CHAPTER 2 U.K. Principle of annuality
Article 9U.K.Definition
The appropriations entered in the budget shall be authorised for a financial year which shall run from 1 January to 31 December.
Article 10U.K.Type of appropriations
1.The budget shall contain differentiated appropriations, which consist of commitment appropriations and payment appropriations, and non-differentiated appropriations.
2.Commitment appropriations shall cover the total cost of the legal commitments entered into during the financial year, subject to Article 86(4) and Article 189(2).
3.Payment appropriations shall cover payments made to honour the legal commitments entered into in the financial year or preceding financial years.
4.Paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Article are without prejudice to the special provisions of Titles I, IV and VI of Part Two and shall not prevent appropriations being committed globally or budgetary commitments being made in annual instalments.
Article 11U.K.Accounting for revenue and appropriations
1.The revenue of a financial year shall be entered in the accounts for the financial year on the basis of the amounts collected during that financial year. However, the own resources for the month of January of the following financial year may be made available in advance pursuant to Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1150/2000 of 22 May 2000 implementing Decision 2007/436/EC, Euratom on the system of the European Communities' own resources(1).
2.The entries in respect of value-added-tax own resources, of the additional resource based on gross national income and of any financial contributions may be adjusted in accordance with Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1150/2000.
3.The appropriations authorised for a financial year shall be used solely to cover expenditure committed and paid in that financial year and to cover amounts due against commitments from preceding financial years.
The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 210 concerning detailed rules for appropriations for the financial year.
4.Commitments shall be entered in the accounts on the basis of the legal commitments entered into up to 31 December. By way of exception, the global budgetary commitments referred to in Article 86(4) and the financing agreements referred to in Article 189(2) and concluded with third countries shall be entered in the accounts on the basis of the budgetary commitments up to 31 December.
5.Payments shall be entered in the accounts for a financial year on the basis of the payments effected by the accounting officer by 31 December of that year.
6.By way of derogation from paragraphs 3, 4 and 5, the expenditure of the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund shall be entered in the accounts for a financial year in accordance with the rules laid down in Title I of Part Two.
Article 12U.K.Commitment of appropriations
The appropriations entered in the budget may be committed with effect from 1 January, once the budget has been definitively adopted, except as otherwise provided for in Title I and Title VI of Part Two.
Article 13U.K.Cancellation and carry-over of appropriations
1.Appropriations which have not been used by the end of the financial year for which they were entered shall be cancelled.
However, they may be carried over, but only to the following financial year, by a decision taken by 15 February by the institution concerned, in accordance with paragraphs 2 and 3, or they may be carried over automatically in accordance with paragraph 4.
2.Differentiated commitment appropriations and non-differentiated appropriations not yet committed at the end of the financial year may be carried over in respect of:
(a)amounts corresponding to commitment appropriations, or to non-differentiated appropriations relating to building projects, for which most of the preparatory stages of the commitment procedure have been completed by 31 December. Such amounts may then be committed up to 31 March of the following year, or up to 31 December of the following year for amounts relating to building projects;
(b)amounts which are necessary when the legislative authority has adopted a basic act in the final quarter of the financial year and the Commission has been unable to commit the appropriations provided for this purpose by 31 December[F1;]
[F2(c) amounts corresponding to commitment appropriations for the Emergency Aid Reserve.]
[F2The amounts referred to in point (c) of the first subparagraph may be carried over to the next financial year only.]
3.Payment appropriations may be carried over in respect of amounts needed to cover existing commitments or commitments linked to commitment appropriations carried over, where the payment appropriations provided for in the relevant budget lines for the following financial year are not sufficient to cover requirements.
The institution concerned shall first use the appropriations authorised for the current financial year and shall not use the appropriations carried over until the former are exhausted.
4.Non-differentiated appropriations corresponding to obligations duly contracted at the end of the financial year shall be carried over automatically to the following financial year only.
5.The institution concerned shall inform the European Parliament and the Council by 15 March of the carry-over decision it has taken and shall state, for each budget line, how the criteria in paragraphs 2 and 3 have been applied to each carry-over.
[F16. Without prejudice to point (c) of the first subparagraph of paragraph 2 of this Article and to Article 14, appropriations placed in reserve and appropriations for staff expenditure shall not be carried over. For the purposes of this Article, staff expenditure comprises the remuneration and allowances for members and staff of the institutions to which the Staff Regulations apply.]
7.The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 210 concerning detailed rules for the cancellation and carry-over of appropriations.
Textual Amendments
Article 14U.K.Carry-over rules for assigned revenue
Carry-over of assigned revenue referred to in Article 21, and of appropriations not used and available at 31 December arising from such revenue, shall comply with the following rules:
external assigned revenue shall be carried over automatically and shall be fully used by the time all the operations relating to the programme or action to which it is assigned have been carried out. External assigned revenue received during the last year of the programme or action may be used in the first year of the succeeding programme or action;
internal assigned revenue shall be carried over for one year only, with the exception of internal assigned revenue defined in point (g) of Article 21(3), which shall be carried over automatically.
Article 15U.K.Decommitment of appropriations
Without prejudice to Articles 178 and 182, where appropriations are decommitted in any financial year after that in which the appropriations were entered in the budget as a result of total or partial non-implementation of the actions for which they were earmarked, the appropriations concerned shall be cancelled.
Article 16U.K.Rules applicable in the event of late adoption of the budget
1.If the budget has not been definitively adopted at the beginning of the financial year, the procedure set out in the first paragraph of Article 315 TFEU (the provisional twelfths regime) shall apply. Commitments and payments may be made within the limits laid down in paragraph 2 of this Article.
2.Commitments may be made per chapter up to a maximum of one quarter of the total appropriations authorised in the relevant chapter of the previous financial year plus one twelfth for each month which has elapsed.
The limit of the appropriations provided for in the draft budget shall not be exceeded.
Payments may be made monthly per chapter up to a maximum of one twelfth of the appropriations authorised in the relevant chapter of the preceding financial year. That sum shall not, however, exceed one twelfth of the appropriations provided for in the same chapter of the draft budget.
3.The appropriations authorised in the relevant chapter of the preceding financial year, as specified in paragraphs 1 and 2, shall be understood as referring to the appropriations voted in the budget, including by amending budgets, and after adjustment for the transfers made during that financial year.
4.If the continuity of action by the Union and management needs so require, the Council, acting by qualified majority on a proposal of the Commission, may authorise expenditure in excess of one provisional twelfth but not exceeding the total of four provisional twelfths, except in duly justified cases, both for commitments and for payments over and above those automatically made available in accordance with paragraphs 1 and 2. It shall forward the decision on authorisation without delay to the European Parliament.
The decision shall enter into force 30 days following its adoption unless the European Parliament:
(a)acting by a majority of its component Members, decides to reduce that expenditure within that time limit, in which case the Commission shall submit a new proposal;or
(b)informs the Council and the Commission that it does not wish to reduce that expenditure, in which case the decision shall enter into force before the expiry of the 30 days.
The additional twelfths shall be authorised in full and shall not be divisible.
5.If, for a given chapter, the authorisation of four provisional twelfths granted in accordance with paragraph 4 is not sufficient to cover the expenditure necessary to avoid a break in continuity of action by the Union in the area covered by the chapter in question, authorisation may exceptionally be given to exceed the amount of the appropriations entered in the corresponding chapter of the budget of the preceding financial year. The European Parliament and the Council shall act in accordance with the procedures provided for in paragraph 4. However, the overall total of the appropriations available in the budget of the preceding financial year or in the draft budget, as proposed, may in no circumstances be exceeded.