The general budget
Article 14
1. By 31 March each year, the Head of the Agency shall provide the Steering Board with a preliminary estimate of the draft general budget for the following year. 2. By 30 June each year, the Head of the Agency shall propose a revised preliminary estimate of the draft general budget for the following year, together with the draft three-year Planning Framework to the Steering Board. 3. By 30 September each year, the Head of the Agency shall propose the draft general budget together with the draft three-year Planning Framework to the Steering Board. The draft shall include: (a) the appropriations deemed necessary: (i) to cover the Agency's running, staffing and meeting costs; (ii) for procuring external advice, notably operational analysis, essential for the Agency to discharge its tasks, and for specific activities for the common benefit of all participating Member States; (b) a forecast of the revenue needed to cover expenditure. 4. The Steering Board shall aim to ensure that the appropriations referred to in point (a)(ii) of paragraph 3 represent a significant share of the total appropriations referred to in paragraph 3. Those appropriations shall reflect actual needs and shall allow for an operational role for the Agency. 5. The draft general budget shall be supported by detailed justifications and a staff establishment plan. 6. The Steering Board, acting by unanimity, may decide that the draft general budget shall, furthermore, cover a particular project or programme where this is clearly for the common benefit of all participating Member States. 7. The appropriations shall be classified in titles and chapters grouping expenditure by type or purpose, subdivided as necessary into articles. 8. Each title may include a chapter entitled ‘provisional appropriations’. Those appropriations shall be entered where there is uncertainty, based on serious grounds, about the amount of appropriations needed or the scope for implementing the appropriations entered. 9. Revenue shall consist of: (a) contributions payable by the participating Member States based on the gross national income (GNI) scale; (b) other revenue, including deductions from Staff remuneration and interest yielded on the Agency's bank accounts. The draft general budget shall carry lines to accommodate earmarked revenue and, wherever possible, shall indicate the amount foreseen. 10. The Steering Board, acting by unanimity, shall adopt the draft general budget by 31 December of each year. When doing so, the Steering Board shall be chaired by the Head of the Agency, or by a representative appointed by the Head of the Agency, or by a member of the Steering Board invited to do so by the Head of the Agency. The Chief Executive shall declare that the budget has been adopted and notify the participating Member States. 11. If, at the beginning of a financial year, the draft general budget has not been adopted, a sum equivalent to not more than one twelfth of the budget appropriations for the preceding financial year may be spent each month in respect of any chapter or other subdivision of the budget. That arrangement shall not, however, have the effect of placing at the disposal of the Agency appropriations in excess of one twelfth of those provided for in the draft general budget in course of preparation. The Steering Board, acting by a qualified majority on a proposal from the Chief Executive, may authorise expenditure in excess of one twelfth, provided that the overall budget appropriations for that financial year do not exceed those of the previous financial year. The Chief Executive may call for the contributions necessary to cover the appropriations authorised under this provision, which shall be payable within 30 days from dispatch of the call for contributions.