PART FOUR U.K. GENERAL PROVISIONS APPLICABLE TO THE FUNDS AND THE EMFF

TITLE IU.K. MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL

CHAPTER I U.K. Management and control systems

Article 122U.K.Responsibilities of Member States

1.Member States shall ensure that management and control systems for operational programmes are set up in accordance with Articles 72, 73 and 74.

2.Member States shall prevent, detect and correct irregularities and shall recover amounts unduly paid, together with any interest on late payments. [X1They shall notify the Commission of irregularities that exceed EUR 10 000 in contribution from any of the Funds or the EMFF, and] shall keep it informed of significant progress in related administrative and legal proceedings.

The Member States shall not notify the Commission of irregularities in relation to the following:

(a)cases where the irregularity consists solely of the failure to execute, in whole or in part, an operation included in the co-financed operational programme owing to the bankruptcy of the beneficiary;

(b)cases brought to the attention of the managing authority or certifying authority by the beneficiary voluntarily and before detection by either authority, whether before or after the payment of the public contribution;

[X1(c) cases which are detected and corrected by the managing authority or certifying authority before inclusion of the expenditure concerned in a payment application submitted to the Commission.]

In all other cases, in particular those preceding a bankruptcy or in cases of suspected fraud, the detected irregularities and the associated preventive and corrective measures shall be reported to the Commission.

[F1When amounts unduly paid to a beneficiary for an operation cannot be recovered and this is as a result of fault or negligence on the part of a Member State, that Member State shall be responsible for reimbursing the amounts concerned to the budget of the Union. Member States may decide not to recover an amount unduly paid if the amount to be recovered from the beneficiary, not including interest, does not exceed EUR 250 in contribution from the Funds to an operation in an accounting year.]

The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 149 laying down additional detailed rules on the criteria for determining the cases of irregularity to be reported, the data to be provided and on the conditions and procedures to be applied to determine whether amounts which are irrecoverable shall be reimbursed by Member States.

The Commission shall adopt implementing acts setting out the frequency of the reporting of irregularities and the reporting format to be used. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the advisory procedure referred to in Article 150(2).

3.Member States shall ensure that no later than 31 December 2015, all exchanges of information between beneficiaries and a managing authority, a certifying authority, an audit authority and intermediate bodies can be carried out by means of electronic data exchange systems.

The systems referred to in the first subparagraph shall facilitate interoperability with national and Union frameworks and allow for the beneficiaries to submit all information referred to in the first subparagraph only once.

The Commission shall adopt implementing acts laying down detailed rules concerning the exchanges of information under this paragraph. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 150(3).

4.Paragraph 3 shall not apply to the EMFF.

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