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The position to be taken on behalf of the Union in the Regional Steering Committee of the Transport Community as regards the revision of the financial rules applicable to the Transport Community shall be based on the draft decision of the Regional Steering Committee attached to this Decision.
Minor changes to the draft decision may be agreed to by the representatives of the Union within the Regional Steering Committee without a further decision by the Council.
These rules establish the procedure for the implementation of the budget and for the presenting and auditing of accounts in accordance with Article 35 of the Treaty establishing the Transport Community (the ‘Treaty’) ( 1 ) .
This Decision shall enter into force on the date of its adoption.
1. The Parties shall transfer 75 % of their financial contributions to the Transport Community no later than the 31 March of each year. The Parties shall transfer the remaining 25 % of their contributions no later than 30 June of each year.
2. The financial contributions of the Parties to the Transport Community must be made in euro.
3. The Transport Community shall bear the transaction cost levied by its payment service provider and the Contracting Parties to the Treaty shall bear the transaction cost levied by their payment service provider.
The implementation of the budget of the Transport Community (‘the budget’) shall comply with the principles of budgetary accuracy, annuality, equilibrium, unit of account, universality, specification, sound financial management which requires effective and efficient internal control, and transparency as set out in these rules.
No expenditure shall be committed or authorised in excess of the authorised appropriations.
Administrative expenditure arising from contracts covering periods that extend beyond the financial year, either in accordance with local practice or relating to the supply of equipment, shall be charged to the budget of the financial year in which they are effected.
1. The appropriations authorised in the budget for a relevant year may be used solely to cover expenditure incurred and legally committed in that financial year.
2. Commitment appropriations shall be entered in the accounts for the financial year on the basis of the legal commitments entered into up to 31 December of that year.
3. Payment appropriations shall be entered in the accounts for the financial year on the basis of the payments effected by the accounting officer by 31 December of that year.
4. Apropriations corresponding to legal obligations duly contracted at the end of the financial year shall be carried forward automatically to the following financial year only, and shall be identified respectively in the accounts.
5. Appropriations which have not been used by the end of the financial year for which they were entered shall be cancelled, unless they are carried over in accordance with paragraph 4.
6. Appropriations placed in reserve and appropriations for staff expenditure shall not be carried over. For the purposes of this Article, staff expenditure comprises remuneration and allowances for staff who are subject to the Staff Regulations.
7. Appropriations which have not been used and have not been committed at the end of the financial years for which they were entered shall be cancelled and paid back to the Parties in accordance with the percentages established in Annex V of the Treaty and the actual contributions paid by the parties.
The Transport Community shall not raise loans.
The budget shall be implemented in euro and the accounts shall be presented in euro. However, for cash-flow purposes, the Permanent Secretariat shall be authorised to carry out operations in other currencies.
1. The following deductions may be made from payment requests, invoices or statements, which shall then be passed for payment of the net amount:
(a)
penalties imposed on parties to contracts, including procurement contracts;
(b)
adjustments for amounts paid unduly, which can be made by means of direct deduction against a new payment of the same type to the same payee under the chapter, article and financial year in respect of which the excess payment was made, and which give rise to interim payments or payments of balances.
2. Discounts, refunds and rebates on invoices and payment requests shall not be recorded as revenue of the Transport Community.
3. Any negative balance shall be entered in the budget as expenditure.
1. The Director may take decisions on transfers of appropriations (excluding the human resources budget line) within the budget up to a maximum of 15 % of the appropriations for the year shown on the line from which the transfer is made.
2. The Director shall inform the Chairs of the Budget Committee and the Regional Steering Committee within 7 days upon taking a decision in accordance with paragraph 1.
3. Transfers of budget appropriations other than those referred to in paragraph 1 must receive the preliminary agreement of the Regional Steering Committee.
4. Appropriations carried over in order to meet legal obligations signed at the end of the given year shall not be eligible for the use referred to in paragraph 1. They shall not be taken into account for determining the maximum amount corresponding to the limit of 15 % referred to in that paragraph.
1. Budget appropriations shall be used in accordance with the principle of sound financial management, which comprises the principles of economy, efficiency and effectiveness.
2. The principle of economy requires that the resources used by the Transport Community for the pursuit of its activities shall be made available in due time, in appropriate quantity and quality and at the best price.
3. The principle of efficiency concerns the best relationship between resources employed and results achieved.
4. The principle of effectiveness concerns attaining the specific objectives set and achieving the intended results. Those results shall be evaluated.
1. The budget shall be implemented and the accounts presented in compliance with the principle of transparency.
2. The budget and amending budgets, as finally adopted, shall be published on the website of the Permanent Secretariat.
1. The budget of the Transport Community shall be implemented in compliance with effective and efficient internal control.
2. For the purposes of the implementation of the budget of the Transport Community, internal control is defined as a process applicable at all levels of the management and designed to provide reasonable assurance of achieving the following objectives:
(a)
effectiveness, efficiency and economy of operations;
(b)
reliability of reporting;
(c)
safeguarding of assets and information;
(d)
prevention, detection, correction and follow-up of fraud and irregularities;
(e)
adequate management of the risks relating to the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions, taking into account the multi-annual character of programmes as well as the nature of the payments concerned.
3. Effective and efficient internal control shall be based on best international practices and include, in particular, the elements laid down in Article 36(3) and (4) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 2 ) , taking into account the structure and size of the Transport Community, the nature of the tasks entrusted to it and the amounts and financial and operational risks involved.
1. A Budget Committee is hereby established.
2. The Budget Committee shall advise the Director in the financial management of the operations of the Transport Community. In order to fulfil this task, the Budget Committee shall be provided with all the necessary information or explanations regarding budgetary matters and matters with potential budgetary impact.
3. The Budget Committee may report to the Regional Steering Committee and issue recommendations on budgetary matters and on any matter which may have an impact on the budget.
1. The Budget Committee shall consist of one member from each of the South East European Parties and two members of the European Union, represented by the European Commission.
2. Meetings of the Budget Committee shall be chaired by the European Commission. The Chairperson may appoint a Co-chair.
3. The Budget Committee shall hold at least two ordinary meetings a year. In addition, it shall meet at the instance of the Chairperson or at the request of at least one third of its members.
4. The Budget Committee shall adopt its internal rules of procedure. Its recommendations may be adopted by written procedure. The Budget Committee shall act by simple majority of the votes including the positive vote of the European Union. In case of an equal vote, the European Union shall have the deciding vote.
5. The Permanent Secretariat shall provide administrative support to the Budget Committee.
6. The Permanent Secretariat shall be represented at the meetings of the Budget Committee without voting rights.
The Director shall perform the duties of authorising officer.
The Director may delegate powers of budget implementation to staff of the Permanent Secretariat. Those so empowered may act only within the limits of the powers expressly conferred upon them and are bound by these rules. The Director shall send a copy of any delegation decision taken under this Article to the Regional Steering Committee.
1. All financial actors within the meaning of Chapter 2 of this Title shall be prohibited from taking any measures of budget implementation which may bring their own interests into conflict with those of the Transport Community. Should such a case arise, the actor in question must refrain from such measures and refer the matter to the competent authority.
2. There is a conflict of interests where the impartial and objective exercise of the functions of an actor in the implementation of the budget or an auditor is compromised for reasons involving family, private life, political or national affinity, economic interest or any other shared interest with the beneficiary or contractor.
3. The competent authority referred to in paragraph 1 shall be the immediate superior of the member of staff concerned. If the member of staff is the Director, the competent authority shall be the Regional Steering Committee.
Technical expertise tasks and administrative, preparatory or ancillary tasks involving neither the exercise of public authority nor the use of discretionary powers of judgement may be entrusted by contract to external entities or bodies, where this proves to be indispensable.
The duties of authorising officer and accounting officer shall be segregated and mutually incompatible.
1. The authorising officer shall be responsible for implementing revenue and expenditure.
2. To implement expenditure, the authorising officer shall make budget commitments and legal commitments, shall validate expenditure and authorise payments in accordance with the relevant provisions of these rules and shall undertake the implementation of appropriations.
3. Implementation of revenue shall comprise drawing up estimates of amounts receivable, establishing entitlements to be recovered and issuing recovery orders. It shall involve waiving established entitlements where appropriate.
4. The authorising officer shall assure that all the supporting documents related to operations are properly preserved for a period of five years.
1. Having due regard to the risks associated with the management environment and the nature of the actions financed, the authorising officer shall put in place the organisational structure, internal management, control systems and procedures suited to the performance of the duties of the authorising officer, including where appropriate, ex post verifications.
2. Before an operation is authorised, the operational and financial aspects shall be verified by staff members other than those initiating the operation. Initiation and the ex ante and ex post verification of an operation shall be separate functions.
3. The staff responsible for the verifications shall be different from those initiating the operation and shall not be their subordinates.
The Director, as authorising officer, shall submit to the Regional Steering Committee an annual activity report which contains financial and management information.
Any member of staff who is involved in the financial management and control of transactions shall inform the Director in writing if they consider that a decision which their superior requires them to apply or agree to is irregular or contrary to these rules or to the professional rules the staff member is required to observe. The Director shall take action within a reasonable period. If the Director fails to do so, the staff member shall inform the Regional Steering Committee.
Where powers of budget implementation are delegated, Article 21 of these rules shall apply mutatis mutandis to the authorised officer.
1. Upon proposal of the European Commission, the Director shall appoint an accounting officer, in accordance with the rules of procedure in force for the recruitment, working conditions and geographic equilibrium of the staff of the Permanent Secretariat, who shall be responsible in the Permanent Secretariat for:
(a)
proper implementation of payments, collection of revenue and recovery of amounts established as being receivable;
(b)
preparing and presenting the accounts in accordance with Title V;
(c)
keeping the accounts in accordance with Title V;
(d)
implementing, in accordance with Title V, the accounting rules and methods and the chart of accounts;
(e)
laying down and validating the accounting systems and where appropriate validating systems laid down by the authorising officer to supply or justify accounting information;
(f)
treasury management.
2. Subject to paragraph 3, only the accounting officer is empowered to manage monies and other assets and shall be responsible for their safekeeping.
3. If necessary, the accounting officer may delegate certain tasks, without prejudice to the principle of segregation of duties.
1. The responsibility under these rules is personal.
2. In the event of any illegal activity, fraud, corruption or irregularity which may harm the financial interests of the Transport Community, the financial actor affected shall without delay inform the Director or, if considered useful, the Regional Steering Committee, or the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF). The ‘financial interests of the Transport Community’ means all revenues, expenditure and assets covered by, acquired through, or due to the Transport Community budget.
3. Where an activity has been subject to irregularities or fraud, the authorising officer responsible shall suspend the procedure and may take any necessary measures, including the cancellation of any decision taken in the framework of the said activity. The authorising officer responsible shall inform all competent authorities, including where applicable OLAF and the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), immediately of suspected cases of fraud or irregularities.
1. The authorising officer may withdraw any delegation at any time temporarily or definitively. The Regional Steering Committee and the Chairman of the Budget Committee shall be immediately informed of such an action with a proper justification.
2. The accounting officer may at any time be suspended temporarily or definitively from duty by the Director, upon preliminary agreement of the European Commission. On a proposal of the European Commission, the Director shall appoint an interim accounting officer and consequently a permanent accounting officer in accordance with the recruitment rules of the Transport Community.
1. The provisions of this chapter are without prejudice to the criminal law liability which the authorising officer and the persons referred to in this Chapter may incur as provided in the applicable national law of the country of domicile and in the provisions in force on the protection of the financial interests of the Transport Community and on the fight against corruption involving officials of the Transport Community or officials of the Contracting Parties to the Treaty.
2. In the event of evidence of illegal activity, fraud or corruption which may harm the financial interests of the Transport Community, the matter shall be referred to the competent authorities and bodies.
1. The authorising officer may be required to make good, in whole or in part, any damage suffered by the Transport Community as a result of serious misconduct on his part in the course of or in connection with the performance of his duties, in particular if he determines entitlements to be recovered or issues recovery orders, commits expenditure or signs a payment order without complying with these rules. The same shall apply where, through serious misconduct, the authorising officer:
(a)
fails to draw up a document establishing an amount receivable;
(b)
fails to issue a recovery order or is, without justification, late in issuing it;
(c)
fails to issue a payment order or is late in issuing it, thereby rendering the Transport Community liable to civil action by third parties.
2. An authorising officer by delegation who considers that a decision falling under their responsibility is irregular or contrary to the principles of sound financial management shall inform the delegating authority in writing. If the delegating authority then gives a reasoned instruction in writing to the authorising officer by delegation to implement the decision in question, the authorising officer by delegation must implement it and may not be held liable.
3. In the event of delegation, the delegating authority shall continue to be responsible for the effectiveness of the internal management rules put in place and for the choice of the authorising officer by delegation.
4. The authorising officer shall not be held responsible for any decisions taken by the Regional Steering Committee, in case they are strictly followed. Should the authorising officer disagree with any of those decisions, they have the right to notify the relevant authority in writing. However, the authorising officer is obliged to follow the relevant decisions.
Interest accrued on the accounts of the Transport Community shall form part of its revenue, in addition to the contributions of the Contracting Parties to the Treaty.
An estimate of the amount receivable shall first be made by the authorising officer responsible in respect of any measure or situation which may give rise to or modify an amount owing to the Transport Community.
1. Establishment of an amount receivable is the act by which the authorising officer or authorising officer by delegation:
(a)
verifies that the debt exists;
(b)
determines or verifies the reality and the amount of the debt;
(c)
verifies the conditions in which the debt is due.
2. Any amount receivable that is identified as being certain, of a fixed amount and due must be established by a recovery order given to the accounting officer, accompanied by a debit note sent to the debtor. Both of those documents shall be drawn up and sent by the authorising officer responsible.
3. In duly substantiated cases, certain routine revenue items may be established provisionally.
Provisional establishment shall cover the recovery of several individual amounts which therefore do not need be established individually.
Before the end of the financial year, the authorising officer shall amend the amounts established provisionally to ensure that they correspond to the amounts receivable actually established.
The authorisation of recovery is the act whereby, having established an amount receivable, the authorising officer responsible, by issuing a recovery order, instructs the accounting officer to recover that amount receivable.
1. Amounts wrongly paid shall be recovered.
2. The accounting officer shall act on recovery orders for amounts receivable duly established by the authorising officer or authorising officer responsible. The accounting officer shall exercise due diligence to ensure that the Transport Community receives its revenue and shall see that its rights are safeguarded.
3. Where the authorising officer responsible is planning to waive recovery of an established amount receivable, the authorising officer shall ensure that the waiver is in order and complies with the principle of sound financial management. Such a waiver shall be by decision of the authorising officer, which must be substantiated. The authorising officer may not delegate such a decision. The waiver decision shall state what action has been taken to secure recovery and the points of law and fact on which it is based.
4. The authorising officer responsible shall cancel an established amount receivable when the discovery of a mistake as to a point of law or fact reveals that the amount had not been correctly established. Such cancellation shall be by decision of the authorising officer responsible and shall be suitably substantiated.
5. The authorising officer responsible shall adjust the amount of an established debt upwards or downwards when the discovery of a factual error entails the alteration of the amount of the debt, provided that this correction does not involve the loss of the established entitlement of the Transport Community. Such an adjustment shall be by decision of the authorising officer responsible and shall be suitably substantiated.
6. Where a debtor has a claim against the Transport Community, of a fixed amount and due relating to a sum established by a payment order, the accounting officer shall, after expiry of the deadline specified in the debit note, recover established amounts receivable by offsetting.
In exceptional circumstances, where it is necessary to safeguard the financial interests of the Transport Community and where the accounting officer has justified grounds to believe that the amount due to the Transport Community would be lost, the accounting officer may recover by offsetting before the expiry of the deadline specified in the debit note.
The accounting officer may also recover by offsetting before the expiry of the deadline specified in the debit note when the debtor agrees.
7. Before proceeding with any recovery in accordance with paragraph 6, the accounting officer shall consult the authorising officer and inform the debtor(s) concerned.
8. The offsetting referred to in paragraph 6 shall have the same effect as payment and discharge the Transport Community for the amount of the debt and, where appropriate, of the interest due.
1. Upon actual recovery of the sum due, the accounting officer shall make an entry in the accounts and shall inform the authorising officer responsible.
2. A receipt shall be issued in respect of all cash payments made to the accounting officer.
1. If actual recovery has not taken place by the due date stipulated in the debit note, the accounting officer shall inform the authorising officer responsible and immediately launch the procedure for effecting recovery by any means offered by the law.
2. The accounting officer shall recover amounts by offsetting them against equivalent claims that the debtor has on the Transport Community, provided that the claim is certain, of a fixed amount and due, and that offsetting is legally possible.
The accounting officer, in collaboration with the authorising officer responsible, may allow additional time for payment only at the written request of the debtor, with due indication of the reasons, provided that the following two conditions are met:
(a)
the debtor undertakes to pay interest for the entire additional period allowed, starting from the date on which the payment was originally due at the rate applied by the European Central Bank for its main refinancing operations in euro (the reference rate) plus eight points. The reference rate is the rate in force, as published in the C series of the Official Journal of the European Union , on the first day of the month in which the payment period ends;
(b)
in order to safeguard the rights of the Transport Community, the debtor provides a financial guarantee covering both the principal sum and the interest.
Every item of expenditure shall be committed and paid.
1. The budget commitment is the operation reserving the appropriation necessary to cover subsequent payments to honour a legal commitment.
2. The legal commitment is the act whereby the authorising officer responsible enters into or establishes an obligation which results in a charge for the budget.
1. In respect of any measure which may give rise to expenditure chargeable to the budget, the authorising officer responsible must first make a budget commitment before entering into a legal commitment with third parties.
2. Individual legal commitments relating to individual budget commitments shall be concluded by 31 December of the financial year concerned.
1. The unused balance of budget commitments relating to year N shall be de-committed by the authorising officer responsible by 31 March of year N+1.
2. The legal commitments entered into for actions extending over more than one financial year and the corresponding budget commitments shall, save in the case of staff expenditure, have a final date for implementation set in compliance with the principle of sound financial management. Any parts of such commitments which have not been executed six months after that final date shall be de-committed.
3. Where a legal commitment has not then resulted in a payment after a period of three years, the authorising officer responsible shall de-commit it.
When adopting a budget commitment, the authorising officer responsible shall ensure that:
(a)
the expenditure has been charged to the correct item in the budget;
(b)
the appropriations are available;
(c)
the expenditure conforms to the applicable provisions, in particular those of the Treaty and the internal management rules of the Transport Community;
(d)
the principle of sound financial management is complied with.
Validation of expenditure is the act whereby the authorising officer responsible:
(a)
verifies the existence of the creditor’s entitlement;
(b)
verifies the conditions in which payment is due;
(c)
determines or verifies the reality and the amount of the claim.
1. Validation of any expenditure shall be based on supporting documents attesting the creditor’s entitlement, on the basis of a statement of services actually rendered, supplies actually delivered or work actually carried out, or on the basis of other documents justifying payment.
2. The validation decision shall be expressed by the signing of a ‘passed for payment’ voucher by the authorising officer responsible.
1. Authorisation of expenditure is the act whereby the authorising officer responsible, by issuing a payment order, instructs the accounting officer to pay an item of expenditure which the authorising officer responsible has validated.
2. The payment order shall be dated and signed by the authorising officer responsible, then sent to the accounting officer. The supporting documents shall be kept by the authorising officer responsible in accordance with Article 21(4).
3. Where appropriate, the payment order sent to the accounting officer shall be accompanied by a document certifying that the goods have been entered in the inventories referred to in Article 60.
1. Payment of expenditure shall be made on production of proof that the relevant action has been carried out in accordance with the basic act and shall cover one of the following operations:
(a)
payment of the entire amount due;
(b)
payment of the amount due in any of the following ways:
(i)
pre-financing, which may be divided into a number of payments;
(ii)
one or more interim payments;
(iii)
payment of the balance of the amounts due. Pre-financing shall count in full or in part against the interim payments.
The entire pre-financing and interim payments shall count against the payment of balances.
2. A distinction shall be made in the accounts between the different types of payment referred to in paragraph 1 at the time they are made.
Payment of expenditure shall be made by the accounting officer within the limits of the funds available.
Council Decision (EU) 2022/2409 of 5 December 2022 as regards the revision of the financial rules for the Transport Community (EUR-Lex). Retrieved via LawPlayer, https://lawplayer.com/eu/act/32022D2409
© European Union, https://eur-lex.europa.eu, 1998-2026. Reuse authorised under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU, provided the source is acknowledged.
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