PURPOSE: to grant discharge to the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union for the financial year 2011.

NON-LEGISLATIVE ACT: Decision 2013/558/EU of the European Parliament on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union (CdT) for the financial year 2011.

CONTENT: with the present decision, and in accordance with Article 319 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the European Parliament grants discharge to the Director of the Centre for the implementation of its budget for the financial year 2011.

This decision is in line with the European Parliament's resolution adopted on 17 April 2013 and comprises a series of observations that form an integral part of the discharge decision (please refer to the summary of the opinion of 17 April 2013).

A parallel decision, 2013/559/EU, adopted on the same day, approves the closure of the Centre's accounts for the 2011 financial year.

The European Parliament adopted a decision on discharge to be granted to the Director of the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union in respect of the implementation of the budget for the financial year 2011. The vote on the decision to grant discharge covers the closure of the accounts (in accordance with Annex VI, Rule 5(1) of the European Parliament’s Rules of Procedure).

Noting that the Court of Auditors stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the annual accounts of the Centre for the financial year 2011 are reliable and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Parliament adopted a resolution containing a number of recommendations that need to be taken into account when the discharge is granted, in addition to the general recommendations that appear in the draft resolution on performance, financial management and control of EU agencies:

• Financing, budget and financial management: Parliament recalls that the Centre’s final budget for 2011 was EUR 51.3 million, which represents a decrease of 8.27% compared to 2010. It recalls that the Centre’s 2011 budget outturn decreased to EUR 1.2 million compared to more than EUR 8 million in 2010, which represents a decrease of 85.56%. This decrease mainly resulted from a 15% decrease in revenues, reflecting the Centre's new pricing policy, which aims to align the prices of products with their costs.
• Implementation rate of appropriations: Parliament highlights the very good execution rate of commitment appropriations. It also welcomes the limited number of carry-overs.
• Data protection: Parliament takes note that in 2011, in order to increase the independence of the function, the Centre appointed a new Data Protection Officer. It notes that the number of prior check notifications made to the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) in 2011 was four, namely video surveillance, the disciplinary procedure, anti-harassment policy and the certification procedure. It notes that for the disciplinary and anti-harassment procedures, complementary information was sent to the EDPS at his request. The discharge authority should be informed about the state of play.

Lastly, Parliament made a series of observations as regards human resources, procurement and on the accounting system of this Agency.

The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Gerben-Jan GERBRANDY (ADLE, NL) on discharge to be granted to the Director of the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union in respect of the implementation of the budget for the financial year 2011.

Noting that the Court of Auditors stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the annual accounts of the Centre for the financial year 2011 are reliable and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Members approve the closure of the Centre’s accounts. However, they make a number of recommendations that need to be taken into account when the discharge is granted, in addition to the general recommendations that appear in the draft resolution on performance, financial management and control of EU agencies:

• Financing, budget and financial management: Members recall that the Centre’s final budget for 2011 was EUR 51.3 million, which represents a decrease of 8.27% compared to 2010. The Centre’s 2011 budget outturn decreased to EUR 1.2 million compared to more than EUR 8 million in 2010, which represents a decrease of 85.56%. This decrease mainly resulted from a 15% decrease in revenues, reflecting the Centre's new pricing policy, which aims to align the prices of products with their costs.
• Implementation rate of appropriations: Members highlight the very good execution rate of commitment appropriations. They also welcome the limited number of carry-overs.

Lastly, Members made a series of observations as regards human resources, procurement and on the accounting system of this Agency. Members also take note that in 2011, in order to increase the independence of the function, the Centre appointed a new Data Protection Officer.

Having examined the revenue and expenditure accounts for the financial year 2011 and the balance sheet at 31 December 2011 of the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union, as well as the Court of Auditors' report on the annual accounts of the Centre for the financial year 2011, accompanied by the Centre's replies to the Court's observations, the Council recommends the European Parliament to give a discharge to the Director of the Centre in respect of the implementation of the budget for the financial year 2011.

The observations in the Court of Auditors' report in relation to the financial year 2011 call for some comments by the Council, which may be summarised as follows:

• the Council welcomes the Court's opinion that, in all material respects, the Centre's annual accounts present fairly its financial position as at 31 December 2011 and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended, in accordance with the provisions of the Centre's Financial Regulation and the accounting rules adopted by the Commission's accounting officer, and that the underlying transactions for that financial year are legal and regular;
• it welcomes the fact that the accumulated budget surplus decreased from EUR 9.2 million in 2010 to EUR 3 million in 2011 and calls on the Centre to continue this positive trend.

PURPOSE: presentation of the EU Court of Auditors’ report on the annual accounts of the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union (CdT), for the financial year 2011, together with the Centre’s reply.

CONTENT: in accordance with the tasks conferred on the Court of Auditors by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the Court presents to the European Parliament and to the Council, in the context of the discharge procedure, a Statement of Assurance as to the reliability of the annual accounts of each institution, body or agency of the EU, and the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying them, on the basis of an independent external audit.

This audit concerned, amongst others, the annual accounts of the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union (CdT).

In the Court’s opinion, the Centre’s Annual Accounts fairly present, in all material respects, its financial position as of 31 December 2011 and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended, in accordance with the provisions of its Financial Regulation.

The Court also considers that the transactions underlying the annual accounts of the Centre for the financial year ended 31 December 2011 are, in all material respects, legal and regular.

The report confirms that the Centre’s 2011 budget amounted to EUR 51.3 million. The number of staff employed by the Centre at the end of the year was 219.

The report also makes a series of observations on the budgetary and financial management of the Centre, accompanied by the latter’s response. The main observations may be summarised as follows:

Court’s observations:

• budget decrease: the Court notes that this reduction mainly results from a 15% decrease in revenues, reflecting the Centre’s new pricing policy which aims to align prices of products with their costs;
• budget surplus: continuing the trend from last year, the accumulated budget surplus decreased from EUR 9.2 million in 2010 to EUR 3 million in 2011. This reduction is the net effect of the 2011 budget surplus and allocations to reserves for pricing stability and for exceptional investments.

Centre’s replies: the Centre has taken note of the Court’s report.

Lastly, the Court of Auditors’ report contains a summary of the Centre’s activities in 2011. This is focused on the Centre’s translation activities:

• number of pages translated: 712 813 pages compared to 819 598 pages in 2010;
• number of pages by language: official EU languages: 704 613 pages; other languages: 8 200 page;
• number of pages by client: bodies: 676 925 pages; institutions: 3 888;
• number of pages translated by free lancers: 436 445 pages.

PURPOSE: presentation by the Commission of the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2011, as part of the 2011 discharge procedure.

Analysis of the accounts of the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union (CdT).

CONTENT: this Commission document sets out the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2011 as prepared on the basis of the information presented by the institutions, organisations and bodies of the EU, in accordance with Article 129 (2) of the Financial Regulation applicable to the EU's General Budget, including the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union (CdT).

In 2011, the tasks and budget of this agency were as follows:

• description of the Centre's tasks: the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union, which is located in Luxembourg, was established by Council Regulation (EC) No 2965/94 and its role is to provide any European Union Institutions and Bodies, which call upon its services with the translation services necessary for their activities;

• the Centre's budget for the 2011 financial year: the Centre’s budget for 2011, as presented in the Commission document on the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union, gives the following figures:

The complete version of the Centre's final accounts may be found at the following address:

http://cdt.europa.eu/EN/documentation/Pages/Revenue-and-expenditure-account-and-balance-sheet.aspx