2015 discharge: Office of the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC Office)

Having examined the revenue and expenditure accounts for the financial year 2015 and the balance sheet as at 31 December 2015 of the Office of the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC), as well as the Court of Auditors' report on the annual accounts of the Office for the financial year 2015, accompanied by the Office's replies to the Court's observations, the Council recommended the European Parliament to give a discharge to the Management Committee of the Office in respect of the implementation of the budget for the financial year 2015.

The Council welcomed the Court's opinion that, in all material respects, the Office's annual accounts present fairly its financial position as at 31 December 2015 and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended, in accordance with the provisions of the Office's Financial Regulation, and that the underlying transactions for 2015 are legal and regular in all material respects.

Nevertheless, some observations were made by the Council:

• public procurement: the Council regretted the deficiencies found by the Court in the Office's procurement procedures. It urged the Office to take appropriate action in order to improve its planning and ensure sufficient competition in its procurements;
• financial programming: the Council noted that a high level of commitment appropriations was carried over to 2016. It encouraged the Office to continue improving its financial programming and monitoring of the budget implementation, in order to reduce the level of commitments carried over to the following financial year to the minimum strictly necessary;
• transparency: the Council invited the Office to revise the level of detail included in its budgetary implementation reports, also in the framework of the establishment of guidelines for the agencies' budget reporting.