2017 discharge: Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union (CdT)

PURPOSE: presentation of the report of the Court of Auditors on the annual accounts of the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union for the financial year 2017, together with the Centre’s reply (CdT).

CONTENT: the Court of Auditors carried out the audit on the annual accounts of the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union (CdT).

In brief, the Centre's task is to provide any European Union institutions and bodies which call upon its services with the translation services necessary for their activities.

Statement of assurance and reliability of the accounts

The Court considered that:

- the Centre’s annual accounts present fairly, in all material respects, its financial position as at 31 December 2017 and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended, in accordance with the provisions of its Financial Regulation and the accounting rules adopted by the Commission’s accounting officer;

- the transactions underlying the annual accounts for the year ended 31 December 2017 are legal and regular in all material respects.

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:

The Court’s observations

Financial management

Agencies should introduce a single solution for the electronic exchange and storage of information with third parties participating in public procurement procedures (e-procurement). As the same requirement exists for all EU Institutions, the Commission is developing a comprehensive IT solution covering all phases of public procurement procedures. The Commission launched tools for electronic invoicing (e-invoicing), for the electronic publication of documents related to contract notices (e-tendering) and for the electronic submission of tenders (e-submission). By the end of 2017, the Centre had introduced e-invoicing for certain procedures, but not e-tendering and e-submission.

The Centre’s reply

Financial management

The implementation of e-Tendering and e-Submission is included in the Centre’s 2018 Work Programme. Both tools, developed by the Commission, will be deployed by the Centre from October 2018.

Lastly, the Court of Auditor’s report contains a summary of Centre’s key figures in 2017:

Budget

EUR 49 million.

Staff

215 including officials, temporary and contract staff and seconded national experts.