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19 DECEMBER 2013. - Act containing the Ways and Averages of the Budget Year 2014 (1)

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 74, 3° of the Constitution.
Art. 2. For the fiscal year 2014, current state revenues are assessed:
For tax revenues, at . . . . EUR 46.300.023.000
For non-tax revenues, to . . . . . EUR 4.526.167.000
Be together. EUR 50.826.190.000
in accordance with Part I^er the ci-annexed table.
Art. 3. For fiscal year 2014, state capital revenues are assessed:
For tax revenues, at . . . . EUR 101.100.000
For non-tax revenues, to . . . . . EUR 454.381.000
Be together. EUR 555.481.000
in accordance with Part II of the attached table.
Art. 4. For the fiscal year 2014, the proceeds of loans are estimated at 45,770.470,000 euros, in accordance with Title III of the attached table.
Art. 5. Direct and indirect taxes, principal and additional decimals for the benefit of the State, existing as of 31 December 2013, will be recovered during the year 2014 according to the laws, decrees and tariffs that regulate the attitude and perception, including laws, decrees and tariffs that have only a temporary or provisional character.
Art. 6. The application of Articles 3 and 4, § 1^er, of the Act of 28 December 1954 containing the budget of the Ways and Means for the year 1955, is extended until 31 December 2014.
Art. 7. The King may, within the limits and conditions it determines, grant tax exemptions to the revenues of borrowings that, in 2014, would be issued or placed primarily abroad by the federal State, communities, regions, provinces, agglomerations, municipalities and public institutions or bodies, and in particular Treasury bills in foreign currency.
With respect to the income of the securities of these borrowings that would be held by Belgian residents, however, tax exemptions may only be granted to the sole financial institutions or enterprises assimilated therein and professional investors referred to in article 105, 1 and 3°, of the RA/CIR 92, as well as, without prejudice to the application of article 262, 1° of the Income Tax Code 1992, to legal persons
Art. 8. § 1^er. To cover, in the context of public debt management, the insufficiency of revenues in relation to the expenditures of the year 2014, including the repayment of borrowings and any expenses resulting from the financial management operations referred to in § 3, 1°, below, or the passenger cash imbalances in the fiscal year:
1° the King is authorized to issue public loans.
When the King has established a general framework for the issuance of borrowings that determines the limits of powers that may be delegated, the Minister of Finance may be authorized to issue, during the fiscal year, the borrowings that fall within this framework.
2° the Minister of Finance is authorized to issue cash certificates, Treasury bills or any other interest-bearing financing instrument.
The authorities referred to in paragraph 1, 1° and 2° are also applicable to the issuance of public borrowings and other interest-bearing instruments, the conditions of which are fixed in the course of 2014 and the proceeds of which are paid to the Consolidated Revenue Fund in a subsequent fiscal year to cover, as part of public debt management, the insufficiency of revenues in relation to the expenditures of that last fiscal year.
The loans referred to in paragraph 1, 1 and 2 and paragraph 2 may be issued both in Belgium and abroad, in euros and in foreign currencies.
§ 2. The main objective of public debt management is to minimize the financial cost of federal government debt as part of market risk management and operational risks and in accordance with the overall objectives of fiscal policy and monetary policy.
Public debt management also aims to minimize the financial cost of the debt of public entities of the central government, other than the federal state itself.
To this end, the Minister of Finance, on the proposal of the Strategic Debt Committee operating within the general administration of the Treasury, determines the general guidelines for the management of federal debt; These guidelines include, in particular, the structure of the debt portfolio and the level of risks associated with it.
The Strategic Debt Committee shall make arrangements for the implementation of these general guidelines. These are the framework for the implementation of the financial transactions properly referred to by the Formed Debt Agency within the FPS Finance, Treasury Board.
§ 3. The Minister of Finance is authorized:
1° to conclude any financial management transaction within the limits determined under § 2 above.
A financial management operation means:
(a) Treasury's day-to-day operations, namely, the financial transactions resulting from the need to ensure a daily cash balance;
(b) trade in securities;
(c) the adaptation of existing contractual conditions or terms of refund of borrowings, carried out in agreement with lenders and in accordance with market conditions;
(d) investments of any kind, including those necessary for the continuity of Treasury funding;
(e) swaps of interest and foreign exchange swaps, options, futures contracts, and any other instrument for the management of financial, budgetary and credit risks related to the federal State's debt and authorized by the Minister of Finance under § 2 above;
(f) purchases of federal debt securities in secondary markets;
(g) temporary disposal, through transfer-retrocession or other transactions that have a similar economic effect, cash certificates, linear bonds, split securities and State Goods to primary dealers and recognized dealers.
On the proposal of the Strategic Debt Committee, the temporary arrangements referred to in paragraph 1^er may be extended to institutions subject to a rating obligation for the Treasury of the Kingdom of Belgium, other than the primary dealers and recognized dealers referred to in paragraph 1^er;
(h) the provision of a very short period of money by the Treasury as a last resort lender to the public entities of the central government. This provision must be due to the insufficient supply of the account of the entity concerned open to bpost caused by operational problems and be indispensable for the execution of compelling payments;
(i) the financial transactions of the Consolidated Revenue Fund other than those referred to in (h) with the public entities of the central administration, except for cash facilities intended to cover temporary cash deficits of those entities for which other terms and conditions are determined for the placement or investment of their availabilities other than those provided by the consolidation measures of the financial assets of the public administrations, imposed by or under the law or for which a minimum amount of availability is determined
(j) derivatives for management:
- the cost of federal state energy consumption;
- the cost of the other operating expenses of the federal State, which the King may designate;
2° complementary to exchanges of existing debt securities against new linear obligations, to liquidate prorated interest payments related to securities in circulation, by way of handover to persons entitled to linear obligations;
3° in accordance with the Convention of 5 January 1994 with the National Bank of Belgium, to create dematerialized securities representative of the debt of the State, having the same characteristics as those of the securities in circulation, in order to lend these short-term securities to the National Bank of Belgium according to the needs of its securities liquidation system;
4° to issue dematerialized securities representative of the State's debt to be accounted for in the securities liquidation system of the National Bank of Belgium with a view to making possible the transactions provided for in 1°, g) or with a view to placing these securities as financial security rights to third parties;
5° to proceed, depending on the needs of the securities liquidation system of the National Bank of Belgium, to the creation of linear obligations having the same characteristics as the linear obligations in circulation in order to make possible the reconstruction of linear obligations using BE-strips.
§ 4. By derogation from section 19 of the Act of 22 May 2003 on the organization of the budget and accounting of the federal state, the proceeds of the short-term financing instruments (cash certificates, Treasury bills and similar instruments) as well as the outputs resulting from the operations referred to in § 3, 1°, g) are not included in the budget.
In order to ensure the continuity of Treasury funding, the authorizations referred to in § 1, paragraph 1, 1° and 2° also apply to borrowings whose conditions are fixed in previous fiscal years and whose proceeds are paid out in 2014.
The Minister of Finance is authorized to manage a foreign currency cash flow to avoid any impact on the conduct of the foreign currency monetary policy as part of the Treasury's financial management.
As part of the financial management operations provided for in § 3, 1° above, the Minister of Finance is authorized to hold titles:
1° in the securities liquidation system of the National Bank of Belgium;
2° in international securities liquidation systems and in international securities conservation systems;
3° in certain financial institutions authorized by the legislation that is applicable to them to retain deposits on behalf of third parties.
§ 5. The Minister of Finance may delegate to the SPF Finance, general administration of the Treasury, as well as to the staff of the Debt Agency incorporated in the general administration of the Treasury that he designates for the specific tasks provided by him:
(a) the power to determine, within the limits provided by the King and according to the needs of the Treasury, the amount and the financial conditions of the emissions of public borrowing referred to in § 1^er, paragraph 1, 1 and paragraph 2, as well as the powers necessary for the successful conclusion of these emissions;
(b) the powers referred to in § 1^erparagraphs 1 and 2 and 2, § 3 and § 4, paragraphs 3 and 4.
Art. 9. § 1^er. The Minister of Finance is authorized to increase interest income or interest expenditures resulting from public debt management operations, respectively, in deduction or dependant of interest credits from the "public debt" section of the general expenditure budget.
§ 2. It is also authorized to increase capital revenues or capital expenditures resulting from public debt management transactions related to the debt-reimbursement dates, respectively, in deduction or debit credits from the "public debt" section of the general expenditure budget.
§ 3. The provisions of § 2 do not apply to premiums paid during the sale or purchase of options.
Art. 10. For projects under their jurisdiction, for the implementation of Article 5, § 1^er, Regulation (E.C.) No. 1941/81 concerning an integrated development programme for the disadvantaged areas of Belgium, the financial resources to be allocated are paid to the budgets of the Regions.
These financial means are taken from the reimbursements to the Belgian treasury that the European Communities are required to make, as a cost of collection, pursuant to Article 3, 1°, fifth paragraph, of the decision of 21 April 1970 of the Council of Ministers of the European Communities on the replacement of Member States' contributions by resources specific to the European Communities, approved by the law of 23 December 1970.
The amounts to be transferred are determined by the Minister of Finance according to the competitions decided or provided by the Commission of the European Communities.
Art. 11. Pursuant to Article 53, 1° of the special law of 16 January 1989 on the financing of communities and regions, as amended by the special law of 16 July 1993 to complete the federal structure of the State, by the special law of 13 July 2001 on the refinancing of communities and the extension of the fiscal powers of the regions and by the special law of 19 July 2012 on the just financing of the Brussels Institutions, and taking into account:
(a) the award referred to in Article 4, § 5 of the same special law of 16 January 1989 of the interest of delay, the charge of the interests of moratoriums, and fixed and proportional tax fines on the regional taxes referred to in Article 3 of that special law;
(b) the situation referred to in Article 5, § 3, second paragraph, where the Flemish Region itself provides, from the 1999 taxation year, the real estate tax service referred to in Article 3, 5 of the said special law;
(c) the situation referred to in Article 5, § 3, where the Walloon Region itself provides, from 1^er January 2010 the tax service for the regional taxes referred to in Article 3, 1°, 2° and 3° of the said special law and where the Flemish Region provides itself, from 1^er January 2011 the regional tax service referred to in Article 3, 10°, 11° and 12° of the said special law;
regional tax transfers referred to in section 3 of the said special law, plus the above-mentioned interests and fines, are estimated for the fiscal year 2014 at 4.074.523.000 EUR for the Flemish Region, 2.530.647.000 EUR for the Walloon Region and 1.305.387.000 EUR for the Brussels Capital Region.
Art. 12. According to Article 53, 2° of the special law of 16 January 1989 on the financing of communities and regions, as amended by the special law of 16 July 1993 to complete the federal structure of the State, by the special law of 13 July 2001 relating to the refinancing of the communities and the extension of the tax powers of the regions and by the special law of 19 July 2012 bearing a fair financing of the institutions of Brussels and taking into account the criteria of 23 May 2000
(a) including the probable balance of the 2013 budget year's account and
(b) pursuant to the Institutional Agreement for the Sixth State Reform, taking into account the deduction of the contribution of the Flemish Community and the French Community, for the fiscal year 2014, to the remediation of public finances, as provided for in Article 74 of the special bill on the reform of the financing of communities and regions, the expansion of the fiscal autonomy of the regions and the financing of new powers, DOC 53 2974/001,
are estimated at 13.668.430.478 EUR for the Flemish Community and 9.108.488.711 EUR for the French Community.
In accordance with Article 59 of the Law of 31 December 1983 of institutional reforms for the German-speaking Community the transfer referred to in Article 58nonies of the said Law for the fiscal year 2014, including the probable balance of the count of the fiscal year 2013, is estimated at 6.326.008 EUR for the German-speaking Community.
Art. 13. In accordance with sections 53, 3° and 35octies of the special law of 16 January 1989 on the financing of communities and regions, as amended by the special law of 16 July 1993 to complete the federal structure of the State, by the special law of 13 July 2001 on the refinancing of communities and the extension of the fiscal powers of the regions and by the special law of 19 July 2012 on the fair financing of the Brussels Institutions, the transfers referred to in sections 34 and 35 to
(a) including the probable balance of the 2013 budget year's account and
(b) pursuant to the Institutional Agreement for the Sixth State Reform, taking into account:
1° the deduction of the contribution of the Flemish Region, the Walloon Region and the Brussels-Capital Region, for the fiscal year 2014, to the remediation of public finances, as provided for in section 74 of the special bill on the reform of the financing of communities and regions, the expansion of the fiscal autonomy of the regions and the financing of new skills, DOC 53 2974/001, Chamber of Representatives, July 24, 2013;
2° with respect to the Brussels-Capital Region, the compensation for the fiscal year 2014, of part of the loss of income from the net flow of the shuttles to the Region, as provided for in section 63 of the special law proposal referred to in littera (b), 1°, and the compensation, for the fiscal year 2014, of part of the loss of income in respect of the tax of the natural persons of the Region as a consequence of the
(c) in respect of the Flemish Region, its share in the management of the compensation referred to in litera (b), 2°, for the fiscal year 2014, as provided for in section 63 of the special law proposal referred to in litera (b), 1°;
(d) in respect of the Walloon Region, its share in the management of the compensation referred to in litera (b), 2°, for the fiscal year 2014, as provided for in Article 63 of the special law proposal referred to in litera (b), 1°;
are estimated at 6.257.799.429 EUR for the Flemish Region, 3.753.534.003 EUR for the Walloon Region and 1.234.177.351 EUR for the Brussels-Capital Region.
Art. 14. The transfer referred to in sections 65bis and 65ter of the special law of 16 January 1989 relating to the financing of communities and regions, as amended by the special law of 16 July 1993 to complete the federal structure of the State, by the special law of 13 July 2001 concerning the refinancing of the communities and the extension of the fiscal powers of the regions and by the special law of 19 July 2012 bearing a fair financing of the Brussels Institutions, for the fiscal year 2014, including the balance
Art. 15. The transfer referred to in section 46bis of the special law of 12 January 1989 relating to Brussels institutions, as amended by the special law of 13 July 2001 on transfer of various competences to the regions and communities, by the special law of 13 July 2001 on refinancing of the communities and extension of the tax competences of the regions and by the special law of 19 July 2012 amending article 16bis of the special law of 8 August 1980 of institutional reforms and article 62
Art. 16. Revenues for the benefit of communities and regions are paid, as the case may be, either to a general budget allocation fund or to a Treasury Board account.
Art. 17. This Act comes into force on 1^er January 2014.
Promulgation of this law, let us order that it be clothed with the seal of the State and published by the Belgian Monitor.
Given in Brussels, 19 December 2013.
PHILIPPE
By the King:
The Minister of Budget,
O. CHASTEL
Minister of Finance,
K. GEENS
Seal of the state seal:
The Minister of Justice,
Ms. A. TURTELBOOM
____
Note
(1) Regular session 2013-2014.
Parliamentary documents. Bill No. 3070/001. - Annex, No. 3070/002. - Amendment No. 3070/003. - Remarks of the court of accounts, no. 3070/004. - Amendment No. 3070/005. - Report, no. 3070/006. - Text adopted, no. 3070/007. - Errata no. 3070/008.
Annales parliamentarians. Discussion: meeting of December 16, 2013. - Adoption: meeting of 18 December 2013.

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