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Document 02000R2222-20060715
Commission Regulation (EC) No 2222/2000 of 7 June 2000 laying down financial rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1268/1999 on Community support for pre-accession measures for agriculture and rural development in the applicant countries of central and eastern Europe in the pre-accession period
Consolidated text: Commission Regulation (EC) No 2222/2000 of 7 June 2000 laying down financial rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1268/1999 on Community support for pre-accession measures for agriculture and rural development in the applicant countries of central and eastern Europe in the pre-accession period
Commission Regulation (EC) No 2222/2000 of 7 June 2000 laying down financial rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1268/1999 on Community support for pre-accession measures for agriculture and rural development in the applicant countries of central and eastern Europe in the pre-accession period
02000R2222 — EN — 15.07.2006 — 003.001
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COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 2222/2000 of 7 June 2000 (OJ L 253 7.10.2000, p. 5) |
Amended by:
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Official Journal |
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No |
page |
date |
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L 304 |
8 |
21.11.2001 |
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L 27 |
14 |
1.2.2003 |
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L 189 |
3 |
12.7.2006 |
COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 2222/2000
of 7 June 2000
laying down financial rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1268/1999 on Community support for pre-accession measures for agriculture and rural development in the applicant countries of central and eastern Europe in the pre-accession period
CHAPTER 1
GENERAL PROVISIONS
Article 1
Scope of the present Regulation
Article 2
Definitions
For the purposes of this Regulation:
‘applicant countries’ means the countries listed in Article 1(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1268/1999;
‘national fund’ means the body appointed by the applicant country and placed under the responsibility of the national authorising officer bearing the full financial responsibility and liability for the funds, which acts as the competent authority. The national authorising officer is the contact point for financial information sent between the Commission and the applicant country;
‘competent authority’ means the body, in the applicant country,
issuing, monitoring and withdrawing accreditation of the Sapard agency for the purposes of Article 1(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1663/95; and
appointing a certifying body;
‘Sapard agency’ means the body established by the applicant country and operating under its responsibility which discharges two functions: an implementing function and a paying function. Only one Sapard agency may be accredited at any time in each applicant country;
‘certifying Body’ means the body which is operationally independent of the Sapard agency and establishes the attestation of the accounts, reports on the management and control systems and verifies the co-financing elements;
‘multiannual financing agreement’ means the agreement setting out the relevant provisions to be respected for Sapard co-financing;
‘annual financing agreement’ means the agreement setting out the financial allocation for the year in question on the basis of the appropriations entered in the Community budget and supplementing and amending, as appropriate, provisions laid down either in the multiannual financing agreement or in a prior annual financing agreement;
‘Sapard euro account’ means the account opened by the national authorising officer under their responsibility in a financial or treasury institution bearing interest under normal commercial conditions to receive payments referred to in Article 8 and used exclusively for Sapard transactions and maintained in euro;
‘financial year’ means the calendar year 1 January to 31 December;
‘exceptional natural disaster’ means a natural disaster on an unusually large scale and causing intense damage and destruction.
CHAPTER 2
CONFERRAL OF MANAGEMENT
Article 3
Conferral of management of aid
For the establishment of compliance with the conditions and with the provisions mentioned in the first subparagraph, the Commission shall:
The Commission shall monitor continued compliance with the conditions and provisions of this Regulation including the Annex. If, at any stage, they are found to be no longer fulfilled, the Commission shall immediately revoke the decision and shall:
Article 4
Tasks of the competent authority
Article 5
Tasks of the Sapard agency
The implementation task of the Sapard agency shall comprise:
The payment task of the Sapard agency shall comprise:
Article 6
Tasks of the certifying body
The tasks of the certifying body shall include
CHAPTER 3
PAYMENT AND CONTROL
Article 7
Budget commitments
The first annual financing agreement may only be signed on behalf of the Commission when the following conditions have been met:
Taking account of the requirements of Article 10, the Commission shall de-commit any part of a commitment which has not been settled by the payment on account or for which it has not received an acceptable payment application by the following dates:
for appropriations corresponding to the 2000 annual allocation: 31 December 2004;
for appropriations corresponding to the annual allocation for 2001: 31 December 2005;
for appropriations corresponding to the annual allocation for 2002: 31 December 2006;
for appropriations corresponding to the annual allocation for 2003: 31 December 2006;
for appropriations corresponding to the annual allocation for 2004: 31 December 2007;
for appropriations corresponding to the annual allocation for 2005: 31 December 2008;
for appropriations corresponding to the annual allocation for 2006: 31 December 2008.
Article 8
Payments from the Commission
Article 9
Payments from the Sapard agency
Payments from the Sapard agency to the beneficiary shall:
The Community contribution shall be made simultaneously with the national contribution. However, in the case of beneficiaries in the public sector, the national contribution may precede that of the Community.
The Sapard agency shall maintain records of each payment which shall include at least the following information:
Article 10
Application for payment from the Community
The Commission shall take into consideration only payment applications drawn up by the Sapard agency on a quarterly basis, presented in accordance with a form established by the Commission and transmitted by the national authorizing officer to the Commission within one month of the end of each quarter. However, supplementary applications may be submitted if justified on the basis of the risk of:
The applications shall include at least the following information:
Article 11
Exchange rate and interest
The conversion rate between euro and national currency shall be the exchange rate published by the European Central Bank:
Article 12
Commission initiative measures
In cases where the Commission does not allocate all the annual allocation provided for in Article 7(4) of Regulation (EC) No 1268/1999 to the applicant country, use of the amount not so allocated shall be decided by the Commission on the basis of ad-hoc decisions.
Article 13
Clearance of accounts decision
The provisions fixed in the first and second last sentence of Article 7(1), Article 7(2)(c), and Article 7(3) and (4) of Regulation (EC) No 296/96 are applicable. For the financial year ‘n’, all transactions recorded in the accounts of the Sapard agency in the financial year ‘n’ are taken into consideration.
Article 14
Conformity clearance decision
Article 15
Recording and control provision
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
ANNEX
FUNCTIONS AND CRITERIA FOR ACCREDITATION AS A SAPARD AGENCY
1. FUNCTIONS
The Sapard agency shall execute the following principal functions in respect of Sapard expenditure:
authorisation of commitments and payments: the objective of this function is the establishment of the amount that shall be paid to a claimant or supplier in conformity with the financing agreement rules, in particular those concerning the eligibility of applications for approval and claims for payment, compliance with commitments entered into concerning project approvals, tendering and contracting procedures, and verification of the work carried out or services supplied;
execution of payments: the objective of this function is the issuing of an instruction to the agency's bankers, or, in appropriate cases, a governmental payments office, to pay the authorised amount to the claimant or supplier (or their assignee);
accounting for commitments and payments: the objective of this function is the recording of the commitment and payment in the agency's separate books of accounts of Sapard expenditure, which will normally be in the form of an electronic data processing system, and the preparation of periodic summaries of expenditure, including the periodic and annual declarations to the Commission. The books of account shall also record details of debts to be recovered;
control: the objective of this function is to verify the facts on which applications and claims are based in order to review their compliance with the financing agreement rules and the terms and conditions of the commitment. this control shall, where appropriate, include pre-project selection checks, remeasurement, checks on quantity and quality of goods or services delivered, an analysis or a sample control, pre-payment checks and any special provisions mentioned in the financing agreement rules as to the eligibility of the expenditure etc. In order to establish eligibility, these controls shall require, where appropriate, examinations of a technical nature, which can involve economic financial assessments and checks of a specific agricultural, technical or scientific nature;
reporting: the objective of this function is to ensure that progress of the individual projects and measures is reported in a way which ensure the effective and efficient implementation of the measure.
2. CRITERIA
2.1. |
The Sapard agency's administrative structure shall provide for the separation of the three functions of authorisation, execution and accounting, each of which shall be the responsibility of a separate administrative sub-unit, the responsibilities of which are defined in an organisation chart. |
2.2. |
The Sapard agency shall adopt the following procedures or those offering equivalent guarantees:
2.2.1.
the Sapard agency shall lay down detailed written procedures for the receipt, recording and processing of applications for project approval, claims, invoices and supporting documents and control reports inclusive of a description of all documents to be used. These procedures should ensure that only claims for payment or projects selected which comply with the criteria are processed;
2.2.2.
the division of duties shall be such that no official has responsibility at any time, for any project, for more than one of the responsibilities for approving projects, authorising payment, paying or accounting for sums, and that no official performs one of those tasks without their work coming under the supervision of a second official. The responsibilities of each official shall be defined in writing, including the setting of financial limits to his authority. Staff training shall be appropriate, and there shall be a policy for rotating staff in sensitive positions, or alternatively for increased supervision;
2.2.3.
each official responsible for authorisation shall have at their disposal a detailed check-list of the verifications required to be undertaken, and shall include in the supporting documents of the claim their attestation that these checks have been performed. This attestation may be made by electronic means subject to the conditions referred to in subparagraph 2.2.6. There shall be evidence of review of the work by a more senior member of staff. The analysis, the appraisal and approval of the projects is to be evidenced in writing. The analysis of the project should be guided by the principles of sound efficient management;
2.2.4.
an application/claim shall be authorised only after sufficient checks have been made to verifiy that it complies with financing agreement rules and the content of the Sapard programme. These checks shall include those required by the rules governing the specific measure under which aid is claimed, and those required to prevent and detect fraud and irregularity with particular regard to the risks presented. As part of the authorisation function, applications shall be subject to checks which establish adherence to terms and conditions, eligibility, completeness of documents, correctness of supporting documents, date of receipt, etc. All checks to be undertaken shall be specified in a checklist, and their performance shall be attested for each application/claim, or for each batch of applications/claims. As regards the services/the goods delivered the control should consist of:
—
documentary control: to ensure that data on quantity, quality and price of the goods or services on the invoice reconcile with those ordered,
—
physical control: to ensure that the quantity and quality of the goods or services match those mentioned in the invoice/claim form.
This control can also be performed on a continuous basis during the delivery of the services, i.e. when initial or interim payments are made;
2.2.5.
procedures should ensure that payment is made only to the claimant, to their bank account or to their assignee. The payment shall be executed by the agency's banker, or, as appropriate, a governmental payments office, or the cheque mailed, within five working days of the date of charge to the Sapard bank account. Procedures shall be adopted to ensure that all payments for which transfers are not executed, or cheques not cashed, are credited to Sapard euro account. No payments shall be made in cash. The approval of the authorising official and/or their supervisor may be made by electronic means, provided an appropriate level of security over these means is ensured, and the identity of the signatory is entered in the electronic records;
2.2.6.
where applications, claims or invoices are processed using a computer system, access to the computer system shall be protected and controlled in such a way that:
—
all information entered, modified, or validated, except by authorised officials to whom individual passwords are attributed,
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no data may be entered, modified, or validated, except by authorised officials to whom individual passwords are attributed,
—
the identity of each official entering, or modifying, data or programmes is recorded in an operations log. Passwords shall be changed regularly to avoid misuse. Computer systems shall be protected from unauthorised access by physical controls, and the data shall be backed up by copies stored in a separate, safeguarded location. Data entry shall be checked by logical checks aimed at detecting inconsistent or extraordinary data;
2.2.7.
procedures should ensure that changes in rates of aid or terms and conditions for the grant of aid are recorded and the instructions, databases and checklists updated in good time. |
2.3. |
part or all of the authorisation and the control function may be delegated to other bodies provided that the following conditions are fulfilled:
2.3.1.
the responsibilities and obligations of these other bodies, notably concerning the control and verification of the compliance with financing agreement rules, are clearly defined;
2.3.2.
the bodies dispose of effective systems for ensuring that they fulfil their responsibilities in a satisfactory manner;
2.3.3.
the bodies explicity confirm to the agency that they in fact fulfil their responsibilities and describe the means employed;
2.3.4.
the Sapard agency is informed on a regular and timely basis of the results of controls effected, so that the sufficiency of these controls may always be taken into account before a claim is authorised, settled or an invoice is paid. The work performed shall be described in detail in a report accompanying each application and claim, batch of applications and claims or, when appropriate, in a report covering one year. The report shall be accompanied by an attestation of the eligibility of the approved applications and claims and of the nature, scope and limits of the work done. Physical and/or administrative checks performed shall be identified, the method described, the results of all inspections and the measures taken in respect of discrepancies and irregularities reported upon. The supporting documents submitted to the agency shall be sufficient to provide assurance that all the required checks on the eligibility of the claims or invoices authorised for payment have been performed;
2.3.5.
the Sapard agency should be satisfied before the project approval and before the payment of the expenditure, that the other bodies have followed procedures which comply with the criteria set out in this Annex;
2.3.6.
criteria for assessing applications and their order of priority shall be clearly defined and documented;
2.3.7.
where documents relating to the claims authorised, expenditure committed and controls effected are retained by the other bodies, both these bodies and the agency shall set up procedures to ensure that the location of all such documents that are relevant to specific payments made by the agency is recorded, and that these documents may be made available for inspection at the agency's offices at the request of the persons and bodies who would normally have the right to inspect such documents, which include:
—
the agency's staff who deal with the claim,
—
the agency's internal audit service,
—
the certifying body that attests the agency's annual declaration,
—
mandated officials of the European Union;
2.3.8.
written agreements must be concluded between the Sapard agency and bodies to which functions of the Sapard agency have been delegated. Such agreements should clearly identify the functions to be performed by the delegated body and the type of supporting documents and reports to be sent to the Sapard agency within specified time limits. The overall system including the delegated functions performed by other bodies should be set out in an organisation chart. The agreement should provide for access by officials of the Commission and the Court of Auditors to information held by these delegated bodies and for the investigation by such officials of applciations including the carrying out of checks on projects and recipients of aid. |
2.4. |
Accounting procedures shall ensure that declarations of expenditure to the Commission are complete, accurate (correct project or account heading) and timely, and that any errors or omissions are detected and corrected, in particular through cheks and reconciliation performed at intervals not exceeding three months. The Sapard agency's accounting procedure shall ensure that the accounting system can produce, in euro and national currency, for each regional office, per project, contract or measure/sub-measure, the total cost, the committed expenditure, part payments and balance payments. Deadlines shall be set for the cancellation of commitments where work has not been completed within an agreed timetable. These cancellations shall be appropriately recorded in the accounting system. |
2.5. |
The Sapard agency shall dispose of an internal audit service. The objective of this service or equivalent procedure is to ensure that the agency's system of internal control operates effectively; the internal audit service shall be independent of the agency's other departments and shall report directly to the agency's top management. The internal audit service shall verify that procedures adopted by the agency are adequate to ensure that compliance with the programme and financing agreement is verified, and that accounts are accurate, complete and timely. Verifications may be limited to selected measures/sub-measures and to samples of transactions provided that an audit plan ensures that all significant areas, including the departments/bodies responsible for authorisation and those departments to which functions have been delegated, are covered over a period not exceeding three years. The service's work shall be performed according to internationally accepted auditing standards, shall be recorded in working papers and shall result in reports and recommendations addressed to the agency's top management. The audit plans and reports shall be made available to the certifying body and to officials of the European Union mandated to undertake financial audits and for the sole purpose of appraising the effectiveness of the internal audit function. |
2.6. |
The rules for the procurement by public bodies of services, works and supplies in the applicant country shall be in accordance with the rules set out in the Commission annual ( 13 ) entitled ‘Service, supply and work contracts concluded within the framework of Community cooperation for the third countries’ with the exception of the requirement for ex ante approval by the Commission. |
2.7. |
Services, works, machinery and supplies procured by private undertakings must originate in the Community or in the countries referred to in Article 1(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1268/1999. The same goes for supplies and equipment purchased by a contractor for works or service contracts if the supplies and equipment are destined to become the property of the project once the contract has been completed. |
2.8. |
As regards in particular forfeited guarantees, reimbursed payments, etc., the agency shall set up a system for the recognition of all amounts due to the Sapard euro acocunt and for the recording in a debtors ledger of all such debst prior to their receipt. The debtors ledger shall be inspected at regular intervals with the aim of taking action to collect debts that are overdue. |
2.9. |
The Sapard agency shall publicise the availability of support to all potential project managers/operators so that they obtain as wide as possible selection of potential project managers/operators. Standard application forms with clear guidelines for completion and conditions for eligibity shall be drawn up in advance of the launch of the scheme. |
2.10. |
Timely processing of applications from beneficiaries. |
2.11. |
The Sapard agency will install an appropriate system to report progress of each project and measure towards pre-defined indicators. Where appropriate these indicators shall, with the approval of the monitoring committee, be revised. Action is to be taken in instances where delays in meeting pre-defined targets arise. Proper records shall be kept of all action taken. An appropriate management information system shall be used for the speedy generation of appropriate reports on the projects and measures. These reports shall be made available to the managing authority, the monitoring committee and the Commission on request. |
( 1 ) OJ L 161, 26.6.1999, p. 87.
( 2 ) OJ L 161, 26.6.1999, p. 68.
( 3 ) OJ L 356, 31.12.1977, p. 1.
( 4 ) OJ L 160, 26.6.1999, p. 103.
( 5 ) OJ L 158, 8.7.1995, p. 6.
( 6 ) OJ L 273, 23.10.1999, p. 5.
( 7 ) OJ L 161, 26.6.1999, p. 1.
( 8 ) OJ L 331, 23.12.1999, p. 51.
( 9 ) OJ L 226, 27.8.1999, p. 23.
( 10 ) OJ L 39, 17.2.1996, p. 5.
( 11 ) OJ L 292, 15.11.1996, p. 2.
( 12 ) OJ L 178, 12.7.1994, p. 43.
( 13 ) SEC (1999) 1801 final ‘Service, supply and work contracts concluded within the framework of Community cooperation for the third countries’.