1.Appropriations which have not been used by the end of the financial year for which they were entered shall be cancelled, unless they are carried over in accordance with paragraphs 2 to 8.
2.The following appropriations may be carried over by a decision taken pursuant to paragraph 3, but only to the following financial year:
(a)commitment appropriations and non-differentiated appropriations, for which most of the preparatory stages of the commitment procedure have been completed by 31 December of the financial year. Such appropriations may be committed up to 31 March of the following financial year, with the exception of non-differentiated appropriations related to building projects which may be committed up to 31 December of the following financial year;
(b)appropriations which are necessary when the legislative authority has adopted a basic act in the final quarter of the financial year and the Commission has been unable to commit the appropriations provided for that purpose by 31 December of that year. Such appropriations may be committed up to 31 December of the following financial year;
(c)payment appropriations which are needed to cover existing commitments or commitments linked to commitment appropriations carried over, where the payment appropriations provided for in the relevant budget lines for the following financial year are insufficient;
(d)non-committed appropriations relating to the actions referred to in Article 4(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council(1).
With regard to point (c) of the first subparagraph, the Union institution concerned shall first use the appropriations authorised for the current financial year and shall not use the appropriations carried over until the former are exhausted.
Carry-overs of non-committed appropriations as referred to in point (d) of the first subparagraph of this paragraph shall not exceed, within a limit of 2 % of the initial appropriations voted by the European Parliament and by the Council, the amount of the adjustment of direct payments applied in accordance with Article 26 of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 during the preceding financial year. Appropriations which are carried over shall be returned to the budget lines which cover the actions referred to in point (b) of Article 4(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013.
3.The Union institution concerned shall take its decision on carry-overs as referred to in paragraph 2 by 15 February of the following financial year. It shall inform the European Parliament and the Council by 15 March of that year of the carry-over decision it has taken. It shall also state, for each budget line, how the criteria in points (a), (b) and (c) of the first subparagraph of paragraph 2 have been applied to each carry-over.
4.Appropriations shall be automatically carried over in respect of:
(a)commitment appropriations for the Emergency Aid Reserve and for the European Union Solidarity Fund. Such appropriations may be carried over only to the following financial year and may be committed up to 31 December of that year;
(b)appropriations corresponding to internal assigned revenue. Such appropriations may be carried over only to the following financial year and may be committed up to 31 December of that year, with the exception of the internal assigned revenue from lettings and the sale of buildings and land which may be carried over until it is fully used. Commitment appropriations, as referred to in Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 and in Regulation (EU) No 514/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council(2), which are available on 31 December arising from repayments of pre-financing payments may be carried over until the closure of the programme and used when necessary, provided that other commitment appropriations are no longer available;
(c)appropriations corresponding to external assigned revenue. Such appropriations shall be fully used by the time all the operations relating to the programme or action to which they are assigned have been carried out or they may be carried over and used for the succeeding programme or action. This shall not apply to the revenue referred to in point (iii) of Article 21(2)(g) for which appropriations not committed within five years shall be cancelled;
(d)payment appropriations related to the EAGF resulting from suspensions in accordance with Article 41 of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013.
5.The treatment of external assigned revenue as referred to in point (c) of paragraph 4 of this Article resulting from the participation of European Free Trade Association (EFTA) States in certain Union programmes in accordance with point (e) of Article 21(2) shall be in line with Protocol No 32 annexed to the Agreement on the European Economic Area (EEA Agreement).
6.In addition to the information provided for in paragraph 3, the Union institution concerned shall submit to the European Parliament and to the Council information on appropriations which were automatically carried over, including the amounts involved and the provision of this Article under which the appropriations were carried over.
7.Non-differentiated appropriations legally committed at the end of the financial year shall be paid until the end of the following financial year.
8.Without prejudice to paragraph 4, appropriations placed in reserve and appropriations for staff expenditure shall not be carried over. For the purposes of this Article, staff expenditure comprises remuneration and allowances for members and for staff of Union institutions who are subject to the Staff Regulations.
Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 on the financing, management and monitoring of the common agricultural policy and repealing Council Regulations (EEC) No 352/78, (EC) No 165/94, (EC) No 2799/98, (EC) No 814/2000, (EC) No 1290/2005 and (EC) No 485/2008 (OJ L 347, 20.12.2013, p. 549).
Regulation (EU) No 514/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 laying down general provisions on the Asylum, migration and Integration Fund and on the instrument for financial support for police cooperation, preventing and combating crime and crisis management (OJ L 150, 20.5.2014, p. 112).