Activites

• 2014/10/23 Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
  • T8-0043/2014 summary

    In accordance with Annex V, Article 5, paragraph 2(a) of the European Parliament’s Rules of Procedure, Parliament decided by 493 votes to 137, with 52 abstentions, to grant the Management Committee of the Office of the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications discharge for implementation of the Office's budget for the financial year 2012. In so doing, Parliament approved the closure of the Office’s accounts for 2012. Improvement of the Office’s internal management: taking note that in order to address the shortcomings related to the legality and regularity of transactions, the Office has included in its Financial and Accounting Manuals clear procedures, detailed steps and workflows to be used by all financial actors, Parliament welcomed the changes and improvements made to procedures applied by the Office as regards: financial and budget management, in particular as regards the rate of budget implementation (89.55%); commitments and carryovers, even if necessary efforts still need to be made as regards the cancellation of appropriations (28% of cancelled credits or carried over to 2013); procurement and recruitment procedures since the revision of the recruitment guidelines implemented in 2013. Parliament also welcomed the Office's revised communication policy, which ensures the attribution of mobile phones to staff based on professional needs, and the internal controls made for monitoring compliance with that policy. Prevention and management of conflicts of interest and transparency: Parliament noted that the conflicts of interests policy concerning the Office's staff members follows the same principles, and that the staff members' conflicts of interests declarations are also available through the Office's public register. It acknowledged that the Office aims at raising awareness of its policy on conflicts of interest, as well as that of its Board. In parallel, Parliament stated that the Office has met all formal requirements for the Internal Control Standard (ICS) on Information and Communication and noted that a review of the ICS is scheduled by the Internal Audit Service and that the Office should report to the discharge authority on the results of that review as soon as they are available. Performances: lastly, Parliament noted that the Office has begun to increase its profile as a Union body by uploading the Union logo on some pages on its website, and looks forward to this being extended to the BEREC's home page and systematically to all communications, thereby ensuring visibility of the contribution from the Union budget to the Office.

• 2014/10/22 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
• 2014/09/26 Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
  • A8-0011/2014 summary

    The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Petri SARVAMAA (EPP, FI) in which it called on the European Parliament to grant the Management Committee of the Office of the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications discharge for implementation of the Office's budget for the financial year 2012. Taking note that in order to address the shortcomings related to the legality and regularity of transactions, the Office has included in its Financial and Accounting Manuals clear procedures, detailed steps and workflows to be used by all financial actors, Members welcomed the changes and improvements made to procedures applied by the Office as regards: financial and budget management, in particular as regards the rate of budget implementation; commitments and carryovers, even if necessary efforts still need to be made as regards the cancellation of appropriations; procurement and recruitment procedures since the revision of the recruitment guidelines implemented in 2013. Members also welcomed the Office's revised communication policy, which ensures the attribution of mobile phones to staff based on professional needs, and the internal controls made for monitoring compliance with that policy. Prevention and management of conflicts of interest and transparency: Members noted that the conflicts of interests policy concerning the Office's staff members follows the same principles, and that the staff members' conflicts of interests declarations are also available through the Office's public register. They acknowledged that the Office aims at raising awareness of its policy on conflicts of interest, as well as that of its Board. In parallel, Members stated that the Office has met all formal requirements for the Internal Control Standard (ICS) on Information and Communication and noted that a review of the ICS is scheduled by the Internal Audit Service and that the Office should report to the discharge authority on the results of that review as soon as they are available. Performances: lastly, Members noted that the Office has begun to increase its profile as a Union body by uploading the Union logo on some pages on its website, and looks forward to this being extended to the BEREC's home page and systematically to all communications, thereby ensuring visibility of the contribution from the Union budget to the Office.

• 2014/09/23 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
• 2014/04/03 Results of vote in Parliament
  • Results of vote in Parliament
  • T7-0301/2014 summary

    The European Parliament adopted a decision to postpone its decision on granting the Administrative Manager of the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) discharge in respect of the implementation of the Body’s budget for the financial year 2012. In parallel, Parliament postponed the closure of the Body’s 2012 accounts. Parliament adopted by 572 votes to 10, with 14 abstentions, a resolution containing a series of recommendations that form an integral part of the discharge decision and as well as the general recommendations that appear in the draft resolution on performance, financial management and control of EU agencies. These recommendations are summarised as follows: Legality and regularity of transactions: Parliament regretted that the Body’s accounting system has not been validated in 2013. It called on the Body to take steps in order to avoid such situations in the future and to report on the steps taken by 1 September 2014. It regretted that the committed appropriations carried over, amounting to EUR 61.5 million (10% of the total committed appropriations carried over), did not correspond to legal commitments and were thus irregular. Budget and financial management: it noted with concern that budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2012 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 63.4% and that the payment appropriations execution rate was 66.16%. Commitments and carryovers: Parliament also regretted that 45% of the committed appropriations carried over from 2011 were cancelled and that appropriations of EUR 545 000 were not used and had to be cancelled. It worried that the level of carry-overs of committed appropriations to 2013 was high at EUR 611 000. It believed that this indicates difficulties in the planning and/or implementation of the Body’s activities. Recruitment procedures: Parliament regretted that the recruitment procedures examined showed significant shortcomings affecting transparency, namely that questions for written tests and interviews were set after the applications had been examined by the selection board. Improvements should be made in this area. Conflicts of interests: it also regretted that the Body has provided limited information regarding conflicts of interests policy. It noted that personal conflicts of interests declarations are requested from the members of the Body's Management Committee and the Board of Regulators, as well as from their staff members. Parliament called on the Body to inform the discharge authority of whether it plans to review its conflict of interests arrangements on the basis of the Commission's Guidelines on the Prevention and Management of Conflict of Interests in EU Decentralised Agencies. Performance: Parliament requested that the Body communicate the results and impact its work has on European citizens in an accessible way, mainly through its website. Lastly, it made a series of observations on transfers, procurement and recruitment procedures as well as comments on internal controls.

• 2014/04/02 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
• 2014/03/20 Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
  • A7-0206/2014 summary

    The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Petri SARVAMAA (EPP, FI) in which it recommended the European Parliament to postpones its decision on granting the Administrative Manager of the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications discharge in respect of the implementation of the Body’s budget for the financial year 2012. In parallel, Members postponed the closure of the Body’s accounts and made a number of recommendations in addition to those that appear in the draft resolution on performance, financial management and control of EU agencies. Legality and regularity of transactions: Members regretted that the Body’s accounting system has been validated in 2013. They called on the Body to take steps in order to avoid such situations in the future and to report on the steps taken by 1 September 2014. Members regretted that the committed appropriations carried over, amounting to EUR 61.5 million (10% of the total committed appropriations carried over), did not correspond to legal commitments and were thus irregular. Budget and financial management: Members noted with concern that budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2012 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 63.4% and that the payment appropriations execution rate was 66.16%. Commitments and carryovers: Members also regretted that 45% of the committed appropriations carried over from 2011 were cancelled and that appropriations of EUR 545 000 were not used and had to be cancelled. They are worried that the level of carry-overs of committed appropriations to 2013 was high at EUR 611 000. They believed that this indicates difficulties in the planning and/or implementation of the Body’s activities. Recruitment procedures: Members regretted that the recruitment procedures examined showed significant shortcomings affecting transparency, namely that questions for written tests and interviews were set after the applications had been examined by the selection board. Improvements should be made in this area. Conflicts of interests: Members regretted that the Body has provided limited information regarding conflicts of interests policy. They noted that personal conflicts of interests declarations are requested from the members of the Body's Management Committee and the Board of Regulators, as well as from their staff members. They called on the Body to inform the discharge authority of whether it plans to review its conflict of interests arrangements on the basis of the Commission's Guidelines on the Prevention and Management of Conflict of Interests in EU Decentralised Agencies. Members also made a series of observations on transfers, procurement and recruitment procedures as well as comments on internal controls.

• 2013/10/22 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• 2013/07/26 Non-legislative basic document published
  • COM(2013)0570 summary

    PURPOSE: presentation by the Commission of the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2012, as part of the 2012 discharge procedure. Analysis of the accounts of the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC). CONTENT: this Commission document sets out the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2012 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 Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC). In 2012, the tasks and budget of this agency were as follows: description of BEREC's tasks: BEREC, which is located in Riga, was set up by Regulation (EU) No 1211/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council with a view to developing the single market for electronic communication networks and services, as well as to improving its operation by ensuring the consistent application of the European Union’s regulatory framework for electronic communications; BEREC's budget for the 2012 financial year: BEREC’s budget for 2012, as presented in the Commission document on the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union, gives the following figures: §         Commitment appropriations : - committed : EUR 3 million; - paid : EUR 3 million; - carried-over : 0. §         Payment appropriations : - committed : EUR 3 million; - paid : EUR 2 million; - carried-over : EUR 1 million. Please refer also to the final accounts of the Body of the European Regulators.

  • DG {'url': 'http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/budget/', 'title': 'Budget'}, ŠEMETA Algirdas

Documents

• Non-legislative basic document published: COM(2013)0570
• Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading: A7-0206/2014
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Results of vote in Parliament: Results of vote in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T7-0301/2014
• Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading: A8-0011/2014
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T8-0043/2014

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)