(1)

Article 56 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 of 11 July 2006 laying down general provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund and the Cohesion Fund (3) provides that rules on eligibility of expenditure are to be established at national level, with certain exceptions laid down for the European Regional Development Fund and the European Social Fund (ESF).

(2)

Article 11(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1081/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council (4) establishes which expenditure is eligible for a contribution from the ESF as defined in Article 11(1) of that Regulation.

(3)

The financial crisis justifies the need for further simplifications to facilitate access to grants co-financed by the ESF.

(4)

The European Court of Auditors recommended in its 2007 annual report that the legislative authorities and the Commission be prepared to reconsider the design of future expenditure programmes by giving due consideration to simplifying the basis of calculation of eligible cost and making greater use of lump-sum or flat-rate payments instead of reimbursement of ‘real costs’.

(5)

In order to ensure the necessary simplification in the management, administration and control of operations receiving an ESF grant, particularly when linked to a result-based reimbursement system, it is appropriate to add two additional forms of eligible costs, namely, lump sums and flat-rate standard scales of unit cost.

(6)

In order to ensure legal certainty in relation to the eligibility of expenditure, this simplification should be applicable to all grants from the ESF. Retroactive application should therefore be necessary with effect from 1 August 2006, which is the date of entry into force of Regulation (EC) No 1081/2006.

(7)

Regulation (EC) No 1081/2006 should therefore be amended accordingly,

1.

point (b) shall be replaced by the following:

2.

the following subparagraphs shall be added:

‘The options referred to in points (i), (ii) and (iii) of point (b) may be combined only where each of them covers a different category of eligible costs or where they are used for different projects within the same operation.

Costs referred to in points (i), (ii) and (iii) of point (b) shall be established in advance on the basis of a fair, equitable and verifiable calculation.

The lump sum referred to in point (iii) of point (b) shall not exceed EUR 50 000.’.