The budget commitments of the Union in respect of each programme shall be made in annual instalments for each Fund during the period between 1 January 2014 and 31 December 2020. The budget commitments relating to the performance reserve in each programme shall be made separately from the remaining allocation to the programme.
The decision of the Commission adopting a programme shall constitute a financing decision within the meaning of Article 84 of the Financial Regulation and once notified to the Member State concerned, a legal commitment within the meaning of that Regulation.
For each programme, the budget commitments for the first instalment shall follow the adoption of the programme by the Commission.
The budget commitments for subsequent instalments shall be made by the Commission before 1 May of each year, on the basis of the decision referred to in the second paragraph of this Article, except where Article 16 of the Financial Regulation applies.
Following application of the performance framework in accordance with Article 22, where priorities have not achieved their milestones, the Commission shall where necessary decommit the corresponding appropriations committed to the programmes concerned as part of the performance reserve and shall make them available again for the programmes for which the allocation is increased as a result of an amendment approved by the Commission in accordance with Article 22(5).
1.Payments by the Commission of the contribution from the ESI Funds to each programme shall be made in accordance with budget appropriations and subject to available funding. Each payment shall be posted to the earliest open budget commitment of the Fund concerned.
2.Payments related to the commitments of the performance reserve shall not be made prior to the definitive allocation of the performance reserve, in accordance with Article 22(3) and (4).
3.Payments shall take the form of pre-financing, interim payments and payment of the final balance.
4.For forms of support under points (b), (c) and (d) of the first subparagraph of Article 67(1) and under Articles 68 and 69, costs calculated on the applicable basis shall be regarded as eligible expenditure.
The Fund-specific rules shall lay down rules for the calculation of the amount reimbursed as interim payments, and of the final balance. That amount shall be a function of the specific co-financing rate applicable to the eligible expenditure.
1.The specific procedure and information to be submitted for requests for payment in relation to each ESI Fund shall be laid down in the Fund-specific rules.
2.The request for payment to be submitted to the Commission shall provide all the information necessary for the Commission to produce accounts in accordance with Article 68(3) of the Financial Regulation.
Amounts set out in programmes submitted by Member States, forecasts of expenditure, statements of expenditure, requests for payment, accounts and expenditure mentioned in the annual and final implementation reports shall be denominated in euro.
1.Following the Commission decision adopting the programme, an initial pre-financing amount for the whole programming period shall be paid by the Commission. The initial pre-financing amount shall be paid in instalments according to budgetary needs. The level of the instalments shall be defined in the Fund-specific rules.
2.Initial pre-financing shall be used only for payments to beneficiaries in the implementation of the programme. It shall be made available without delay to the body responsible for that purpose.
The amount paid as initial pre-financing shall be totally cleared from the Commission accounts not later than when the programme is closed.
1.The payment deadline for an interim payment claim may be interrupted by the authorising officer by delegation within the meaning of the Financial Regulation for a maximum period of six months if:
(a)following information provided by a national or Union audit body, there is clear evidence to suggest a significant deficiency in the functioning of the management and control system;
(b)the authorising officer by delegation has to carry out additional verifications following information that has come to that officer's attention alerting him or her that expenditure in a request for payment is linked to an irregularity having serious financial consequences;
(c)there is a failure to submit one of the documents required under Article 59(5) of the Financial Regulation.
The Member State may agree to an extension of the interruption period for another three months.
The Fund-specific rules for the EMFF may lay down specific bases for interruption of payments linked to non-compliance with rules applicable under the Common Fisheries Policy, which shall be proportionate, having regard to the nature, gravity, duration and recurrence of the non-compliance.
2.The authorising officer by delegation shall limit the interruption to the part of the expenditure covered by the payment claim affected by the elements referred to in the first subparagraph of paragraph 1, unless it is not possible to identify the part of the expenditure affected. The authorising officer by delegation shall inform the Member State and the managing authority in writing immediately of the reason for interruption and shall ask them to remedy the situation. The interruption shall be ended by the authorising officer by delegation as soon as the necessary measures have been taken.
By 31 May of the year following the end of the accounting period, the Commission shall, in accordance with Article 59(6) of the Financial Regulation, apply procedures for the examination and acceptance of the accounts and inform the Member State as to whether it accepts that the accounts are complete, accurate and true in accordance with Fund-specific rules.
1.The Commission shall make financial corrections by cancelling all or part of the Union contribution to a programme and effecting recovery from the Member State, in order to exclude from Union financing expenditure which is in breach of applicable law.
2.A breach of applicable law shall lead to a financial correction only in relation to expenditure which has been declared to the Commission and where one of the following conditions is met:
(a)the breach has affected the selection of an operation by the body responsible for support from the ESI Funds or in cases where, due to the nature of the breach, it is not possible to establish that impact but there is a substantiated risk that the breach has had such an effect;
(b)the breach has affected the amount of expenditure declared for reimbursement by the budget of the Union or in cases where, due to the nature of the breach, it is not possible to quantify its financial impact but there is a substantiated risk that the breach has had such an effect.
3.When deciding on a financial correction under paragraph 1, the Commission shall respect the principle of proportionality by taking account of the nature and gravity of the breach of applicable law and its financial implications for the budget of the Union. The Commission shall keep the European Parliament informed of decisions taken to apply financial corrections.
4.The criteria and the procedures for applying financial corrections shall be laid down in the Fund-specific rules.
1.All programmes shall be submitted to a decommitment procedure established on the basis that amounts linked to a commitment which are not covered by pre-financing or by a request for payment within a defined period, including any request for payment for which all or part is subject to an interruption of the payment deadline or a suspension of payments, shall be decommitted.
2.The commitment related to the last year of the period shall be decommitted in accordance with the rules to be followed for the closure of the programmes.
3.The Fund-specific rules shall specify the precise application of the decommitment rule for each ESI Fund.
4.The part of commitments still open shall be decommitted if any of the documents required for the closure have not been submitted to the Commission by the deadlines established in the Fund-specific rules.
5.The budgetary commitments in respect of the performance reserve shall be subject only to the decommitment procedure set out in paragraph 4.
1.The amount concerned by decommitment shall be reduced by the amounts equivalent to that part of the budget commitment for which:
(a)the operations are suspended by a legal proceeding or by an administrative appeal having suspensory effect; or
(b)it has not been possible to make a request for payment for reasons of force majeure seriously affecting implementation of all or part of the programme.
The national authorities claiming force majeure under point (b) of the first subparagraph shall demonstrate the direct consequences of the force majeure on the implementation of all or part of the programme.
For the purpose of points (a) and (b) of the first subparagraph, the reduction may be requested once, if the suspension or force majeure lasted no longer than one year, or a number of times that corresponds to the duration of the force majeure or the number of years between the date of the legal or administrative decision suspending the implementation of the operation and the date of the final legal or administrative decision.
2.By 31 January, the Member State shall send to the Commission information on the exceptions referred to in points (a) and (b) of the first subparagraph of paragraph 1 for the amount to be declared by the end of the preceding year.
1.The Commission shall inform the Member State and the managing authority in good time whenever there is a risk of application of the decommitment rule under Article 86.
2.On the basis of the information it has received as of 31 January, the Commission shall inform the Member State and the managing authority of the amount of the decommitment resulting from that information.
3.The Member State shall have two months to agree to the amount to be decommitted or to submit its observations.
4.By 30 June, the Member State shall submit to the Commission a revised financing plan reflecting, for the financial year concerned, the reduced amount of support over one or more priorities of the programme taking into account the allocation by Fund and by category of region, where appropriate. Failing such submission, the Commission shall revise the financing plan by reducing the contribution from the ESI Funds for the financial year concerned. That reduction shall be allocated to each priority proportionately.
5.The Commission shall amend the decision adopting the programme, by means of implementing acts, not later than 30 September.