receipt by an expenditure or vice versa. The Budget shall not show attribution of a receipt to an expenditure, with the possible exception of the extraordinary section.

ARTICLE 6

For the execution of the common armament, equipment, supply and infrastructure programs extending over several years, the Budget carries the authorizations and estimates necessary for the whole program in the form of program authorizations as well as in the form of payment authorizations for the cash expenditures of this program within the year in question.

ARTICLE 7

An annexed document is included in the Budget which shall indicate the countries in which in principle the different expenditures are to be made.

ARTICLE 8

In application of Article 89 of the Treaty, the Commissariat may, with the agreement of the Financial Controller, shift budgetary credits to take care of expenditures less than 10,000 accounting units and which do not entail commitments on the part of the Community covering several fiscal years.

ARTICLE 9

There can be inscribed in the receipts and expenditures of the Budget sums which are not destined for the payment of the expenditures of the Community itself. These sums, which only transit the common budget, are recorded in a special section.

The Community, which does not exercise any control whatsoever over the use of these sums and which does not have the obligation for their financing, is discharged of all responsibility involved in the transit by remitting the sums to the recipients.

ARTICLE 9 BIS

The Council shall conduct the negotiations concerning support costs which are provided for in the Treaty signed at Bonn on 26 May 1952. The Council may, by unanimous vote, delegate this function to the Commissariat. Decisions to be taken as a result of these negotiations shall be taken by unanimous vote.

ARTICLE 10

The payment credits which are not utilized at the end of the year shall be annulled unless there was provision for the possibility of a carryover at the time the Budget was voted.

If there is a deficit at the close of the fiscal year, a budgetary credit shall of necessity be provided, either in the current Budget or in exceptional cases in the budget following the current budget, in order to cover such a deficit.

If there is a surplus, it shall be paid into a reserve fund. The total of this reserve fund shall not exceed o of the total of the highest budget during the last five years. Use of the assets of the reserve fund shall be decided within the framework of the budget.

TITLE III-EXECUTION OF THE COMMON BUDGET

ARTICLE 11

The Budget shall be executed in accordance with the principle of the separation of the functions of authorizing payments and disbursement. Appropriations shall be administered and payment orders issued by officials attached to the various services of the Community. Actual payment of expenditures and receipt of money shall be handled by accountants who receive their instructions directly from the Finance Administration and who are responsible for their administration.

ARTICLE 12

The President of the Commissariat shall be the principal agent authorizing payments for the Budget. He may, on the advice of the Finance Administration, delegate his powers to other members of the Commissariat and to the various service chiefs of the central administration or of the lower services. These deputies can administer funds only within the limits of the powers entrusted to them. The services administering funds shall periodically notify the Finance Administration of the situation of their commitments.

ARTICLE 13

Aside from the limits set for their handling of funds, the administrators can authorize expenditures only within the limits of the monthly authorizations which they are granted by the Finance Administration. These authorizations shall be determined on the basis of on the one hand requirements, and on the other hand of cash availabilities. The administrators may be held personally responsible for any excess of authorizations arising from their management.

ARTICLE 14

The sole fact that a receipt or an expenditure has been entered in the Budget shall not create rights or obligations vis-a-vis third parties. Any debt or claim can result only from a decision of the proper administrative authority.

ARTICLE 15

The Council shall unanimously approve every decision of the Commissariat which entails the acknowledgment of a debt by the Community or which limits the free disposal of the assets of the Community.

ARTICLE 16

The recovery of the claims of the Community shall be handled by the Finance Administration. The Commissariat is empowered, in

case of necessity, to grant an extension (except in the special case of contributions). It may, with the consent of the Financial Controller, for an amount limited to 5,000 accounting units grant remission of debts; in case of amounts over 5,000 accounting units a Council decision is necessary.

ARTICLE 17

All purchases, sales or exchange of property shall be covered by a special regulation of the Commissariat.

ARTICLE 18

The Commissariat is empowered, in the name of the Community, to place all contracts covering expenditures provided for in the Budget, in conformity with the methods set forth in this Budget. The procedures for letting contracts will be prescribed in a special regulation of the Commissariat. The contracts let within the Community shall normally be payable in the currency of the member State concerned.

The Commissariat shall also be empowered to place contracts covering expenditures not provided for in the Budget, on condition that they amount to less than 10,000 accounting units and that it does not increase the total volume of the Budget. It shall give an accounting at the next meeting of the Council. If the contract exceeds 10,000 accounting units a decision of the Council, by a two-thirds majority, shall be required.

ARTICLE 19

All payments shall presuppose the presentation of documents in proof of the service performed. It shall be the responsibility of the Finance Administration, in agreement with the accounting organizations, to define the nature of such documentary evidence.

ARTICLE 20

In the cases and within the limits authorized by the Finance Administration, funds may be placed at the disposal of certain of the services which shall have the responsibility of subsequently justifying the use of these funds. The renewal of these advances shall be subordinated to the justification of the use of previous advances.

TITLE IV-CURRENT CONTROLS OF THE EXECUTION OF THE COMMON BUDGET

ARTICLE 21

Current controls on the execution of the common budget, aside from the powers of the Financial Controller himself, shall be carried out by the services of the Commissariat and the other institutions of the Community.

ARTICLE 22

The Financial Controller shall have a dual mission: He shall give opinions. In this connection, all budgetary documents, all draft

statutes, and armament equipment, supply and infrastructure plans to be covered by budgetary expenditures shall be submitted to him for his opinion.

He shall check on the regularity of expenditures. In this connection, all expenditure commitments as well as payment orders in the measure necessary to the effectiveness of his control shall first be submitted to him for his signature. Disbursing agents shall refuse to honor orders to pay which have not been submitted for his signature. The Financial Controller shall have the right to ask the services for any explanation which he may consider desirable in the exercise of his mission. He may check on documents and make spot checks. He shall be informed by the Finance Administration of any situation which concerns the administration of the Budget as well as the Treasury and in particular the monthly allocation of funds.

The Financial Controller shall manage his own services so as to collaborate as closely as possible with the functioning of the services of the Community and so as not to entail a delay in their operations.

ARTICLE 23

The head of each service or section, depending on the requirements, shall see that funds are administered in accordance with the methods foreseen by the budget and order the most economical conditions with the assistance of an administrative and financial section for which the necessary operating civil or military regulations shall be established in agreement with the Finance Administration.

He shall see to the enforcement of financial directives and specifically the preparation and routing of any provisional statements or reports which may be considered necessary. Whenever it shall appear desirable the head of the administrative and financial section may be delegated the authority to authorize payments.

TITLE V-TREASURY

ARTICLE 24

The Community shall try to avoid any sizable transfer of cash by carrying out its operations through checking accounts. It shall open accounts in national central banks and shall also make use of the postal check services in existence on the territory of the member States. Under exceptional circumstances, it may enlist the assistance of private banking institutions.

ARTICLE 25

The Community shall inform each State of the contribution for which it is liable. Payment shall be made in national currency. The account of the Community shall be credited on the due date. In the case of delay in payment, the rate of exchange to be applied in converting into national currency the common currencies in which the budget is established shall be the rate in force on the day when the account of the Community is credited and not the due date. In cases

where contributions are voluntarily paid before the due date, the rate of exchange to be applied shall be that of the due date, the anticipated payment having only the character of a non-legal payment on

account.

ARTICLE 26

Any delay beyond three days in the payment of a contribution shall entail payment of 10 percent interest, counting from the due date. Moreover, the delinquent State shall be required to assume the additional expenditures which its delay in payment has caused the Community, particularly the interest on funds to which the Community should have had recourse.

ARTICLE 27

In case of necessity, the Community shall require the States to grant it an advance equal at the most to the amount of the following monthly contribution. The State making the loan shall receive interest which shall not be more than that State pays its own creditors for operations of this nature.

ARTICLE 28

The Community shall avoid all financial operations not justified by absolute necessity. It shall not perform any arbitrage in the placement of its assets. Such placements are made in short-term Treasury bills of the national treasuries. To the extent that the Community may wish to make deposits in private banks, it shall reach an agreement with the competent monetary authorities of the State in question on the maximum amount of these deposits. The Community shall not place money with a non-member State nor engage in placements with member States which necessitate arbitrage of exchange except with the unanimous consent of the Council.

TITLE VI-TRANSFERS AND ARBITRAGE

ARTICLE 29

In executing the common Budget, the Commissariat shall use for payments in the monetary zone of a member State at least 85 percent of the contribution paid by that State. At the request of the State in question or of the Commissariat, this percentage may be reduced. If agreement cannot be reached between the Commissariat and the State in question as to this reduction, the question, at the request of one or the other of the parties, shall be brought before the Council of Ministers which shall decide by unanimous vote.

ARTICLE 30

The Commissariat, in the execution of the common Budget, shall limit the amount of payments in the monetary zone of a member State to a sum equal at the most to 115 percent of the contribution paid by that State. At the request of the State in question or of the Commissariat, the amount of expenditures in national currency may be raised