Annex II Financial provisions

The financial year of the Agency shall run from the first of January to the thirty-first of December following.

The Director General shall, not later than the first of September of each year, forward to the Member States

The general budget shall comprise

Each programme budget shall comprise

The approval of the general budget and of each programme budget by the Council shall take place before the beginning of each financial year.

The general budget and the programme budgets shall be prepared and executed in accordance with the Financial Regulations.

If circumstances so require, the Council may ask the Director General to present a revised budget to it.

No decision involving additional expenditure shall be deemed to have been approved until the Council has approved the Director General's estimate of the additional expenditure involved.

The Director General shall, if so requested by the Council, include in the general budget or in the programme budget concerned the estimates of expenditure for subsequent years.

In connection with the adoption of the annual budgets of the Agency the Council shall re-examine the level of resources and make the necessary adjustments in the light of price-level variations and any unforeseen changes during the execution of the programmes.

The expenditure approved for activities covered by Article V of the Convention shall be met by contributions assessed in accordance with Article XIII of the Convention.

When a State accedes to the Convention in accordance with Article XXII thereof, the contributions of the other Member States shall be reassessed. A new scale, which shall take effect on a date to be decided by the Council, shall be established on the basis of the national income statistics for the years used in calculating the existing scale. Where appropriate, reimbursements shall be made to ensure that the contributions paid by all Member States for the current year are in accordance with the decision of the Council.

The budgets of the Agency shall be expressed in ECU as currently defined by the European Union's competent bodies and subsequently in the European payment unit which may replace it as soon as it is set into force by these bodies.

Each Member State shall pay its contribution in ECU and in the subsequent replacement for it as referred to in paragraph 1 above.

The Director General shall keep an accurate account of all income and expenditure. At the end of each financial year the Director General shall, in accordance with the Financial Regulations, draw up separate annual accounts for each programme covered by Article V of the Convention.

Budgetary accounts, the budget and the financial management, as well as any other measure having financial implications, shall be examined by an Audit Commission. The Council shall designate, by a two-thirds majority of all Member States, the Member States which, in rotation on an equitable basis, shall be invited to nominate, preferably from among their own senior officials, auditors to serve on this Commission, and shall nominate by the same majority, from among the auditors, a Chairman of the Commission for a period not exceeding three years.

The purpose of the audit, which shall be based on records and, if necessary, done on the spot, shall be to verify that expenditure has conformed with the budget estimates and that the records are lawful and correct. The Commission shall also report on the economic management of the Agency's financial resources. At the end of each financial year, the Commission shall draw up a report, which shall be adopted by the majority of its members and thereupon transmitted to the Council.

The Audit Commission shall discharge such other functions as are set out in the Financial Regulations.

The Director General shall furnish the auditors with such information and help as they may require to carry out their duties.