Article 12

Each year the Management Board, on the basis of a draft drawn up by the Executive Director, shall produce a statement of estimates of revenue and expenditure of the Agency for the following financial year. This statement of estimates, which shall include a draft establishment plan, shall be forwarded by the Management Board to the Commission by 31 March at the latest.

The statement of estimates shall be forwarded by the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council (hereinafter referred to as the budgetary authority) together with the preliminary draft general budget of the European Communities.

On the basis of the statement of estimates, the Commission shall enter in the preliminary draft general budget of the European Communities the estimates it deems necessary for the establishment plan and the amount of the subsidy to be charged to the general budget, which it shall place before the budgetary authority in accordance with Article 272 of the Treaty.

The budgetary authority shall authorise the appropriations for the subsidy to the Agency.

The budgetary authority shall adopt the establishment plan for the Agency.

The budget shall be adopted by the Management Board. It shall become final following final adoption of the general budget of the European Communities. Where appropriate, it shall be adjusted accordingly.

The Management Board shall, as soon as possible, notify the budgetary authority of its intention to implement any project which may have significant financial implications for the funding of the budget, in particular any projects relating to property such as the rental or purchase of buildings. It shall inform the Commission thereof.

Where a branch of the budgetary authority has notified its intention to deliver an opinion, it shall forward its opinion to the Management Board within a period of six weeks after the date of notification of the project.