Report on the five yearly review of the multiannual financial guidelines for managing the assets of the ECSC in liquidation and, on completion of the liquidation, the assets of the Research Fund for Coal and Steel

Council Decision 2003/77/EC lays down multiannual financial guidelines for managing the assets of the ECSC in liquidation and, on completion of the liquidation, the assets of the Research Fund for Coal and Steel (financial guidelines). Article 2 of this Decision states that the Commission shall reassess the operation and effectiveness of the financial guidelines every five years and shall propose amendments if appropriate.

Following the first review undertaken in 2007, the Council Decision was amended on 15 September 2008. The amendments were largely of a technical nature and more specifically, concerned clarifications of certain definitions, namely the maturity concept of a bond, which was refined to cover the definition used in the case of asset-backed securities (ABS), the definition of government issued or government guaranteed securities and the definition of "debt" issued by banks.

The rules for sale and repurchase operations were brought in line with market standards. In addition, certain rating-related provisions were clarified and the maximum maturity permitted was extended by six months to take account of the changing issuance pattern of EU Member States. Finally, some accounting provisions were updated to reflect the move to internationally accepted accounting rules for the whole Commission.

This report sets out the assessment of the operation and effectiveness of the financial guidelines for the five-year period 2008-2012.