1.Community budget commitments shall be made on the basis of the decision to grant a contribution from the Funds.
2.Commitments in respect of assistance to be carried out over a period of two or more years shall be as a general rule effected annually. The first commitment shall be made when the Commission lays down its decision approving the assistance. Subsequent commitments shall be effected as a general rule by 30 April each year.
The Commission shall automatically decommit 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, as defined in Article 32(3), by the end of the second year following the year of commitment or, where appropriate and for the amounts concerned, following the date of a subsequent Commission decision necessary in order to authorise a measure or an operation or by the end of the deadline for the transmission of the final report referred to in Article 37(1); the contribution from the Funds to that assistance shall be reduced by that amount.
The period for automatic decommitment referred to in the second subparagraph shall cease to run for the part of the commitment corresponding to operations which, at the specified date of decommitment, are the subject of a judicial procedure, or an administrative appeal having suspensory effects, subject to the Commission receiving prior information giving reasons from the Member State concerned and to information being issued by the Commission.
In any case, the Commission shall in good time inform the Member State and the paying authority whenever there is a risk of application of the automatic decommitment provided for in the second subparagraph.
If this Regulation enters into force after 1 January 2000, the period for automatic decommitment referred to in the second subparagraph shall be extended for the first commitment by the number of months between 1 January 2000 and the date of the decision on the contributions from the Funds referred to in Article 28.
3.For assistance to be carried out over a period of less than two years the total amount of the contribution from the Funds shall be committed when the Commission adopts its decsion granting a contribution from the Funds.
1.Payment by the Commission of the contribution from the Funds shall be made, in accordance with the corresponding budget commitments, to the paying authority as defined in Article 9(o).
Payments shall be posted to the earliest open commitment made pursuant to Article 31.
Payments may take the form of payments on account, interim payments or payments of the final balance. Interim payments and payments of the balance shall relate to expenditure actually paid out, which must correspond to payments effected by the final beneficiaries, supported by receipted invoices or accounting documents of equivalent probative value.
Subject to available funding, the Commission shall make interim payments within no more than two months of receipt of an acceptable payment application, as described in paragraph 3.
The paying authority shall ensure that final beneficiaries receive payment of their contribution from the Funds as quickly as possible and in full. No deduction, retention or further specific charge which would reduce these amounts shall be made.
2.When the first commitment is made, the Commission shall make a payment on account to the paying authority. This payment on account shall be 7 % of the contribution from the Funds to the assistance in question. In principle, it may be subdivided over two budget years at most depending on the availability of budget funds.
[F1For the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia, this payment on account shall be 16 % of the contribution from the Funds to the assistance in question. It will be subdivided over two budget years: 10 % in the first year, 6 % in the following year.]
Throughout the lifetime of assistance, the paying authority shall use the payment on account to pay the Community contribution to expenditure relating to this assistance.
All or part of a payment on account, depending on progress towards implementation of the assistance, shall be repaid to the Commission by the paying authority if no payment application is sent to the Commission within 18 months of its decision to grant a contribution from the Funds. If any interest is earned on the payment on account it shall be allocated by the paying authority to the form of assistance concerned.
3.Interim payments shall be made by the Commission to reimburse expenditure actually paid under the Funds as certified by the paying authority. Such payments shall be made at the level of each assistance and calculated at the level of measures contained in the financing plan of the programme complement. They shall be subject to the following conditions:
(a)the programme complement containing the information specified in Article 18(3) has been presented to the Commission;
(b)the latest annual implementation report due, containing the information specified in Article 37 has been forwarded to the Commission;
(c)the mid-term evaluation of the assistance referred to in Article 42, when due, has been forwarded to the Commission;
(d)decisions taken by the managing authority and the Monitoring Committee are consistent with the total amount of the contribution from the Funds granted to the priorities concerned;
(e)any recommendations as referred to in Article 34(2) have been acted upon within the specified period, or reasons have been communicated by the Member State to explain why no measure has been taken, where those recommendations are intended to remedy serious shortcomings in the monitoring or management system which undermine proper financial management of the assistance; any requests for corrective measures as referred to in Article 38(4) have been acted upon, if the application relates to the measure or measures concerned;
(f)no suspension of payments under the first subparagraph of Article 39(2) has been decided, and no decision has been taken by the Commission to embark on an infringement procedure within the meaning of Article 226 of the Treaty concerning the measure(s) that is or are the subject of the application in question.
The Member State and the paying authority shall be informed immediately by the Commission if one of these conditions is not fulfilled and the payment application is therefore not acceptable and they shall take the necessary steps to remedy the situation.
Member States shall ensure that, as far as possible, applications for interim payments are presented to the Commission in batches three times a year, the last application being presented no later than 31 October.
Applications for interim payments shall distinguish, for each priority, the expenditure incurred in regions and areas receiving transitional support.
The combined total of the payments referred to in paragraph 2 and in this paragraph which are made in respect of an assistance shall not exceed 95 % of the contribution from the Funds to that assistance.
4.The final balance of the assistance shall be paid if:
(a)the paying authority submits to the Commission within six months of the deadline for payment laid down in the decision granting a contribution from the Funds, a certified statement of expenditure actually paid;
(b)the final report on implementation has been submitted to and approved by the Commission;
(c)the Member State has sent the Commission the statement referred to in Article 38(1)(f).
5.The final payment of the balance may no longer be corrected at the request of the Member State if the paying authority has not sent an application to the Commission within nine months from the date of transfer of the final balance.
6.The Member States shall designate the authorities empowered to issue the certificates and declarations referred to in paragraphs 3 and 4.
7.No later than 30 April of each year, the Member States shall send the Commission their updated forecasts of applications for payment for the current year and the forecast for the following year.
8.The Commission shall lay down appropriate payment procedures, consistent with the objectives of these provisions, for the innovative measures referred to in Article 22 and the measures referred to in Article 23 and inform the committees referred to in Articles 48 to 51.
Textual Amendments
F1 Inserted by Act concerning the conditions of accession of the Czech Republic, the Republic of Estonia, the Republic of Cyprus, the Republic of Latvia, the Republic of Lithuania, the Republic of Hungary, the Republic of Malta, the Republic of Poland, the Republic of Slovenia and the Slovak Republic and the adjustments to the Treaties on which the European Union is founded.
Commission decisions, commitments and payments shall be denominated and carried out in euro in accordance with the arrangements to be drawn up by the Commission under the procedure referred to in Article 53(2).