1.Paying agencies shall be departments or bodies of the Member States responsible for the management and control of expenditure referred to in Article 4(1) and Article 5.
With the exception of payment, the carrying out of those tasks may be delegated
2.Member States shall accredit as paying agencies departments or bodies which have an administrative organisation and a system of internal control which provide sufficient guarantees that payments are legal and regular, and properly accounted for. To this end, paying agencies shall comply with minimum conditions for the accreditation with regard to internal environment, control activities, information and communication and monitoring laid down by the Commission pursuant to point (a) of Article 8(1).
Each Member State shall, taking into account its constitutional provisions, restrict the number of its accredited paying agencies to no more than one at national level or, where applicable, to one per region. However, where paying agencies are established at regional level, Member States shall, in addition, either accredit a paying agency at national level for aid schemes which, by their nature, have to be managed at national level or shall confer the management of these schemes on their regional paying agencies.
By way of derogation from the second subparagraph, Member States may maintain the number of paying agencies which have been accredited before 20 December 2013.
Before the end of 2016, the Commission shall present a report to the European Parliament and to the Council on the operation of the system of paying agencies in the Union accompanied, where appropriate, by legislative proposals.
3.By 15 February of the year following the financial year concerned, the person in charge of the accredited paying agency shall draw up:
(a)the annual accounts for the expenditure effected in carrying out the tasks entrusted to their accredited paying agencies, accompanied by the requisite information for their clearance in accordance with Article 51;
(b)a management declaration as to the completeness, accuracy and veracity of the accounts and the proper functioning of the internal control systems, based on objective criteria, as well as to the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions;
(c)an annual summary of the final audit reports and of controls carried out, including an analysis of the nature and extent of the errors and of weaknesses in systems identified, as well as corrective action to be taken or planned.
The deadline of 15 February may be exceptionally extended by the Commission to 1 March at the latest, upon communication by the Member State concerned.
4.Where more than one paying agency is accredited, the Member State shall designate a public body ("the coordinating body"), to which it shall assign the following tasks:
(a)to collect the information to be made available to the Commission and to send that information to the Commission;
(b)to take or coordinate, as the case may be, actions with a view to resolving any deficiencies of a common nature and keep the Commission informed of any follow-up;
(c)to promote and, where possible, ensure harmonised application of the Union rules.
As regards the processing of the financial information referred to in point (a) of the first subparagraph, the coordinating body shall be subject to specific accreditation by the Member States.
5.Where an accredited paying agency does not meet or no longer meets one or more of the accreditation criteria referred to in paragraph 2, the Member State, acting on its own initiative or at the request of the Commission, shall withdraw that accreditation unless the paying agency makes the necessary changes within a period to be determined depending on the severity of the problem.
6.The paying agencies shall manage and ensure the control of the operations linked to public intervention for which they are responsible and they shall retain overall responsibility in that field.