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11 JUIN 2015. - An Act to amend the Act of 4 July 1989 relating to the limitation and control of election expenses incurred for the election of the House of Representatives, as well as to the financing and open accounting of political parties

PHILIPPE, King of the Belgians,
To all, present and to come, Hi.
The Chambers adopted and We sanction the following:
Article 1^er. This Act regulates a matter referred to in Article 77 of the Constitution.
Art. 2. In article 24, paragraph 1^er, of the Act of 4 July 1989 relating to the limitation and control of election expenses incurred for the election of the House of Representatives, as well as to the financing and open accounting of political parties, last amended by the Act of 6 January 2014, the words "120 days" are replaced by the words "six months".
Art. 3. Section 27 of the Act, repealed by the Act of 18 June 1993, is reinstated in the following wording:
"Art. 27. For financial reports on the annual accounts of political parties and their components for the 2014 fiscal year to be forwarded to the Speaker of the House of Representatives during the 2015 calendar year, sections 24 and 25 must be read as follows:
"Art. 24. The report referred to in section 23 is sent within 120 days of the closing of the accounts to the Minister of Finance and to the Speaker of the House of Representatives who ensure that the report is published without delay in parliamentary documents.
In addition, the President shall forthwith transmit a copy of the financial reports or parliamentary documents referred to in paragraph 1^er, by registered mail, to the Court of Auditors by charging it to report, pursuant to Article 1^er4°, paragraph 3, within one month, notice of the accuracy and completeness of the reports. The examination by the Court of Auditors shall suspend the period provided for in paragraph 3.
The Supervisory Board shall make its observations and approve the financial report within noon days of the deadline set out in paragraph 1^er, in particular on the basis of the opinion of the Court of Auditors, provided that it does not find any irregularities. The opinion of the Court of Auditors is annexed to the report of the Board of Auditors. In the event of an ongoing judicial investigation, open to the Public Prosecutor's request and having a direct connection to the financing of parties, approval shall be made subject to reservation.
The procedure, as well as the procedure for the control and hearing of the persons concerned, shall be determined by the rules of procedure of the Supervisory Board. This regulation is published in the Belgian Monitor.
The summary of the financial report, the comments and the notice of approval shall be forwarded without delay by the President of the House of Representatives to the Minister of Finance and the services of the Belgian Monitor, who shall publish them in the annexes of the Belgian Monitor within thirty days of their receipt.
Art. 25. The failure to approve the financial report by the Supervisory Board, as well as the failure to deposit or late filing of this report, results in the loss of the staffing that would be granted under Chapter III to the institution referred to in Article 22 during the subsequent period established by the Supervisory Board and which may not be less than one month or more than four months.
Approval subject to section 24 entails the preventive suspension of a twelfth of the annual staffing.".
Art. 4. In the same Act, an article 27/1 is inserted as follows:
"Art. 27/1. The provisions of this Act as they were in force as at 31 December 2014 apply to the control of the financial reports on the accounting of political parties and their components for the 2013 fiscal year and to the control of the reports of the presidents of the main electoral district and college offices concerning the election expenses and the origin of the funds committed by political parties and individual candidates for the elections of the House of Representatives and the European Parliament of 25 May 2014, carried out both by the Supervisory Board of the 2015 elections. ".
Art. 5. In section 29 of the Act, as amended by the Act of March 23, 2007, the phrase ", with the exception of section 27, which will be effective from the 1991 taxation year" is repealed.
Art. 6. The Schedule to the Act is supplemented by a transitional provision as follows:
"Transitional provision
For financial reports on the annual accounts of political parties and their components for the 2014 fiscal year, to be forwarded to the Speaker of the House of Representatives during the 2015 calendar year, item 2 of this annex should be read as follows:
"2. Synthetic accounts (balance and result account) of each component of the political party as defined in Article 1^er, 1°, paragraph 2. These accounts may be established in the form of a synoptic table showing by component at least:
(a)the total assets, total provisions and debts and the amount of assets;
(b) common goods and expenses, the current result before financial results, the financial result, the exceptional result, the result of the fiscal year;
(c) the number of occupied persons expressed in full-time equivalents supported by the party component."
Art. 7. Section 2 comes into force on 1^er January 2016.
Articles 3 to 6 produce their effects on 1^er January 2015.
Promulgate this law, order that it be clothed with the seal of the State and published by the Belgian Monitor.
Given in Brussels on 11 June 2015.
PHILIPPE
By the King:
Minister of Security and Interior,
J. JAMBON
Seal of the state seal:
Minister of Justice,
K. GEENS
____
Note
House of Representatives
(www.lachambre.be)
Documents: 54-949
Full report: 19 March 2015
Senate
(www.senate.be)
Documents: 6-190
Annales du Senate : April 24, 2015