1.Payment by the Commission of the Community contribution shall be made within the limits of the funds available. In the case of multi-annual programmes, each payment shall be posted to the earliest open budget commitments of the IPA component concerned.
2.Payments shall take the form of pre-financing, interim payments and payment of the final balance.
3.By 28 February each year, the beneficiary country shall send to the Commission a forecast of its likely payment applications for the financial year concerned and for the subsequent financial year, in relation to each IPA component or programme. The Commission may ask for an update of the forecast as appropriate.
4.Exchange of information concerning financial transactions between the Commission and the authorities and structures referred to in Article 21 shall, where appropriate, be made by electronic means, using procedures agreed upon between the Commission and the beneficiary country.
5.The combined total of pre-financing and interim payments shall not exceed 95 % of the Community contribution as set out in the financial table of each programme.
6.When the ceiling referred to in paragraph 5 is reached, the national authorising officer shall continue transmitting to the Commission any certified statement of expenditure, as well as information about the amounts recovered.
[F17. Amounts set out in the programme submitted by the beneficiary country, in certified statements of expenditure, in payment applications and in expenditure mentioned in the implementation reports, shall be denominated in euro. Beneficiary countries shall convert the amounts of expenditure incurred in national currency into euro using the monthly accounting rate of the euro established by the Commission for the month during which the expenditure was registered in the accounts of the national fund or the operating structure concerned, as appropriate.]
8.Payments by the Commission to the national fund shall be made to the euro account, in accordance with the provisions laid down in Articles 41, 42, 43, 44 and 45 and in the framework, sectoral or financing agreements. One euro account shall be opened for each of the IPA programmes concerned, or, as appropriate, IPA components, and shall be used exclusively for transactions relating to that programme or component.
9.Beneficiary countries shall ensure that the final beneficiaries receive the total amount of the public contribution in due time and in full. No specific charge or other charge with equivalent effect shall be levied which would reduce these amounts for the final beneficiaries.
10.The expenditure may be covered by Community financing only if it has been incurred and paid by the final beneficiary. Expenditure paid by final beneficiaries shall be substantiated by receipted invoices or accounting documents of equivalent probative value or other relevant documents, where, according to the programme, assistance is not a function of expenditure. Expenditure must have been certified by the national authorising officer.