarian aid operations as provided for in the implementing rules. No grant may be awarded retrospectively for actions already completed.

• 66.in Article 113, paragraph 2 shall be replaced by the following: ‘2.  Unless otherwise specified in the basic act with regard to bodies pursuing an objective of general European interest, when operating grants are renewed, they shall be gradually decreased. This provision shall not apply to grants taking one of the form referred to in points (b) and (c) of Article 108a(1).’;

• 67.Article 114 shall be replaced by the following: ‘Article 114

(a)legal persons; grant applications may be eligible if submitted by entities which do not have legal personality under the applicable national law, provided that their representatives have the capacity to undertake legal obligations on their behalf and assume financial liability; (b)natural persons in so far as this is required by the nature or characteristics of the action or the objective pursued by the applicant.

Applicants must certify that they are not in one of the situations referred to in the first subparagraph. However, the authorising officer may refrain from requiring such certification for very low value grants, as specified in the implementing rules.

Such penalties may also be imposed on beneficiaries who at the moment of the submission of the application or during the implementation of the grant, have made false declarations in supplying the information required by the authorising officer or fail to supply this information.’;

• 68.in Article 116, paragraph 1 shall be replaced by the following: ‘1.  Proposals shall be evaluated, on the basis of pre-announced selection and award criteria, with a view to determining which proposals may be financed.’;

• 69.Article 118 shall be replaced by the following: ‘Article 118

• 70.in Article 119, paragraph 2 shall be replaced by the following: ‘2.  Should the beneficiary fail to comply with his obligations, the grant shall be suspended or reduced or terminated in the cases provided for by the implementing rules after the beneficiary has been given the opportunity to make his observations.’;

• 71.Article 120 shall be replaced by the following: ‘Article 120

(a)the financial support is not the primary aim of the action; (b)the conditions for the giving of such support are strictly defined in the grant decision or agreement between the beneficiary and the Commission, with no margin for discretion; (c)the amounts concerned are small. For the purpose of point (c), the maximum amount of financial support that can be paid to a third party by a beneficiary shall be determined in the implementing rules.

• 72.Article 121 is hereby amended as follows: (a)point (a) shall be replaced by the following: ‘(a)the financial statements of the institutions as set out in Article 126, those of the bodies referred to in Article 185 and of other bodies whose accounts must be consolidated in accordance with Community accounting rules;’; (b)point (d) shall be replaced by the following: ‘(d)the aggregated reports on implementation of the budget which present the information contained in the reports referred to in point (c).’;

• 73.Article 122 shall be replaced by the following: ‘Article 122

• 74.Article 128 shall be replaced by the following: ‘Article 128 The accounting officers of the other institutions and bodies referred to in Article 121 shall send to the Commission's accounting officer and to the Court of Auditors by 1 March of the following year at the latest their provisional accounts together with the report on budgetary and financial management during the year. The Commission's accounting officer shall consolidate these provisional accounts with the Commission's provisional accounts and shall send to the Court of Auditors, by 31 March of the following year at the latest, the Commission's provisional accounts accompanied by its report on budgetary and financial management during the year together with the provisional consolidated accounts. The accounting officer of each institution and body referred to in Article 121 shall also send the report on budgetary and financial management to the European Parliament and the Council by the date specified in the second paragraph.’;

• 75.Article 129 is hereby amended as follows: (a)in paragraph 1, the words ‘Article 185’ shall be replaced by the words ‘Article 121’; (b)paragraph 2 shall be replaced by the following: ‘2.  The institutions other than the Commission, and each of the bodies referred to in Article 121, shall draw up their final accounts in accordance with Article 61 and send them to the Commission's accounting officer and the Court of Auditors by 1 July of the following year at the latest with a view to drawing up the final consolidated accounts.’; (c)the following paragraph shall be inserted: ‘2a.  The Commission's accounting officer shall prepare the final consolidated accounts on the basis of the information presented by the other institutions under paragraph 2. The final consolidated accounts shall be accompanied by a note established by the Commission's accounting officer, by which he/she declares that they were prepared in accordance with Title VII and with the accounting principles, rules and methods set out in annex to the financial statements.’; (d)paragraph 3 shall be replaced by the following: ‘3.  After approving the final consolidated accounts and its own final accounts, the Commission shall send them both to the European Parliament, the Council and the Court of Auditors before 31 July of the following financial year.’; (e)in paragraph 4, the date ‘31 October’ shall be replaced by the date ‘15 November’;

• 76.Article 131 is hereby amended as follows: (a)in paragraph 1, the words ‘the Commission’ shall be replaced by the words ‘the Commission's accounting officer’; (b)in paragraph 2, the words ‘the Commission’ shall be replaced by the words ‘the Commission's accounting officer’;

• 77.in Article 133(1), the words ‘Article 185’ shall be replaced by the words ‘Article 121’;

• 78.in Article 134, the words ‘Article 185’ shall be replaced by the words ‘Article 121’;

• 79.in Article 138(1), the words ‘Article 185’ shall be replaced by the words ‘Article 121’;

• 80.in Article 139, paragraph 2 shall be replaced by the following: ‘2.  Each institution shall inform the Court of Auditors and the budgetary authority of any internal rules it adopts in respect of financial matters.’;

• 81.Article 143 is hereby amended as follows: (a)in paragraph 2, the dates ‘15 June’ and ‘30 September’ shall be replaced by the dates ‘30 June’, and ‘15 October’, respectively; (b)paragraph 5 shall be replaced by the following: ‘5.  The Court of Auditors shall transmit to the authorities responsible for giving discharge and to the other institutions, by 15 November at the latest, its annual report accompanied by the replies of the institutions and shall ensure publication thereof in the Official Journal of the European Union.’; (c)in paragraph 6, the date ‘15 February’ shall be replaced by the date ‘28 February’;

• 82.Article 144 is hereby amended as follows: (a)in paragraph 1, the fifth subparagraph shall be replaced by the following: ‘Should the Court of Auditors decide to have any such special reports published in the Official Journal of the European Union, they shall be accompanied by the replies of the institutions concerned.’; (b)in paragraph 2, the first sentence shall be replaced by the following: ‘The opinions referred to in Article 248(4) of the EC Treaty and Article 160c(4) of the Euratom Treaty which do not relate to proposals or drafts covered by the legislative consultation procedure may be published by the Court of Auditors in the Official Journal of the European Union.’;

• 83.in Article 145(1), ‘30 April’ shall be replaced by ‘15 May’;

• 84.in Title I of Part Two, the title shall be replaced by the following: ‘TITLE I EUROPEAN AGRICULTURAL GUARANTEE FUND’;

• 85.in Article 148, paragraph 1 shall be replaced by the following: ‘1.  Parts One and Three of this Regulation shall apply to expenditure effected by the authorities and bodies referred to in the rules relating to the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF), and to revenue, save as otherwise provided in this Title.’;

• 86.Article 149 is hereby amended as follows: (a)paragraph 1 shall be replaced by the following: ‘1.  For each financial year, the EAGF shall include non-differentiated appropriations, with the exception of the expenditure related to the measures referred to in Article 3(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005, which shall be covered by differentiated appropriations.’; (b)paragraph 3 shall be replaced by the following: ‘3.  Non-committed appropriations relating to the actions referred to in Article 3(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 may be carried over to the next financial year only. Such carryover shall not exceed, within a limit of 2 % of the initial appropriations referred to in the first subparagraph, the amount of the adjustment of direct payments referred to in Article 11 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 of 29 September 2003 establishing common rules for direct support schemes under the common agricultural policy and establishing certain support schemes for farmers ([^E0016]) and which was applied during the last financial year. Appropriations which are carried over shall be returned exclusively to the budgetary lines which cover the actions referred to in Article 3(1)(c) of Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005. Such carryover may lead to an additional payment only to the final beneficiaries who have been subject, in the last financial year, to the adjustment of direct payments in accordance with Article 11 of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003. The carryover decision shall be taken, at the latest on 15 February of the year to which the carryover is being made, by the Commission, which shall inform the budgetary authority.

• 87.in Article 150, paragraphs 2 and 3 shall be replaced by the following: ‘2.  The Commission decisions fixing the amounts of these payments shall constitute global provisional commitments, which may not exceed the total appropriations entered for the EAGF.

• 88.in Article 151(1), the first subparagraph shall be replaced by the following: ‘Expenditure effected by the authorities and bodies referred to in the rules relating to the EAGF shall, within two months following receipt of the statements sent in by Member States, be the subject of a commitment by chapter, article and item. Such commitment may be made after the elapse of that two-month period whenever a procedure for a transfer of appropriations concerning the budget lines in question is necessary. Save where payment has not yet been made by the Member States or where eligibility is in doubt, the amounts shall be charged as payments within the same two-month period.’;

• 89.Article 152 shall be replaced by the following: ‘Article 152 In budgetary accounting, expenditure shall be booked to the accounts for a financial year on the basis of the repayments made by the Commission to the Member States by 31 December of the year concerned at the latest, provided that the payment order has reached the accounting officer by 31 January of the following financial year at the latest.’;

• 90.in Article 153, paragraph 1 shall be replaced by the following: ‘1.  Where the Commission may transfer appropriations pursuant to Article 23(1), it shall take its decision by 31 January of the following financial year at the latest and shall inform the budgetary authority as provided for in Article 23(1).’;

• 91.Article 154 shall be replaced by the following: ‘Article 154

• 92.the title of Title II of Part Two shall be replaced by the following: ‘TITLE II STRUCTURAL FUNDS, COHESION FUND, EUROPEAN FISHERIES FUND, AND EUROPEAN AGRICULTURAL FUND FOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT’.

• 93.Article 155 is hereby amended as follows: (a)paragraph 1 shall be replaced by the following: ‘1.  Parts One and Three of this Regulation shall apply to expenditure effected by the authorities and bodies referred to in the Regulations governing the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) ([^E0017]), the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) ([^E0018]), the European Social Fund (ESF) ([^E0019]), the Cohesion Fund ([^E0020]), and the European Fisheries Fund (EFF) ([^E0021]), hereinafter “the Funds”, and to their revenue, save as otherwise provided in this Title. (b)paragraph 3 shall be deleted.

• 94.in Article 157, the second paragraph shall be replaced by the following: ‘The decommitted appropriations may be made available again in the event of a manifest error attributable solely to the Commission.’;

• 95.Article 158 shall be replaced by the following: ‘Article 158 With regard to the operational expenditure referred to in this Title, the Commission may, except in the case of the EAFRD, make transfers from one title to another, provided that the appropriations in question are for the same objective within the meaning of the Regulations governing the Funds referred to in Article 155, or are Technical Assistance expenditure.’;

• 96.in Article 160, the following paragraph shall be inserted: ‘1a.  The appropriations relating to the revenue generated by the Research Fund for Coal and Steel established by the Protocol annexed to the EC Treaty on the financial consequences of the expiry of the ECSC Treaty and on the Research Fund for Coal and Steel shall be treated as assigned revenue within the meaning of Article 18. The commitment appropriations generated by this revenue shall be made available as soon as the amount receivable has been estimated and the payment appropriations as soon as the revenue has been received.’;

• 97.the following Article shall be inserted: ‘Article 160a

On the basis of this assessment, the Commission may submit appropriate proposals to the budgetary authority, by 15 February of each financial year, stating for each budget item the reasons for making these appropriations available again.

The amount of commitment appropriations to be made available again in year n shall in no case exceed 25 % of the total amount decommitted on the same budget line in year n-1.

Legal commitments relating to the commitment appropriations which have been made available again shall be concluded by 31 December of year n. At the end of year n, the unused balance of the commitment appropriations made available again shall be definitively decommitted by the authorising officer responsible.’;

• 98.in Article 163, the first sentence shall be replaced by the following: ‘The actions referred to in this Title may be implemented on a centralised basis by the Commission, by shared management, on a decentralised basis by the beneficiary third country or countries, or jointly with international organisations in compliance with the relevant provisions of Articles 53 to 57.’;

• 99.Article 164 shall be deleted.

• 100.Article 166 is hereby amended as follows: (a)points (a) and (b) of the first subparagraph shall be replaced by the following: ‘(a)a financing agreement drawn up between the Commission, acting for the Communities, and the beneficiary third country or countries or the bodies they have designated, hereinafter: “the beneficiaries”; (b)a contract or a grant agreement between the Commission and national or international public-sector bodies or between the Commission and natural or legal persons responsible for carrying out the actions.’; (b)the second subparagraph shall be replaced by the following: ‘The terms on which the external aid is given shall be laid down in the instrument by which the financing agreements or the contracts or the grants provided for in points (a) and (b) shall be managed.’; (c)paragraph 2 shall be replaced by the following: ‘2.  Financing agreements with the beneficiary third countries referred to in paragraph 1(a) shall be concluded by 31 December of year n+1 at the latest, year n being the one in which the budgetary commitment was made. The individual contracts, grant decisions and agreements which implement such financing agreements shall be concluded or adopted no later than three years following the date of conclusion of the financing agreement. Individual contracts and agreements relating to audit and evaluation may be concluded later.’; (d)the following paragraph 3 shall be added: ‘3.  The provision under paragraph 2 shall not apply to the multi-annual programmes in the following cases: —the cross-border cooperation, regional development, human resources development and rural development components of Council Regulation (EC) No 1085/2006 of 17 July 2006 establishing an Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) ([^E0022]), —the cross-border cooperation component of Regulation (EC) No 1638/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 2006 laying down general provisions establishing a European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument ([^E0023]). In these cases, the following rules shall apply: (a)any portion of a budget commitment for such a multi-annual programme shall be automatically decommited where, by 31 December of the third year following year n being the one in which the budget commitment was made: (i)it has not been used for the purpose of pre-financing; or (ii)it has not been used for making intermediate payments; or (iii)no declaration of expenditure has been presented in relation to it; (b)that part of budget commitments still open on 31 December 2017 for which a declaration of expenditure has not been made by 31 December 2018 shall be automatically decommitted.

• 101.Article 167 is hereby amended as follows: (a)in paragraph 1, point (c) shall be replaced by the following: ‘(c)a national or international public-sector body or natural or legal persons who are beneficiaries of a grant for the implementation of an external action.’; (b)paragraph 2 shall be replaced by the following: ‘2.  The procurement procedures must be laid down in the financing agreements or in the grant decision or grant agreement provided for in Article 166.’;

• 102.in Title IV of Part Two, the title of Chapter 4 shall be replaced by the following: ‘CHAPTER 4 Grants’;

• 103.the following Article shall be inserted: ‘Article 169a Grant procedures to be applied in decentralised management by beneficiary third countries shall be laid down in the financing agreements referred to in Article 166. They shall be based on the rules laid down in Title VI of Part One.’;

• 104.Article 170 shall be replaced by the following: ‘Article 170 Each financing agreement or grant agreement or grant decision must expressly provide for the Commission and the Court of Auditors to have the power of audit, on the basis of documents and on the spot, over all contractors and subcontractors who have received Community funds.’;

• 105.in Article 171, paragraph 2 shall be replaced by the following: ‘2.  This Title shall apply to the operation of the European Anti-fraud Office (OLAF), with the exception of Articles 174, 174a and 175(2).’;

• 106.Article 173 shall be replaced by the following: ‘Article 173 The Commission shall, in respect of the appropriations entered in the Annex for each European office, delegate the powers of authorising officer to the Director of the European office concerned, in accordance with Article 59.’;

• 107.in Article 174(1), the second sentence shall be replaced by the following: ‘The Director of the European office concerned shall adopt, after approval by its Management Committee, the criteria on which the accounting system shall be based.’;

• 108.the following Article shall be inserted: ‘Article 174a

• 109.Article 175 shall be replaced as follows: ‘Article 175 Should the remit of a European office involve supplies to third parties for pecuniary interest, its Director shall, after approval of the Management Committee, lay down the specific provisions governing how these supplies are to be made and the keeping of the corresponding accounts.’;

• 110.Article 176 shall be deleted;

• 111.Article 178 is hereby amended as follows: (a)in paragraph 1, the second sentence shall be replaced by the following: ‘Such commitments may not, however, exceed one quarter of the appropriations decided by the budgetary authority on the corresponding budget line for the current financial year.’; (b)in paragraph 2, the following sentence shall be added: ‘In this case, the limit referred to in paragraph 1 shall not apply.’;

• 112.in Article 179(3), the second and third subparagraphs shall be replaced by the following: ‘If either branch of the budgetary authority intends to issue an opinion, it shall within two weeks after receipt of the information on the building project notify the institution concerned of its intention to issue such an opinion. Failing a reply, the institution concerned may proceed with the planned operation under its administrative autonomy, subject to Article 282 of the EC Treaty and Article 185 of the Euratom Treaty with regard to Community representation. This opinion shall be forwarded to the institution concerned within two weeks of such notification.’;

• 113.the following Title VII shall be inserted: ‘TITLE VII EXPERTS

Article 179a

The implementing rules shall include a specific procedure for the selection of experts, to be paid on the basis of a fixed amount, for assisting the institutions, in particular in evaluating proposals and grant applications or tenders for procurement, and for providing technical assistance in the follow-up to, and final evaluation of, projects financed by the budget.’;

• 114.Article 180 shall be deleted;

• 115.Article 181 shall be replaced by the following: ‘Article 181

—are for the same objective, or —relate to Community initiatives or to technical assistance and innovative measures and are transferred to measures of the same nature.

• 116.Article 185 is hereby amended as follows: (a)in paragraph 1, the first sentence shall be replaced by the following: ‘The Commission shall adopt a framework financial regulation for the bodies set up by the Communities and having legal personality which actually receive contributions charged to the budget.’; (b)paragraph 4 shall be deleted.

Article 2

This Regulation shall enter into force on the 20th day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

It shall apply from the date of entry into application of the Commission Regulation amending Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2342/2002 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of the Financial Regulation and at the latest from 1 May 2007.

However, point 80 and points 84 to 94 of Article 1 of this Regulation shall apply from 1 January 2007.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

[^E0001]: Opinion delivered on 6 July 2006 (not yet published in the Official Journal).

[^E0002]: OJ C 13, 18.1.2006, p. 1.

[^E0003]: OJ C 28, 3.2.2006, p. 83.

[^E0004]: OJ L 248, 16.9.2002, p. 1.

[^E0005]: OJ L 209, 11.8.2005, p. 1.

[^E0006]: OJ C 139, 14.6.2006, p. 1.

[^E0007]: OJ L 134, 30.4.2004, p. 114. Directive as last amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No 2083/2005 (OJ L 333, 20.12.2005, p. 28).

[^E0008]: OJ L 210, 31.7.2006, p. 82.

[^E0009]: OJ L 310, 9.11.2006, p. 1.

[^E0010]: OJ L 210, 31.7.2006, p. 25.

[^E0011]: OJ L 281, 23.11.1995, p. 31. Directive as amended by Regulation (EC) No 1882/2003 (OJ L 284, 31.10.2003, p. 1)

[^E0012]: OJ L 8, 12.1.2001, p. 1.’;

[^E0013]: OJ L 11, 16.1.2003, p. 1.’;

[^E0014]: OJ L 134, 30.4.2004, p. 114. Directive as last amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No 2083/2005 (OJ L 333, 20.12.2005, p. 28).’;

[^E0015]: OJ L 209, 11.08.2005, p. 1. Regulation as amended by Regulation (EC) No 320/2006 (OJ L 58, 28.2.2006, p. 42).’;

[^E0016]: OJ L 270, 21.10.2003, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1405/2006 (OJ L 265, 26.9.2006, p. 1).’;

[^E0017]: Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005.

[^E0018]: Regulation (EC) No 1080/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 July 2006 on the European Regional Development Fund (OJ L 210, 31.7.2006, p. 1).

[^E0019]: Regulation (EC) No 1081/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 July 2006 on the European Social Fund (OJ L 210, 31.7.2006, p. 12).

[^E0020]: Council Regulation (EC) No 1084/2006 of 11 July 2006 establishing a Cohesion Fund (OJ L 210, 31.7.2006, p. 79).

[^E0021]: Council Regulation (EC) No 1198/2006 of 27 July 2006 on the European Fisheries Fund (OJ L 223, 15.8.2006, p. 1)’

[^E0022]: OJ L 210, 31.7.2006, p. 82.

[^E0023]: OJ L 310, 9.11.2006, p. 1.’;