1.   The budget shall comprise:

2.   The budget shall record the guarantees for borrowing-and-lending operations entered into by the Union, including the European Financial Stability Mechanism and Balance of Payment Facility operations, in accordance with point (d) of Article 49(1).

1.   Without prejudice to Article 83, no revenue shall be collected and no expenditure effected unless booked to a line in the budget.

2.   No expenditure may be committed or authorised in excess of the authorised appropriations.

3.   An appropriation may be entered in the budget only if it is for an item of expenditure considered necessary.

4.   Interest generated by pre-financing payments made from the budget shall not be due to the Union except as otherwise provided for in the delegation agreements, with the exception of those agreements concluded with third countries or the bodies they have designated. In cases in which it is provided for, such interest shall either be re-used for the corresponding action, deducted from payment requests in accordance with point (c) of the first subparagraph of Article 23(1) or recovered.

The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 210 concerning detailed rules on the accounting of interest generated by pre-financing payments.

1.   The budget shall contain differentiated appropriations, which consist of commitment appropriations and payment appropriations, and non-differentiated appropriations.

2.   Commitment appropriations shall cover the total cost of the legal commitments entered into during the financial year, subject to Article 86(4) and Article 189(2).

3.   Payment appropriations shall cover payments made to honour the legal commitments entered into in the financial year or preceding financial years.

4.   Paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Article are without prejudice to the special provisions of Titles I, IV and VI of Part Two and shall not prevent appropriations being committed globally or budgetary commitments being made in annual instalments.

1.   The revenue of a financial year shall be entered in the accounts for the financial year on the basis of the amounts collected during that financial year. However, the own resources for the month of January of the following financial year may be made available in advance pursuant to Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1150/2000 of 22 May 2000 implementing Decision 2007/436/EC, Euratom on the system of the European Communities' own resources (12).

2.   The entries in respect of value-added-tax own resources, of the additional resource based on gross national income and of any financial contributions may be adjusted in accordance with Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1150/2000.

3.   The appropriations authorised for a financial year shall be used solely to cover expenditure committed and paid in that financial year and to cover amounts due against commitments from preceding financial years.

The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 210 concerning detailed rules for appropriations for the financial year.

4.   Commitments shall be entered in the accounts on the basis of the legal commitments entered into up to 31 December. By way of exception, the global budgetary commitments referred to in Article 86(4) and the financing agreements referred to in Article 189(2) and concluded with third countries shall be entered in the accounts on the basis of the budgetary commitments up to 31 December.

5.   Payments shall be entered in the accounts for a financial year on the basis of the payments effected by the accounting officer by 31 December of that year.

6.   By way of derogation from paragraphs 3, 4 and 5, the expenditure of the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund shall be entered in the accounts for a financial year in accordance with the rules laid down in Title I of Part Two.

1.   Appropriations which have not been used by the end of the financial year for which they were entered shall be cancelled.

However, they may be carried over, but only to the following financial year, by a decision taken by 15 February by the institution concerned, in accordance with paragraphs 2 and 3, or they may be carried over automatically in accordance with paragraph 4.

2.   Differentiated commitment appropriations and non-differentiated appropriations not yet committed at the end of the financial year may be carried over in respect of:

3.   Payment appropriations may be carried over in respect of amounts needed to cover existing commitments or commitments linked to commitment appropriations carried over, where the payment appropriations provided for in the relevant budget lines for the following financial year are not sufficient to cover requirements.

The institution concerned shall first use the appropriations authorised for the current financial year and shall not use the appropriations carried over until the former are exhausted.

4.   Non-differentiated appropriations corresponding to obligations duly contracted at the end of the financial year shall be carried over automatically to the following financial year only.

5.   The institution concerned shall inform the European Parliament and the Council by 15 March of the carry-over decision it has taken and shall state, for each budget line, how the criteria in paragraphs 2 and 3 have been applied to each carry-over.

6.   Without prejudice to Article 14, appropriations placed in reserve and appropriations for staff expenditure shall not be carried over. For the purpose of this Article, staff expenditure comprises the remuneration and allowances for members and staff of the institutions to which the Staff Regulations apply.

7.   The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 210 concerning detailed rules for the cancellation and carry-over of appropriations.

1.   If the budget has not been definitively adopted at the beginning of the financial year, the procedure set out in the first paragraph of Article 315 TFEU (the provisional twelfths regime) shall apply. Commitments and payments may be made within the limits laid down in paragraph 2 of this Article.

2.   Commitments may be made per chapter up to a maximum of one quarter of the total appropriations authorised in the relevant chapter of the previous financial year plus one twelfth for each month which has elapsed.

The limit of the appropriations provided for in the draft budget shall not be exceeded.

Payments may be made monthly per chapter up to a maximum of one twelfth of the appropriations authorised in the relevant chapter of the preceding financial year. That sum shall not, however, exceed one twelfth of the appropriations provided for in the same chapter of the draft budget.

3.   The appropriations authorised in the relevant chapter of the preceding financial year, as specified in paragraphs 1 and 2, shall be understood as referring to the appropriations voted in the budget, including by amending budgets, and after adjustment for the transfers made during that financial year.

4.   If the continuity of action by the Union and management needs so require, the Council, acting by qualified majority on a proposal of the Commission, may authorise expenditure in excess of one provisional twelfth but not exceeding the total of four provisional twelfths, except in duly justified cases, both for commitments and for payments over and above those automatically made available in accordance with paragraphs 1 and 2. It shall forward the decision on authorisation without delay to the European Parliament.

The decision shall enter into force 30 days following its adoption unless the European Parliament:

The additional twelfths shall be authorised in full and shall not be divisible.

5.   If, for a given chapter, the authorisation of four provisional twelfths granted in accordance with paragraph 4 is not sufficient to cover the expenditure necessary to avoid a break in continuity of action by the Union in the area covered by the chapter in question, authorisation may exceptionally be given to exceed the amount of the appropriations entered in the corresponding chapter of the budget of the preceding financial year. The European Parliament and the Council shall act in accordance with the procedures provided for in paragraph 4. However, the overall total of the appropriations available in the budget of the preceding financial year or in the draft budget, as proposed, may in no circumstances be exceeded.

1.   Revenue and payment appropriations shall be in balance.

2.   The Union and the bodies referred to in Article 208, may not raise loans within the framework of the budget.

1.   The balance from each financial year shall be entered in the budget for the following financial year as revenue in the case of a surplus or as a payment appropriation in the case of a deficit.

2.   The estimates of such revenue or payment appropriations shall be entered in the budget during the budgetary procedure and in a letter of amendment presented pursuant to Article 39. The estimates shall be drawn up in accordance with Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1150/2000.

3.   After the presentation of the provisional accounts for each financial year, any discrepancy between those accounts and the estimates shall be entered in the budget for the following financial year through an amending budget devoted solely to that discrepancy. In such a case, the Commission shall submit the draft amending budget simultaneously to the European Parliament and the Council within 15 days of submission of the provisional accounts.

1.   The multiannual financial framework and the budget shall be drawn up and implemented in euro and the accounts shall be presented in euro. However, for the cash-flow purposes referred to in Article 68(1), the accounting officer and, in the case of imprest accounts, the imprest administrators, and, for the needs of the administrative management of the Commission and the EEAS, the authorising officer responsible, shall be authorised to carry out operations in other currencies as laid down in the delegated acts adopted pursuant to this Regulation.

2.   The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 210 concerning detailed rules on the rate of conversion between euro and other currencies.

1.   External assigned revenue and internal assigned revenue shall be used to finance specific items of expenditure.

2.   The following shall constitute external assigned revenue:

3.   The following shall constitute internal assigned revenue:

4.   A basic act may also assign the revenue for which it provides to specific items of expenditure. Unless specified otherwise in the basic act, such revenue shall constitute internal assigned revenue.

5.   The budget shall include lines to accommodate external assigned revenue and internal assigned revenue and wherever possible shall indicate the amount.

Assigned revenue may be included in the draft budget only for the amounts which are certain at the date of the establishment of the draft budget.

6.   The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 210 concerning the establishment of the structure to accommodate external and internal assigned revenue and the provision of the corresponding appropriations, and concerning rules for the contribution from Member States to research programmes. Furthermore, the Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 210 concerning the proceeds of sanctions imposed pursuant to Article 126(11) TFEU, and concerning assigned revenue resulting from the participation of EFTA states in certain Union programmes.

1.   The Commission may accept any donation made to the Union, such as foundations, subsidies, gifts and bequests.

2.   Acceptance of a donation of a value of EUR 50 000 or more which involves a financial charge, including follow-up costs, exceeding 10 % of the value of the donation made, shall be subject to the authorisation of the European Parliament and of the Council, both of which shall act on the matter within two months of receiving the request from the Commission. If no objection is made within that period, the Commission shall take a final decision regarding the acceptance of the donation.

3.   The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 210 concerning detailed rules on the acceptance of donations made to the Union.

1.   The following deductions may be made from payment requests which shall then be passed for payment of the net amount:

The adjustments referred to in point (d) of the first subparagraph may be made, by means of direct deduction, against a new interim payment or payment of a balance to the same payee under the chapter, article and financial year in respect of which the excess payment was made.

Union accounting rules shall apply to the deductions referred to in points (c) and (d) of the first subparagraph.

2.   The cost of products or services, provided to the Union, incorporating taxes refunded by the Member States pursuant to the Protocol on the Privileges and Immunities of the European Union, shall be charged to the budget for the ex-tax amount.

3.   The cost of products or services, provided to the Union, incorporating taxes refunded by third countries on the basis of relevant agreements, may be charged to the budget for:

4.   Adjustments may be made in respect of exchange differences occurring in the implementation of the budget. The final gain or loss shall be included in the balance for the year.

5.   The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 210 concerning detailed rules on the accounts for recoverable taxes.

1.   Any institution other than the Commission may, within its own section of the budget, transfer appropriations:

2.   Three weeks before making a transfer, as referred to in paragraph 1, the institution shall inform the European Parliament and the Council of its intention to do so. In the event that duly justified reasons are raised within that period by either the European Parliament or the Council, the procedure laid down in Article 27 shall apply.

3.   Any institution other than the Commission may propose to the European Parliament and the Council, within its own section of the budget, transfers from one title to another exceeding the limit of 10 % of the appropriations for the year shown on the line from which the transfer is to be made. Those transfers shall be subject to the procedure laid down in Article 27.

4.   Any institution other than the Commission may, within its own section of the budget, make transfers within articles without informing the European Parliament and the Council beforehand.

5.   The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 210 concerning detailed rules on the calculation of percentages of transfers by institutions other than the Commission.

1.   The Commission may, within its own section of the budget, autonomously:

Three weeks before making the transfers referred to in point (b) of the first subparagraph, the Commission shall inform the European Parliament and the Council of its intention to do so. In the event that duly justified reasons are raised within that period by the European Parliament or the Council, the procedure laid down in Article 27 shall apply.

By way of exception from the second subparagraph, the Commission may, during the last two months of the financial year, autonomously transfer appropriations concerning expenditure on staff, external staff and other agents from one title to another within the total limit of 5 % of the appropriations for the year. The Commission shall inform the European Parliament and the Council within two weeks after its decision on those transfers.

2.   The Commission may, within its own section of the budget, decide on the following transfer of appropriations from one title to another, provided it immediately informs the European Parliament and the Council of its decision:

3.   The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 210 concerning detailed rules on the calculation of percentages of internal transfers by the Commission, and grounds for transfer requests.

1.   Each institution shall submit its transfer proposals simultaneously to the European Parliament and the Council.

2.   The European Parliament and the Council shall take decisions on transfers of appropriations as provided for in paragraphs 3 to 6 of this Article, except as otherwise provided for in Title I of Part Two.

3.   Except in urgent circumstances, the European Parliament and the Council, the latter acting by qualified majority, shall deliberate upon each transfer proposal within six weeks of its receipt by both institutions.

4.   The transfer proposal shall be approved, if, within the six-week period, any of the following occurs:

5.   The six-week period referred to in paragraph 3 shall be reduced to three weeks, unless either the European Parliament or the Council requests otherwise, in the following cases:

6.   If either the European Parliament or the Council has amended the amount of the transfer while the other institution has approved it or refrains from acting, or if the European Parliament and the Council have both amended the amount of the transfer, the lesser of the two amounts shall be deemed approved, unless the institution concerned withdraws its transfer proposal.

1.   Appropriations may only be transferred to budget lines for which the budget has authorised appropriations or which carry a token entry "pro memoria".

2.   Appropriations corresponding to assigned revenue may be transferred only if such revenue is used for the purpose for which it is assigned.

1.   Transfers within the titles of the budget devoted to the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund, the Structural Funds, the Cohesion Fund, the European Fisheries Fund, the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and Research shall be the subject of special provisions under Titles I, II and III of Part Two.

2.   Decisions on transfers to allow the use of the Emergency Aid Reserve shall be taken by the European Parliament and the Council on a proposal from the Commission. A separate proposal shall be submitted for each emergency action.

For the purposes of this paragraph, the procedure provided for in Article 27(3) and 27(4) shall apply. If the European Parliament and the Council do not agree to the Commission proposal and cannot reach a common position on the use of this reserve, they shall refrain from acting on the Commission's transfer proposal.

3.   The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 210 concerning detailed rules on requests for transfers from the Emergency Aid Reserve.

1.   Appropriations shall be used in accordance with the principle of sound financial management, namely in accordance with the principles of economy, efficiency and effectiveness.

2.   The principle of economy requires that the resources used by the institution in the pursuit of its activities shall be made available in due time, in appropriate quantity and quality and at the best price.

The principle of efficiency concerns the best relationship between resources employed and results achieved.

The principle of effectiveness concerns the attainment of the specific objectives set and the achievement of the intended results.

3.   Specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timed objectives shall be set for all sectors of activity covered by the budget. The achievement of those objectives shall be monitored by performance indicators for each activity, and the information referred to in point (e) of Article 38(3) shall be provided by the spending authorities to the European Parliament and the Council. That information shall be provided annually and at the latest in the documents accompanying the draft budget.

4.   In order to improve decision-making, institutions shall undertake both ex ante and ex post evaluations in line with guidance provided by the Commission. Such evaluations shall be applied to all programmes and activities which entail significant spending and evaluation results shall be disseminated to the European Parliament, the Council and spending administrative authorities.

5.   The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 210 concerning detailed rules on ex ante, mid-term and ex post evaluations.

1.   Any proposal or initiative submitted to the legislative authority by the Commission, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (the "High Representative") or by a Member State, which may have an impact on the budget, including changes in the number of posts, shall be accompanied by a financial statement and by an ex-ante evaluation as provided for in Article 30(4).

Any amendment to a proposal or initiative submitted to the legislative authority which may have appreciable implications for the budget, including changes in the number of posts, shall be accompanied by a financial statement prepared by the institution proposing the amendment.

The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 210 concerning detailed rules on the requirements of the financial statement.

2.   During the budgetary procedure, the Commission shall provide the necessary information for a comparison between changes in the appropriations required and the initial forecasts made in the financial statement in the light of the progress of deliberations on the proposal or initiative submitted to the legislative authority.

3.   In order to reduce the risk of fraud and irregularities, the financial statement referred to in paragraph 1 shall provide information on the internal control system set up, an estimate of the costs and benefits of the controls implied by such system and an assessment of the expected level of risk of error, as well as existing and planned fraud prevention and protection measures.

Such analysis shall take into account the likely scale and type of errors, as well as the specific conditions of the policy area concerned and the rules applicable thereto.

1.   The budget shall be implemented in compliance with effective and efficient internal control as appropriate in each method of implementation, and in accordance with the relevant sector-specific rules.

2.   For the purposes of the implementation of the budget, internal control is defined as a process applicable at all levels of management and designed to provide reasonable assurance of achieving the following objectives:

3.   Effective internal control shall be based on best international practices and include, in particular, the following:

4.   Efficient internal control shall be based on the following elements:

5.   If, during implementation, the level of error is persistently high, the Commission shall identify the weaknesses in the control systems, analyse the costs and benefits of possible corrective measures and take or propose appropriate action, such as simplification of the applicable provisions, improvement of the control systems and re-design of the programme or delivery systems.

1.   The budget shall be established and implemented and the accounts presented in accordance with the principle of transparency.

2.   The President of the European Parliament shall have the budget and any amending budget, as definitively adopted, published in the Official Journal of the European Union.

The budgets shall be published within three months of the date on which they are declared definitively adopted.

The consolidated annual accounts and the report on budgetary and financial management drawn up by each institution shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Union.

The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 210 concerning detailed rules on the provisional publication of the budget.

1.   Information on borrowing-and-lending operations contracted by the Union for third parties shall appear in an Annex to the budget.

2.   The Commission shall make available, in an appropriate and timely manner, information on recipients, as well as the nature and purpose of the measure financed from the budget, where the latter is implemented directly in accordance with point (a) of Article 58(1), and information on recipients as provided by the entities, persons and Member States to which budget implementation tasks are entrusted under other methods of implementation.

The obligation set out in the first subparagraph shall also apply to the other institutions with regard to their recipients.

3.   This information shall be made available with due observance of the requirements of confidentiality and security, in particular the protection of personal data.

Where natural persons are concerned, the publication shall be limited to the name and locality of the recipient, the amount awarded and the purpose of the award.The disclosure of those data shall be based on relevant criteria such as the periodicity of award, or the type or importance of the award. The criteria for disclosure and the level of detail published shall take into account the specificities of the sector and of each method of implementation.

The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 210 concerning the establishment of detailed rules on the publication of information on recipients. Where applicable, the level of detail and criteria shall be defined in the relevant sector-specific rules.

1.   Each institution other than the Commission shall draw up an estimate of its revenue and expenditure, which it shall send to the Commission, and in parallel, for information, to the European Parliament and the Council, before 1 July each year.

2.   The High Representative shall hold consultations with the Members of the Commission responsible for development policy, neighbourhood policy and international cooperation, humanitarian aid and crisis response, regarding their respective responsibilities.

3.   The Commission shall draw up its own estimates, which it shall also send, directly after their adoption, to the European Parliament and the Council.

In preparing its estimates, the Commission shall use the information referred to in Article 37.

1.   The Commission shall submit a proposal containing the draft budget to the European Parliament and the Council by 1 September of the year preceding that in which the budget is to be implemented. It shall transmit that proposal, for information, also to the national parliaments.

The draft budget shall contain a summary general statement of the revenue and expenditure of the Union and shall consolidate the estimates referred to in Article 36. It may also contain different estimates from those drawn up by the institutions.

The draft budget shall follow the structure and presentation set out in Articles 44 to 49.

Each section of the draft budget shall be preceded by an introduction drawn up by the institution concerned.

The Commission shall draw up the general introduction to the draft budget. The general introduction shall comprise financial tables covering the main data by titles and justifications for the changes in the appropriations from one financial year to the next by categories of expenditure of the multiannual financial framework.

2.   In order to provide more precise and reliable forecasts of the budgetary implications of legislation in force and of pending legislative proposals, the Commission shall attach to the draft budget a financial programming for the following years.

The financial programming shall be updated after the adoption of the budget, to incorporate the results of the budgetary procedure and any other relevant decisions.

The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 210 concerning detailed rules on financial programming.

3.   The Commission shall attach to the draft budget:

4.   Where the Commission entrusts budget implementation to public-private partnerships (PPPs), it shall attach to the draft budget a working document presenting:

However, where PPPs make use of financial instruments, the information relating to those instruments shall be included in the working document referred to in paragraph 5.

5.   Where the Commission makes use of financial instruments, it shall attach to the draft budget a working document presenting the following:

6.   The Commission shall also attach to the draft budget any further working document it considers useful to support its budget requests.

7.   In accordance with Article 8(5) of Council Decision 2010/427/EU of 26 July 2010 establishing the organisation and functioning of the European External Action Service (14) and in order to ensure budgetary transparency in the area of external action of the Union, the Commission shall transmit to the European Parliament and the Council, together with the draft budget, a working document presenting, in a comprehensive way:

8.   The working document referred to in paragraph 7 shall also:

1.   The President of the European Parliament shall declare the budget definitively adopted in accordance with the procedure provided for in Article 314(9) TFEU and Article 106a of the Euratom Treaty.

2.   Once the budget has been declared definitively adopted, each Member State shall, from 1 January of the following financial year or from the date of the declaration of definitive adoption of the budget if this occurs after 1 January, be bound to make the payments due to the Union, as specified in Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1150/2000.

1.   The Commission may present draft amending budgets which are primarily revenue-driven in the following circumstances:

If there are unavoidable, exceptional and unforeseen circumstances, in particular in view of the mobilisation of the European Union Solidarity Fund, the Commission may present draft amending budgets which are primarily expenditure-driven.

2.   Requests for amending budgets, in the same circumstances as referred to in paragraph 1, from institutions other than the Commission shall be sent to the Commission.

Before presenting a draft amending budget, the Commission and the other institutions shall examine the scope for reallocation of the relevant appropriations, with particular reference to any expected under-implementation of appropriations.

Article 40 shall apply to amending budgets. Amending budgets shall be substantiated by reference to the budget the estimates of which they are amending.

3.   The Commission shall, except in duly justified exceptional circumstances or in the case of the mobilisation of the European Union Solidarity Fund for which a draft amending budget can be presented at any time of the year, submit its draft amending budgets simultaneously to the European Parliament and the Council by 1 September of each financial year. It may attach an opinion to the requests for amending budgets from the other institutions.

4.   The European Parliament and the Council shall discuss the draft amending budgets while having due regard to their urgency.

5.   The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 210 concerning detailed rules on draft amending budgets.

1.   Commission revenue and the revenue and expenditure of the other institutions shall be classified by the European Parliament and the Council according to their type or the use to which they are assigned under titles, chapters, articles and items.

2.   The statement of expenditure for the Commission section shall be set out on the basis of a nomenclature adopted by the European Parliament and the Council and classified according to purpose.

Each title shall correspond to a policy area and each chapter shall, as a rule, correspond to an activity.

Each title may include operational appropriations and administrative appropriations.

The administrative appropriations for a title shall be grouped in a single chapter.

3.   When presented by purpose, administrative appropriations for individual titles shall be classified as follows:

Any administrative expenditure of the Commission of a type which is common to several titles shall be set out in a separate summary statement classified by type.

4.   The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 210 concerning detailed rules on the classification of the budget.

1.   The budget shall not contain negative revenue.

2.   The own resources paid under Council Decision 2007/436/EC, Euratom, of 7 June 2007 on the system of the European Communities' own resources (15) shall be net amounts and shall be shown as such in the summary statement of revenue in the budget.

1.   Each section of the budget may include a "provisions" title. Appropriations shall be entered in that title where:

The appropriations in that title may be used only after transfer in accordance with the procedure laid down in point (c) of the first subparagraph of Article 26(1) of this Regulation, where the adoption of the basic act is subject to the procedure laid down in Article 294 TFEU, and in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 27 of this Regulation, for all other cases.

2.   In the event of serious implementation difficulties, the Commission may propose, in the course of a financial year, that appropriations be transferred to the "provisions" title. The European Parliament and the Council shall take a decision on such transfers as provided for in Article 27.

1.   The Commission section of the budget shall include a reserve for emergency aid for third countries.

2.   The reserve referred to in paragraph 1 shall be drawn upon before the end of the financial year by means of transfer in accordance with the procedure laid down in Articles 27 and 29.

1.   The budget shall show:

2.   In addition to the documents referred to in paragraph 1, the European Parliament and the Council may attach any other relevant documents to the budget.

3.   The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 210 concerning the presentation of the budget, including a definition of actual expenditure in the last financial year for which the accounts have been closed, budget remarks and the establishment plans.

1.   The establishment plans described in point (c) of Article 49(1) shall constitute an absolute limit for each institution or body; no appointment may be made in excess of the limit set.

However, save in the case of grades AD 16, AD 15 and AD 14, each institution or body may modify its establishment plans by up to 10 % of posts authorised, subject to the following conditions:

Three weeks before making the modifications referred to in the second subparagraph, the institution shall inform the European Parliament and the Council of its intention to do so. In the event that duly justified reasons are raised within this period by either the European Parliament or the Council, the institution shall refrain from making the modifications and the procedure referred to in Article 41 shall apply.

2.   By way of derogation from the first subparagraph of paragraph 1, the effects of part-time work authorised by the appointing authority in accordance with the Staff Regulations may be offset by other appointments.

1.   The Commission shall implement the revenue and expenditure of the budget in accordance with this Regulation, under its own responsibility and within the limits of the appropriations authorised.

2.   The Member States shall cooperate with the Commission so that the appropriations are used in accordance with the principle of sound financial management.

3.   The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 210 concerning detailed rules on the implementation of the budget in accordance with the principle of sound financial management, and on information on transfers of personal data for audit purposes.

1.   A basic act shall first be adopted before the appropriations entered in the budget for any action by the Union may be used.

2.   By way of derogation from paragraph 1 the following may be implemented without a basic act provided the actions which they are intended to finance fall within the competences of the Union:

When the draft budget is presented, the Commission shall submit a report to the European Parliament and the Council on the actions referred to in points (a) and (b) of the first subparagraph which shall also contain an assessment of results and the follow-up envisaged.

3.   The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 210 concerning detailed rules on the basic act and the exceptions enumerated in paragraph 2 of this Article.

1.   The Commission and each of the other institutions may, within their departments, delegate their powers of budget implementation in accordance with the conditions laid down in this Regulation and by their internal rules and within the limits which they lay down in the instrument of delegation. Those so empowered shall act within the limits of the powers expressly conferred upon them.

2.   However, the Commission may delegate its powers of budget implementation concerning the operational appropriations of its own section to the Heads of Union Delegations. It shall, at the same time, inform the High Representative thereof. When Heads of Union Delegations act as subdelegated authorising officers of the Commission, they shall apply the Commission rules for the implementation of the budget and shall be subject to the same duties, obligations and accountability as any other subdelegated authorising officer of the Commission.

The Commission may withdraw the delegation in accordance with its own rules.

For the purposes of the first subparagraph, the High Representative shall take the measures necessary to facilitate cooperation between Union Delegations and Commission departments.

1.   Financial actors and other persons involved in budget implementation and management, including acts preparatory thereto, audit or control shall not take any action which may bring their own interests into conflict with those of the Union.

Where such a risk exists, the person in question shall refrain from such action and shall refer the matter to the authorising officer by delegation who shall confirm in writing whether a conflict of interests exists. The person in question shall also inform his or her hierarchical superior. Where a conflict of interests is found to exist, the person in question shall cease all activities in the matter. The authorising officer by delegation shall personally take any further appropriate action.

2.   For the purposes of paragraph 1, a conflict of interests exists where the impartial and objective exercise of the functions of a financial actor or other person, as referred to in paragraph 1, is compromised for reasons involving family, emotional life, political or national affinity, economic interest or any other shared interest with a recipient.

3.   The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 210 setting out what is likely to constitute a conflict of interests together with the procedure to be followed in such cases.

1.   The Commission shall implement the budget in the following ways:

2.   The Commission remains responsible for the implementation of the budget in accordance with Article 317 TFEU and shall inform the European Parliament and the Council of the operations carried out by the entities and persons entrusted pursuant to point (c) of paragraph 1 of this Article. Where the entrusted entity or person is identified in a basic act, the financial statement provided for in Article 31 shall include a full justification for the choice of that particular entity or person.

3.   The entities and persons entrusted pursuant to point (c) of paragraph 1 of this Article shall fully cooperate in the protection of the Union's financial interests. Delegation agreements shall provide for the right of the Court of Auditors and the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) to comprehensively exert their competences under the TFEU in the audit of funds.

The Commission shall entrust budget implementation tasks to entities and persons under point (c) of paragraph 1 of this Article provided that transparent, non-discriminatory, efficient and effective review procedures concerning the actual implementation of such tasks are in place.

4.   All delegation agreements shall be made available to the European Parliament and the Council at their request.

5.   Entities and persons entrusted pursuant to point (c) of paragraph 1 of this Article shall ensure, in accordance with Article 35(2), appropriate annual ex post publication of information on recipients. The Commission shall be notified of the measures taken in this regard.

6.   Entities and persons entrusted pursuant to point (c) of paragraph 1 shall not have the status of authorising officer by delegation.

7.   The Commission shall not entrust executive powers to third parties, where such powers involve a large measure of discretion implying political choices.

8.   The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 210 concerning detailed rules on the methods of implementation of the budget, including direct management, the exercise of powers delegated to executive agencies, and specific provisions for indirect management with international organisations, with bodies referred to in Articles 208 and 209, with public law bodies or bodies governed by private law with a public service mission, with bodies governed by the private law of a Member State and entrusted with the implementation of a public-private partnership and with persons entrusted with the implementation of specific actions in the CFSP.

1.   Where the Commission implements the budget under shared management, implementation tasks shall be delegated to Member States. The Commission and the Member States shall respect the principles of sound financial management, transparency and non-discrimination and shall ensure the visibility of Union action when they manage Union funds. To this end, the Commission and the Member States shall fulfil their respective control and audit obligations and assume the resulting responsibilities laid down in this Regulation. Complementary provisions shall be laid down in sector-specific rules.

2.   When executing tasks relating to the implementation of the budget, Member States shall take all the necessary measures, including legislative, regulatory and administrative measures, to protect the Union's financial interests, namely by:

In order to protect the Union's financial interests, Member States shall, respecting the principle of proportionality, and in compliance with this Article, and the relevant sector-specific rules, carry out ex ante and ex post controls including, where appropriate, on-the-spot checks on representative and/or risk-based samples of transactions. They shall also recover funds unduly paid and bring legal proceedings where necessary in this regard.

Member States shall impose effective, dissuasive and proportionate penalties on recipients where provided for in sector-specific rules and in specific provisions in national legislation.

As part of its risk assessment and in accordance with sector-specific rules, the Commission shall monitor the management and control systems established in the Member States. The Commission shall, in its audit work, respect the principle of proportionality and shall take into account the level of assessed risk in accordance with the sector-specific rules.

3.   In accordance with the criteria and procedures laid down in sector-specific rules, Member States shall, at the appropriate level, designate bodies to be responsible for the management and control of Union funds. Such bodies may also carry out tasks not related to the management of Union funds and may entrust certain of their tasks to other bodies.

When deciding on the designation of bodies, Member States may base their decision on whether the management and control systems are essentially the same as those already in place for the previous period and whether they have functioned effectively.

If audit and control results show that the designated bodies no longer comply with the criteria set out in the sector-specific rules, Member States shall take the measures necessary to ensure that deficiencies in the implementation of the tasks of these bodies are remedied, including by ending the designation in accordance with the sector-specific rules.

The sector-specific rules shall define the role of the Commission in the process set out in this paragraph.

4.   Bodies designated pursuant to paragraph 3 shall:

5.   Bodies designated pursuant to paragraph 3 shall, by 15 February of the following financial year, provide the Commission with:

The accounts referred to in point (a) of the first subparagraph and the summary referred to in point (b) of the first subparagraph shall be accompanied by an opinion of an independent audit body, drawn up in accordance with internationally accepted audit standards. That opinion shall establish whether the accounts give a true and fair view, whether expenditure for which reimbursement has been requested from the Commission is legal and regular, and whether the control systems put in place function properly. The opinion shall also state whether the audit work puts in doubt the assertions made in the management declaration referred to in point (a) of the first subparagraph.

The deadline of 15 February may exceptionally be extended by the Commission to 1 March, upon communication by the Member State concerned.

Member States may, at the appropriate level, publish the information referred to in this paragraph.

In addition, Member States may provide declarations signed at the appropriate level based on the information referred to in this paragraph.

6.   In order to ensure that Union funds are used in accordance with the applicable rules, the Commission shall:

The Commission shall end all or part of the interruption of payment deadlines or suspension of payments after a Member State has presented its observations and as soon as it has taken any necessary measures. The annual activity report referred to in Article 66(9) shall cover all the obligations under this subparagraph.

7.   Sector-specific rules shall take account of the needs of European Territorial Cooperation programmes as regards, in particular, the content of the management declaration, the process set out in paragraph 3 and the audit function.

8.   The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 210 concerning detailed rules on shared management with Member States, including the compilation of a register of bodies responsible for the management and control of Union funds, and on measures to promote best practices.

1.   Entities and persons entrusted with budget implementation tasks pursuant to point (c) of Article 58(1) shall respect the principles of sound financial management, transparency and non-discrimination and shall ensure the visibility of Union action when they manage Union funds. They shall guarantee a level of protection of the financial interests of the Union equivalent to that required under this Regulation when they manage Union funds, with due consideration for:

2.   In order to protect the financial interests of the Union, the entities and persons entrusted pursuant to point (c) of Article 58(1) shall, in accordance with the principle of proportionality:

Persons entrusted pursuant to point (viii) of Article 58(1)(c) shall adopt their financial rules with the Commission's prior consent. They shall satisfy the requirements laid down in points (a) to (e) of this paragraph no later than six months after the start of their mandate. Where, at the end of this period, they comply with those requirements only in part, the Commission shall take appropriate remedial measures to supervise and support the implementation of the tasks entrusted to them.

3.   The entities and persons entrusted pursuant to point (c) of Article 58(1) shall prevent, detect and correct irregularities and fraud when executing tasks relating to the implementation of the budget. To this end, they shall carry out, in accordance with the principle of proportionality, ex ante and ex post controls including, where appropriate, on-the-spot checks on representative and/or risk-based samples of transactions, to ensure that the actions financed from the budget are effectively carried out and implemented correctly. They shall also recover funds unduly paid and bring legal proceedings where necessary in this regard.

4.   The Commission may suspend payments to entities and persons entrusted pursuant to point (c) of Article 58(1), in particular when systemic errors are detected which call into question the reliability of the internal control systems of the entity or person concerned or the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions.

Notwithstanding Article 92, the authorising officer responsible may interrupt payments to such entities or persons fully or partially for the purpose of carrying out further checks where:

5.   Without prejudice to paragraph 7, the entities and persons entrusted pursuant to point (c) of Article 58(1) shall provide the Commission with:

The documents referred to in the first subparagraph shall be accompanied by an opinion of an independent audit body, drawn up in accordance with internationally accepted audit standards. That opinion shall establish whether the accounts give a true and fair view, whether the control systems put in place function properly, and whether the underlying transactions are legal and regular. The opinion shall also state whether the audit work puts in doubt the assertions made in the management declaration under point (b) of the first subparagraph.

The documents referred to in the first subparagraph shall be provided to the Commission no later than 15 February of the following financial year. The opinion referred to in the second subparagraph shall be provided to the Commission no later than 15 March.

The obligations set out in this paragraph shall be without prejudice to agreements concluded with international organisations and third countries. Such agreements shall include at least the obligation of those international organisations and third countries to provide the Commission annually with a statement that, during the financial year concerned, the Union contribution was used and accounted for in compliance with the requirements set out in paragraph 2 and with the obligations laid down in such agreements.

6.   Without prejudice to paragraph 7, the Commission shall:

7.   Paragraphs 5 and 6 shall not apply to the contribution of the Union to entities which are subject to a separate discharge procedure under Article 208.

8.   The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 210 concerning detailed rules on indirect management, including the establishment of the conditions under indirect management according to which the systems, rules and procedures of entities and persons are to be equivalent to those of the Commission, management declarations and compliance statements, and the procedures for the examination and acceptance of the accounts and the exclusion from Union financing of expenditure incurredin breach of the applicable rules.

1.   Before the Commission entrusts tasks of budget implementation to entities or persons pursuant to point (c) of Article 58(1), it shall obtain evidence that the requirements set out in points (a) to (d) of the first subparagraph of Article 60(2) are being fulfilled.

Where substantial changes are made to the systems or rules of an entity or person entrusted pursuant to point (c) of Article 58(1), or to the procedures that relate to the management entrusted to that entity or person of Union funds, the entity or person concerned shall inform the Commission thereof without delay. The Commission shall review the delegation agreements concluded with the entity or person concerned in order to ensure continued fulfilment of the requirements set out in points (a) to (d) of the first subparagraph of Article 60(2).

2.   Unless the entrusted entity is identified in the basic act, the Commission shall select an entity from one of the categories listed in points (ii), (v), (vi) and (vii) of Article 58(1)(c) taking due account of the nature of the tasks to be entrusted to the entity, as well as the experience and the operational and financial capacity of the entities concerned. The selection shall be transparent, justified on objective grounds and shall not give rise to a conflict of interests.

3.   Delegation agreements shall set out the requirements laid down in points (a) to (d) of the first subparagraph of Article 60(2). They shall clearly define the tasks entrusted to the entity and contain an undertaking by the entities or persons concerned to fulfil the obligations laid down in points (e) and (f) of the first subparagraph of Article 60(2), and to refrain from any action which may give rise to a conflict of interests.

4.   The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 210 concerning detailed rules on the ex ante assessment of rules and procedures under indirect management and the content of delegation agreements.

1.   The Commission may delegate powers to the executive agencies to implement all or part of a Union programme or project, on its behalf and under its responsibility, in accordance with Council Regulation (EC) No 58/2003 of 19 December 2002 laying down the statute for executive agencies to be entrusted with certain tasks in the management of Community programmes (16). The executive agencies shall be created by means of a Commission Decision and shall be legal persons under Union law.

The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 210 concerning detailed rules on the exercise of powers delegated to the executive agencies.

2.   The director of the executive agency shall implement the corresponding operational appropriations under direct management.

1.   The Commission shall not entrust tasks relating to implementation of Union funds, including payment and recovery, to external private sector entities or bodies, except in the case referred to in points (v), (vi) and (vii) of Article 58(1)(c), or in specific cases where the payments involved:

2.   The Commission may entrust the following tasks by contract to external private sector entities or bodies that do not have a public service mission: technical expertise tasks and administrative, preparatory or ancillary tasks involving neither the exercise of public authority nor the use of discretionary powers of judgment.

3.   The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 210 concerning detailed rules on entrusting tasks to certain external private sector entities or bodies in accordance with the procurement rules set out in Title V of Part One.