2006 discharge: European GNSS Supervisory Authority

Based on the observations contained in the revenue and expenditure account and the balance sheet of the European Global Navigation Satellite System Supervisory Authority (GNSS Authority) for the financial year 2006, as well as on the Court of Auditor’s report and the Authority’s replies to the Court’s observations, the Council recommends that the Parliament grant the Director of the Authority discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget for the financial year 2006.

In doing so, the Council specifies that the appropriations carried over from 2006 to 2007 amount to EUR 6.7 million and that a total of EUR 2.8 million was cancelled.

Recalling that the Court of Auditors was able to obtain reasonable assurance that the Authority’s annual accounts were, in all material aspects, reliable, the Council believes that there is a certain number of observations that must be taken into consideration when providing the discharge on the implementation of the 2006 budget, particularly regarding the following points:

• Management and internal control of the Authority: the Council calls on the Authority to continue to work towards rectifying the shortcomings linked to the functioning of management and control systems, as noted by the Court, and welcomes the particular attention paid to the training of staff and improving the documentation of procedures;
• Transfer of assets: the Council also notes that, in mid 2007, the Authority received the remainder (EUR 65 million) of the assets of the GALILEO Joint Undertaking which had been delayed and the issues that slowed down the transfer were resolved.