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Consolidated financial statement 2011 - Aquafin

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30<br />

<strong>Consolidated</strong> <strong>financial</strong> <strong>statement</strong> <strong>2011</strong><br />

The early retirement scheme is also processed as a defined<br />

benefit plan inasmuch as the group has an actual liability with<br />

respect to the employees concerned. The group acknowledges<br />

a provision on the balance that is calculated in accordance<br />

with the ‘projected unit credit method’.<br />

n<br />

Estimates and assumptions<br />

To execute its (supramunicipal) contracts, <strong>Aquafin</strong> NV<br />

entered into a management agreement with the Flemish<br />

Region. The management agreement sets out the tasks of<br />

<strong>Aquafin</strong> NV and the payments that the company will receive<br />

for those tasks.<br />

The elements from that management agreement, which<br />

have been set out below, are crucial to the further assessment<br />

of the accounts.<br />

• All of the reasonable costs that <strong>Aquafin</strong> NV makes in the<br />

context of the supramunicipal sanitation of household<br />

wastewater are paid by the Flemish Region through<br />

the drinking water companies.<br />

• The management agreement has a rolling nature, which<br />

means that it is automatically extended every year<br />

unless one of the parties has terminated the agreement.<br />

The notice period for termination is 20 years.<br />

• During the execution of the management agreement,<br />

<strong>Aquafin</strong> NV has the right of use and enjoyment of the<br />

infrastructure created, purchased or leased by the<br />

company. At the end of the management agreement<br />

– after the settlement of all remaining payments due –<br />

the ownership of that infrastructure will be transferred<br />

to the Flemish Region at no charge.<br />

• During the execution of the management agreement,<br />

the construction and operations risks are borne by<br />

<strong>Aquafin</strong> NV.<br />

The interpretation IFRIC 12 - Service Concession Agreements<br />

applies to public-private agreements if the following<br />

conditions are satisfied:<br />

• the party that grants the concession ('grantor') controls<br />

or regulates the services that the operator is required<br />

to provide with the infrastructure, whom those services<br />

are to be delivered to, and the price;<br />

• the grantor controls the ultimate right through<br />

ownership. In other words, the grantor has control over<br />

the significant residual value in the infrastructure at<br />

the end of the life of the agreement.<br />

The most important characteristic of the aforementioned<br />

interpretation is the nature of the services. The activities of<br />

the operator must be of ´public utility´ (the so-called 'public<br />

service obligation'). The services related to the infrastructure<br />

are provided by <strong>Aquafin</strong> to the public (in the broad sense of<br />

the term) within a pre-determined policy, i.e. the management<br />

agreement. This determines which 'public' services are to be<br />

provided, to wit, the expansion and management of the<br />

supramunicipal infrastructure for treating household<br />

wastewater.<br />

Infrastructure assets within the scope of the agreement<br />

are assets built or acquired for use within the context of<br />

the concession agreement or existing infrastructure to which<br />

the operator has been granted access.<br />

All of the infrastructure built, purchased or leased by<br />

<strong>Aquafin</strong> NV in the context of the management agreement<br />

with the Flemish Region falls within the scope of this<br />

interpretation. As a result, the infrastructure concerned is not<br />

treated as tangible fixed assets in the <strong>financial</strong> <strong>statement</strong><br />

of the company.<br />

PRINCIPLES FOR THE ITEMS OF THE BALANCE<br />

STATEMENT<br />

n<br />

n<br />

Intangible assets<br />

Research and development<br />

Expenditures on research activities are recognized in the<br />

results for the period in which they were incurred.<br />

Lease agreements<br />

a. The group as lessee<br />

The group has entered into several operational lease<br />

agreements. They therefore do not include a transfer of<br />

the actual risks and rewards of ownership. In the event<br />

of operational leases, the lease payments are shown as<br />

costs and are distributed linearly over the lease period.<br />

b. The group as lessor<br />

Lease agreements in which the group acts as lessor are<br />

classified as <strong>financial</strong> leases if the group transfers<br />

substantially all of the risks and rewards of ownership<br />

of an asset to the lessee. The group will include a claim<br />

in the balance <strong>statement</strong> that is equal to the net<br />

investment in the lease.

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