Office for official publications of the EC: organisation and working

PURPOSE : to establish a new inter-institutional decision concerning the organisation and operation of the Communities' Office of Publications. COMMUNITY MEASURE : Decision 2000/459/EC, ECSC, Euratom of the European Parliament, the Council, the Commission, the Court of Justice, the Court of Auditors, the Economic and Social Committee, and the Committee of the Regions on the organisation and operation of the Office for Official Publications of the European Communities. CONTENT : this new inter-institutional decision concerns the adaptation of the regulatory framework of the Office and replaces the original version from 1977 which is regarded as outdated. The adaptation of the regulatory framework of the Office has become necessary in order to take into account observations made in 1997 by the Court of Auditors concerning the outdated character of the basic texts. Following deliberation, the institutions represented on the Board came to a decision in favour of an amended and codified act with the same aim that such an act would be an improvement and more coherent, with the avantages of clarity and transparency. This draft act was approved following the deliberations of the Office's Board, as well as a joint consultation procedure of the institutions' legal services. In essence, the draft seeks to take technological developments in the publishing sector on board, as well as changes in practices with respect to competences develved to the authority vested with powers of appointmant. Thus, the Office shall ensure the undertaking of the following tasks, either by itself or by outside companies: publication of the Official Journal, other publications of the Community or its services and publications from other Community organisations or bodies. In exceptional cases, the institutions or bodies may proceed with the publication of documents without the involvement of the Office, when the financial amounts, technical reasons or urgency so justified. The implementation of the Office's tasks will entail the gathering of documents for publication, the preparation and checking of texts, the awarding of contract to suppliers, the printing of urgent or low-circulation documents, the monitoring of work, quality control, financial control of contracts, quantitative and qualitative delivery, accounting controls, archiving of publications, management of sales and the distribution. The Office will also provide the institutions with all the relevant technical and financial information for their draft publications and assist them in the preparation of framework contracts. Provisions shall be made with regard to comitology (creation of a Board of Directors, powers and responsibilities, setting of operating rules), as well as with regard to the Office's powers of appointment (the Commission appoints grade A1, A2 and A3 and LA3 agents) and management, in accordance with the rules applicable in the context of the Financial Regulation. Decision 69/13/Euratom, ECSC, EEC is hereby repealed. All the Presidents of the institutions have signed the text which makes it therefore applicable. ENTRY INTO FORCE : 20.07.2000.�