Legislative Observatory
European Parliament
Please fill in this field to find a procedure

2013 discharge: Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC)

2014/2124(DEC)

The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Ryszard CZARNECKI (ECR, PL) on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the Office of the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) for the financial year 2013.

It called on the European Parliament to grant the Director of the Office discharge in respect of the implementation of its budget for the financial year 2013.0

Noting that the Court of Auditors stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the annual accounts of the Office for the financial year 2013 are reliable, and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Members called on the Parliament to approve the closure of the Office’s accounts. They made, however, a number of recommendations that needed 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.

  • Office’s financial statements: Members noted that the final budget of the Office for the financial year 2013 was EUR 3 557 219, representing an increase of  11.51% compared to 2012, due to the Body’s recently established nature. The overall contribution of the Union to the budget of the Office for 2013 amounted to EUR 3 556 000.
  • Budget and financial management: Members noted that budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2013 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 89.55% and that the payment appropriations execution rate was 76.58%. The Office's budget implementation rates improved considerably. However, Members noted with concern that the level of cancelled carry-overs from 2012 remained relatively high. Overall, Members welcomed the Office’s efforts to improve its budgetary planning accuracy and to have as a target to eliminate the need for cancellation of commitment appropriations.

Members also made a series of observations on the prevention and management of conflicts of interests, recruitment, procurement procedures and internal control.

Lastly, Members noted with concern that 91% of reimbursements for experts made in 2013 were late. They noted furthermore that in the first half of 2013, the late payments were overdue by an average delay of 78 days. They called on the Office to resolve this issue as a matter of urgency and to report to the discharge authority on the measures taken to do so and on their results.