CHAPTER 8

IMPLEMENTATION OF EXPENDITURE

Principles
Article 32
1
Athena's appropriations shall be used in accordance with the principles of sound financial management, i.e. economy, effectiveness and efficiency.
2
Authorising officers shall be responsible for implementing Athena's revenue and expenditure in accordance with the principles of sound financial management and for ensuring that the requirements of legality and regularity are complied with. To implement expenditure, the authorising officers shall make budgetary commitments and legal commitments, shall validate expenditure and authorise payments and shall undertake the preliminaries for the implementation of appropriations. An authorising officer may delegate his or her duties by a decision determining:
a
staff at an appropriate level for such delegation;
b
the extent of the conferred powers;
c
the scope for beneficiaries to subdelegate their powers.
3
The implementation of appropriations according to the principle of the segregation of the authorising officer and the accounting officer shall be ensured. The duties of authorising officer and accounting officer shall be mutually incompatible. Any payment made from funds administered by Athena shall require the joint signature of an authorising officer and an accounting officer.
4
Without prejudice to this Decision, when the implementation of common expenditure is entrusted to a Member State, a Union institution or, as appropriate, an international organisation, that State, institution or organisation shall apply the rules applicable to the implementation of its own expenditure. When the administrator implements expenditure directly, it shall comply with the rules applicable to the implementation of the ‘Council’ section of the general budget of the Union.
5
However, the administrator may provide the Presidency with elements for proposal to the Council or the Special Committee on rules for the implementation of common expenditure.
6
The Special Committee may approve rules for the implementation of common expenditure which depart from paragraph 4.