EAGGF Guarantee Section expenditure is accounted for using two computer systems: the AGREX system, managed by Unit G2 of DG VI, which dates from 1988, and the Sincom system established in 1990 and managed by DG XIX. The two systems cannot communicate and the data they contain cannot be transferred between systems (in particular because one system uses national currency and the other ECU);
AGREX has a number of shortcomings:
- it is technically out of date, difficult to check, and has become extremely complex as a result of the constant updates which have proved necessary to adapt it to a regulatory framework which has changed greatly since 1988
- it is used exclusively by one Unit within DG VI and is not sufficiently used as an alarm system
- the absence of any accounting terminology means that authorising officer's decisions cannot be fully clarified
- lastly, it cannot cope with dates starting from the year 2000
