1.Parts One and Three shall apply to external actions financed from the budget, except as otherwise provided in this Title.
The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 210 concerning detailed rules on the actions which may be financed under external actions.
2.The appropriations for the actions referred to in paragraph 1 shall be used by the Commission:
(a)either within the framework of aid granted on an autonomous basis; or
(b)in partnership with a third country as referred to in point (i) of Article 58(1)(c), through the signature of a financing agreement.
3.Where external actions are co-financed both from appropriations entered in the budget and from external assigned revenue referred to in point (b) of Article 21(2), the funds which are not committed after the end of the contracting period referred to in Article 189(2) for the relevant action shall be reimbursed on a pro rata basis after the deduction of a lump sum corresponding to audit, evaluation and contingencies which can be committed at a later time.
4.The second subparagraph of Article 90(4) shall not apply to the actions referred to in this Title.
For grants under direct management of more than EUR 5 000 000 financing external actions, no more than two pre-financing payments shall remain uncleared throughout the duration of the action.
The actions referred to in this Title may be implemented directly by the Commission pursuant to point (a) of Article 58(1), under shared management pursuant to point (b) of Article 58(1) or indirectly by any entity or person entrusted pursuant to point (c) of Article 58(1), in accordance with the relevant provisions of Articles 58 to 63. Appropriations for external actions may be combined with funds from other sources to achieve a joint objective.
1.Where provided for in the relevant basic acts, the Commission may provide budget support to a beneficiary third country if that country's management of public finances is sufficiently transparent, reliable and effective.
The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 210 concerning detailed rules on the use of budget support and on the obligations of recipients.
2.The financing decision referred to in Article 84 shall detail the objectives and the expected results of the provision of budget support to a beneficiary third country. The payment of the Union contribution shall be based on the fulfilment of conditions referred to in paragraph 1, including the improvement of the management of public finances, and on clear and objective performance indicators forming the basis for the measurement of progress over time in the respective sector.
3.The Commission shall include in the corresponding financing agreement concluded in accordance with point (b) of Article 184(2), the appropriate provisions pursuant to which the beneficiary third country is to commit to immediately reimburse all or part of the relevant operation funding, in the event that it is established that the payment of the relevant Union funds has been vitiated by serious irregularities attributable to the that country.
In order to process the reimbursement referred to in the first subparagraph, the second subparaph of Article 80(1) may be applied.
4.The Commission shall support in beneficiary third countries the development of parliamentary control and audit capacities and increase transparency and public access to information.
1.For emergency, post-emergency or thematic actions, the Commission may create trust funds under an agreement concluded with other donors. The constitutive act of each trust fund shall define the objectives of the trust fund.
2.Union trust funds shall be implemented in accordance with the principles of sound financial management, transparency, proportionality, non-discrimination and equal treatment, and in accordance with the specific objectives defined in each constitutive act.
Union trust funds shall be implemented directly by the Commission pursuant to point (a) of Article 58(1), with the exception of Union trust funds for emergency or post-emergency action, which may also be implemented indirectly by entrusting budget implementation tasks to entities pursuant to points (i), (ii), (v), and (vi) of Article 58(1)(c).
3.Union trust funds shall comply with the following conditions:
(a)there is added value to the Union intervention: trust funds shall only be created and implemented at Union level where their objectives, in particular by reason of their scale or potential effects, can be better achieved at Union level than at national level;
(b)Union trust funds shall bring clear Union political visibility and managerial advantages as well as better Union control of risks and disbursements of the Union and other donors' contributions. They should not be created if they merely duplicate other existing funding channels or similar instruments without providing any additionality.
4.A board chaired by the Commission shall be established for each Union trust fund to ensure the representation of the donors, and of the non-contributing Member States as observers, and to decide upon the use of the funds.
5.Union trust funds shall be created for a limited duration determined in their constitutive act. This duration may be extended by a decision of the Commission upon request of the board of the trust fund concerned.
The European Parliament and/or the Council may request the Commission to discontinue appropriations for that trust fund or to revise the constitutive act with a view to the liquidation of the trust fund, where appropriate. In such an event, any remaining funds shall be returned on a pro rata basis to the budget as general revenue and to the contributing Member States and other donors.
6.The contributions of the Union and of the donors shall be lodged in a specific bank account. The contributions of the Union shall be transferred to this account on the basis of payment requests that are duly substantiated with disbursement forecasts, taking into account the balance available on the account and the resulting need for additional payments. Disbursement forecasts are to be provided on an annual, or where appropriate on a semi-annual, basis.
Contributions shall not be integrated in the budget and shall be managed by the Commission under the responsibility of the authorising officer by delegation.
The accounting officer of a Union trust fund shall be the accounting officer of the Commission. He or she shall be responsible for laying down accounting procedures and chart of accounts common to all Union trust funds.
The Commission's internal auditor and the Court of Auditors shall exercise the same powers over the trust fund as they do in respect of other actions carried out by the Commission.
The specific bank account of the trust fund shall be opened and closed by the accounting officer.
The Commission shall ensure a strict separation of duties between accounting and authorising officers.
Funds shall be committed and paid by financial actors of the Commission, as defined in Chapter 3 of Title IV of Part One.
7.The Commission shall be authorised to withdraw a maximum of 5 % of the amounts pooled into the trust fund to cover its management costs from the years in which the contributions referred to in paragraph 6 have started to be used. For the duration of the trust fund, such management fees shall be assimilated to assigned revenue within the meaning of point (b) of Article 21(2).
The accounting officer shall act on the recovery orders relating to actions funded by the trust fund. Revenue arising from the repayment of these recovery orders shall be returned to the specific bank account of the trust fund. Cancellation and waiving of recovery orders shall be made under the rules referred to in Article 80.
8.The Commission shall submit its draft decisions concerning the creation, the extension and the liquidation of a Union trust fund to the competent committee provided for in the basic act under which the Union contribution to the Union trust fund is provided.
9.The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 210 concerning detailed rules on the management, reporting and governance of trust funds for external actions.
10.The Commission shall submit annually a comprehensive and detailed report to the European Parliament and the Council on the activities supported by Union trust funds, on their implementation and performance, as well as on their accounts. The Commission shall attach its report to the summary of the annual reports referred to in the third subparagraph of Article 66(9).
1.The implementation of actions implemented indirectly pursuant to point (c) of Article 58(1) shall be subject to scrutiny by the Commission and by Union Delegations in accordance with Article 56(2). Such scrutiny shall be exercised either by prior approval, by ex post checks or by a combined procedure.
2.The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 210 concerning detailed rules on the implementation of external actions through indirect management.
1.External actions carried out shall give rise to one or more of the following instruments:
(a)a financing agreement between the Commission and an entity or person referred to in Article 185;
(b)a contract or a grant agreement between the Commission and natural or legal persons responsible for carrying out the actions.
The terms on which the external aid is given shall be laid down in the instrument by which the financing agreements or the contracts or the grant agreements provided for in points (a) and (b) of the first subparagraph shall be managed.
2.Financing agreements with the entities referred to in point (a) of the first subparagraph of paragraph 1shall be concluded by 31 December of year n + 1, year n being the one in which the budgetary commitment was made.
The financing agreements shall lay down the period within which the entities referred to in point (a) of the first subparagraph of paragraph 1 shall conclude all individual contracts and grant agreements which implement the action. Such period shall be no longer than three years following the date of conclusion of the financing agreement, except:
(a)for multi-donor actions;
(b)for individual contracts relating to audit and evaluation;
(c)in the following exceptional circumstances:
riders are added to contracts which have already been concluded;
individual contracts are to be concluded after early termination of an existing contract;
changes of the entity charged with the entrusted tasks.
3.Paragraph 2 shall not apply to the multiannual programmes that are implemented through split commitments in the following cases:
(a)the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance;
(b)the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument.
In those cases, the appropriations shall be automatically decommited by the Commission in accordance with the sector-specific rules.
4.The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 210 concerning detailed rules on financing agreements concerning the implementation of external actions.
1.The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 210 concerning detailed rules on external action procurement.
2.The provisions of Chapter 1 of Title V of Part One relating to the general provisions on procurement shall be applicable to contracts covered by this Title subject to the special provisions relating to thresholds and the arrangements for awarding external contracts to be laid down in the delegated acts adopted pursuant to this Regulation. The contracting authorities for the purposes of this Chapter shall be:
(a)the Commission on behalf of, and for the account of, one or more third countries;
(b)entities and persons referred to in Article 185 and entrusted with the corresponding budget implementation tasks.
3.The procurement procedures shall be laid down in the financing agreements provided for in Article 189.
4.The provisions of this Chapter shall not apply to actions under sector-specific basic acts relating to crisis management aid, to civil protection operations and to humanitarian aid operations.
1.Participation in tendering procedures shall be open on equal terms to all persons coming within the scope of the Treaties and to any other natural or legal person in accordance with the specific provisions in the basic instruments governing the cooperation sector concerned.
2.In the cases referred to in Article 54(2), it may be decided, under exceptional circumstances duly justified by the authorising officer responsible, to allow third-country nationals other than those referred to in paragraph 1 to tender for contracts.
3.Where an agreement on widening the market for procurement of goods or services to which the Union is party applies, the contracts for procurement financed by the budget shall also be open to third-country nationals other than those referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2, under the conditions laid down in that agreement.
4.The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 210 concerning detailed rules on the participation in tendering procedures.
An action may be financed in full by the budget only where this is essential for it to be carried out.
The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 210 concerning detailed rules on the full financing of an external action.
Grant procedures to be applied in indirect management by the entities referred to in Article 185 shall be laid down in the agreements concluded between the Commission and those entities.
The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 210 concerning detailed rules on grant procedures applicable under indirect management.
Each agreement between the Commission and an entity referred to in Article 185, or grant agreement or grant decision shall expressly provide for the Commission and the Court of Auditors to have the power of audit, on the basis of documents and on the spot, over all contractors and subcontractors who have received Union funds.