Section 3

Each institution shall appoint an accounting officer from officials subject to the Staff Regulations of Officials of the European Union. The accounting officer shall be chosen by the institution on the grounds of his particular competence as evidenced by diplomas or by equivalent professional experience. Two or more institutions or bodies may appoint the same accounting officer. In such case, they shall make the necessary arrangements in order to avoid any conflict of interest. A trial balance shall be drawn up without delay in the event of termination of the duties of the accounting officer. The trial balance accompanied by a handing over report shall be transmitted by the accounting officer who is terminating his duties or, if it is not possible, by an official in his department to the new accounting officer. The new accounting officer shall sign the trial balance in acceptance within one month from the date of transmission and he may make reservations. The handing over report shall also contain the result of the trial balance and any reservations made. Each institution or body referred to in Article 208 of the Financial Regulation shall inform the European Parliament, the Council and the accounting officer of the Commission within two weeks of the appointment or termination of duties of its accounting officer. The responsible authorising officer shall notify the accounting officer of all developments or significant modifications of a financial management system, an inventory system or a system for the valuation of assets and liabilities, if it provides data for the accounts of the institution or is used to substantiate data thereof, so that the accounting officer can verify compliance with the validation criteria. At any time, the accounting officer may reexamine a financial management system already validated. Where a financial management system set up by the authorising officer is not or is no longer validated by the accounting officer, the responsible authorising officer shall establish an action plan in order to correct, in due time, weaknesses for which the validation has been rejected. The responsible authorising officer shall be responsible for the completeness of information transmitted to the accounting officer. The accounting officer shall ensure that his institution has at its disposal sufficient funds to cover the cash requirements arising from budgetary implementation. For the purposes of paragraph 1, the accounting officer shall set up cash management systems enabling him to draw up cash-flow forecasts. The accounting officer of the Commission shall divide up the funds available in accordance with Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1150/2000. For the requirements of treasury management, the accounting officer may open accounts in the name of the institution with financial institutions or national central banks or cause such accounts to be opened. In duly warranted circumstances, the accounting officer may open accounts in currencies other than the euro. The accounting officer shall be responsible for closing accounts referred to in the paragraph 1 or for ensuring that such accounts are closed. The accounting officer shall set the operating terms for accounts referred to in paragraph 1 with financial institutions, in accordance with the principles of sound financial management, efficiency and competitive tendering. At least every five years the accounting officer shall relaunch competitive tendering between financial institutions with which accounts could be opened in accordance with paragraph 1. Where local banking conditions allow for it, imprest related bank accounts opened with financial institutions located outside the Union shall be regularly subject to a competitive survey. Such a survey shall be undertaken, at least every five years, at the initiative of the imprest account holder, who then shall submit to the accounting officer a substantiated proposal for the selection of a bank for a period not exceeding five years. The accounting officer shall ensure strict compliance with the operating terms for accounts opened with financial institutions in accordance with paragraph 1. For imprest related bank accounts opened with financial institutions located outside the Union, the imprest account holder shall assume this responsibility taking into account the applicable legislation in the country where that holder exercises his mandate. The accounting officer of the Commission shall inform the accounting officers of the other institutions and of the bodies referred to in Article 208 of the Financial Regulation, on the operating terms of accounts opened with financial institutions. The accounting officers of the other institutions and of the bodies referred to in Article 208 of the Financial Regulation shall harmonise, with those operating terms, the operating terms of the accounts they open. The terms governing the opening, operation and use of accounts shall provide, depending on internal control requirements, that cheques, bank credit transfer orders or any other banking operations must be signed by one or more duly authorised members of staff. Manual instructions shall be signed by at least two duly authorised members of staff, or by the accounting officer in person. For the purposes of the first subparagraph, the accounting officer of each institution shall communicate to all financial institutions with which the institution concerned has opened accounts the names and specimen signatures of the authorised members of staff. The accounting officer shall ensure that the balance on the bank accounts provided for in Article 58 does not deviate significantly from the cash-flow forecasts referred to in Article 57(2) and in any event: that none of those accounts is in debit; that the balance of accounts held in other currencies is periodically converted into euro. The accounting officer may not maintain balances in foreign currency accounts which might cause excessive losses to the institution as a result of exchange rate fluctuations. Without prejudice to Article 69, the accounting officer shall conduct transfers between accounts opened by him in the name of the institution with financial institutions, and conduct currency conversion operations. Payments shall be made by bank credit transfer, by cheque or, from imprest accounts by debit card in accordance with Article 67(4). The accounting officer may make payments by bank credit transfer only if the payee’s bank account details and information confirming the payee’s identity, or any modification, have first been entered in a common file by institution. Any such entry in the file of the payee’s legal and bank account details or modification of those details shall be based on a supporting document, the form of which shall be defined by the accounting officer. With a view to payment by bank credit transfer, authorising officers may enter into a commitment towards a third party on behalf of their institution only if that third party has provided the documentation required for its entry in the file. Authorising officers shall inform the accounting officer of any change in the legal and bank account details communicated to them by the payee and shall check that these details are valid before a payment is made. In connection with pre-accession aid, individual commitments may be concluded with the public authorities in the countries applying for accession to the European Union without a prior entry in the third-party file. In such cases the authorising officer shall do his utmost to ensure that the entry is made as quickly as possible. The agreements shall provide that communication to the Commission of the payee’s bank account details is a condition to be fulfilled before the first payment can be made. Supporting documents for the accounting system and for the preparation of the accounts referred to in Article 141 of the Financial Regulation shall 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. However, documents relating to operations not definitively closed shall be kept for longer, that is to say, until the end of the year following that in which the operations are closed. Article 37(2) of Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 shall apply to the conservation of traffic data. Each institution shall decide in which department the supporting documents are to be kept. Each institution shall lay down the conditions in accordance with which the staff it designates and empowers to administer accounts in the local units referred to in Article 72 are authorised to communicate the names and specimen signatures to local financial institutions.

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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.