17.3.2016   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 72/59

(1)

Annex III to the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement between the members of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States of the one part, and the European Community and its Member States, of the other part (ACP EU Partnership Agreement), requires the ACP-EU Committee of Ambassadors to monitor the overall strategy of the CDE and supervise the work of the Executive Board.

(2)

Annex III to the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement requires the CDE Executive Board to lay down the financial and staff regulations and the rules of operations.

(3)

The Statutes and Rules of Procedure of the Centre for the Development of Enterprise adopted by Decision No 8/2005 of the ACP-EU Committee of Ambassadors (3) (the ‘CDE Statutes’) and the CDE Financial Regulation provide the safeguards in terms of information of and supervision by the ACP-EU Committee of Ambassadors.

(4)

At its 39th session held from 19 to 20 June in Nairobi, the ACP-EU Council of Ministers agreed, in a Joint Declaration, to proceed with the orderly closing of the CDE and to the amendment of Annex III to the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement and, to that end, to delegate powers to the ACP-EU Committee of Ambassadors to take the matter forward with a view to the adoption of the necessary decisions.

(5)

In its Decision No 4/2014 (4), the ACP-EU Committee of Ambassadors recalls that the closure of the CDE is to respect the competences of the CDE's supervisory authorities set out in Annex III to the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement and the detailed arrangements laid down by the ACP-EU Council of Ministers in its Joint Declaration.

(6)

The request from the CDE Executive Board to the ACP-EU Committee of Ambassadors by letter dated 19 October 2015 explains that in the context of the closing down of the CDE, the CDE Executive Board wishes to derogate from Article 27(1) and (5) of the CDE Financial Regulation, and seeks prior approval from the Supervisory Authorities.

(7)

The modification of or derogations to the CDE Financial Regulation and CDE Staff Regulations (5), depending on the needs that may arise from the implementation of the orderly closure process of the CDE, necessitates a flexible procedure.

(8)

The requirements of the appointment of a firm of auditors for a period of three years, as set out in Article 27(1) of the CDE Financial Regulation, and the requirement for this firm to draw up each year a statutory audit report, in accordance with Article 27(5) of that Regulation, need to be adapted in order to ensure a more efficient procedure in the context of the closing-down of the organisation,