Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 laying down common provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund, the Cohesion Fund, the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund and laying down general provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund, the Cohesion Fund and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 (c. 1303)

PART FOUR U.K. GENERAL PROVISIONS APPLICABLE TO THE FUNDS AND THE EMFF

TITLE II U.K. FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT, PREPARATION, EXAMINATION, ACCEPTANCE AND CLOSURE OF ACCOUNTS AND FINANCIAL CORRECTIONS

CHAPTER II U.K. Preparation, examination and acceptance of accounts and closure of operational programmes and suspension of payments

Section I U.K. Preparation, examination and acceptance of accounts

Article 140 U.K. Availability of documents

1. Without prejudice to the rules governing State aid, the managing authority shall ensure that all supporting documents regarding expenditure supported by the Funds on operations for which the total eligible expenditure is less than EUR 1 000 000, are made available to the Commission and the European Court of Auditors upon request for a period of three years from 31 December following the submission of the accounts in which the expenditure of the operation is included.

In the case of operations other than those referred to in the first subparagraph, all supporting documents shall be made available for a two year period from 31 December following the submission of the accounts in which the final expenditure of the completed operation is included.

A managing authority may decide to apply to operations for which the total eligible expenditure is less than EUR 1 000 000 the rule referred to in the second subparagraph.

The time period referred to in the first subparagraph shall be interrupted either in the case of legal proceedings or by a duly justified request of the Commission.

2. The managing authority shall inform beneficiaries of the start date of the period referred to in paragraph 1.

3. The documents shall be kept either in the form of the originals, or certified true copies of the originals, or on commonly accepted data carriers including electronic versions of original documents or documents existing in electronic version only.

4. The documents shall be kept in a form which permits identification of data subjects for no longer than is necessary for the purposes for which the data were collected or for which they are further processed.

5. The procedure for certification of conformity of documents held on commonly accepted data carriers with the original document shall be laid down by the national authorities and shall ensure that the versions held comply with national legal requirements and can be relied on for audit purposes.

6. Where documents exist in electronic form only, the computer systems used shall meet accepted security standards that ensure that the documents held comply with national legal requirements and can be relied on for audit purposes.