EDF de Chatellerault on the river La Vienne, in the department of la Vienne,

EDF resources shall be established and implemented in euro and the accounts shall be presented in euro.

EDF resources may also be associated with funds from other sources in order to achieve a joint objective.

EDF resources shall be used in accordance with the principles of sound financial management, that is to say, in accordance with the principles of economy, efficiency and effectiveness.

EDF revenue consists of payments made by the Member States in accordance with the Internal Agreement and this Regulation, the income generated by deposits in accordance with Article 6(2) of this Regulation and any other sum whose acceptance is established by the Council.

Resources of the 10th EDF

Contributions to the 10th EDF

The 10th EDF shall consist of:

As regards funds of the 9th EDF and the previous EDF that are not transferred to the 10th EDF, the impact on the contribution of each Member State shall be calculated in proportion to the contribution of each Member State to the 9th EDF.

Resources reserved for support expenditure linked to the EDF

The resources of the EDF shall cover the costs for support measures.

Within the EDF Committee, the votes of the Member States shall be weighted as follows:

The Council shall adopt the rules of procedure of the EDF Committee acting unanimously.

(15) The EDF should continue to prioritise support to the least-developed and other low-income countries.

A Committee (hereinafter »the EDF Committee«) consisting of representatives of the governments of the Member States shall be set up at the Commission for those resources of the 10th EDF which the Commission administers.

The Member States hereby set up a tenth European Development Fund, hereinafter referred to as »the 10th EDF«.

The EDF Committee shall be chaired by a Commission representative and its secretariat shall be provided by the Commission.

As regards funds transferred from previous EDFs to the 10th EDF in accordance with Article 1(2)(b) and Article 1(3), the contributions of each Member State shall be calculated in proportion to the contribution of each Member State to the EDF in question.

(7) The representatives of the governments of the Member States, meeting within the Council, have agreed to earmark an amount of EUR 430 million from the 10th EDF for support expenditure incurred by the Commission in the programming and implementation of the EDF.

The EDF Committee shall act by a qualified majority of 720 votes out of 999, expressing a vote in favour by at least 13 Member States.

The total amount of resources of the 10th EDF shall cover the period from 1 January 2008 to 31 December 2013. The funds of the 10th EDF shall no longer be committed beyond 31 December 2013 unless the Council decides otherwise unanimously, on a proposal from the Commission.

Without prejudice to Article 8 of this Agreement and the Member States' voting rights thereunder, all the relevant provisions of Articles 14 to 30 of the Internal Agreement for the 9th EDF shall remain in force pending the Council decision on an Implementation Regulation for the 10th EDF.

Each year, the EIB shall send the Commission and the Council its Annual Report on the implementation of operations financed from the EDF resources it manages.

When reporting expenditure within EDF to Member States and OECD Development Assistance Committee, the Commission should distinguish between ODA and non-ODA activities.

For each financial year, the Commission shall draw up and approve the accounts of the EDF and send them to the European Parliament, the Council and the Court of Auditors.

Subject to paragraph 9 of this Article, the Court of Auditors shall exercise the powers conferred on it by Article 248 of the EC Treaty in respect of the EDF's operations.

(c) computer networks for the exchange of information, and any other administrative or technical assistance expenditure that the Commission may incur for the management of the EDF.

The operations financed from the EDF resources managed by the EIB shall be subject to the control and discharge procedure laid down by the Statute of the EIB for all its operations.

(iii) EUR 430 million shall be allocated to the Commission for support expenditure as referred to in Article 6, linked to programming and implementation of the EDF by the Commission.

These funds shall be transferred to the 10th EDF and be managed according to the implementation arrangements for the 10th EDF from the date of entry into force of the multi-annual financial framework for the period 2008-2013 under the ACP-EC Partnership Agreement and the date of entry into force of Council decisions regarding the financial assistance to the OCT for the period 2008-2013.

(a) the preparation, follow-up, monitoring, accounting, audit and evaluation activities directly necessary for the programming and implementation of the resources of the EDF managed by the Commission;

The Implementation and Financial Regulation referred to in Article 10, shall include the necessary provisions for co-financing by the EDF, as well as for co-financing activities implemented by Member States.

(10) A Committee of Representatives of the Governments of Member States should be set up at the Commission (hereinafter referred to as the »EDF Committee«) and a similar Committee should be set up at the EIB.

(b) The funds referred to in Annex I to the ACP-EC Partnership Agreement and Annex II A of the Association Decision and allocated under the 9th EDF to finance the resources of the Investment Facility set out in Annex II C of the Association Decision (hereinafter referred to as the ` Investment Facility` ) are not affected by Decision 2005/446/EC setting the date beyond which the funds of the 9th EDF may no longer be committed.

The Commission shall make the information referred to in Article 10 available to the Court of Auditors so that the latter may, on the basis of the documentary evidence, carry out checks on the aid provided from EDF resources.

Payments made to the EIB in respect of special loans granted to the ACP States, the OCTs and the French overseas departments, together with the proceeds and income from risk capital operations, under the EDFs prior to the 9th EDF shall be credited to the Member States in proportion to their contributions to the EDF to which the sums relate, unless the Council decides unanimously, on a proposal from the Commission, to place them in reserve or allocate them to other purposes.

The Implementation Regulation shall contain appropriate modifications and improvements to the programming and decision-making procedures, as well as harmonise Community and EDF procedures as far as possible, including on co-financing aspects.

(5) In order to implement the ACP-EC Partnership Agreement and the Association Decision, a 10th EDF should be established and a procedure should be laid down for the allocation of funds and for contributions from Member States to those funds.

The discharge for the financial management of the EDF, excluding operations managed by the EIB, shall be given to the Commission by the European Parliament on the recommendation of the Council, acting by a qualified majority as laid down in Article 8.

After 31 December 2007, or after the date of entry into force of the multi-annual financial framework for the period 2008-2013 if this date falls later, balances from the 9th EDF or from previous EDFs shall no longer be committed, with the exception of the balances and funds decommitted after this date of entry into force resulting from the system guaranteeing the stabilisation of export earnings from primary agricultural products (STABEX) under the EDFs prior to the 9th EDF and of those funds referred to in paragraph 2(b).

To the amount allocated to the investment facility under the 9th EDF referred to in Article 1(2)(b) and the amount referred to in Article 2(d) shall be added an indicative amount of up to EUR 2 030 million in the form of loans granted by the EIB from its own resources.

(4) In accordance with Decision 2005/446/EC of the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States, meeting within the Council of 30 May 2005 setting the deadline for the commitment of the funds of the 9th European Development Fund (EDF)(9) the date beyond which the funds of the 9th EDF managed by the Commission, the interest subsidies managed by the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the revenue accruing from the interest on these appropriations should no longer be committed is set at 31 December 2007. This date may be reviewed if necessary.

The EIB shall undertake, according to its statutes and best banking practice, the financial implementation of operations carried out by means of loans from its own resources as referred to in Article 4, where applicable combined with interest rate subsidies drawn from the EDF's grant resources.

Those funds possibly committed after 31 December 2007 until the entry into force of the present agreement, as referred to above, will exclusively be used to ensure the working ability of the EU administration and to cover the ongoing costs to sustain running projects until the 10th EDF comes into force.

The revenue from interest generated on operations financed under commitments made under previous EDFs and on the funds of the 10th EDF managed by the Commission and deposited with the paying agents in Europe referred to in Article 37(1) of Annex IV to the ACP-EC Partnership Agreement shall be credited to one or more bank accounts opened in the name of the Commission and shall be used in accordance with the terms of Article 6. The use of the revenue from interest generated on the funds of the 10th EDF managed by the EIB, will be determined in the framework of the Financial Regulation referred to in Article 10(2).

The resources referred to in Article 1(2)(a)(iii) and Article 1(5) shall cover costs linked to the programming and implementation of the EDF which are not necessarily covered by the strategy support papers and multi-annual indicative programmes referred to in the Implementation Regulation referred to in Article 10(1).

Funds decommitted from projects under the 9th EDF or from previous EDFs after 31 December 2007 shall no longer be committed, unless decided otherwise by the Council unanimously, on the basis of a proposal by the Commission, with the exception of the funds decommitted after this date of entry into force resulting from the systems guaranteeing the stabilisation of export earnings from primary agricultural products (STABEX) under the EDFs prior to the 9th EDF which shall be automatically transferred to the respective national indicative programmes referred to in Article 2(a)(i) and Article 3(1) and of those funds referred to in paragraph 2(b).

Before 31 December 2007, the Council, acting unanimously on a proposal from the Commission, should set at EUR 286 million the amount from the 10th EDF for financial assistance over the period 2008-2013 to the overseas countries and territories (hereinafter referred to as the »OCTs«) to which part four of the Treaty applies.

Should the contributions decided according to paragraph 2 deviate from the EDF's actual needs during the financial year in question, the Commission shall submit proposals to amend the contribution amounts within the ceiling referred to in paragraph 2 to the Council, which shall take a decision by qualified majority as laid down in Article 8.