Commission Regulation (EC) No 718/2007Show full title

CHAPTER III U.K. Implementation

Section 1 U.K. General rules

Article 158 U.K. Selection of operations

1. All operations which are not major projects and which are implemented by final beneficiaries other than national public bodies shall be selected through calls for proposals. The selection criteria shall be drawn up by the operating structure and shall be published with the call for proposals.

2. The operating structure shall set up a selection committee for each call for proposals, which shall analyse and select proposals, and recommend results to the operating structure.

The operating structure shall decide whether to approve the results of the selection procedure and state the reasons for its decision.

The composition of the selection committee and its functioning modalities are defined in the relevant financing agreement.

Article 159 U.K. Financial engineering instruments

1. As part of an operational programme, the Community contribution may finance expenditure related to an operation comprising contributions to support financial engineering instruments for enterprises, such as venture capital funds, guarantee funds and loan funds. Preference shall be given to small and medium-sized enterprises.

2. Detailed implementing rules shall be set out in the financing agreement following the adoption of an operational programme providing for Community contribution to financial engineering instruments.

Section 2 U.K. Financial management

Article 160 U.K. Payments

1. Notwithstanding Article 40(5), the combined total of pre-financing and interim payments shall not exceed 90 % of the Community contribution, as set out in the financial table of the operational programmes.

2. All exchanges concerning financial transactions between the Commission and the authorities and bodies referred to in Article 21 shall be made by electronic means, as provided for in the financing agreement.

[F1 3. In addition to the provisions of Article 42, payments for the pre-financing shall amount to 30 % of the European Union contribution for the three most recent years of the programme concerned, and shall be made once the conditions laid down in Article 42(1) are met. Where necessary, with regard to the availability of budgetary commitment, the pre-financing may be made in two instalments.]

F2 4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Textual Amendments

F1 Substituted by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1292/2011 of 9 December 2011 amending Regulation (EC) No 718/2007 implementing Council Regulation (EC) No 1085/2006 establishing an instrument for pre–accession assistance (IPA).

F2 Deleted by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1292/2011 of 9 December 2011 amending Regulation (EC) No 718/2007 implementing Council Regulation (EC) No 1085/2006 establishing an instrument for pre–accession assistance (IPA).

Article 161 U.K. Acceptability of applications for payment

1. In the case of a payment application for an interim payment, in addition to the provisions laid down in Article 43(1), the provisions of this paragraph shall apply under the regional development and the human resources development components.

A payment application cannot be accepted if payments have been suspended in accordance with Article 163. The payment application shall certify that all requirements laid down in Article 43(1) and in this paragraph are fulfilled.

The certified statement of expenditure referred to in Article 43(1) shall be drawn up by priority axis and measures. The national authorising officer shall certify that the statement of expenditure is accurate, results from reliable accounting systems and is based on verifiable documents. The national authorising officer shall send this document to the Commission together with:

(a) a certificate of expenditure, certifying that the expenditure declared complies with applicable Community and national rules and has been incurred in respect of operations selected for funding in accordance with the criteria applicable to the programme and complying with relevant applicable Community and national rules;

(b) the computerised listing of operations by measure and the corresponding expenditure, including contribution under the IPA Regulation, national public and, when applicable, private contributions;

(c) the details of amounts recoverable following cancellation of all or part of the Community contribution for an operation;

(d) the volume of Community funds in the component-specific euro account at the date of the last debit to which this statement refers and the interest earned.

2. In the case of a payment application for the payment of the final balance, in addition to the provisions laid down in Article 45(1), the provisions of this paragraph shall apply under the regional development and the human resources development components.

For a payment application to be acceptable, the Community contribution, by priority axis, shall be consistent with the financial table of the operational programme.

The certified statement of expenditure referred to in Article 45(1) shall be drawn up by the national authorising officer and sent to the Commission in accordance with the requirements of paragraph 1 of this Article.

The Commission shall inform the beneficiary country of its conclusions on the content of the audit authority opinion referred to in Article 45(1)(c). This opinion shall be deemed accepted in the absence of observations by the Commission within five months from the date of its receipt.

Article 162 U.K. Deadlines for payments

1. The national fund shall ensure that requests for interim payments for each operational programme are sent to the Commission three times a year. For a payment to be made by the Commission in a given year, the application for payment shall be submitted by 31 October that year.

2. Subject to available funding, the Commission shall make the interim payment no later than two months after the date on which an application for payment meeting the conditions referred to in Articles 43(1) and 161(1) is registered with the Commission.

3. Subject to available funding, the Commission shall make the payment of the final balance once the following conditions are fulfilled:

(a) the Commission has accepted the sectoral final report on implementation in accordance with the provisions of Article 169(4) and (5);

(b) the Commission has accepted the opinion issued by the audit authority as referred to in Article 45(1)(c) and the related activity report set out in Article 29(2)(b) first indent.

4. The payment deadline may be interrupted by the authorising officer by delegation of the Commission, with the meaning of Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002, for a maximum of six months if:

(a) in a report of a national or Community audit body there is evidence to suggest a significant deficiency in the functioning of the management and control systems; or

(b) the authorising officer by delegation in the Commission has to carry out additional verifications following information coming to his attention alerting him that expenditure in a certified statement of expenditure is linked to a serious irregularity which has not been corrected; or

(c) clarifications are needed regarding the information contained in the statement of expenditure.

The national IPA coordinator and the national authorising officer shall be informed immediately of the reasons for the interruption. The interruption shall be ended as soon as the necessary measures have been taken by the beneficiary country.

Article 163 U.K. Suspension of payments

The provisions laid down in Article 46 shall apply to all or part of the interim payments at the level of priority axes or programmes.

Article 164 U.K. Closure of a programme

1. The operational programme shall be closed according to the provisions of Article 47(1), the payment of the final balance being determined by the Commission on the basis of the documents referred to in Article 45(1) and Article 161(2).

The Commission shall inform the beneficiary country about the date of the closure of the operational programme.

2. Notwithstanding the results of any audits performed by the Commission or the European Court of Auditors, the final balance paid by the Commission for the operational programme may be amended within nine months of the date on which it is paid or, where there is a negative balance to be reimbursed by the beneficiary country, within nine months of the date on which the recovery order is issued. Such amendment of the balance shall not affect the date of the closure of the operational programme as set out in paragraph 1.

Article 165 U.K. Re-use of Community contribution

The beneficiary country shall inform the Commission of how it proposes to re-use the funds cancelled in accordance with Article 54 and, where appropriate, to amend the financial plan for assistance, in accordance with the provisions of Article 156.

Section 3 U.K. Evaluation and monitoring

Article 166 U.K. Evaluation

1. Beneficiary countries shall carry out an ex ante evaluation for each operational programme separately. However, in duly justified cases, and in agreement with the Commission, beneficiary countries may carry out a single ex ante evaluation covering more than one operational programme.

Ex ante evaluations shall be carried out under the responsibility of the operating structure.

Ex ante evaluations shall aim to optimise the allocation of budgetary resources under operational programmes and improve programming quality. They shall identify and appraise the disparities, gaps and potential for development, the goals to be achieved, the results expected, the quantified targets, the coherence, if necessary, of the strategy proposed and the quality of the procedures for implementation, monitoring, evaluation and financial management.

The ex ante evaluation shall be annexed to the operational programme(s) it relates to.

2. During the programming period, beneficiary countries shall carry out evaluations linked to the monitoring of operational programmes, in particular where this monitoring reveals a significant departure from the goals initially set or where proposals are made for the revision of operational programmes, as referred to in Article 156. The results shall be sent to the sectoral monitoring committee for the operational programme and to the Commission.

3. Evaluations shall be carried out by experts or bodies, internal or external, functionally independent of the authorities referred to in Article 21. The results shall be published according to the applicable rules on access to documents.

Article 167 U.K. Sectoral monitoring committee

1. In accordance with Article 59, the operating structure shall establish a sectoral monitoring committee for each programme. A single sectoral monitoring committee may be set up for several programmes within the same component. This committee shall meet at least twice a year, at the initiative of the beneficiary country or the Commission.

2. Each sectoral monitoring committee shall draw up its rules of procedure in compliance with a sectoral monitoring committee mandate set out by the Commission, and within the institutional, legal and financial framework of the beneficiary country concerned. It shall adopt these rules of procedure in agreement with the operating structure and the IPA monitoring committee, in order to exercise its missions in accordance with this Regulation.

3. The sectoral monitoring committee shall be co-chaired by the head of the operating structure and the Commission. Its composition shall be decided by the operating structure, in agreement with the Commission.

The sectoral monitoring committee shall include the Commission, the national IPA coordinator, the strategic coordinator for the regional development and the human resources development components, the operating structure of the programme. Where appropriate, it shall also include representatives from the civil society and socio-economic partners. A representative of the European Investment Bank may participate in an advisory capacity for those operational programmes to which the European Investment Bank makes a contribution.

4. The sectoral monitoring committee shall:

(a) consider and approve the general criteria for selecting the operations, in accordance, where relevant, with Article 155(2)(g) within six months of the entry into force of the financing agreement on the programme and approve any revision of those criteria in accordance with programming needs;

(b) review at each meeting progress made towards achieving the specific targets of the operational programme on the basis of documents submitted by the operating structure;

[F3 (c) examine at each meeting the results of implementation, particularly the achievement of the targets set for each priority axis and measures and interim evaluations referred to in Article 57; it shall carry out this monitoring by reference to the indicators referred to in Article 155(2)(d);]

(d) examine the sectoral annual and final reports on implementation referred to in Article 169;

(e) be informed of the annual activity report referred to in the first indent of Article 29(2)(b), or of the part of the report referring to the operational programme concerned, and of any relevant comments the Commission may make after examining that report or relating to that part of the report;

(f) examine any proposal to amend the financing agreement of the programme.

5. The sectoral monitoring committee may also propose to the operating structure any revision or examination of the programme likely to make possible the attainment of the programmes' objectives referred to in Article 155(2)(a) or to improve its management, including its financial management.

Textual Amendments

F3 Substituted by Commission Regulation (EU) No 80/2010 of 28 January 2010 amending Regulation (EC) No 718/2007 implementing Council Regulation (EC) No 1085/2006 establishing an instrument for pre-accession assistance (IPA).

Article 168 U.K. Arrangements for monitoring

Data exchange between the Commission and the beneficiary countries for the purpose of monitoring shall be carried out electronically, as provided for in the financing agreements.

Article 169 U.K. Sectoral annual and final reports on implementation

1. By 30 June each year and for the first time by 30 June 2008, the operating structure shall submit a sectoral annual report to the Commission and the national IPA coordinator.

A sectoral final report shall be submitted to the Commission and the national IPA coordinator at the latest six months after the final date of eligibility of expenditure. The sectoral final report shall refer to the whole period of implementation and include the last sectoral annual report.

The sectoral reports shall be established in relation to the programmes concerned.

2. Sectoral reports shall be examined by the sectoral monitoring committee prior to their transmission to the Commission and the national IPA coordinator.

3. Sectoral reports shall include the following:

(a) the quantitative and qualitative progress made in implementing the operational programme, priority axes, measures and, where relevant, operations or group of operations, in relation to their specific, verifiable targets, with a quantification, when possible, using the indicators referred to in Article 155(2)(d) at the appropriate level. Where relevant under the human resources development component, the statistics shall be broken down by sex;

(b) the financial implementation of the operational programme, detailing for each priority axis and measure:

(i)

the total expenditure paid out by the final beneficiaries and included in payment applications sent to the Commission by the national fund;

(ii)

the total expenditure actually committed and paid out by the national fund with the corresponding public or public and private contribution; this shall be accompanied by computerised forms listing the operations, so that they can be followed through from budgetary commitment by the beneficiary country to final payments;

(iii)

the total payments received from the Commission.

Where appropriate, financial implementation may be presented through the major areas of intervention, referred to in Article 5(3)(f), and the regions where assistance is concentrated;

(c) for information purposes, the indicative breakdown of the allocation under the IPA Regulation, for the regional development component, by categories, in accordance with the detailed list included in the financing agreement;

(d) the steps taken by the operating structure or the sectoral monitoring committee to ensure the quality and effectiveness of implementation, in particular:

(i)

the monitoring and evaluation measures, including data collection arrangements;

(ii)

a summary of any significant problems encountered in implementing the operational programme and any subsequent measures taken;

(iii)

the use made of technical assistance;

(e) the activities to provide information on and publicise the programme, in accordance with Article 62;

(f) where appropriate for the regional development component, the progress and financing of major projects;

(g) where appropriate under the human resources development component, a synthesis of the implementation of:

(i)

gender mainstreaming as well as of any gender-specific action;

(ii)

action to increase participation of migrants in employment and thereby strengthen their social integration;

(iii)

action to strengthen integration in employment and thereby improve the social inclusion of minorities;

(iv)

action to strengthen integration in employment and social inclusion of other disadvantaged groups, including people with disabilities.

Information referred to in points (d), (g) of this paragraph shall not be included if there has been no significant modification since the previous report.

4. The sectoral reports shall be considered admissible if they contain all the appropriate information listed in paragraph 3. The national IPA coordinator and the operating structure shall be informed by the Commission of the admissibility of the sectoral annual report within 10 working days from the date of its receipt.

5. The national IPA coordinator and the operating structure shall also be informed of the Commission's opinion on the content of an admissible sectoral annual report within two months from the date of receipt. For the sectoral final report on an operational programme, this information shall be provided within a maximum of five months from the date of receipt of the admissible report.