2015 discharge: Fuel Cells and Hydrogen 2 Joint Undertaking - FCH 2 Joint Undertaking

PURPOSE: to grant discharge to the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen (FCH) Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2015.

NON-LEGISLATIVE ACT: Decision (EU) 2017/1738 of the European Parliament on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen 2 Joint Undertaking for the financial year 2015.

CONTENT: with the present decision, the European Parliament grants discharge to the Executive Director of the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen 2 Joint Undertaking for the implementation of the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking's budget for the financial year 2015.

This decision is in line with the European Parliament's resolution adopted on 27 April 2017 and comprises a series of observations that form an integral part of the discharge decision (please refer to the summary of the opinion of 27 April 2017).

Amongst Parliaments main observations in the resolution accompanying the discharge decision, the latter noted that when the final accounts were prepared, the FCH2 did not receive the required reports from its members implementing Horizon 2020 projects as they were not yet due and therefore observed that the amount of 2015 in-kind contributions for the Horizon 2020 entered in the accounts was based on estimation by FCH2 of the costs incurred by members up to the end of 2015.

In-kind contributions shall be communicated as a part of the first reporting under projects that is due in September 2016.

Parliament noted with satisfaction that FCH2 took part in, and implemented in 2015, the preventive and corrective measures in line with the newly adopted common anti-fraud strategy and anti-fraud action plan at Commission level.