22 DECEMBER 2003. - Act containing the Ways and Averages of the Fiscal Year 2004 (1)

ALBERT II, King of the Belgians,
To all, present and to come, Hi.
The House of Representatives adopted and sanctioned 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 2004, current state revenues are assessed:
For tax revenues, at . . . . . 38.338.897.000 euros
For non-tax revenues, at . . . . 3.297.270.000 euros
Be together. 41.636.167.000 euros
in accordance with Part I^er the ci-annexed table.
Art. 3. For the fiscal year 2004, capital revenues are estimated at the sum of 1.911.577.000 euros, in accordance with Part II of the attached table.
Art. 4. For the fiscal year 2004, the proceeds of loans are estimated at 30.302.500.000 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 2003, will be recovered during the year 2004 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 2004.
Art. 7. The King may, within the limits and conditions it determines, grant tax exemptions to the revenues of borrowings that, in 2004, would be issued or placed primarily abroad by the State, communities, regions, provinces, agglomerations, municipalities and public institutions or bodies, and in particular the 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, and without prejudice to the application of article 262, 1°, of the Code of Moral Taxes referred to in 1992, to persons
Art. 8. § 1^er. To cover the insufficiency of revenues in relation to the expenditures of the year 2004, 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 loans referred to in 1° and 2° above can 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 Treasury's Strategic Debt Committee, 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 themselves referred to by the Formed Debt Agency within the Federal Public Service Finance, Treasury.
§ 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 and linear bonds to primary dealers and recognized dealers that are market content in the electronic system "inter-dealer broker" designated by the Treasury for the treasury market of the Kingdom of Belgium, in order to ensure the proper functioning of the secondary market.
(h) Treasury may extend these temporary arrangements to other institutions that would be market content in the same electronic system.
(i) Temporary disposition of securities, as described in paragraph 1^er may also be related to linear bonds;
2° by derogation from Article 6 of the Act of 2 August 1955 deleting the Public Debt Fund and Article 7 of the Royal Decree of 27 February 1956 regulating the operation of the Amortization Fund created by the said law, to maintain in deposit with the State Caissier, titles to the holder redeemed for the amortization, in order to assign them, if necessary, to
3° 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;
4° 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 compensation system;
5° to issue dematerialized securities denominated in foreign currency prior to the day of the value of their subscription, in order to allow investors to dispose of these value-day securities in the compensation systems referred to in Article 1^er, § 2, b and c of the Royal Decree of 14 June 1994 establishing the rules applicable to the maintenance of dematerialized securities in foreign currencies or in units of accounts other than the euro;
6° to issue cash certificates and linear bonds to be accounted for in the securities compensation system of the National Bank of Belgium with a view to making possible the transactions under 1°, g) .
§ 4. 1° By derogation from Article 4 of the coordinated laws of 17 July 1991 on State accounting, the proceeds of short-term financing instruments (cash certificates, Treasury bills and similar instruments) as well as the proceeds resulting from the transactions referred to in § 3, 1°, g), are paid on cash or cash accounts;
2° to ensure continuity of Treasury funding, the authorizations referred to in § 1, 1° and 2° also apply to borrowings whose conditions are fixed in previous fiscal years and whose proceeds are paid in 2004;
3° the Minister of Finance is authorized to manage cash in foreign currencies to avoid any impact on the conduct of the monetary policy of foreign currency transactions in the context of the financial management of the Treasury on the conduct of monetary policy;
4° the proceeds of borrowing resulting from the conclusion of Treasury Financial Management Operations and:
(a) interim expenditure on asset formation and associated costs;
(b) income related to the realization of established assets, the associated expenses and revenues arising from such assets,
may be recorded on special financial accounts, in euros or in foreign currencies, which are open for this purpose to the National Bank of Belgium, regardless of the immediate account of the Treasury, and which are managed by the Minister of Finance. Constituted assets may also be recorded in special securities accounts in euros or foreign currencies, opened on behalf of the Treasury in the securities compensation system of the National Bank of Belgium or with national or international clearing bodies. The Minister of Finance shall determine, where appropriate, the terms and conditions for the opening and management of these accounts and those relating to their periodic balances.
§ 5. The Minister of Finance may delegate to federal public service officials Finance, Treasury, as well as to the staff of the Debt Agency incorporated in 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 in accordance with the requirements of the Treasury, the amount and financial conditions of the public borrowing emissions referred to in § 1, 1°, as well as the powers necessary for the proper purpose of these emissions;
(b) the powers referred to in §§1, 2°; 3, 1° to 6° and 4, 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 transactions, respectively, in deduction or dependant of public debt budget interest credits.
§ 2. It is also authorized to increase capital revenues or capital expenditures resulting from public debt management transactions related to the debt repayment deadlines, respectively, in deduction or debiting credits from the public debt budget.
§ 3. The provisions of § 2 do not apply to premiums paid during the sale or purchase of options.
Art. 10. By derogation from article 17 of Royal Decree No. 150 of 18 March 1935, coordinating the laws relating to the organization and operation of the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations and making amendments under the Act of 31 July 1934, the interest rate to be increased in 2004 to the consignations, voluntary deposits and bails of all categories entrusted to the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations Ministre,
Art. 11. 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. 12. With a view to the implementation of Article 11 and Article 18, § 2, of the Regulation (EC, EURATOM) No 1150/2000 of the Council of 22 May 2000 implementing Decision 94/728/EC, Euratom relating to the system of the own resources of the Communities, the rights recognized not recorded, detected on the occasion of the controls, increased interest are made available to the European Commission.
By derogation from Article 3 of the Acts on State Accounts, coordinated on 17 July 1991, these rights observed increased of interest are taken from the reimbursements to the Belgian Treasure that the European Communities are required to make, as a collection charge, under Article 3, 1°, 5th paragraph, of the decision of 21 April 1970 of the Council of Ministers of the European Communities concerning the replacement of the contributions of the Member States by the European resources
Art. 13. 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 and by the special law of 13 July 2001 on the refinancing of communities and the extension of the fiscal powers of the regions, and taking into account:
- the allocation of late interest, the charge of moratorium interests, and fixed and proportional tax fines on the regional taxes referred to in Article 3 of this Special Law;
- of 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,
the regional tax transfers referred to in Article 3 of the said special law, plus the above-mentioned interests and fines, are estimated for the fiscal year 2004 to 2.894.146.000 EUR for the Flemish Region, to 1.358.577.000 EUR for the Walloon Region and to 825.057.000 EUR for the Brussels Capital Region.
Art. 14. In accordance with Article 53, 2°, of the special law of 16 January 1989 relating to the financing of communities and regions, amended by the special law of 16 July 1993 to complete the federal structure of the State and by the special law of 13 July 2001 relating to the refinancing of the communities and the extension of the fiscal powers of the regions and taking into account the law of 23 May 2000 setting the criteria referred to in Article 39, § 2, of the said special law of 16 January 1989
Pursuant to 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 2004 is estimated at EUR 5.053.675 for the German-speaking Community.
Art. 15. In accordance with Articles 53, 3°, and 35octies 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 and by the special law of 13 July 2001 relating to the refinancing of the communities and the extension of the fiscal powers of the regions, the transfers referred to in Articles 34 and 35ter to 35septics for the fiscal year 2004 are estimated at 4.648.199
Art. 16. The transfer referred to in section 65bis 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 and by the special law of 13 July 2001 on the refinancing of communities and extension of the fiscal powers of the regions, for the fiscal year 2004 is estimated at 21.277.115 EUR for the French Community Commission and 5.319.279 EUR for the Community Commission.
Art. 17. The transfer referred to in section 46bis of the special law of 12 January 1989 on Brussels institutions, as amended by the special law of 13 July 2001 on the transfer of various jurisdictions to regions and communities as well as by the special law of 13 July 2001 on the refinancing of communities and the extension of the fiscal powers of the regions, for the fiscal year 2004 is estimated at 26.596.394 EUR.
Art. 18. Transfers to communities and regions are paid, as the case may be, to an allocation fund that is open to the General Estimates or to a Treasury Board account.
Art. 18 bis. By derogation from Articles 3 and 43 of the coordinated laws on State accounting, the balance of contributions that have not yet been paid to date and that are collected by the Commission on the Protection of Privacy pursuant to Article 17, § 9, of the Act of 8 December 1992 on the protection of privacy with respect to personal character data processing can be entered by this Board as a rebirth to its purpose in 2004.
Art. 19. This Act comes into force on 1^er January 2004.
Promulgate this law, order that it be clothed with the seal of the State and published by the Belgian Monitor.
Given in Brussels on 22 December 2003.
ALBERT
By the King:
The Minister of Budget,
J. VANDE LANOTTE
Minister of Finance,
D. REYNDERS
Seal of the state seal:
The Minister of Justice,
Ms. L. ONKELINX
____
Note
(1) Parliamentary references
Regular session 2003-2004
House of Representatives
Parliamentary Documents - Bill No. 324/001
Amendments No. 324/002 and 003 - Report No. 324/004
Opinions of the Standing Committees No. 324/005 and 006
Annales parlementaire - Discussion : séances des 16 et 17 décembre 2003 - Adoption : séance du 18 décembre 2003.

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