Section 2

The authorising officer responsible may be assisted in his duties by staff entrusted, under his responsibility, with certain operations required for the implementation of the budget and production of the financial and management information. In order to prevent any conflict of interests, staff assisting authorising officers by delegation or subdelegation shall be subject to the obligations referred to in Article 57 of the Financial Regulation. Heads of Union delegations acting as authorising officers by subdelegation in accordance with the second paragraph of Article 56(2) of the Financial Regulation may be assisted in their duties by staff of the Commission. In accordance with the Financial Regulation and this Regulation, each institution shall lay down in its internal rules such measures for the management of appropriations as it considers necessary for proper implementation of its section of the budget. Heads of Union delegations acting as authorising officers by subdelegation in accordance with the second paragraph of Article 56(2) of the Financial Regulation shall be subject to the internal rules of the Commission for the implementation of the financial management tasks subdelegated to them. The authorising officer shall set up paper based or electronic systems for the keeping of original supporting documents relating to and subsequent to budget implementation and budget implementation measures. The systems shall provide for: such documents to be numbered; such documents to be dated; registers, which may be computerised, to be kept identifying the exact location of such documents; such documents to be kept for at least five years from the date on which the European Parliament grants discharge for the budgetary year to which the documents relate; keeping of documents relating to pre-financing guarantees for the institution and of a log to enable such guarantees to be adequately monitored. Documents relating to operations not definitively closed shall be kept for longer than provided for in point (d) of the first paragraph, that is to say, until the end of the year following that in which the operations are closed. Personal data contained in supporting documents shall be deleted where possible when those data are not necessary for budgetary discharge, control and audit purposes. Article 37(2) of Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 shall apply to the conservation of traffic data. Initiation of an operation shall be understood as all the operations which are normally carried out by the staff referred to in Article 46 and which are preparatory to the adoption of the acts implementing the budget by the authorising officer responsible. Ex ante verification of an operation shall be understood as all the ex ante checks put in place by the authorising officer responsible in order to verify its operational and financial aspects. Ex ante controls shall verify the coherence among supporting documents requested and any other information available. The extent in terms of frequency and intensity of the ex ante controls shall be determined by the authorising officer responsible taking into account risk-based and cost-effectiveness considerations. In case of doubt, the authorising officer responsible for validating the relevant payment shall request complementary information or perform an on-the-spot control in order to obtain reasonable assurance as part of the ex ante control. The purpose of the ex ante controls shall be to ascertain that: the expenditure and revenue are in order and comply with the provisions applicable, in particular those of the budget and the relevant regulations and of any acts adopted in implementation of the Treaties or regulations and, where appropriate, the terms of contracts; the principle of sound financial management referred to in Chapter 7 of Title II of Part One of the Financial Regulation is applied. For the purpose of controls, a series of similar individual transactions relating to routine expenditure on salaries, pensions, reimbursement of mission expenses and medical expenses may be considered by the authorising officer responsible to constitute a single operation. The ex post controls may be carried out on the basis of documents and, where appropriate, on the spot. The ex post controls shall verify that operations financed by the budget are correctly implemented and in particular that the criteria referred to in paragraph 3 are complied with. The outcomes of ex post controls shall be reviewed by the authorising officer by delegation at least annually to identify any potential systemic issues. The authorising officer by delegation shall take measures to address those issues. The risk analysis referred to in Article 66(6) of the Financial Regulation shall be reviewed in the light of the results of controls and other relevant information. In case of multiannual programmes, the authorising officer by delegation shall establish a multiannual control strategy, specifying the nature and extent of controls over the period and the manner how the results are to be measured year-on-year for the annual assurance process. The staff designated by the authorising officer responsible to verify financial operations shall be chosen on the grounds of their knowledge, skills and particular qualifications as evidenced by diplomas or by appropriate professional experience, or after an appropriate training programme. Each institution shall draw up a code of professional standards which determine, on matters of internal control: the level of technical and financial competence required of the staff referred to in paragraph 1; the obligation for such staff to undergo continuous training; the mission, role and tasks allocated to them; the rules of conduct, in particular the standards of ethics and integrity that they must comply with and the rights they enjoy. Heads of Union delegations acting as authorising officers by subdelegation in accordance with the second paragraph of Article 56(2) of the Financial Regulation shall be subject to the Commission code of professional standards referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article for the implementation of the financial management tasks subdelegated to them. Each institution shall put in place the appropriate structures to distribute to authorising departments and update periodically appropriate information concerning the control standards and the methods and techniques available for that purpose. Failure by the authorising officer by delegation to take action, as referred to in Article 66(8) of the Financial Regulation, shall mean the absence of any reply within a reasonable time given the circumstances of the case and, in any event, within a month at most. The authorising officer by delegation shall send the accounting officer, in accordance with the rules adopted by the latter, the financial and management information required for the performance of the accounting officer’s duties. The accounting officer shall be informed, regularly and at least for the closure of the accounts, by the authorising officer of the relevant financial data of the fiduciary bank accounts in order to allow the use of Union funds to be reflected in the accounts of the Union. Authorising officers by delegation shall record, for each financial year, contracts concluded by the negotiated procedures referred to in points (a) to (g) of Article 134(1), points (a) to (d) of Article 135(1) and Articles 266, 268 and 270 of this Regulation. If the proportion of negotiated procedures in relation to the number of contracts awarded by the same authorising officer by delegation increases appreciably in relation to earlier years or if that proportion is distinctly higher than the average recorded for the institution, the authorising officer responsible shall report to the institution setting out any measures taken to reverse that trend. Each institution shall send a report on negotiated procedures to the European Parliament and Council. In the case of the Commission, that report shall be annexed to the summary of the annual activity reports referred to in Article 66(9) of the Financial Regulation.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-11-04 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.