2014 discharge: Artemis Joint Undertaking to implement a Joint Technology Initiative in Embedded Computing Systems

Having examined the revenue and expenditure accounts for the period 1 January 2014 to 26 June 2014 and the balance sheet as at 26 June 2014 of the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking, as well as the Court of Auditors' report on the annual accounts of the Joint Undertaking for the period 1 January 2014 to 26 June 2014, accompanied by the Joint Undertaking's replies to the Court's observations, the Council recommended the European Parliament to give a discharge to the Executive Director of the ECSEL Joint Undertaking in respect of the implementation of the budget of the Joint Undertaking for the period 1 January 2014 to 26 June 2014.

The Council recalled that the ECSEL Joint Undertaking has replaced and succeeded the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking and that discharge should be given to the Executive Director of the ECSEL Joint Undertaking.

The Council welcomed the Court's opinion that, in all material respects, the Joint Undertaking's annual accounts present fairly its financial position as at 26 June 2014 and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended, in accordance with the provisions of the Joint Undertaking's Financial Rules, and that the underlying transactions for the period 1 January 2014 to 26 June 2014 are legal and regular in all material respects.

Nevertheless, the Council made the following observations:

• legality and regularity of transactions: the Council regretted that the Court gave a qualified opinion on the legality and regularity of transactions underlying the accounts of the Joint Undertaking. In the Court's assessment, the Joint Undertaking's ex-post audit strategy does not provide sufficient assurance that this key control tool is functioning effectively. Even though the National Funding Authorities (NFAs), are responsible for ex-post audits, the Joint Undertaking did not assess the quality of those audits nor was reliable information provided to enable the calculation of an error rate. The Council called on the ECSEL Joint Undertaking, as the successor Joint Undertaking, to ensure that the future audit strategies address these shortcomings;
• implementation rate: the Council took note of the Court's observation concerning the low implementation rate of the administrative commitment appropriations due to the merger with the ENIAC Joint Undertaking that took place in June 2014;
• financial regulation: the Council also noted that the new provisions of the Financial Regulation were implemented with a delay and that the Joint Undertaking's Financial Rules were not modified due to the merger that took place in June 2014.