Glossary

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Glossary

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Glossary

Note when there exists an internationally known English version of a particular acronym, that version has been used; for specifically Italian acronyms, an English equivalent has been used and the Italian version given in parentheses.

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Accounting adjustments

Accounting definition of debit and credit items between the State and other legal persons, with recording of the relative amounts in the respective budgets.

Accounts reporting

Presentation to the accounting offices concerned of the accounting models and records relative to the management of movable goods held by a consignee.

Actual revenue

Compilation of the end-of-period revenue data.Compilation of the end-of-period revenue data.

Additional item

Revenue or expenditure item established by administrative measure during management in order to record remainders from the previous management in relationship to an element for which there exist no corresponding items in the management budget.

Additionality:

The general organising principle of the Structural Funds on the basis of which the Commission and a Member State establish the level of public or similar expenditures for structural purposes that the Member State must sustain during programming in order to ensure that Community interventions have real economic impact. During the 2000-2006 period, three verifications of respect for this principle are planned: ex-ante, that is, once the programmes have been adopted; at the halfway point; and at the end of the period (ex-post).

Administrative classification

One of the means of representing expenditures in the State Budget. The most recent budget-reform law did not alter the disclosure and subdivision according to revenue and expenditure forecast but introduced, in place of the Headings, centres of responsibility as the point of reference for management of resources assigned and as first-level basic forecast units.

Administrative time-limitation

Elimination from financial accounting of expenditure arrears (due two periods before that in which the relative allocation for current expenditures in general is recorded; 3 periods for those specifically related to the procurement of goods and services; five periods for capital-account expenditures). Until the start date of the term for the lapse, this does not involve forfeiture of the creditor's right . The sums eliminated, when so requested by the creditor, must therefore be re-recorded in the budget in order to be paid (Art. 36 of the Law on State General Accounting).

Advance funds

Recorded, in accordance with specific legislative authorisations, in the expenditure forecasts, such as: - by the Minister of Defence (Royal Decree no. 263 of 1928 and Law no. 1958 of 1932), to cover momentary cash deficiencies with respect to fund advances and other special requirements provided by regulations as well as with respect to the fund established for the Navy, the Forces, other bodies and for land detachment of the Navy. At the end of the year, these funds are closed by means of deposit to the State revenue budget; - by the Minister of the Interior (Laws no. 451 of 1959 and no. 968 of 1969, as amended by Legislative Decree no. 361 of 1995, passed into Art. 4 of Law no. 437 of 1995), to provide for temporary lack of funds in the departments and offices of the State Police, of the National Fire Brigade and of the Civil Defence Service.

Advances:

Along with shareholdings and contributions, constitute the financial operations (see: Net acquisition of financial activities). In the economic classification of the budget, advances are placed among the capital-account expenditures and are subdivided into advances for productive ends and those for non-productive ends. The latter are those for which no immediate, direct destination for the purposes of production or investment is identified.

Aggregate demand:

National-accounting term defining the total of consumption and investments.

Allocation arrears:

Concern expenditure allocations, usually in the capital account, that, not used at the close of the period, are, however, passed into the arrears account. They do not constitute State debts.

Annexes

The final accounts of the bodies to which the State ordinarily contributes, relative to the year preceding the year in which the budget is presented. They are enclosed with the expenditure forecasts submitted by the supervisory Ministries concerned (Art. 19 of Law 468 of 1978).

Annual unit (person-year)

For personnel involved in fixed-term work (fixed-term contracts, training/employment contracts, temporary workers and persons assigned socially-useful work). If used for periods of less than one year, annual units (A/U) are calculated as in the following example:

6 units for 15 days: 15/30 = 6 x 0.5 = 3 months
10 units for 3 months: 10 x 3 = 30 months
7 units for 5 months: 7 x 5 = 35 months

Adding all of the results obtained by the products and dividing the sum by 12:

3 + 3 + 35

5.67

which rounds off to 6 units to be inserted in the column "Fixed-term" in Table 2.

If a value of less than 1 (for example: 0.5) is obtained, "1" is inserted.

Any fixed-term personnel hired part-time are considered at 50% of the period of time worked.

APACN (AraN)

Agency for Public Administration Contract Negotiation

Aquirable or spendable asset

With reference to revenue and expenditures, it represents the sum of the amount of a period's initial residuals and the initial or updated forecasts of assets and liabilities. When referred to capital, it is the maximum limit within which payment authorisations or collection forecasts must remain.

Arrears

Payments made on the basis of legislative or contractual provisions or subsequent to jurisdictional decisions for activities carried out in periods of time prior to the recording year. For the purposes of the current recording, payments made systematically in the year subsequent to the year in question are not considered as arrears.

Assessment

Art. 222 of the State Accounting Regulation defines it as the legal/accounting operation with which the Administration verifies the reason for a credit, the debiting party and the relative amount to be recorded as expenditure for the period. It is the first phase in the expenditure-acquisition phse

Asset/liability and cash authorisations

The financial allocations of the individual basic forecast units into which the budget is divided. Once the budget is approved by Parliament, the basic forecast units are subdivided into items for the purposes of management and accounting. This is done by means of a decree by the Minister of the Treasury. The asset/liability and cash authorisations of each item then become the maximum limit within which the person in charge of the administrative centre managing the items may commit and pay. The cash authorisations in particular may be used without distinction for operations in asset/liability accounts and remainder accounts (Art. 2 of Law no. Art 468 of 1978).

Asset/liability or cash allocation

The sum included in the budget relative to revenue or expenditures. Along with the reference period, it represents the indicative amount of realisable assessments (or collections) and the maximum limit of feasible commitments (or payments).

Assignment of tax revenue

Forms of budget financing for some bodies, including at the national level, carried out by the State subsequent to the tax centralisation provided by the 1973 tax reform or by specific legislation.

Athena

Project and software for the monitoring and auditing of educational institutions

Auction

The system by means of which all of the State securities issued on the internal market are placed. The auction may be marginal or competitive. In the first case, the requests of all auction participants are met in decreasing order of price, from the highest to the lowest, until the offer has been exhausted. The assignment is made at a single price, known as the marginal price, consisting of the lowest price from among those offered by the lowest bidders. If the total amount of the requests made at the marginal price exceeds the quantity of securities offered, the securities are divided evenly amongst the operators making requests at that price. This auction procedure is applied to all medium-long-term securities. During the competitive auction, the securities are assigned at the price offered by each participant with the requests being met in decreasing order of price. In this case, any distribution is applied to requests made at the minimum price offered by the lowest bidders. Auctions for repurchase of State securities, held using funds available in the Amortisation fund (see: State-security amortisation fund), are also competitive but, there being no predefined quantities, there is no distribution.

Audit

The activity carried out by a State or other body on the basis of the institutional prerogatives attributed to it according to legislation in force and in accordance with generally recognised national and international principles. The purpose of such auditing is to regulate the implementation of specific sectors by means of verification of the veracity and regularity of specific facts. Within the context of financial auditing there are, for example, audits of the reliability of accounts and/or the legitimacy and regularity of related operations. Verification of sound financial management on the other hand, concerns questions relative to the economic nature, efficiency and/or efficacy of the management of the bodies and/or of the activities examined. The systems for auditing contributions conceded within the framework of Structural Funds provide for ordinary auditing (Level I) and sample-based operations auditing (Level II). The former have to do with all of the audits of the management and payment authorities' management and supervisory systems, as well as those of intermediary bodies (organisational audits that verify, among other things, the congruity of preliminary procedures). The latter provide for an appropriate statistical sampling of operations in order to verify the efficiency of the management and supervisory systems set in place as well as respect for the obligations provided by Community and national legislation. The sampling also serves to verify the expenditure declarations made at the various levels concerned (regulatory accounting audits).

Audit risk

The possibility that an auditor makes an erroneous judgement concerning the activities of an audited body.

Audit trail

The description, for all forms of intervention, of every procedure relative to management- and supervisory systems for national and Community funds. Each major phase of each procedure (for example, the request to be made to the European Commission for intermediate payment in order to obtain disbursement of the Community contribution) is detailed by means of the description of the operation and the subsequent relationships established between the centres of responsibility involved both within and outside the intervention implementation process. In particular, those responsible for supervision, the information produced and the manner of its transmission must be identified.

Auditor

Person or service/body (on the basis of the context in which the term is used) whose responsibility it is to carry out audits, in accordance with international auditory strategies and standards as well as with the internal regulations of the body being audited. The auditor prepares an audit-planning memorandum and an audit-procedure plan in which are described the subject of the audit, the planned method, the audit objectives, with all of the significant risks identified. When carrying out an audit, the auditor must have or acquire sufficient knowledge of the bodies and activities concerned and must take the relevance of the data observed and the relative audit risk into consideration. Once sufficient, pertinent and reliable data has been acquired, the auditor arrives at a conclusion (with reservations, or negative, in the case of significant non-compliance) or audit report, of which the body audited is informed.

Autonomous administrations

(Formerly independent State companies) Parts of the State Administration - and as such without legal status - on which the State confers full management autonomy relative to the particular nature of the activity they must carry out; their budgets are part of the State Budget, to which they are annexed (see: Budget appendices).

Available funds

Funds recorded in the Ministries of the Interior and of Defence forecasts pursuant to Law no. 1001 of 1969.

Award reserve

Innovative award mechanism by means of which additional resources are attributed (through of co-financing, as always) to those regional and/or national programmes that, on the basis of a series of indicators, demonstrate having reached specific levels of efficiency and efficacy. Approximately 10% of programmemable Community resources are allocated in view of subsequent allocation. The first part, corresponding to 4%, constitutes the "Community reserve". The second part, corresponding to the remaining 6%, , constitutes the "National reserve".

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Balanced forecasts

The forecasts resulting from the legislative procedure for balancing the budget (Art. 17 of Law no. 468 of 1978)

Bank of Italy situation

Monthly asset situation of the Bank of issue annexed to the Treasury summary account.

Bank-deposit inflow

Deposit into the State Treasury of liquidity held in the bank system by public bodies or, in any case, connected to State finance (Art. 40 Law no. 119 of 1981 and Decree-Law no. 153 of 1984).

Basic forecast unit:

The new elementary budget unit subject to parliamentary approval. It is referable to a single centre of administrative responsibility and is determined with reference to a specific, homogeneous area of activity in which the institutional competencies of each Ministry lie.

Body responsible for recording

When not so indicated in the information sheet, the party responsible for recording is the head administrator of the institute concerned. This individual is responsible both for submitting data before the deadlines provided and for the reliability of that data. Lack of compliance with these provisions results in the application of sanctions (see: Specific entry).

Browser

Page scroller. Graphic interface for on-line navigation, it enables the display of Web pages and the use of the multiple services offered by sites visited. Two well-known browsers are: Netscape and Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE)

Budget

In the field of public finance, this term refers to the "Annual forecast budget". It is a financial budget that records, in forecast terms, the monetary revenue and expenditure operations in which the management activity of the public person (State or other public body) is manifest. In Italy, the budgets of all public bodies were made uniform with Law no. 468 of 1978 (Articles 1 and 25) with reference to both the operations' structure and the recording system used. In relationship to the latter, the operations of revenue acquisition and expenditure execution are provided in the budget:
-both in the legal phase, that is, the assessment and commitment ("Asset/liability budget");
-and in the factual phase, that is, collection and payment ("Cash budget").

Budget account

The first part of the General Statement of State Accounts in which account is given of the results of the period's financial management, subdivided into assets/liabilities, cash and residuals (Art. 22 of Law no. 468 of 1978).

Budget appendices

The budgets of other administrations, annexed to the forecasts of the relative Ministries. They are part of the budget, and, as such, have legislative value (Art. 2 of Law no. 468 of 1978). The autonomous State Administrations are the following (the forecasts to which the relative budgets are annexed are given in parenthesis):

Monopolies (Finance);
Notary Archives (Justice);
Overseas Agronomic Institute (External Affairs);
Religious Buildings Fund (Internal Affairs).

Budget balancing

Draft Law to be presented to Parliament before 30 June by the Minister of the Economy and of Finance and drawn up in order to adjust budget allocations in relationship to:

the amount of revenue and expenditure arrears assessed during preparation of the final statement of accounts for the preceding period;
any new or different requirements that have arisen during management, including those connected to changes in the cyclical framework and/or in the directions of the Government's economic policy.

Budget cash estimates

The probable state, in terms of actual collections and annual payments, of the cash authorisations included in the budget. They are used in order to prepare the Ministry of the Treasury, the Budget and Economic Programming cash reports on the estimate of State- and overall public-sector cash-requirement estimates (see: Cash report).

Budget forecast

The forecast of the cost elements identified by each organisational structure. This forecast covers the calendar year although, in order to facilitate budget control, it may be done for shorter periods of time (generally semi- annually or quarterly) and is, in any case, updated in relationship to management developments.

Budget headings

The largest aggregation of revenue and expenditure operations. Revenue is divided among four headings:

Budget account

Budget appendices

Monopolies (Finance);
Notary Archives (Justice);
Overseas Agronomic Institute (External Affairs);
Religious Buildings Fund (Internal Affairs).

Budget balancing

Draft Law to be presented to Parliament before 30 June by the Minister of the Economy and of Finance and drawn up in order to adjust budget allocations in relationship to:

the amount of revenue and expenditure arrears assessed during preparation of the final statement of accounts for the preceding period;
any new or different requirements that have arisen during management, including those connected to changes in the cyclical framework and/or in the directions of the Government's economic policy.

Budget cash estimates

Budget forecast

Budget headings

The largest aggregation of revenue and expenditure operations. Revenue is divided among four headings:

tributary;
extra-tributary;
transfer and amortisation of patrimonial assets and credit collections;
raising of loans.

Expenditures are divided among three headings:

current (or operating, for interventions and supplementary and substitutive retirement pensions);
capital-account (or investment);
loan reimbursement.

Budget project

The law with which the State's forecast budget is adopted. It establishes the limits and the contents of the State's financial management and authorises its execution.

Budget project

All of the annual revenue and expenditure forecasts drawn up by the administrations in terms of assets and liabilities and cash on the basis of legislation in force.

Budget situation

Monthly illustration of modifications made, by legislative and/or administrative act, to the forecasts authorised with the Budget Law. Annexed to the Treasury summary account.

Budget updating

Budget review during the year. It is based on comparison of the objectives originally set and the results actually achieved during the infra-annual period in question, as well as on reconsideration of the other factors (legislative and organisational context, financial resources assigned, etc.) that led to definition of the initial objectives. For the Central State Administrations, it is done subsequent to periodic cost recordings.

Budget-variation legislative measures

Budget-variation legislative measures:

Modifications to the Budget Law presented by the Government to Parliament in the form of a specific draft law. These modifications may concern:

budget balancing, in which case the Government must present them before 30 June;
other needs, which the Government may present until 31 October.

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CAF (FUA):

Consolidated Administration Fund.

CAP (PAC)

Common Agricultural Policy

Capital-account expenditures

Identify all of the expenditures that directly or indirectly affect formation of the national capital. They are listed in the budget as basic forecast units that include entries inherent to direct or indirect investments, shareholding, contributions and operations for credit concession.

Cash fund

Consists of all of the cash in hand on a certain date in State accounts (the Bank of Italy, as provider of the Provincial Treasury service, the State Central Treasury, the Special Treasurer for Coins and Bills, the Portfolio Account. Shown monthly in the Treasury Situation.

Cash report

Presented by the Minister of the Treasury, the Budget and Economic Programming to Parliament before February, May, August and November of each year. It concerns the State-sector and overall public-sector annual requirement estimates, arrived at by means of specific consolidated accounts. It also concerns the results of cash management for the reference period for both the individual bodies making up the sectors and the consolidated operations of those sectors (Art. 30, Law no. 468 of 1978). (See: Public-finance accounts).

Category

Grouping of various personnel ranks on the basis of their common characteristics. The principal distinction is that made between management and non-management personnel. The latter category is based on the professional reorganisation of the civil service and is usually sub-divided into areas or categories identified by letter or into salary levels, identified by number.

CBO (UCB)

Central Budget Office

Central Treasurer's account

Provides information on the budget collection and payment operations and on those concerning the Treasury debits and credits carried out by the Central Treasury (Art. 630 and subsequent articles of the Accounting Regulation). It is a "legal account" and must be submitted by the Central Treasury to the Directorate General of the Treasury within three months of the closing of the reference period, from where it is sent to the State Auditor's Department. This account is also included with the general patrimony account (Art 22 of Law no. 468 of 1978).

Centre of administrative responsibility

The office at the general-management level to which is referred the system of financial resources expressed by the basic provisional units decided upon by Parliament.

Chart of Accounts

The reference instrument necessary for cost recording for the purposes of management control. Costs are classified according to the physical/economic characteristics of the resources (human, instrumental and financial) and according to the destination (purpose and/or function carried out).

Cohesion fund

Fund created in 1993 and integrating European Union structural subsidies. It is intended for the four Member States with average per capita domestic gross products less than 90% of the Community average (Greece, Portugal Spain and Ireland). The Fund allocates financing for projects relative to environmental protection and to European transport networks.

Cohesion policies

One of the European Union's principal fields of action, for which major Community budget resources are allocated, primarily through the Structural Funds. The objectives of these policies, established by treaty, are to strengthen the economic and social cohesion of EU Member States and, in particular, to reduce the gap between the levels of development in the various regions and to assist the less favoured regions.

Collection order

Order issued to the Treasurer to collect a specific amount.

Collection

Procedure for the acquisition and realisation of assessed credits. This is the second phase in the expenditure-acquisition procedure

Collections

The budget sums paid into the Treasury by various payment collection agents.

Collective agreement

The collective public-service agreement is regulated by Paragraph III of Legislative Decree no. 165/2001 and concerns all of the matters relative to employment and union relationships at both the national and decentralised levels. At the national level, the public administrations are represented by the Agency for Public-Administration Contract Negotiations (APACN), which stipulates agreements with union organisations for each division. Decentralised contracting is done only regarding matters specifically relegated to it by the national collective agreement. The collective agreements have a duration of four years (for the regulatory part) and two years (for the economic part).

Commitment

Defines the costs arising from legally defined financial obligations. It is assumed with the allocation of each expenditure item (with the exclusion of the special and reserve funds). It is the first phase in the expenditure-execution procedure (Art. 20 of Law no. 468 of 1978).

Commitment limits

Particular cases of current-account expenditures referable to expenditure authorisations resulting from multiyear laws. The law authorising these limits determines the start date, the duration and the annual amount of the maximum limit of financial commitment for which the State Budget is responsible.

Commitments, payments

In State accounting, these are the phases into which expenditures (commitment, liquidation, order, payment) are divided. The commitment consists of the allocation of the sums necessary for specific expenditures; such sums, for as long as they last, are not available for other purposes (the sum committed for a specific purpose may therefore not be used for other purposes). It is the condition for legitimacy of the payment insofar as, when making the commitment, the State assumes the obligation to pay and is bound to the budget allocation. When structural interventions are monitored, commitments and payments measuring the financial state of programmes are recorded at the level of the final beneficiary and therefore must be deduced. For aid schemes, this occurs by means of the administrative acts granting the aid and by means of the payment orders issued by the central or local administration in favour of those so entitled; for other measures, this is done by means of the legally binding obligations assumed (decrees, resolutions) by the public person located at the lowest point in the procedural chain or by means of private works contracts with private enterprises, as well as by means of expenditure securities issued by the same parties.

Common costs

The aggregate including both the general costs for which the State is responsible and the expenditures that, although attributable to administrative operations, are not specifically attributable.

Community initiative

Programmes launched by the European Commission and proposed by the Member States in order to integrate Structural Fund interventions so as to promote actions of particular interest to the Community. During the 2000-2006 programming period, four Community initiatives are planned (URBAN II, INTERREG III, LEADER+ and EQUAL), each financed by a specific fund. They absorb 5.35% of Structural Fund endowments. These initiatives specifically promote transnational, cross-border and interregional co-operation, development of rural areas and the ultra-peripheral regions, increased involvement of local operators, support of real partnership among the parties concerned and the creation of thematic networks for the exchange of experience.

Community law

Mechanism of Community law, instituted with Law no. 86 of 9 March 1989 (the so-called "La Pergola Law"), providing that the Minister responsible for co-ordination of Community policies annually verifies the state of conformity within the Italian system to regulatory acts and guidelines issued by the European Union. On the basis of this verification, the Minister must present, before 31 January of each year, a draft law containing the "provisions for fulfilment of obligations deriving from Italy's membership in the European Community". The periodicity of this verification ensures more precise fulfilment of Community obligations, those deriving from Community directives in particular.

Community Operative Programme

A document approved by the Commission for the implementation of a Community Support Framework made up of a consistent number of priority axes divided into multi-year measures. Recourse may be made to one or more funds and one or more of the existing financial instruments as well as to the EIB (European Investment Bank) for realisation of the programme. An operative programme is defined as integrated if its financing is ensured by several funds. Each operative programme contains the priority axes of the programme consistent with the corresponding Community Support Framework, a summary description of the measures provided to implement the priority axes, an indicative financial plan for each priority axis and for each year, and the implementation provisions. Each operative programme is accompanied by a programming complement.

Community priority development objectives

The objectives that the European Community pursues through the Structural Funds, the Cohesion Fund, the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund, the European Investment Bank and other financial instruments. In this way, the Community contributes to promoting harmonious, balanced and long-lasting development of economic activities, the development of employment and human resources, the protection and improvement of the environment and elimination of inequalities, as well as to promoting the quality between men and women. Three particular priority objectives have been identified (absorbing 94% of fund endowments) as part of the current 2000-2006 structural interventions for the purposes of simplifying and strengthening Structural Fund actions.

Community programming

Action principle of the Structural Funds, the objective of which is to prepare multi-year development programmes. The programme follows a concerted decision-making procedure that involves several phases leading up to programme implementation, entrusted to the project's promoters (whether public or private). The current programming period extends from 2000 to 2006.

Connected measures

Legislative provisions that accompany the Finance Act, which may not introduce new duties, taxes or contributions. These measures make it possible to realise a complete financial manoeuvre in order to achieve the Government's policy objectives.

Consignee

The party receiving movable assets and entrusted with their management.

Consolidated public accounts

May be asset/liability or cash accounts, depending on whether they concern the consolidation of management asset/liability or cash operations. They concern two or more public bodies or organisms that maybe connected by reciprocal debtor/creditor relationships which, as a result of the consolidation, are eliminated from such accounts

Contract worker

See: Personnel categories - Open-ended contract worker or equivalent

Control

Process for the implementation and management of a systematic, independent examination in order to determine whether the activities carried out in a particular sector and the results obtained are in accordance with planning and whether this been accomplished efficiently and in a manner appropriate to achieving the objectives set. For example, the financial audit is a process for the implementation and management of assessment of the veracity and completeness of accounts, including forecast accounts, as required for certification of public/private administration budgets. Independent supervisory authorities carry out such audits. The purpose of the audit system is to verify the management and supervisory systems set in place by the authorities and bodies responsible for implementing Community programmes.

Contributor

Person covered by social security who has made contributions during the course of the year.

Convergence criteria (indicators of)

The parameters measuring respect for the convergence criteria established by the protocol annexed to the Maastricht Treaty:

3% for the public deficit (forecast or actual)/gross domestic product ratio at market prices;
60% for the public debt/gross domestic product ratio at market prices; non-achievement is admissible on the condition that this ratio is reduced at a sufficiently appropriate rate and that it does not approach the aforementioned value;
the average rate of inflation (which may not exceed by more than 1.5 percentage points the rate of the three Member States which, in the year prior to the year in question, achieved the best results in terms of price stability);
xchange-rate stability, in the context of normal fluctuation margins as established by the EMS (European Monetary System);
the nominal, long-term interest rate (which must not exceed by more than 2 percentage points that of the three Member States achieving the best results in terms of price stability.

Co-ordinated and continual collaboration

Contract stipulated for the carrying out of duties not fulfilled by corresponding professionals already employed by the body concerned. This results in relationships of co-ordinated and continual collaboration, the purpose of which is the provision of services without answerability to the body concerned within the context of a unitary and continual relationship and outside of the body's organisational structure. The periodic remuneration for this service is established as part of the contract. The following are excluded:

the activities of administrator or auditor;
participation on boards and commissions;
scholarships for doctoral studies.

Cost and yield analyses

Methodology used in decision-making and management and based on the economic accounting of the cost of services and offices. This new methodology focuses on the results to be achieved, as a function of which the necessary resources are assigned, the structures used to achieve the results are organised and the related services are defined, as the ensemble of activities set up by the organisational structure to realise an objective

Cost centre

An organisational unit given the responsibility of managing resources that generate costs. On the basis of specific economic accounting recordings, it is possible to determine how the resources were used by the organisational unit during the period of time considered, that is, if and how the objectives established during the forecast phase and expressed in terms of costs have been achieved. The cost centre must be defined in a manner consistent with the centre of administrative responsibility.

Council of the European Union

(Formerly the European Community Council). The principal decision-making institution of the European Union and the final legislative authority. The governments of the Member States are represented on the Council; each hold the presidency of the Council for rotating six-month periods, according to a principle, unanimously agreed to by the Council, of alternation between large and small Member States. Its primary task is to ensure that the objectives set by the Treaties are reached. In addition to the legislative role referred to and which it shares with the European Parliament with regard to numerous Community competencies, it co-ordinates the Member States' general economic policies and has decision-making power with respect to European Union policies and priorities. Along with the European Parliament, it is the budget authority that adopts the Community budget and is the supreme administrative authority governing all Commission officials and agents.

Coverage rules

The procedures that must be respected when laws are issued that result in new or major expenditures, or less revenue, in accordance with what is provided by paragraph 4 of Art. 81 of the Constitution. The coverage instruments provided by the third point of Art. 11 of Law no. 468 of 1978 are:

the use of allocations recorded in the special funds;
the reduction of previous expenditure authorisations;
variations that result in new or major revenue.

CPD (DOCUP)

Consolidated programming document. The consolidated document approved by the Commission and that combines all of the elements contained in a Community Support Framework and in an operative programme. Each CPD contains, among other elements, the strategy and priority axes set for the joint action by the Community and the Member State concerned, a summary description of the measures provided to realise the priorities, an indicative financial plan for each priority axis and, for each year, the implementation provisions. Each CPD is accompanied by a programming complement. During the 2000-2006 period, 14 CPD are being implemented in Italy in the outside-of-objective fisheries sector and in the autonomous Regions and provinces in the Centre-North that fall within Objective 2.

Credit order

Opening of credit in a provincial treasury in favour of a beneficiary who, if necessary, is delegated to access such credit with orders in his/her own favour or with orders in favour of creditors.

Crowding out

This term refers to the crowding-out effect to which the private sector is subject when the unvaried total domestic credit increases as a result of public requirement (net of its financing of enterprises) to levels greater than those programmed (see: Total domestic credit).

CSF (QCS)

Community Support Framework

The document approved by the Commission as agreed to with the Member State concerned on the basis of assessment of the development plan presented by the Member State. It contains the strategy and action priorities of the Funds and of the Member State, the related specific objectives, fund participation and other financial resources. This document is subdivided into priority axes and is implemented by means of one or more operative programmes. In Italy, for the 2000-2006 programming period, a CSF was approved for Objective 1 Regions (Commission Resolution 2050 of 1 August 2000) and includes seven national operative programmes and seven regional operative programmes, managed by the Ministry of the Economy and of Finance. A second CSF was approved for Objective 3 Regions (Commission Resolution 1120 of 18 July 2000) that includes 1 national operative programme and 14 regional operative programmes, managed by the Minister of Labour and of Social Policies.

Current expenditures

The expenditures earmarked for production and for the operation of various State services, as well as for redistribution of income for purposes not directly productive. They are subdivided into basic provisional units relative to operating expenditures, to those for interventions and to those for retirement-, additional and substitutive pensions.

Current revenue

Substantially coincides with that recorded under the first two headings of the revenue forecast (Heading I: Tributary revenue and Heading II: Extra- tributary revenue) (see: Public saving).

Current Treasury accounts

Set up at the State Central Treasury by a decree of the Ministry of the Treasury, of the Budget and of Economic Programming, they may be in the name of State Administrations and autonomous agencies, public bodies and organisms and credit institutions. Once the relative funds have been deposited in these accounts, the account holders may order the Provincial Treasury Departments to make payments on their behalf (Art. 576 of the State Accounting Regulation).

Current-year arrears

Payments made on arrears but relative to monthly payments included in the reference year. The relative amounts are recorded under specific expenditure headings (salaries, special supplementary allowances, etc.) and not under "Arrears".

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Data Mart and Data Warehouse

Data Warehouse and Data Mart are systems analogous to databases which, thanks to historic information, improve enterprises' reactivity and provide information useful in decision-making. Logical structure containing commercial data prepared in formats suitable for statistical and financial analyses. Refers to instruments and software that make it possible to modify and summarise a maximum amount of information.

Deferments

Portions of special funds or specific expenditure items not used before the end of the financial year. They are a particular form of "provisional" expenditure savings insofar as they may be reused the following year on the condition that the relative legislative expenditure measure for which the deferments are intended as coverage enters force within that year (Art. 11b of Law no. 468 of 1978).

Deferred expenditures

Multiyear costs that, in the form of annual expenditures and deferred payments, result in one or more commitment limits being included in the budget. The budgetary inclusion of each limit is extended to the number of periods equal to the annuities to be paid. With this budget technique, the recording has no temporal connection with the actual realisation of the works financed, either totally (capital plus interest) or partially (interest only).

Deficit

Term referring to a negative balance in the public-finance accounts. When referred to financial accounts, it coincides with the requirement; when referred to economic accounts, it corresponds to the net debt. As far as the parameter provided by the Maastricht Treaty is concerned, public deficit is understood as the public administration’s net debt (see Public administration).

Definitive forecasts

Forecasts established by the Budget Law modified by the legislative and/or administrative variations made during the financial year. They result from the general statement of State accounts (Part I - Budget Account), in which they are described with reference to Budget Law forecasts

Delegated officer

Civil servant, usually an employee of a State Administration, in whose name credit is made available for the payment of expenditures incurred during the normal operation of an office or for the carrying out of institutional tasks. This individual is defined as a secondary authorising officer; the primary authorising officer is the centre of administrative responsibility that has made the credit order.

Dematerialization:

Replacement of paper documents with electronic documents.

Department for Development and Cohesion Policies

Department III of the Ministry of the Economy and of Finance, established in 1998, its responsibilities involve economic and financial programming, co-ordination and verification of investments for sectoral and territorial economic development and for the development of cohesion policies, particularly in the underdeveloped areas of the country. It currently consists of four offices working directly with the Head of the Department, of a Team Group Unit for Assessment and Verification of Public Investments (of which UVAL -the Public Investment Evaluation Unit and UVER - the Public Investment Supervisory Unit are part), and of six services at the general-management level, including the Service for Community Structural Fund Policies for Co-operative Development Interventions Negotiated with the European Union. Its project and structural intervention implementation activity in the Italian territory is aimed at economic and social rebalancing, with the South as one of the principal beneficiaries.

Development plan

The document in which a given Member State, during the negotiation phase preceding a programming period, analyses the situation, taking into consideration the priority development objectives and priority requirements connected to achieving such objectives, as well as the planned strategy and action priorities, their specific objectives and the relative, indicative financial resources.

Differential results

The State Budget identifies four such results in the general summary framework: public saving, net balance to be financed (or to used), net indebtedness or credits and resource to the market.

Distributed expenditures

Multiyear costs included in the budget when the works financed are realised.

Divisions

Agreements between the APACN and public employee unions dividing the sections subject to national collective agreement into homogeneous or related sectors. Managers are an autonomous area relative to one or more divisions.

DSGA (SDAG)

Departmental Service for General Affairs, Personnel and Quality of Processes and Organisation. The office, part of the State Department of General Accounts, responsible for general administration and affairs, accounting management, the Treasurer's office and departmental superintendency, specialised personnel training and personnel mobility within the Department, the study and analysis of the quality of processes and organisation and subsequent innovative and experimental actions, and statistical information.

DTC (CTS)

Discount treasury certificates Securities the remuneration for which is paid out across a significant issue discount deriving from an issuing price below the norm and a variable annual coupon indexed to the OTB yield at 12 months. There were only four such issuances (during 1987), all of which have by now expired.

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EAGGF guarantee

Section of the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund traditionally intended to support agricultural markets (CAP). The funds are allocated to various areas, primarily seeds, beef, milk/dairy products, followed by olive oil, sugar, fruit and vegetables, sheep/goat meat, tobacco and wine. Today, the EAGGF guarantee also finances rural-development measures.

EAGGF (FEOGA)

European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund.

ELA (LEA)

Essential Levels of Assistance. Refers to those health-care interventions that must be guaranteed to all citizens through accredited facilities because they have proven to be effective, appropriate and advantageous from the economic point of view (see: Decree of the President of the Council of Ministers of 29 November 2001).

Electronic order or payment order

This is the normal form of payment of State expenditures. It is an order to be paid in favour of one or more creditors issued by a central (Art. 408 of the Accounting Regulation) or peripheral (Law no. 908 of 1960) administration on the Central Treasury or the Provincial Treasury Department. Orders may be individual (in favour of a single creditor or several creditors, but for a single amount), collective (Presidential Decree 367/94, Art. 6, paragraph 2), or payable by means of conversion to revenue receipts or payment into the Treasury current account

Electronic roll

Dematerialised roll issued and electronically recorded in accounts.

E-mail

Electronic-mail service.

End-user

The final user of an application.

EPC-WGA

The Working Group on Ageing, set up as part of the Economic Policy Committee to analyse the effects of demographic ageing on the sustainability of social-protection systems.

EQUAL

Community initiative of the European Social Fund (ESF) promoting the formulation and distribution of new instruments implementing employment policies. The objective is to counteract all forms of discrimination and inequality encountered by those attempting to access the labour market and by those already part of it. The thematic sectors of such initiatives, based on the pillars of the European Employment Strategy (employability, entrepreneurship, adaptability, equal opportunity) have to do with, among other things, processes proposing the creation of enterprises, permanent professional training, facilitation of access to the labour market, forms of employment organisation and of assistance services for citizens.

ERDF

Established with a regulation in 1975, its purpose is to contribute to the correction of the principal regional imbalances between the European Union regions and to participate in the structural adjustment of the underdeveloped regions as well as in the reconversion of industrial regions in decline. The Fund also participates in the financing of investments for the creation of long-term jobs, in infrastructure investments and initiatives in support of small and medium-sized enterprises. In the 2000-2006 programming, the ERDF is intervening in the areas admissible to the first two of the Structural and Financial Funds priority objectives as well as in the Community initiatives INTERREG III and Urban II and in innovative actions.

ESF (FSE)

Established by the Rome Treaty (1957), this is the fundamental European Union instrument for the promotion of employment opportunities and workers' geographic and professional mobility. It is used to promote adjustment to industrial developments and to changes in production systems, particularly by means of training and vocational retraining. The Fund also promotes, among other initiatives, actions to improve the labour market, to facilitate the development of human resources by means of training and professional requalification, and to promote equal opportunity in the world of employment. In the 2000-2006 programming, the ESF is contributing to pursuing the three priority objectives of the Structural Funds and is financing the Community initiative EQUAL and other innovative and technical-assistance actions.

European Commission

Body of the Community institutional system with a vital role in the European Union political process, monitoring respect for, and the correct application of, Community law. The Commission is headed by a president assisted by two vice presidents, and currently consists of 20 members (the actual number may be modified by a unanimous Council decision) appointed according to common agreement by the governments of the Member States by means of an investiture procedure. Nomination is subject to European Parliament approval. In virtue of its right of initiative, the Commission is the motor of Community policies, formulating Council regulatory proposals and projects and presenting them to the Council. In addition, it guarantees that the Member States duly apply Community regulations, manages the annual Union budget, taking responsibility for public expenditures and for the administration of the four principal Community funds. Through its Directorates General, it has wide-ranging administrative competencies. Although to a limited degree, it constitutes an executive body (for example, in the introduction of preventive measures to protect the Community market from the competitive practices of third countries). It represents the Community in various international organisations.

European Court of Auditors

European Union institution operative since 1977, with headquarters in Luxembourg. Its principal task is to monitor the correct execution of the Community budget (legitimacy and regularity of budget revenue and expenditures and achievement of management objectives). The objective is two-fold: to improve the financial management of Union funds and to give an account to European citizens of the use of public money by the authorities responsible for management. The Court currently consists of a board of 15 members appointed by the Council, after consultation with the European Parliament, for a period of six years. It may audit any organism or individual receiving or managing Community funds. The Court's auditors examine the documentary evidence of financial operations and, in particular, carry out sample audits during on-site inspections in order to verify the reliability of systems implementing European regulations at the Community and national levels. The Court makes its findings public. For example, the results of the audit activities are summarised, at the end at each financial period, in the annual report on the execution of the Union budget (with a declaration of the reliability of the relevant general budget activities) published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU). The Court also has consultative powers: it must be consulted before certain European regulatory projects of a financial nature are adopted. With respect to audits, the Court does not have jurisdictional powers but does contribute to the prevention and identification of fraud and irregularities, thus facilitating the action of the Community and of Member States.

European Parliament

Democratic body for political control of the European Union. It represents the citizens of the Community's Member States and is the largest multinational parliament in the world. Elected by universal, direct suffrage every five years as of June 1979, it currently consists of 626 deputies in various political groups expressing the major current political orientations within the Union. The office of the Presidency of the Parliament consists of a president, a vice president and five quaestors. The Parliament, by means of its permanent commissions, exercises decision-making functions both within the context of legislative processes (assembling Commission proposals and collaborating with the Council's implementation processes) and within the area of budget policy with the Council. It has a consultative function in the context of Council and Commission mandatory or optional consultations, as well as executive functions, principally with respect to the Commission (it may, for example, set up commissions of inquiry in order to examine violations of Community law or abuses within the Commission at the administrative level). All Union citizens and any physical or moral person has the right to present petitions to the Parliament and to have them examined by an appropriate permanent commission. In addition, the Parliament may appoint a European mediator to resolve controversies arising from institutional activities or those carried out by Community organs, except with regard to the European Court of Justice.

European Union credits

Resources that the European Union transfers to Italy for the financing of Community policies.

European Union Treaties

Constitute, with their annexes, protocols and other agreements of similar status, part of the primary law of the European Union. The primary law is generated by direct negotiations among the governments of the Member States. The resulting agreements are provided in the form of treaties that are then subject to ratification by all of the Member States according to procedures prescribed by their respective constitutions (parliamentary vote and/or referendum). The same procedure is applied to each successive treaty modification. The treaties on which the Union is based may be modified by means of an intergovernmental conference bringing together representatives of the governments of the Member States who, by common agreement, decide on any modifications. The functions and responsibilities of the European Union institutions and organisms participating in decision-making processes and the legislative, executive and legal procedures that characterise Community law and its application are defined in the treaties. The treaties establishing the European Community, the membership treaties, and other treaties and protocols may be consulted at the EUR-Lex website: http://europa.ue.int/eur-lex/en/search/search treaties.html

Excess expenditures

Record, according to the type of execution mechanism, in the items concerning mandatory expenditures when commitments or payments exceed the allocation provided. They are formerly recognised during the budget-account equalising by the State Auditor's Department and maybe regularised by Parliament with the law approving the general statement of State accounts.

Excessive-deficit control procedure

Procedure by means of which the European Commission verifies respect for the convergence parameters established by the Maastricht Treaty, with particular regard to public-finance results. Implemented by means of the biannual submission of a series of public-finance and real-economy data, both final and programmatic, which must occur before 1 March and 1 September of each year according to specific procedures laid down in Community Regulation no. 3605/93.

Expenditure arrears

Expenditures committed but not yet paid. Constitute State debts

Expenditure savings

Portions of asset/liability and/or cash allocations that, at the end of a given period do not result as committed and/or paid and that therefore may no longer be used in subsequent periods.

Explanatory costs/results report

A particular section of the introductory note to the general statement of State accounts in which the administrative/economic analysis of the final results is presented in order to identify the results concretely obtained for each service, programme and project (Art. 22 of Law no. 468 of 1978).

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FIFG (SFOP):

Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance. Established with a regulation in 1993, subsequent to the creation of Community regulations regarding fishing and agriculture (1992), it contributes to achieving the objectives of the common fisheries policy, as well as to strengthening Union socio-economic cohesion by means of the development of coastal areas in which fishing is a determining economic factor. This fund participates, during the 2000-2006 period, in financing structural actions within Objective 1 and actions in the fisheries sector that do not fall within this objective and are the subject of a specific CPD in each Member State.

Final beneficiary

The public and private bodies and enterprises responsible for operation orders; in the case of aid schemes and of subsidies granted by bodies appointed by the State, the bodies that grant such aid.

Final expenditures

Result from the sum of the first two expenditure headings in the budget (current expenditures and capital-account expenditures). They are the sums required by the Administration in order to pursue its objectives and institutional goals. On the other hand, expenditure operations for loan reimbursement are defined as "instrumental" (Heading III) (see: Net balance to be financed).

Final net revenue

The final revenue net of that for credit collection (that is, of the amount in Category 15, which identifies the resources deriving to the State from its activity as financial intermediary) (see: Net debt)

Final operations

The budget operations directly intended for the achieving of State objectives (see Final revenue and Final expenditures).

Final revenue

The sum of the first three revenue headings in the budget (tributary revenue, extra- tributary revenue and revenue from transfer of patrimonial assets, amortisation and credit collection). It represents the resources definitively acquired (or to be acquired) to the budget for the achievement of institutional objectives. The operations relative to the raising of loans (Heading IV), on the other hand, are defined as "instrumental" or "financing" (see: Net balance to be financed).

Finance Act

The instrument with which modifications and additions are made to legislative provisions having effect on the State Budget as well as on the budgets of autonomous agencies and of the bodies connected to State finances. Its contents are re-dimensioned so as to have the necessary structure relative to the recourse to the market and to special funds, to the restructuring of multiyear expenditures and to the refinancing of expired expenditure laws. Its provisions, along with those of the connected measures, are adopted in the draft budget in force by means of specific "variation notes" annexed to the latter and presented by the Government (Art. 11 of Law no. 468 of 1978).

Financial coverage

The liquidity necessary in order to finance, subsequent to legislative initiatives, new or major expenditures or minor revenues to be recorded in the budget (Art. 81, paragraph 4, of the Constitution) (see Multiyear budget).

Financial implementation

The state of realisation of interventions, measured by comparing the value of the commitments and payments on a certain date to the total cost, at a level of pre-chosen aggregation (intervention, year, axis, size, operation).

Financial operations

The final operations in which the intermediary financial activity that the State carries out by means of the budget are manifest. In the State Budget, they consist of: for revenue, credit collections; for expenditures, participations, contributions and productive and non-productive advances. Deducting the final operations from the financial operations, the budget economic operations are obtained.

Financial period

The total of all budget-management operations (that is, those involving the execution of the revenue and expenditure forecasts) carried out during the financial year.

Financial perspectives

Reference framework of the European Union interinstitutional budget regulation as of the 1988 reform. The financial perspectives identify, in commitment appropriations, the extent and composition of the Community's foreseeable expenditures for a specific multi-year period.

Financial programming

Definition of multi-year development programmes is one of the basic principles of Community structural policies. From the financial point of view, programming becomes concrete when Community, national and, in some cases, private, resources are allocated and subdivided into the annual phases and priority axes that make up the OP (Operative Programme). The allocations assigned are subdivided in the PC (programming complement) according to implementation of the corresponding OP priority axes.

Financial year

Coincides with the calendar year and is the period of time during which the financial management of the State is carried out (Art. 1 of Law 468 of 1978).

Fiscal drag

Phenomenon resulting from the progressiveness of income tax in an inflationary context. When monetary income increases due to inflation, it is subject to higher tax rates. This leads to a real increase in deductions to the extent to which taxes increase more than proportionally with respect to the nominal adjustment of income to inflation.

Fixed-expenditure roll

Means of payment of fixed expenditures such as salaries, pensions, leases, etc. and, in general, those with prefixed amounts and expiry dates.

Floating debt

The total of the operations included among the Treasury debits for short-term financing of the State sector requirement (see: Treasury debits). The following operations make up the floating debt.

ordinary Treasury bills (OTBs);
current accounts with the Bank for Deposits and Loans, the National Institute of Social Welfare for Public-Sector Managers and Autonomous Agencies (INPDAP) and other financial institutions.

(For each of these operations, see the appropriate entry).

Forecast annexes

Contain information explaining the forecasts or allocation details and, as such, are part only of the budget project and have no legislative significance. The principle, common annexes for all forecasts are:

annex per item: describing the basic provisional units divided into items for the purposes of accounting and management;
statement, with an indication of the legally bound parts of the basic provisional units;
list of the acts - centre of responsibility/item/law;
annexes for economic and operational codes;
annexes for fixed personnel expenditures.

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GDP (PIL)

Gross Domestic Product. Corresponds to the economy's total production of goods and services, minus intermediate consumption and plus indirect duty on imports. From another point of view, the GDP is equivalent to the sum of the added values of the public and private sectors, minus credit service charges plus indirect duty on imports. One refers to GDP at market prices when imports are expressed in terms of current values and GDP at constant prices in order to identify the real growth, thus arriving at an indicator of the state of the economy without taking inflation into consideration.

General budget of the European Union

The legal/accounting document that, each year, provides for and authorises the Community's revenue and expenditures. The Treaty establishing the European Community (Section V, heading II, Articles 268-280) lays down the provisions establishing the general principles framing the budget procedure (unity, universality, annuality, balance, and specification). These provisions include financing of the budget (the particular system of "own resources"), the execution of the budget procedure (competent authorities and relative deadlines), budget execution and control (the principal of sound financial management). The major European Union expenditure categories are defined according to a classification by heading (or category): the table of the so-called financial perspectives that, during the current 2000-2006 programming, subsequent to the Berlin Council of 24 and 25 March 1999, is a reference framework - updated in consideration of Union expansion - contained in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 6 May 1999 between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission. The overall procedure for examination and approval of the general Community budget is described, as well as in the Treaty referred to, in a detailed financial Regulation in which the budget authorities are identified as the European Parliament and the Council, while the Commission is given the role of executing the budget.

General report on the country’s economic situation

Presented to Parliament by the Minister of the Treasury, the Budget and Economic Programming before March of the year subsequent to the reference year. It gives an account, for the reference period, of the results achieved by the economic system in its principal components, those achieved in public finance (to a large extent coinciding with the February cash report) and, finally, those of the labour sector.

General statement of State accounts

Summarises and describes the results

of overall management during the financial year, with separate reference to the management of assets/liabilities, cash and residuals;
of the variations to State assets as a result of budget management or of other causes. This section is further divided into two parts;
Part I: Budget account;
Part II: General assets account. This account, to which is annexed the State Auditor's Office report, is submitted to Parliament by the Minister of the Treasury, the Budget and Economic Programming, with the appropriate draft law, before June of the year subsequent to the reference year.

General summary framework

Approved with a specific article of the Budget Law, this is an explanatory summary, drawn up in terms of assets/liabilities and cash, of the annual budget's revenue and expenditure aggregates and of the relative differential results (public saving; net indebtedness; net balance to be financed; resource to the market) (Arts. 2 and 6 of Law no. 468 of 1978).

Global domestic demand

National-accounting aggregate measuring the quantity of goods and services requested by the various economic operators throughout the national territory.

Global or special funds

Sums included in specific items in the Ministry of the Treasury forecast to cover expenses deriving from draft laws that it is expected may be approved by Parliament during the period in question or, in any case, before the subsequent period. There may be a maximum of three of these funds: one for current expenditures, one for capital-account expenditures and one for loan reimbursements. There is a list for each of these funds specifying the individual legislative projects and the related costs for which the fund provides coverage. The amount of each of these funds and their specific nature are determined by the Finance Act.

Greater (or less) revenue and expenditures

The increase (or reduction) in forecasts recorded in the budget as a consequence of factors (including legislative) that arise subsequent to the forecasts

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HCIS (SIS)

Health-Care Information System. The system that collects, processes and transmits National Health Service data in support of programming, management and supervision at various institutional levels (Ministries, Regions, local health units and hospital authorities and other institutions).

Historic incremental expenditure (criterion of):

According to this criterion, specifically abandoned with Law no. 94 of 1997, the formation of the new budget was based on the assumed lack of the financial resources authorised for the preceding year, adjusting such resources, when necessary, at least to the scheduled rate of inflation. According to this criterion, assessment of expenditure programmes and verification of the congruence of the resources with respect to results was left out of consideration. When it was abandoned, the basis was established for reconsideration of all expenditures in terms of costs and benefits.

Hour Bank

Innovative facility that enables employees, on the basis of a supplementary contract, to manage their own work time and time off. Introduction of the Hour Bank provides for the setting up of an individual account of overtime work hours that can result in corresponding payment or compensatory time off. It may be activated only when the following conditions are met:

the annual limit is defined in a supplementary contract;
time off is taken before the following year;
the compatibility of the organisational conditions for the enjoyment of time off for employees is verified;
the overtime hours are authorised by the manager.

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ICEP (CIPE)

Interministerial Committee for Economic Programming. Established by a law in 1967 and given a wide mandate for the drawing up of national economic-policy guidelines. It is presided over by the President of the Council of Ministers and, on the basis of guidelines set by the Government, establishes, among other things, the general economic/financial policy guidelines for the preparation of financial-programming and budget instruments and programmatic documents. It is also responsible for the guidelines for the various policy sectors, in accordance with employment and development objectives and with implementation of Community policies. The Committee co-ordinates economic-policy interventions on a national and sectoral scale by means of various commissions, among which the Commission for the Co-ordination Of National Economic and Community Policies. The issues examined and decided upon by the Committee include, among others, general and sector programmes, Community programmes, the allocation of financial resources, negotiated programming and sustainable development.

ICINEDT (CINECA)

Inter-University Consortium of the Italian Northeast for Electronic Data. Equipped with an electronic system through which data is transmitted among the member universities.

IFM (MIF)

Italian Futures Market. Regulated market on which futures contracts are negotiated for State securities (5- and 10-year LTTB).

IGFREU (IGRUE)

Inspectorate General for Financial Relations with the European Union (Formerly the Inspectorate General for Administration of the Rotation Fund for Implementation of Community Policies), it was established in 1988 under the State Department of General Accounts for the financial and practical management of the Rotation Fund referred to in Art. 5 of Law no. 183 of 16 April 1987. The Inspectorate participates in the Community-budget formation, execution and certification process (the latter phase in collaboration with the European Court of Auditors). In particular, it determines, in agreement with the administrations concerned, the national public share of programmes, projects and other initiatives co-financed by the European Union. It is the Italian authority responsible for carrying out Community audits on behalf of the Union and, among other things, co-ordinates this supervisory activity among the national administrations responsible for various interventions and Community institutions. Within the context of the State Department of General Accounts Information System, IGFREU provides, on a permanent basis and by means of the national Structural Funds monitoring system, for the collection and processing of data relative to financial flows between Italy and the European Union and the related national flows. It also deals with physical and procedural aspects relative to the destination and use of Community resources.

IGFREU directorial decree

Regulation, signed by the Inspector General of IGFREU, published in the Official Journal of the Republic of Italy after having been recorded at the State Auditor’s Office. This type of regulation provides, for example, for the determination of the national public share of programmes, projects and other initiatives co-financed by the European Union.

IGRAPLC (IGOP)

The Inspectorate General for Regulation and Analysis of Public Labour Costs. This is the body, part of the State Department of General Accounts, that analyses, audits and monitors the cost of public-administration personnel and ensures compliance with Section V of Legislative Decree no. 165 of 30 March 2001. It verifies the economic and financial consequences of modifications to collective labour agreements with respect to remuneration and organisation. It is also responsible for dealing with the Department's tasks with respect to systems, facilities and personnel in the public administrations, to basic and accessory payment for public employees, including those with international status.

Inflation

The term referring to the variation in the level of prices. Generally, in public-finance documents, reference is made to the variation in the consumer-price index for workers' families and employees. In some cases, on the other hand, reference is made to the GDP deflator.

Initial forecasts

Forecasts resulting from the Budget Law

Innovative actions

Launched at the initiative of the Commission to improve the quality of the Structural Funds' priority development objectives by means of experiments that enable the regional players to meet the challenges of the new economy. The actions are implemented simply and transparently and in accordance with the principles of sound financial management. In particular, during the 2000-2006 period, the ERDF finances actions (absorbing a maximum of 0.65% of the Structural Funds' endowment) that, integrating the programmes of Objectives 1 and 2 in which the Fund participates, make it possible to explore future directions for regional policies in strategic areas such as regional economy based on knowledge and technological innovation, the information society at the service of regional development, regional identity and sustainable development.

Institution

Term used as a synonym for administration/body. Coincides with the public organisation responsible for data transmission

Instrumental operations

The budget operations carried out in order to rectify any imbalance in the final operations. With respect to the latter, these operations therefore have an instrumental in nature. They consist of: for revenue, the raising of medium-long-term loans (Heading IV); for expenditures, of the amounts necessary to amortise loans raised (Heading III - Loan reimbursement).

Insurance coverage

Insurance policies taken out in favour of State employees, as provided by legislation or contracts (with the exclusion of those already included in mission-allowance expenditures).

Interest concessions

Concession of interest to the State Budget by the Bank of Italy relative to interest matured on State portfolio securities and exceeding the rate of remuneration of the mandatory reserve.

Intermediary bodies

Any organism or public or private service acting under the responsibility of the management or payment authority or that carries out tasks on behalf of such authorities with respect to final beneficiaries and bodies or enterprises carrying out operations.

Intermediate consumption

The aggregate of operating expenditures according to the European Accounting System (EAS'95) classification.

Internet

From INTERconnected NETworks: a network of networks. Each network consists of interconnected computers and each computer, in order to communicate on the Internet (and hence with other computers) must adopt a common language. By now, the Internet is a universal reference for the transmission, exchange and communication of any type of information.

INTERREG III

Community ERDF initiative the purpose of which is to strengthen economic and social cohesion within the European Union by promoting the harmonious and balanced development of the Community territory. It is divided into three sections: cross-border co-operation among neighbouring regions in the interests of the creation of cross-border, socio-economic poles by means of joint territorial development strategies; transnational co-operation among national, regional and local authorities in the interests of increased territorial integration by means of the creation of large groups of European regions; interregional co-operation in order to improve the efficiency of regional development policies and instruments by means of the creation of networks for the exchange of information on a large scale and by means of the sharing of experience.

Intervention expenditures

The aggregate of current expenditures external to the Administration and listed in basic forecast units according to the respective expenditure objectives. Subject to parliamentary approval.

Intrinsic risk

The possibility, connected to the nature of the activities, operations and management structure of an intervention, that errors or lacks may occur in a management system and that, if not prevented or discovered and rectified by means of internal audit procedures, render the operations carried out unreliable, invalid or irregular.

Introductory note

This is the document illustrating the principal policy-related, programmatic and financial elements of each forecast. In the introductory note to the revenue forecast, the criteria used for forecasting revenue relative to the principal taxes and duties are specifically provided and, for each heading, the non-recurrent part as well as, for the period included in the multiyear budget, the effects of the introduction of tax exemptions, their nature, the parties involved, the beneficiary categories and the objectives pursued. In the introductory notes to expenditures, the following are indicated:

the criteria adopted in formulating the forecasts, with particular regard to discretionary current expenditures (if they have variation rates significantly different from that indicated in the economic/financial programming document ruled on by Parliament;
the objectives to be pursued in terms of the level of services and interventions;
the resources assigned to each centre of responsibility as a function of the objectives to be achieved;
any scheduled personnel hiring during the period;
the efficacy and efficiency indicators to be used to assess results. In addition, the introductory note specifies, in an annex, the forecasts on the state of revenue and expenditures for each of the periods included in the multiyear budget.

Investments

Expenditures arising from economic interventions grouped in the budget into the following categories of current-account expenditures: building assets and works, movable goods and machinery, transfers, participations and contributions, productive advances. In particular, the first two categories are for direct investments, the other three categories for indirect investments. Financial investments consisting of participations and contributions and productive advances may be recorded in the latter categories.

Irregularity

Any violation of a Community law provision deriving from an economic operator's action or omission that has, or could have, prejudicial consequences on the Member States' general budgets or on budgets managed by them, by means of the reduction or suppression of revenues deriving from or resources received directly on behalf of the Member States, or to an undue expenditure.

IS (SI)

Information system

Item category:

An aggregation of several economically homogeneous items. For revenue, the categories are groups of items referring to similar sources of revenue. There is a total of 15 such categories, of which five under Heading I, seven under Heading II and three under Heading III. Those relative to the first two headings are in a legal/financial classification while those relative to the third are in a "financial/patrimonial" classification. For expenditures, the categories are included in an accounting framework annexed to the Minister of the Treasury’s forecast for the purposes of economic classification (Art. 6, Law no. 468 of 1978, modified by Law no. 94 of 1997).

Item

An accounting unit of importance only to management and accounting. It is no longer the subject of parliamentary approval for the purposes of expenditure forecast.

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Law no. 183/87

The law establishing the Rotation Fund for the Implementation of Community Policies, with the objective of managing resources allocated to implementation of Community programmes. The national and Community resources are deposited into the rotation fund by means of specific, non-interest-bearing accounts opened at the State Central Treasury. These resources are subsequently distributed to those so entitled (public administrations and public and private operators). For actions falling within the Common Agricultural Policy, the Community resources, as well as those deriving from national co-financing, are channelled towards a single national payment body (AAA/AGEA-the Agency for Agricultural Allocations), which verifies the admissibility of requests and their conformity with Community regulations before ordering payment

LEADER+

Community EAGGF initiative (Guidance section) to encourage and assist rural operators to consider long-term development possibilities in their territories. The operators benefiting from this initiative, organised into partnerships of local action groups, experiment with new, integrated and sustainable forms of rural development. The objective is to valorise natural and cultural heritage, to increase the potential of the economic environment so as to contribute to the creation of jobs, and to improve the organisational abilities of the respective communities. The initiative is divided into three sections: support for integrated, territorial, pilot rural development strategies; support for interterritorial and transnational co-operation; the creation of networks among all the rural territories in the European Union.

Legislative Decree no. 165 of 30 March 2001

The Legislative Decree entitled "General Regulations on the Employment System for Public-Administration Employees (Official Journal 106 of 9 May 2001 - O.S. no. 112).

Legislative factors

Refers to the determination of expenditure forecasts and/or their variations; the expenditures deriving from such factors are absolutely "rigid" insofar as they are quantified for each period of the relative institutional law.

Liquidation

Determination of the identity of the creditor and the amount of the debt. This is the second phase in the expenditure-allocation procedure (Art. 277 of the Accounting Regulation).

Liquidity

Essential requisite for the smooth functioning of the secondary market. An asset is defined as liquid when it is always possible to find a purchaser if there is a party interested in selling and a seller for the party who wishes to acquire that asset.

Lists

Annexed to some expenditure forecasts, they define, for the period, the particular rights of the Administration during the course of management. Of particular importance are the lists accompanying the Ministry of the Treasury expenditure forecasts (including those for mandatory expenditures; those for unforeseen expenditures; those for costs deriving from legislative measures underway; and the so-called global or special funds). The lists are approved by specific articles in the Budget Law.

Loan reimbursement

Macro-aggregate showing the part of the public debt that is reimbursed.

User name or pseudonym, usually associated with a password (secret access code), enabling access to the Internet, to a computer's resources or to a system (such as in PAEKS).

LTTB (BTP)

Long-Term Treasury bills. Medium- and long-term interest-bearing bills of the patrimonial debt at a fixed interest rate and with six-month coupons. They are currently being issued for three, five, ten and 30 years; in the past, there were also issuances of two-year, four-year and nine-year bills.

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Maastricht Treaty

European Union Treaty signed in Maastricht on 7 February 1992 and containing provisions that modify the Rome Treaty establishing the EEC, the treaties establishing the ECSC (European Carbon and Steel Community) and Euratom, as well as provisions relative to foreign policy, common security and co-operation in legal matters and internal affairs. Part III of the EU Treaty concerns the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). The Treaty identifies the principal economic and monetary objectives to be pursued for the progressive realisation of the European Union. Some of these concern the situation of public finance. All behaviour that, favouring public-sector concessions and operating outside a proper market logic, is considered to be negative in that it may induce governments to neglect the principles of correct financial management and, by means of excessive public deficits, jeopardise the control of inflation and the containing of public debt.

Macro-economic framework

The body of related hypotheses on the evolution of the principal national-accounting aggregate, in relationship to which the budget provisions are formulated.

Management authority

The public or private, national, regional or local authorities and bodies appointed by a Member State to manage an intervention (an operative programme, for example), pursuant to EEC Regulation no. 1260/1999. This authority may also be the Member State itself. If the Member State appoints a management authority other than itself, it defines all the procedures regarding its relationships with the management authority and the relationships between the latter and the authority or body that is the payment authority for the intervention in question.

Managers with fixed-term contracts

The position of manager with a fixed-term contract is regulated according to Art. 3, paragraph 6, of Law no. 145 of 15 July 2002, amending Art. 19, paragraph 6, of Legislative Decree no. 165/2001, which enables administrations to confer managerial responsibilities, within specific limits, on parties who, although not having managerial status, do have particular and proven professional qualifications for the carrying out of the relative duties. For the contract's period of duration, variable from three to five years, public-administration employees so employed are placed on leave of absence without allowance.

Managers with open-ended contracts

Managers with open-ended contracts are public employees who have acquired this qualification through public competition by passing open-ended employment examinations, not to be confused with the role of managerial duties, which is conferred for fixed-terms (from three to five years) pursuant to Art. 3, paragraph 6, of Law no. 145 of 15 July 2002, amending Art. 19 of Legislative Decree no. 165/2001. The relative regulation is found in Section II of Legislative Decree no. 165/2001 and subdivides management into two levels. Specific regulations apply to the management of educational institutions and of the National Health Service (Articles 25 and 26).

Mandatory expenditures

Mandatory, non-deferrable costs entered in items and specifically and strictly identified for each Ministry in a particular list (no. 1) annexed to the forecast made by the Ministry of the Treasury, the Budget and Economic Programming. Any shortfalls in budget allocations are met with a specific reserve fund (see: Lists and Reserve funds).

Means of requirement coverage

The requirement to be covered or financed is the total recorded (see: Total requirement). The coverage means may be found through various forms of indebtedness on the internal or external markets (foreign debt). Recourse to the internal market is done by means of:

medium-long-term or patrimonial indebtedness;
short-term indebtedness becoming part of the floating debt;
the circulation of State coins and bills. Monetary coverage of the requirement is measured by the size of the two means above, the medium- and long-term securities underwritten by the Bank of Italy and by the monetary relationships with the Bank.

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NAIM (ANCI)

The National Association of Italian Municipalities, to which 6406 of the 8100 Italian municipalities belong, is a joint, national association. Its principal raison d’être is to defend and affirm the principle of municipal autonomy as recognised by the Constitution.

National co-financing

Share of financing for which the State Budget is responsible for implementation of Community policy programmes, to be determined in order to guarantee the complementarity of Community interventions with respect to State Member actions (additionality principle). Determination of the national public share of programmes, projects and other initiatives co-financed by the European Union was once the responsibility of the IPEC. This task is now the responsibility of a specific working group presided over by the Inspector General in charge of IGFREU and in which participate civil servants with related competence from the State Department of General Accounts, from the Department for Development and Cohesion Policies (with regard to themes connected to the Structural Funds) and from the State and regional administrations concerned.

National co-financing measures

IGFREU decrees by means of which resources from State co-financing are assigned pursuant to Law no. 183/87.

National Community Structural Fund monitoring system

A system consisting of operative instruments (calculators, peripherals, networks, software, etc.) installed in the departments of the Ministry of the Economy and of Finance having responsibility for the management of Community policies and in the national, regional and local administrations involved in various ways in interventions co-financed by the European Union. The system is used to record financial, physical and procedural data by final beneficiaries at the level of individual operations. The monitoring carried out by means of information systems is fundamental for the achieving of effective monitoring, assessment and supervision of the interventions. In particular, the current 2000-2006 programming uses the electronic procedure known as MONIT2000, an innovative monitoring model developed by IGFREU and distributed throughout the national territory. Constant developments in electronic-data processing enable the specific definition of the functional requirements. For example, a recent new version of the procedure, known as MonitWeb, based on a new on-line meeting procedure between local information systems and the Ministry of the Economy and of Finance Data Warehouse system will improve management and data-related performance.

National Health Service Fund

Art. 51 of Law no. 833 of 23 December 1978 provided for the establishment of a fund for the financing of the National Health Service. The amounts are allocated to two separate items according to whether for current expenditures (Treasury forecast) or capital-account expenditures (budget and economic programming forecast). The amounts allocated in the budget are redistributed by the ICEP among the Regions and by the Regions to local health units and hospital authorities.

NEPB (EPNE)

Non-Economic Public Bodies.

Net acquisition of financial activities

One of the balances in the State-sector and overall public-sector consolidated cash-accounts. It concerns the financial items (shareholdings, underwriting, credit concessions and repayments and bank-deposit variations) and measures the extent to which payments exceed collections. It is the indicator of the role played by the State or, more generally, by the public operator, as a financial intermediary.

Net balance to finance or to be used

The differential result of the final operations, consisting of all revenue and expenditures, excluding loan-raising and reimbursement operations. With reference to the multiyear budget it constitutes, during the course of management, the parameter for confirmation of coverage of new or major capital-account expenditures (see: Multiyear budget).

Net position

For each Member State in the Union, the difference between the resources received as credits and the payments made to the Community budget on a given date. If the difference is positive, the country is defined as a net beneficiary; if the difference is negative, the country is a net contributor.

New arrears

The residuals, whether revenue or expenditures, assessed in the annual statement in which the assessment or commitment is recorded.

Non-economic public bodies

One of the subsectors into which the public sector is divided pursuant to Art. 25 of Law no. 468 of 1978 and identified with a decree by the President of the Council of Ministers.

Net debit or credit

The differential result between final revenue and expenditures, net of financial operations (for revenue: credit collections; for expenditures: participations and contributions, as well as for productive and other advances). Introduced for the State Budget by Art. 6 of Law no. 468 of 1978, it identifies the positive (credit) or negative (debt) balance with which the economic budget operations conclude. This balance is the conclusive balance of the public administrations consolidated economic account.

NOP (PON)

National Operative Programme.

NOP:TASA (PON ATAS)

National Operative Programme: Technical Assistance and System Actions. One of the seven national operative programmes provided by the 2000-2006 Community Support Framework (CSF) for Community Structural Fund policies (approved with Commission Resolution 635 of 22 March 2001). The general objective is to contribute to the achieving of results in terms of satisfying the needs of institutional bodies involved in the process of programming interventions co-financed by the Structural Funds. It is broken down into three priority axes of intervention: technical assistance and regional-development policy co-ordination, public-administration training, and system policy actions for employment inclusion and adaptation of the training system.

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Objective 1

Intended for the development and structural adaptation of underdeveloped regions. The regions admissible are those with per capita GDP less than 75% of the Community average. During the 2000-2006 programming period, the Italian regions admissible are in the South: Sardinia, Sicily, Calabria, Apulia, Basilicata, Campania and Molise (in a transitory phase).

Objective 2

Intended for the economic and social reconversion of areas characterised by structural difficulties. Within the cycle of the 2000-2006 programming, previous Objectives 2 and 5b are combined and concern areas undergoing economic change, including industrial, urban, rural and fishery-dependent areas. The regions in the Italian Centre/North are admissible: Abruzzo, Emilia Romagna, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Lazio, Liguria, Lombardi, Marche, Piedmont, Tuscany, Umbria, Valle d’Aosta, Veneto and the autonomous provinces of Trento and Bolzano.

Objective 3

Intended to promote the adaptation and modernisation of education, training and employment policies and systems. During the 2000-2006 programming phases, it combines previous Objectives 3 and 4. It intervenes throughout the Union territory, except in the regions covered by Objective 1. During the 2000-2006 programming period, the Italian regions admissible are those in the Centre/North: Abruzzo, Emilia Romagna, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Lazio, Liguria, Lombardi, Marche, Piedmont, Tuscany, Valle d’Aosta, Veneto and the autonomous provinces of Trento and Bolzano.

Objectives (or macro-services)

Express the missions pursued by each of the administrations and realised throughout their organisations. Each objective has a defined and homogeneous product made available to citizens.

Objectives (or macro-services)

Express the missions pursued by each of the administrations and realised throughout their organisations. Each objective has a defined and homogeneous product made available to citizens

OLAF

The European Anti-Fraud Office. Established with a European Commission Resolution on 28 April 1999 (1999/352/EEC, ECSC, Euratom). It exercises Commission competencies in matters of external administrative investigations in order to intensify the fight against fraud, corruption and any other illicit activity harmful to the Community's financial interests. It also contributes to the fight against fraud inherent to any fact or act committed in violation of Community regulations.

Operating expenditures:

Order expenditures

Costs connected to the assessment and collection of revenues (see: Lists and Reserve funds).

Order

Issuing of a payment order in favour of a creditor. Constitutes the third phase in the expenditure-execution procedure.

OTB (BOT)

Ordinary Treasury Bills. Interest-bearing treasury bills with expiry dates of up to 12 months, issued by the Treasury to cover transitory cash requirements. The maximum limit of the circulation and the maximum amount of new issues are established annually by Parliament with the budget approval law. These securities become a part of the floating debt (see: Floating debt). The relative interest bears on the budget when the securities expire, on the Treasury when they are issued. In this regard, such interest amounts to a Treasury credit with respect to the budget, extinguished at the time of reimbursement with payment of interest out of the same budget (see: Treasury credits). The OTBs are placed by means of competitive auction (see: Auction).

Other capital-account expenditures

Aggregate capital-account expenditure residuals that it is not possible to classify in the same way as investments. The relative basic forecast units describe the purposes of the expenditures.

Out-of-budget management

Concerns the acquisition of revenue and/or the implementation of expenditures by the State Administration but outside of the budget and therefore not subject to normal legal/administrative procedures. Rather, they were governed by Law no. 1041 of 1971 and the related regulation approved with Presidential Decree no. 689 of 1977, each of which was authorised by specific legislation. Pursuant to Law no. 559 of 1993, most were terminated, with some being transferred to the budget and with new, more incisive auditing standards being adopted for those not terminated (Articles 23 and 24). They are now subject to accounting and to auditing by the State Department of General Accounts and by the State Auditor's Economic Office. The Ministry of the Treasury, of the Budget and of Economic Programming is authorised assess these amounts during the course of management.

Outplacement:

Temporary, particular assignment of personnel due to specific needs of the employing administration in cases provided by specific legal provisions or regulations.

Own resources (traditional, additional)

Financial means of participation in th