Article 96: The budget of the Agency

1.  The revenues of the Agency shall consist of:
(a) a subsidy from the Community, entered in the general budget of the European Communities (Commission Section);
(b) the fees paid by undertakings;
(c) any voluntary contribution from the Member States.
2.  The expenditure of the Agency shall include the staff, administrative, infrastructure and operational expenses.
3.  By 15 February of each year at the latest, the Executive Director shall draw up a preliminary draft budget covering the operational expenditure and the programme of work anticipated for the following financial year, and shall forward this preliminary draft to the Management Board together with an establishment plan accompanied by a provisional list of posts.
4.  Revenue and expenditure shall be in balance.
5.  Each year the Management Board, on the basis of a draft drawn up by the Executive Director, shall produce an estimate of revenue and expenditure for the Agency for the following financial year. This estimate, which shall include a draft establishment plan, shall be forwarded by the Management Board to the Commission by 31 March at the latest.
6.  The estimate shall be forwarded by the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council (hereinafter referred to as the budgetary authority) together with the preliminary draft budget of the European Communities.
7.  On the basis of the estimate, the Commission shall enter in the preliminary draft budget of the European Communities the estimates it considers necessary for the establishment plan and the amount of the subsidy to be charged to the general budget, which it shall place before the budgetary authority in accordance with Article 272 of the Treaty.
8.  The budgetary authority shall authorise the appropriations for the subsidy to the Agency.
The budgetary authority shall adopt the establishment plan for the Agency.
9.  The budget of the Agency shall be adopted by the Management Board. It shall become final following final adoption of the general budget of the European Communities. Where appropriate, it shall be adjusted accordingly.
10.  Any modification to the budget, including the establishment plan, shall follow the procedure referred to above.
11.  The Management Board shall, without delay, notify the budgetary authority of its intention to implement any project which may have significant financial implications for the funding of its budget, in particular any projects relating to property such as the rental or purchase of buildings. It shall inform the Commission thereof.
Where a branch of the budgetary authority has notified its intention to deliver an opinion, it shall forward its opinion to the Management Board within a period of six weeks from the date of notification of the project.