Changes from report parliamentary committee draft to plenary report

Change 9 under “3. MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION”

Removed13. Notes that, for Horizon 2020 activities, the JU received no new operational commitment appropriations, as the JU had finished its last call for proposals by the end of 2020;

Added13. Notes, in addition, that the private members had legally committed to provide in-kind contributions to the Clean H2 Joint Undertaking’s operational activities of EUR 190,5 million, and in-kind contributions to the additional activities of EUR 1 039 million (or 340,6 %) of the minimum target of EUR 361 million; notes that these committed amounts were fully reported at the end of 2022;

Removed14. Notes from the Court’s report, that implementation of the 2022 budget operational payment for Horizon 2020 activities decreased (81% for 2022 - 88% for 2021) as beneficiaries faced rising costs and delivery problems in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis and the war of aggression against Ukraine and that, as a consequent, the duration of most Horizon 2020 projects had to be prolonged and final payments postponed to 2023;

Added14. Notes that, for Horizon 2020 activities, the Clean H2 Joint Undertaking received no new operational commitment appropriations, as the Clean H2 Joint Undertaking had finished its last call for proposals by the end of 2020;

Removed15. Notes that, as regards the Horizon Europe programme, in 2022, the Commission made cash contributions of EUR 80 million, of which the JU used EUR 47 million (or 59 %) for pre-financing payments related to the first grant agreements concluded under the Horizon Europe programme;

Added15. Notes from the Court’s report, that implementation of the 2022 budget operational payment for Horizon 2020 activities decreased (81 % for 2022 compared to 88 % for 2021) as beneficiaries faced rising costs and delivery problems in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis and of the war of aggression against Ukraine and that, as a consequence, the duration of most Horizon 2020 projects had to be prolonged and final payments postponed to 2023;

Change 10 under “3. MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION”

Changed18.19. Notes, from the Consolidate Annualconsolidated Activityannual Reportactivity (CAAR),report, that, in 2022, in continuation of the Clean H2 Joint Undertaking’s practice over the past years, the tendermanagement andof contracttenders managementand contracts has included interinstitutional procurement procedures launched by the European Commission or other EU bodies and the resulting multiannual framework contracts; notes, furthermore, that the JUClean H2 Joint Undertaking also cooperates with other Joint Undertakings on tendering needs in order to minimise the administrative effort;

Change 11 under “3. MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION”

Changed19.20. Notes that the JUClean H2 Joint Undertaking has made intensive use of eTendering, eNotices and eSubmission modules and has started the process of integrating the public procurement management tool – (PPMT) which will be in operation in 2023;

Change 12 under “3. MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION”

Changed20.21. Notes that the JUClean H2 Joint Undertaking team of statutory staff consists of 29 positions (27 TAtemporary agents and 2two CA);contract agents); notes, in addition, that staff resources include 2two Seconded National Experts (SNE);Experts;

Change 13 under “3. MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION”

Changed21.22. Notes, from the 2022 CAAR,consolidated annual activity report, that the digital workplace for each staff member of staff is constantly modernised: the Clean Joint Undertaking members of staff were ensured adequate access to the complete set of European Commission applications for grant management; the hardware renewal roll-out was executed as planned together with the necessary license renewal for essential applications such as Slido, Webex, Business Object, Adobe -oror Mobile telephony, allowing each staff member of staff more flexibility under the new teleworking working scheme;

Change 14 under “3. MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION”

Changed22.23. Notes that, according to the Staff Regulations of Officials of the European Union and the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the Union, laid down in Council Regulation (EEC, Euratom, ECSC) No 259/68 and the Clean H2 Joint Undertaking’s guidelines, the staff committee should designate at least one member to the selection committee for external recruitment procedures; notes that the Court found that the selection committee for the audited recruitment procedure did not include a member designated by the staff committee and that the Clean H2 Joint Undertaking could not establish a staff committee despite launching several calls for interest amongst its staff;

Change 15 under “3. MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION”

Changed23.24. Notes that for FP7Seventh Research Framework Programme expenditure, the JUClean H2 Joint Undertaking performed ex-post audits, whilst the Common Audit Service of the Commission’s DGDirectorate-General RTDfor Research and Innovation was responsible for Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe expenditure ex-post audits; notes, in addition, that for the final FP7Seventh Research Framework Programme expenditure made in 2022, the JUClean H2 Joint Undertaking did not perform ex-post audits, due to the insignificant amounts and that, accordingly, it published, as final error rates for FP7Seventh Research Framework Programme expenditure, the representative error rate of 2.02,0 % and the residual error rate of 1.11,1 % it achieved at the end of 2021;

Change 16 under “3. MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION”

Changed24.25. Notes that, for the Clean H2 Joint Undertaking’s Horizon 2020 expenditure (clearings and final payments), the JUJoint Undertaking reported a representative error rate of 2.92,9 % and a residual error rate of 0.90,9 %; notes, furthermore, that for the Horizon Europe programme, no ex-post audits were carried out, as the first interim payments are only expected in 2024;

Change 17 under “3. MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION”

Changed25.26. Notes that to assess the operational payment controls of the JU,Clean H2 Joint Undertaking, the Court audited randomly sampled Horizon 2020 payments made in 2022, at the level of the final beneficiaries; notes that, for one case, the Court found and quantified a serious error resulting from personnel costs because the beneficiary claimed hours worked during leave periods and included ineligible additional remuneration costs in the costs declared and for another case, the Court found and quantified a serious error resulting from cost claimed for equipment, which the beneficiary did not use during the reporting period, and from incorrectly calculated personnel costs;

Change 18 under “3. MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION”

Changed26.27. NotesWelcomes the fact that that, at the end of 2022, the Clean H2 Joint Undertaking had developed and implemented a complete risk-based approach to ex-ante controls in line with the CICCommission’s Common Audit Service of the guidance, considering the JU-specificClean H2 Joint Undertaking specific risk circumstances; notes that, to this end, the JUClean H2 Joint Undertaking managed to identify the most relevant risk criteria and designed, based on them, a risk-based monitoring approach;

Change 19 under “3. MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION”

Changed27.28. Notes that such an approach allowed the JUClean H2 Joint Undertaking to assess the risk level of each project and beneficiary during the main phases of project implementation, such as grant agreement preparation, grant agreement amendment, reporting, and payment; notes, in this respect, that the JUClean H2 Joint Undertaking also drew up internal guidelines on its risk-based approach and trained and guided its members of staff on applying it properly and consistently;

Change 20 under “3. MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION”

Changed28.29. NotesWelcomes that the Clean H2 Joint Undertaking developed a risk-based approach to ex-post audit to reduce its error rate by strengthening the cleaning effect of their ex-post audits;

Change 21 under “3. MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION”

Changed29.30. Notes from the Court’s report that the Clean H2 Joint Undertaking developed a tailored risk-based approach to strengthen the assurance it obtains from ex-ante controls and ex-post audits: at the beginning of 2022, the JUClean H2 Joint Undertaking analysed the entire population of its Horizon 2020 beneficiaries and flagged those presenting the highest risk for risk-based ex-post audits; notes that the riskiest beneficiaries were all top beneficiaries with JUthe Clean H2 Joint Undertaking contribution amount above EUR 1 million over all Horizon 2020 projects operated by the JU,Clean H2 Joint Undertaking, which had never been ex-post audited and had a risk profile of SMEsmall and medium enterprises or newcomer status;

Change 22 under “3. MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION”

Changed30.31. Notes that the remaining top beneficiaries were invited to complete a brief self-assessment questionnaire that focused on the most common errors detected by previous ex-post audits, such as the complexity of the personnel cost option chosen, significant sub-contracting, purchases of assets, internal supplies, method of cost reporting, and the implementation of previous ex-post audit results; notes that, based on their replies, the JUClean H2 Joint Undertaking identified those top beneficiaries with a high ex-ante control risk, it held financial webinars with them, focusing on the key characteristics of a correct cost declaration with significant cost items; notes, furthermore, that the outcome of the webinars was used by the JU’sClean H2 Joint Undertaking’s project and financial officers to improve the effectiveness of its ex-ante controls on the upcoming cost declarations by these top beneficiaries (payment phase);

Change 23 under “3. MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION”

Changed31.32. Appreciates that the Clean H2 Joint Undertaking developed a risk-based approach to ex-post audit with the aim to reduce its error rate by better targeted sample to detect the most error-prone beneficiaries and thus, strengthening the cleaning effect of their ex-post audits; considers this an important positive change in ex-post audit approach as the Commission internal control framework for Horizon Europe grants does not allow for establishing Joint Undertaking’s specific representative samples and, consequently, to calculate specific representative and residual error rates for Joint Undertakings;

Change 24 under “3. MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION”

Changed32.33. Notes that the Court found that the Clean H2 Joint Undertaking with a well-developed risk-based ex-post audit approach have a residual error rate below the average of the JUsClean H2 Joint Undertaking without such an approach due to the systematic identification and audit of the riskiest beneficiaries;

Change 25 under “3. MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION”

Changed33.34. Notes that “observations” in the Clean H2 Joint UndertakingsUndertaking’s specific annual reports are in fact “not timed recommendations” by the Court; notes that ECA annually follows-up on those observations by assessing their status as “open” or “closed”;

Change 26 under “3. MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION”

Changed34.35. Notes that, for the Clean H2,H2 Joint Undertaking all previous years’ observations were closed because of the Clean H2 Joint Undertakings’ corrective actions taken during 2022.