1.For the purposes of this Article and Annex X, the following definitions apply:
'gross fixed capital formation' means all the resident producers' acquisitions, less disposals, of fixed assets during a given period and certain additions to the value of non-produced assets realised by the productive activity of producer or institutional units, as defined in Council Regulation (EC) No 2223/96(1);
'fixed assets' means all tangible or intangible assets produced as outputs from processes of production that are themselves used repeatedly, or continuously, in processes of production for more than one year;
'general government' means the totality of institutional units which, in addition to fulfilling their political responsibilities and their role of economic regulation, produce principally non-market services (possibly goods) for individual or collective consumption and redistribute income and wealth;
'public or equivalent structural expenditure' means the gross fixed capital formation of the general government.
2.Support from the Funds for the Investment for growth and jobs goal shall not replace public or equivalent structural expenditure by a Member State.
3.Member States shall maintain for the period 2014-2020 a level of public or equivalent structural expenditure on average per year at least equal to the reference level set in the Partnership Agreement.
In setting the reference level referred to in the first subparagraph, the Commission and the Member States shall take into account the general macroeconomic conditions and specific or exceptional circumstances, such as privatisations, an exceptional level of public or equivalent structural expenditure by a Member State in the 2007-2013 programming period and the evolution of other public investment indicators. They shall also take into account changes in the national allocations from the Funds as compared to the years 2007-2013.
4.Verification of whether the level of public or equivalent structural expenditure under the Investment for growth and jobs goal has been maintained for the period shall only take place in those Member States in which less developed regions cover at least 15 % of the total population.
In those Member States in which less developed regions cover at least 65 % of the total population, the verification shall take place at national level.
In those Member States in which less developed regions cover more than 15 % and less than 65 % of the total population, the verification shall take place at regional level. For that purpose, those Member States shall provide to the Commission information about the expenditure in the less developed regions at each stage of the verification process.
5.The verification of whether the level of public or equivalent structural expenditure under the Investment for growth and jobs goal has been maintained shall take place at the time of submission of the Partnership Agreement (the "ex ante verification"), in 2018 (the "mid-term verification"), and in 2022 (the "ex post verification").
The detailed rules relating to the verification of additionality are set out in point 2 of Annex X.
6.If it is established by the Commission in the ex post verification that a Member State has not maintained the reference level of public or equivalent structural expenditure under the Investment for growth and jobs goal set out in the Partnership Agreement and as set out in Annex X, the Commission may, in relation to the degree of non-compliance, carry out a financial correction by adoption of a decision by means of implementing act. In determining whether to carry out a financial correction the Commission shall take into account whether the economic situation of the Member State has significantly changed since the mid-term verification. The detailed rules relating to financial correction rates are set out in point 3 of Annex X.
7.Paragraphs 1 to 6 shall not apply to programmes under the European territorial cooperation goal.
Council Regulation (EC) No 2223/96 of 25 June 1996 on the European system of national and regional accounts in the Community (OJ L 310, 30.11.1996, p. 1).