PURPOSE: to grant discharge to the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union for the financial year 2012.

NON-LEGISLATIVE ACT: Decision 2014/563/EU of the European Parliament on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union (CdT) for the financial year 2012.

CONTENT: with the present decision, the European Parliament grants discharge to the Director of the Centre for the implementation of its budget for the financial year 2012.

This decision is in line with the European Parliament's resolution adopted on 3 April 2014 and comprises a series of observations that form an integral part of the discharge decision (please refer to the summary of the opinion of 3 April 2014).

Amongst the main observations made, Parliament called on the Centre to inform the discharge authority of the assessment results, once available, as regards the policy on the prevention and management of conflicts of interests .

The European Parliament adopted a decision concerning the discharge to be granted to the Director of the Translation Centre for the Bodies (CdT) of the European Union in respect of the implementation of the Centre's budget for the financial year 2012. The vote on the discharge decision approved the closure of the accounts (in accordance with Annex VI, Article 5(1) of the Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament.

Noting that the Court of Auditors stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the annual accounts of the Centre for the financial year 2012 are reliable, and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Parliament adopted by 523 votes to 70, with 9 abstentions, a resolution containing a series of recommendations that form an integral part of the discharge decision and as well as the general recommendations that appear in the draft resolution on performance, financial management and control of EU agencies.

These recommendations are summarised as follows:

Budget and financial management : Parliament noted that budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2012 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 87.45% and that the payment appropriations execution rate was 90.23%. It noted that the Centre held cash and short term deposits amounting to EUR 35 million at the end of 2012. It also noted that the Centre cannot adjust prices during the year in order to balance income and expenditure, although it has occasionally refunded its clients in order to reduce the surplus. The Centre was called upon to propose a remedy to this situation. Performance : Parliament requested that the Centre communicate the results and impact its work has on European citizens in an accessible way, mainly through its website.

It also made a series of observations on transfers, procurement and recruitment procedures as well as comments on internal controls.

Lastly, it acknowledged that the Centre will assess its policy on the prevention and management of conflicts of interests on the basis of the Commission's Guidelines on the Prevention and Management of Conflict of Interest in EU Decentralised Agencies. It called on the Centre to inform the discharge authority of the assessment results once available.

The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Petri SARVAMAA (EPP, FI) in which it recommended the European Parliament to grant discharge to the Director of the Translation Centre for the Bodies (CdT) of the European Union in respect of the implementation of the Centre's budget for the financial year 2012.

Noting that the Court of Auditors stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the annual accounts of the Centre for the financial year 2012 are reliable, and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Members approved the closure of the Centre’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.

Budget and financial management : Members noted that budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2012 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 87.45% and that the payment appropriations execution rate was 90.23%. They noted that the Centre held cash and short term deposits amounting to EUR 35 million at the end of 2012. They noted that the Centre cannot adjust prices during the year in order to balance income and expenditure, although it has occasionally refunded its clients in order to reduce the surplus. Members called on the Centre to propose a remedy to this situation.

Members also made a series of observations on transfers, procurement and recruitment procedures as well as comments on internal controls.

Lastly, they acknowledged that the Centre will assess its policy on the prevention and management of conflicts of interests on the basis of the Commission's Guidelines on the Prevention and Management of Conflict of Interest in EU Decentralised Agencies. They called on the Centre to inform the discharge authority of the assessment results once available.

Having examined the revenue and expenditure accounts for the financial year 2012 and the balance sheet at 31 December 2012 of the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union (CdT), as well as the Court of Auditors' report on the annual accounts of the Centre for the financial year 2012, accompanied by the Centre's replies to the Court's observations, the Council recommends the European Parliament to give a discharge to the Director of the Centre in respect of the implementation of the budget for the financial year 2012.

The observations in the Court of Auditors' report call for certain comments by the Council which can be summarised as follows:

in general, the Council welcomes the Court's opinion that, in all material respects, the Agency's annual accounts present fairly its financial position as at 31 December 2012 and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended, in accordance with the provisions of the Agency's Financial Regulation and that the underlying transactions for that financial year are legal and regular. Controls : notwithstanding this favourable finding, the Council regrets that a significant budgetary surplus was recorded at the end of 2012 and takes note, following the Court's assessment, of the need to amend the Founding Regulation of regulatory agencies to allow them to use also local services for their translation needs.

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 2012, together with the Centre’s replies (CdT).

CONTENT: in line with the tasks and objectives conferred on the Court of Auditors by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, it provides in the context of the discharge procedure, both in Parliament and Council, a Statement of Assurance concerning the reliability of the accounts and the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions of each institution, body or agency of the EU, based on an independent external audit.

This audit also focused on the annual accounts of the Centre CdT.

On issuing this audit, in the Court’s opinion, the Centre’s annual accounts present fairly, in all material respects, its financial position as at 31 December 2012 , as well as 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.

It also considered that the transactions underlying the annual accounts for the year ended 31 December 2012 are legal and regular in all material respects.

The report also confirmed that the resources made available to the Centre in 2012 were EUR 48 293 million.

The report of the Court of Auditors at the same time has a series of observations on budget management and financial agency, together with the responses of the latter. The main observations can be summarised as follows:

Observations of the Cour t :

· budget surplus : at the end of 2012, the Centre held cash and short term deposits amounting to 35 million euro (budgetary surplus and reserves amounting to 30.9 million euro). The Centre cannot adjust prices during the year in order to balance income and expenditure although it has occasionally refunded its clients in order to reduce the surplus;

· revision of the Centre’s Founding Regulation : the Founding Regulation of 20 regulatory agencies audited by the Court in 2012 requires them to use the Centre for all their translation needs (the Centre’s Founding Regulation stipulates the same for four other agencies). Other agencies are not obliged to use the Centre. For non-technical documents agencies could reduce their costs by using local services. In the Court’s opinion the legislator should consider allowing all agencies to do so.

Responses of the Centre :

· budget surplus : the cumulative budget surplus that may be reimbursed to clients amounts to 3.9 million euro, with the remaining part of the budget surplus being blocked by the statutory reserve and other reserves created by the Centre for specific purposes. In the long term, based on the Centre’s pricing policy, the Centre should balance its costs with its revenues. The prices of the Centre’s products are fixed by the Management Board for one year and, therefore, the surplus of 3.9 million euro will be reflected in the price modification for 2014 in order to assure long-term equilibrium.

· revision of texts : the Translation Centre takes due note of the Court’s observation. The Centre stresses, however, that the opinion of the Court deviates from the framework established by the legislator in the Founding Regulation of the agencies.

Finally, the report of the Couirt of Auditors summarises the activities of the Centre in 2012 . It is particularly focused on the following activities:

number of pages translated: 735 007 pages against 712 813 the previous year; number of pages by languages: in the official EU languages: 722 505 pages; in other languages: 12 502 pages; number of pages per client: bodies: 707 888 pages; institutions: 27 119 pages; number of pages translated by freelancers: 480 695 pages.