1.The Commission may, provided it notifies the competent authorities of the Member States concerned, transfer into the currency of one of the Member States its holdings of currency of another Member State, to the extent necessary to enable them to be used for purposes which come within the scope of this Treaty. The Commission shall as far as possible avoid making such transfers if it possesses cash or liquid assets in the currencies which it needs.
2.The Commission shall deal with each Member State through the authority designated by the State concerned. In carrying out financial operations the Commission shall employ the services of the bank of issue of the Member State concerned or any other financial institutions approved by that State.
3.As regards expenditure which the Community has to incur in the currencies of third countries, the Commission shall, before the budgets are finally adopted, submit to the Council a programme indicating anticipated revenue and expenditure in the different currencies.
This programme shall be approved by the Council, acting by a qualified majority. It may be modified in the course of the financial year in accordance with the same procedure.
4.Member States shall provide the Commission with the currency of third countries needed for the expenditure shown in the programme provided for in paragraph 3 according to the scales laid down in Article 172. Amounts collected by the Commission in the currency of third countries shall be transferred to Member States in accordance with the same scales.
5.The Commission may freely make use of any amounts in the currency of third countries derived from loans it has raised in such countries.
6.The Council may, acting unanimously on a proposal from the Commission apply, in whole or in part, to the Agency and to Joint Undertakings the exchange arrangements provided for in the preceding paragraphs, and, where appropriate, adapt these arrangements to their operational requirements.