29.1.2010   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 25/1

(1)

Commission Regulation (EC) No 718/2007 of 12 June 2007 implementing Council Regulation (EC) No 1085/2006 establishing an instrument for pre-accession assistance (IPA) (2) provides detailed rules for the implementation of the IPA Regulation.

(2)

In the light of the experience gained in the first years of implementation of the IPA Regulation, it has appeared necessary to proceed with a limited revision of Regulation (EC) No 718/2007 with a view to removing some inconsistencies and erroneous cross–references, enhancing clarity in the text of some articles and amending some of the specific provisions with a view to enhancing coherence, efficiency and effectiveness in the implementation of the instrument.

(3)

It is necessary to further clarify when common provisions are subject to specific provisions under different IPA components. The provisions concerning the evaluation of assistance should be brought into line with the requirements of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 of 25 June 2002 on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities (3) and Commission Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2342/2002 of 23 December 2002 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities (4) while ensuring a better consistency between common provisions applicable to all IPA components and specific provisions applicable to each IPA component.

(4)

The specific provisions concerning the Transition assistance and institution building component should better reflect the provisions of the IPA Regulation, namely as regards the areas of assistance to countries listed in Annex I to the IPA Regulation and the possibility to programme assistance through multi-annual as well as annual programmes. Furthermore, in view to ensure a coherent approach among IPA components, the ceiling of the Community contribution in the case of investment operations should be raised to 85 % of the eligible expenditure so as to align with the revised aid intensity for investments applicable under the Regional development component.

(5)

In the specific provisions of the Cross-border cooperation component, namely for cross-border programmes between beneficiary countries and Member States, it appears necessary to substantially increase the pre-financing amount paid to the body designated by the participating countries to receive the payments made by the Commission.

(6)

Some of the specific provisions of the Regional development component, the Human resources development component and the Rural development component need to be further aligned with the rules governing the Structural and Cohesion funds and the Rural development funds in EU Member States, of which they are the precursor.

(7)

The provisions laid down in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the IPA Committee,

1.

in Article 8(4), point (c) is replaced by the following:

2.

Article 31 is replaced by the following:

‘Article 31

Specific bodies

Within the overall framework defined by the structures and authorities as set out in Article 21, the functions described in Article 28 may be grouped and assigned to specific bodies within or outside the operating structures designated. This grouping and assignation shall respect the appropriate segregation of duties imposed by Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 and ensure that the final responsibility for the functions described in the said Article shall remain with designated operating structure. Such a structure shall be formalised in written agreements and shall be subject to accreditation by the national authorising officer and the conferral of management by the Commission.’;

3.

Article 34 is amended as follows:

4.

in Article 35(3), the second indent is replaced by the following:

5.

Article 36 is replaced by the following:

‘Article 36

Property of interests

Any interest earned on any of the component-specific euro accounts opened by the national fund in the event of decentralised management remains the property of the beneficiary country. Interest generated by the financing by the Community of a programme shall be posted exclusively to that programme, being regarded as a resource for the beneficiary country in the form of a national public contribution, and shall be declared to the Commission, at the time of the final closure of the programme.’;

6.

in Article 37, paragraph 2 is replaced by the following:

‘2.   All operations receiving assistance under the various IPA components shall require national and Community contributions, unless otherwise provided for under the specific provisions laid down under each IPA component.’;

7.

in Article 40, paragraph 7 is replaced by the following:

‘7.   Amounts set out in the programme submitted by the beneficiary country, in certified statements of expenditure, in payment applications and in expenditure mentioned in the implementation reports, shall be denominated in euro. Beneficiary countries shall convert the amounts of expenditure incurred in national currency into euro using the monthly accounting rate of the euro established by the Commission for the month during which the expenditure was registered in the accounts of the national fund or the operating structure concerned, as appropriate.’;

8.

in Article 47(1), the third indent is replaced by the following:

9.

Article 50 is amended as follows:

10.

Article 57 is amended as follows:

11.

in Article 58, paragraph 1 is replaced by the following:

‘1.   In the case of decentralised management, the beneficiary country shall, within six months after the entry into force of the first financing agreement, set up an IPA monitoring committee, in agreement with the national IPA coordinator and the Commission, to ensure coherence and coordination in the implementation of the IPA components.’;

12.

in Article 59, paragraph 1 is replaced by the following:

‘1.   The IPA monitoring committee shall be assisted by sectoral monitoring committees set up under the IPA components within six months after the entry into force of the first financing agreement, in accordance with the specific provisions laid down in Part II. The sectoral monitoring committees shall be attached to programmes or components. They may include representatives of civil society, where appropriate.’;

13.

Article 60 is replaced by the following:

‘Article 60

Monitoring in the case of centralised and joint management

In the case of centralised and joint management, the Commission may undertake any actions it deems necessary to monitor the programmes concerned. In the case of joint management, these actions may be carried out jointly with the international organisation(s) concerned. The national IPA coordinator may be associated with the monitoring actions.’;

14.

in Article 62, paragraph 2 is replaced by the following:

‘2.   In the case of decentralised management, the operating structures shall be responsible for organising the publication of the list of the final beneficiaries, the names of the operations and the amount of Community funding allocated to operations. They shall ensure that the final beneficiary is informed that the acceptance of funding is also an acceptance of their inclusion in the list of final beneficiaries published. Any personal data included in this list shall be processed in accordance with the requirements of Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament and the Council (5).

15.

in Article 64, the following phrase is added at the end of paragraph 2:

‘On a case-by-case basis, the Commission may decide to grant assistance under this component for the above areas to beneficiary countries listed in Annex I to the IPA Regulation that have not yet been conferred management powers referred to Article 14.’;

16.

in Article 66(3) the following point (c) is added:

17.

in Article 67(2) the two figures ‘75 %’ are replaced by ‘85 %’ and the figure ‘25 %’ is replaced by ‘15 %’;

18.

in Article 68, the introductory phrase is replaced by the following:

‘Assistance under this component shall in principle take the form of:’;

19.

in Article 69, paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 are replaced by the following:

‘1.   National programmes shall be adopted by the Commission on the basis of proposals from the beneficiary country, which shall take into account the principles and priorities set out in the multiannual indicative planning documents referred to in Article 5. Proposals shall in particular list the priority axes to be covered in the beneficiary country concerned, which may include the areas of assistance laid down in Article 64.

2.   Beneficiary countries’ proposals shall be selected through transparent procedures, including consultation of the relevant stakeholders while proposals are being drafted.

3.   Each year, following discussions between the Commission and the beneficiary country about their proposals, project fiches shall be submitted to the Commission by the beneficiary country. The project fiches shall set out clearly the priority axes, the envisaged operations and their chosen implementing methods. Financing proposals shall be prepared by the Commission in view of the project fiches.’;

20.

in Article 72, paragraph 3 is replaced by the following:

‘3.   The regional programmes shall cover beneficiary countries in the Western Balkans. The programmes shall in particular target reconciliation, reconstruction and political cooperation in the Region.’;

21.

in Article 73, paragraph 3 is replaced by the following:

‘3.   Regional and horizontal programmes shall be implemented by the Commission on a centralised basis or by joint management with international organisations as defined by Article 53d of Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002.’;

22.

Article 75 is amended as follows:

23.

Article 78 is replaced by the following:

‘Article 78

Implementation principles in the event of participation in Community programmes and agencies

In the case of participation in Community programmes and agencies, implementation shall consist in the payment, to the programme and agency budget, of the part of the financial contribution of the beneficiary country which is financed under IPA. The payment shall be made by the national fund in the case of decentralised management and by ministries or other public bodies concerned in the beneficiary countries in the case of centralised management. In the latter case, there will be no pre-financing payments of the Community contribution by the Commission.’;

24.

Article 82 is replaced by the following:

‘Article 82

Evaluation

1.   Programmes under the transition assistance and institution building component shall be subject to ex-ante as well as interim and/or ex-post evaluation, in accordance with Article 57.

2.   Prior to the conferral of management powers on the beneficiary country, all evaluations shall be carried out by the Commission.

After the conferral of management powers, the beneficiary country shall be responsible for carrying out interim evaluation, as appropriate, without prejudice to the Commission’s rights to perform any ad-hoc evaluations it deems necessary.

Responsibility for ex-ante and ex-post evaluations shall remain with the Commission even after the conferral of management powers, without prejudice to the beneficiary country’s right to carry out any such evaluations as it deems necessary.

3.   In line with Article 22 of the IPA Regulation, the relevant evaluation reports shall be sent to the IPA Committee for discussion.’;

25.

in Article 86, paragraph 4 is replaced by the following:

‘4.   The cross-border cooperation component may also support, where appropriate, the participation of eligible regions of the beneficiary countries in transnational and interregional programmes under the European territorial cooperation objective of the Structural Funds and in multilateral sea basin programmes under Regulation (EC) No 1638/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council (6). The rules governing the participation of beneficiary countries in the above programmes shall be established in the relevant programming documents and/or in the relevant financing agreements, as appropriate.

26.

Article 89 is amended as follows:

27.

Article 92 is amended as follows:

28.

in Article 94(1)(h), point (iii) is replaced by the following:

29.

Article 95 is amended as follows:

30.

Article 96 is replaced by the following:

‘Article 96

Responsibilities of the lead beneficiary and the other final beneficiaries

1.   For cross-border programmes concerning the cooperation referred to under Article 86(1)(a), the final beneficiaries of an operation shall appoint a lead beneficiary among themselves prior to the submission of the proposal for the operation. The lead beneficiary shall be established in one of the participating countries and shall assume the following responsibilities:

2.   For cross-border programmes concerning cooperation referred to under Article 86(1)(a) implemented under the transitional arrangements laid down in Article 99:

The lead beneficiaries of the participating Member States and beneficiary countries shall ensure a close coordination of the implementation of the operation.

3.   For cross-border programmes concerning cooperation referred to under Article 86(1)(b), the final beneficiaries of an operation in each participating beneficiary country shall appoint a lead beneficiary among themselves prior to the submission of the proposal for an operation. The lead beneficiaries shall be established in the respective participating beneficiary country and shall assume the responsibilities listed under points (a) to (d) of paragraph 1 for the part of the operation taking place in the respective country.

The lead beneficiaries of the participating beneficiary countries shall ensure a close coordination of the implementation of the operation.

4.   Each final beneficiary participating in the operation is responsible for irregularities in the expenditure which it has declared.’;

31.

in Article 97(1), the second subparagraph is replaced by the following:

‘At project level, in exceptional cases, expenditure incurred outside the programme area as defined in the first subparagraph, may be eligible, if the project could only achieve its objectives with that expenditure.’;

32.

in Article 103(1), point (c) is replaced by the following:

33.

in Article 104, point (g) is replaced by the following:

34.

in Article 105(1)(d), the date ‘31 December’ is replaced by ‘31 March’;

35.

in Article 108, paragraph 2 is replaced by the following:

‘2.   Each participating country shall ensure that the expenditure can be validated by the controllers within a period of three months from the date of its submission by the final beneficiary to the controllers.’;

36.

Article 112 is amended as follows:

37.

in Article 115(2), point (d) is replaced by the following:

38.

in Article 121, paragraph 1 is replaced by the following:

‘1.   For the award of service, supply and work contracts, the procurement procedures shall follow the provisions of Chapter 3 of Part 2, Title IV of Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 and Chapter 3 of Part 2, Title III of Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2342/2002, as well as Commission Decision C(2007) 2034 on the rules and procedures applicable to service, supply and work contracts financed by the general budget of the European Communities for the purposes of cooperation with third countries, with the exclusion of Section II.8.2.

Those provisions shall apply in the whole area of the cross-border programme, both on the Member State’s and on the beneficiary countries’ territory.’;

39.

in Article 124, paragraph 2 is replaced by the following:

‘2.   Where the contribution from the Community funds is calculated with reference to public expenditure as provided for in Article 90(2), any information on expenditure other than public expenditure shall not affect the amount due as calculated on the basis of the payment request.’;

40.

Article 126 is replaced by the following:

‘Article 126

Wholeness of payment to final beneficiaries

The provisions laid down in Article 40(9) apply mutatis mutandis.’;

41.

in Article 127(3), the second subparagraph is replaced by the following:

‘The amount shall be converted into euro using the monthly accounting exchange rate of the Commission in the month in which the expenditure was submitted by the final beneficiary to the controllers referred to in Article 108. This rate shall be published electronically by the Commission each month.’;

42.

in Article 128(1), the amount of pre-financing of ‘25 %’ is replaced by ‘50 %’;

43.

Article 139 is amended as follows:

44.

in Article 140(1), point (a) is replaced by the following:

45.

in Article 141, the third paragraph is replaced by the following:

‘In the event of decentralised management, the Commission may perform any ad-hoc evaluations it deems necessary.’;

46.

Article 148 is amended as follows:

47.

in Article 149, paragraph 2 is replaced by the following:

‘2.   The Community contribution shall not exceed the ceiling of 85 % of the eligible expenditure at the level of the priority axis.’;

48.

Article 150 is amended as follows:

49.

in Article 152(2), the following point (d) is added:

50.

in Article 156(1), point (c) is replaced by the following:

51.

in Article 160, the following paragraph 4 is added:

‘4.   In the case of the regional development component, at the time of the revision of operational programmes as referred to in Article 156, the pre-financing referred to in paragraph 3 of this Article may be increased up to a maximum of 30 % of the Community contribution for the three most recent years.’;

52.

in Article 167(4), point (c) is replaced by the following:

53.

in Article 181, paragraph 2 is replaced by the following:

‘2.   Beneficiary countries shall elaborate a training strategy for the implementation of the operations envisaged under paragraph 1. The strategy shall include a critical assessment of the existing training structures, an analysis of the training needs and objectives. It shall also establish a set of criteria for the selection of training providers. A description of the training strategy shall be included in the programme.’;

54.

in Article 182, paragraph 2 is replaced by the following:

‘2.   The sectoral monitoring committee for this component shall be consulted on the technical assistance activities. It shall approve each year an annual action plan for the implementation of technical assistance activities.’;

55.

in Article 184, paragraph 2 is replaced by the following:

‘2.   Each programme shall include:

56.

in Article 193(1), the introductory phrase is replaced by the following:

‘1.   Under this component, the sectoral annual reports referred to in Article 61(1) shall be submitted to the Commission, the national IPA coordinator and the national authorising officer within six months of the end of each full calendar year of programme implementation.’;

57.

in the Annex, point 3(o) is replaced by the following: