1.
Estimates of all the revenue and expenditure of the Centre shall be prepared for each financial year, corresponding to the calendar year, and shall be shown in the budget of the Centre.
2.
The revenue and expenditure shown in the budget of the Centre shall be in balance.
3.
The revenue of the Centre shall, without prejudice to other resources, comprise:
(a)
a subsidy from the Community entered in the general budget of the European Union (Commission section);
(b)
payments received for services rendered;
(c)
any financial contributions from the competent bodies referred to in Article 5;
(d)
any voluntary contribution from the Member States; and
(e)
any revenue from contribution agreements or grant agreements exceptionally concluded between the Commission and the Centre.
3a
Financing from the Union budget may be awarded to the Centre for the costs that it incurs in implementing its work programme established in conformity with the objectives and priorities of the work programmes adopted by the Commission in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2021/522 of the European Parliament and the Council (
9
), and the Research and Innovation programmes of the Union. That financing shall not cover expenditure already covered by the general budget of the Union or by any other resource of the Centre set out in paragraph 3 of this Article.
4.
The expenditure of the Centre shall include staff remuneration, administrative and infrastructure costs, operating expenses and expenses resulting from contracts entered into with the institutions or with third parties.
5.
Each year, on the basis of a draft drawn up by the director, the Management Board shall produce an estimate of revenue and expenditure for the Centre for the following financial year. That estimate, including a draft establishment plan, shall be included in the draft single programming document provided for in Article 14(5), point (e), of this Regulation. In accordance with Article 40 of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 of the European Parliament and of the Council (
10
), by 31 January each year the Centre shall send to the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission its draft single programming document, as endorsed by its Management Board.
6.
The estimate shall be forwarded by the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council (hereinafter referred to as the ‘budgetary authority’) together with the preliminary draft budget of European Union.
7.
On the basis of the estimate, the Commission shall enter in the preliminary draft general budget of the Union the estimates it considers necessary for the establishment plan and the amount of the subsidy to be charged to the general budget, which it shall place before the budgetary authority in accordance with Article 314 TFEU.
8.
The budgetary authority shall authorise the appropriations for the subsidy to the Centre. The budgetary authority shall adopt the establishment plan for the Centre.
9.
The budget of the Centre shall be adopted by the Management Board. It shall become final following final adoption of the general budget of the European Union. Where appropriate, it shall be adjusted accordingly.
10.
The Management Board shall, as soon as possible, notify the budgetary authority of its intention to implement any project which may have significant financial implications for the funding of its budget, in particular any projects relating to property such as the rental or purchase of buildings. It shall inform the Commission thereof.
Where a branch of the budgetary authority has notified its intention to deliver an opinion, it shall forward its opinion to the Management Board within a period of six weeks from the date of notification of the project.
1.
The director shall implement the Centre’s budget.
2.
By 1 March following each financial year, the Centre’s accounting officer shall communicate the provisional accounts to the Commission’s accounting officer together with a report on the budgetary and financial management for that financial year. The Commission’s accounting officer shall consolidate the provisional accounts of the institutions and decentralised bodies in accordance with Article 245 of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046.
3.
By 31 March at the latest following each financial year, the Commission’s accounting officer shall forward the Centre’s provisional accounts to the Court of Auditors, together with a report on the budgetary and financial management for that financial year. The report on the budgetary and financial management for that financial year shall also be forwarded to the European Parliament and the Council.
4.
On receipt of the Court of Auditors’ observations on the Centre’s provisional accounts, pursuant to Article 246 of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046, the director shall draw up the Centre’s final accounts under the director’s own responsibility and forward them to the Management Board for an opinion.
The Centre shall inform the Commission without delay of cases of presumed fraud and other financial irregularities, of any completed or ongoing investigations by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) or the European anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), and of any audits or controls by the Court of Auditors or the Internal Audit Service (IAS), without endangering the confidentiality of the investigations. That obligation to inform the Commission is without prejudice to Article 24(1) of Council Regulation (EU) 2017/1939 (
11
).
5.
The Management Board shall deliver an opinion on the Centre’s final accounts.
6.
The director shall, by 1 July at the latest following each financial year, forward the final accounts to the European Parliament, the Council, the Commission and the Court of Auditors, together with the Management Board’s opinion.
7.
The final accounts shall be published.
8.
The director shall send the Court of Auditors a reply to its observations by 30 September. The director shall also send a copy of that reply to the European Parliament, the Council, the Commission and the Management Board.
9.
The director shall submit to the European Parliament, at the latter’s request, any information required for the smooth application of the discharge procedure for the financial year in question, as laid down in Article 261(3) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046.
10.
The European Parliament, on a recommendation from the Council acting by a qualified majority, shall, before 30 April of year N + 2, give a discharge to the director in respect of the implementation of the budget for year N.
1.
Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 883/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council (
12
) shall apply to the Centre without restriction.
2.
The Centre shall accede to the Inter-institutional Agreement of 25 May 1999 concerning internal investigations by the European Anti-fraud Office (OLAF) (
13
) and shall issue, without delay, the appropriate provisions applicable to all of its staff.
3.
The decisions concerning funding and the implementing agreements and instruments resulting therefrom shall explicitly indicate that the EPPO may exercise its competences, including its competence to investigate, and that the Court of Auditors and OLAF may carry out, if necessary, on-the-spot checks of the recipients of the Centre’s funding and the agents responsible for allocating it, in accordance with their respective legal frameworks.
4.
Without prejudice to paragraphs 1 to 3, working arrangements with third countries and with international organisations, grant agreements, grant decisions and contracts of the Centre shall grant the necessary rights and access required by the Court of Auditors, OLAF and the EPPO, in the exercise of their respective competences.
