Member States may designate TABs within their territories, notably for one or several product areas listed in Table 1 of Annex IV.

Member States which have designated a TAB shall communicate to the other Member States and the Commission its name and address and the product areas for which that TAB is designated.

The Commission shall make publicly available by electronic means the list of TABs indicating the product areas for which they are designated, endeavouring to achieve the highest possible level of transparency.

The Commission shall make any updates to that list publicly available.

Member States shall monitor the activities and competence of the TABs they have designated, and evaluate them in relation to the respective requirements set out in Table 2 of Annex IV.

Member States shall inform the Commission of their national procedures for the designation of TABs, of the monitoring of their activity and competence, and of any changes to that information.

The Commission shall adopt guidelines for carrying out the evaluation of TABs, after consulting the Standing Committee on Construction.

A TAB shall carry out the assessment and issue the European Technical Assessment in a product area for which it has been designated.

The TAB shall satisfy the requirements set out in Table 2 of Annex IV within the scope of its designation.

A TAB shall make publicly available its organigram and the names of the members of its internal decision-making bodies.

Where a TAB no longer complies with the requirements referred to in paragraph 1, the Member State shall withdraw the designation of that TAB for the relevant product area and inform the Commission and the other Member States thereof.

The TABs shall establish an organisation for technical assessment.

The organisation of TABs shall be considered a body pursuing an aim of general European interest within the meaning of Article 162 of Commission Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2342/2002 of 23 December 2002 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities15.

The common cooperation objectives and the administrative and financial conditions relating to the grants awarded to the organisation of TABs may be defined in a framework partnership agreement signed by the Commission and that organisation, in accordance with Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 of 25 June 2002 on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities16 (the Financial Regulation) and Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2342/2002. The European Parliament and the Council shall be informed of the conclusion of any such agreement.

Member States shall ensure that the TABs contribute with financial and human resources to the organisation of TABs.

Union financing may be granted to the organisation of TABs for the implementation of the tasks referred to in Article 31(4).

The appropriations allocated to the tasks set out in Article 31(4) shall be determined each year by the budgetary authority within the limits of the financial framework in force.

Union financing shall be provided, without a call for proposals, to the organisation of TABs to carry out the tasks referred to in Article 31(4) for which grants can be awarded in accordance with the Financial Regulation.

The activities of the Secretariat of the organisation of TABs, referred to in Article 31(4), may be financed on the basis of operating grants. In the event of renewal, the operating grants shall not be decreased automatically.

Grant agreements may authorise flat-rate cover of the beneficiary’s overheads up to a maximum of 10 % of total eligible direct costs for actions, except where the beneficiary’s indirect costs are covered by an operating grant financed from the general budget of the Union.

The appropriations determined by the budgetary authority for the financing of tasks set out in Article 31(4) may also cover administrative expenses relating to preparation, monitoring, inspection, auditing and evaluation which are directly necessary for the achievement of the objectives of this Regulation, and in particular studies, meetings, information and publication activities, expenses relating to informatics networks for the exchange of information and any other expenditure on administrative and technical assistance which the Commission may use for activities related to the development and adoption of European Assessment Documents and the issuing of European Technical Assessments.

The Commission shall evaluate the relevance of the tasks set out in Article 31(4) that receive Union financing in the light of the requirements of Union policies and legislation, and inform the European Parliament and the Council of the outcome of that evaluation by 1 January 2017 and every 4 years thereafter.

The Commission shall ensure that when the activities financed under this Regulation are implemented, the Union’s financial interests are protected by the application of preventive measures against fraud, corruption and other illegal activities, by effective checks and by the recovery of amounts unduly paid and, if irregularities are detected, by effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties, in accordance with Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2988/95 of 18 December 1995 on the protection of the European Communities’ financial interests17, Council Regulation (Euratom, EC) No 2185/96 of 11 November 1996 concerning on-the-spot checks and inspections carried out by the Commission in order to protect the European Communities’ financial interests against fraud and other irregularities18 and Regulation (EC) No 1073/1999 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 May 1999 concerning investigations conducted by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF)19.

For the activities financed under this Regulation, the notion of irregularity referred to in Article 1(2) of Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2988/95 shall mean any infringement of a provision of Union law or any breach of a contractual obligation resulting from an act or omission by an economic operator which has, or would have, the effect of prejudicing the general budget of the Union or budgets managed by it by an unjustified item of expenditure.

Any agreements and contracts resulting from this Regulation shall provide for monitoring and financial control by the Commission or any representative which it authorises and for audits by the Court of Auditors, which, if necessary, may be conducted on-the-spot.