26.6.2013   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 173/1

26.6.2013   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 173/2

(1)

Directive 2002/58/EC provides for the harmonisation of the national provisions required to ensure an equivalent level of protection of fundamental rights and freedoms, and in particular the right to privacy and confidentiality, with respect to the processing of personal data in the electronic communication sector and to ensure the free movement of such data and of electronic communication equipment and services in the Union.

(2)

Under Article 4 of Directive 2002/58/EC, providers of publicly available electronic communications services are obliged to notify the competent national authorities, and in certain cases also the subscribers and individuals concerned, of personal data breaches. Personal data breaches are defined in Article 2(i) of Directive 2002/58/EC as breaches of security leading to the accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorised disclosure of, or access to, personal data transmitted, stored or otherwise processed in connection with the provision of a publicly available electronic communications service in the Union.

(3)

In order to ensure consistency in implementation of the measures referred to in Article 4(2), (3) and (4) of Directive 2002/58/EC, Article 4(5) thereof empowers the Commission to adopt technical implementing measures concerning the circumstances, format and procedures applicable to the information and notification requirements referred to in that Article.

(4)

Different national requirements in this regard may lead to legal uncertainty, more complex and cumbersome procedures and significant administrative costs for providers operating cross-border. The Commission therefore considers it necessary to adopt such technical implementing measures.

(5)

This Regulation is limited to the notification of personal data breaches and therefore does not set out technical implementing measures concerning Article 4(2) of Directive 2002/58/EC on informing the subscribers in case of a particular risk of a breach of the security of the network.

(6)

It follows from the first subparagraph of Article 4(3) of Directive 2002/58/EC that providers should notify to the competent national authority all personal data breaches. Therefore, no discretion should be left to the provider whether or not to notify to the competent national authority. However, this should not prevent the competent national authority concerned from prioritising the investigation of certain breaches in the way it sees fit in accordance with the applicable law, and to take steps as necessary to avoid over- or under-reporting of personal data breaches.

(7)

It is appropriate to provide for a system for the notification of personal data breaches to the competent national authority, which consists, where certain conditions are fulfilled, of various stages, each subject to certain time limits. This system is meant to ensure that the competent national authority is informed as early and as fully as possible, without however unduly hindering the provider in its efforts to investigate the breach and to take the necessary measures to confine it and remedy the consequences thereof.

(8)

Neither a simple suspicion that a personal data breach has occurred, nor a simple detection of an incident without sufficient information being available, despite a provider’s best efforts to this end, suffices to consider that a personal data breach has been detected for the purposes of this Regulation. Particular regard should be had in this connection to the availability of the information referred to in Annex I.

(9)

In the context of the application of this Regulation the competent national authorities concerned should cooperate in cases of personal data breaches having a cross-border dimension.

(10)

This Regulation does not provide for additional specification of the inventory of personal data breaches that providers are to maintain, given that Article 4 of Directive 2002/58/EC specifies its content exhaustively. However, providers may refer to this Regulation to determine the format of the inventory.

(11)

All competent national authorities should make available a secure electronic means for providers to notify personal data breaches in a common format, based on a standard such as XML, containing the information set out in Annex I in the relevant languages, so as to enable all providers within the Union to follow a similar notification procedure irrespective of where they are located or where the personal data breach occurred. In this connection, the Commission should facilitate the implementation of the secure electronic means by convening meetings with the competent national authorities where necessary.

(12)

When assessing whether a personal data breach is likely to adversely affect the personal data or privacy of a subscriber or individual, account should be taken, in particular, of the nature and content of the personal data concerned, in particular where the data concerns financial information, such as credit card data and bank account details; special categories of data referred to in Article 8(1) of Directive 95/46/EC; and certain data specifically related to the provision of telephony or internet services, i.e. e-mail data, location data, internet log files, web browsing histories and itemised call lists.

(13)

In exceptional circumstances, the provider should be permitted to delay the notification to the subscriber or individual, where the notification to the subscriber or individual may put at risk the proper investigation of the personal data breach. In this context, exceptional circumstances may include criminal investigations, as well as other personal data breaches that are not tantamount to a serious crime but for which it may be appropriate to postpone notification. In any event, it should be for the competent national authority to assess, in each case and in the light of the circumstances, whether to agree to the postponement or require the notification.

(14)

While providers should have contact details of their subscribers, given their direct contractual relationship, such information may not exist for other individuals adversely affected by the personal data breach. In such a case, the provider should be permitted to notify those individuals initially through advertisements in major national or regional media, such as newspapers, to be followed as soon as possible by an individual notification as provided for in this Regulation. The provider is therefore not obliged as such to notify through media, but rather is mandated to act in this way, if it so wishes, when it is still in the process of identifying all individuals affected.

(15)

The information about the breach should be dedicated to the breach and not associated with information about another topic. For example, inclusion of information about a personal data breach in a regular invoice should not be considered as an adequate means to notify a personal data breach.

(16)

This Regulation does not set out specific technological protection measures that justify derogation from the obligation to notify personal data breaches to subscribers or individuals, as these may change over time as technology advances. The Commission should, however, be able to publish an indicative list of such specific technological protection measures according to current practices.

(17)

Implementing encryption or hashing should not be considered sufficient by itself to allow providers to claim more broadly they have fulfilled the general security obligation set out in Article 17 of Directive 95/46/EC. In this regard, providers should also implement adequate organisational and technical measures to prevent, detect and block personal data breaches. Providers should consider any residual risk that may be present after controls have been implemented in order to understand where personal data breaches may potentially occur.

(18)

Where the provider uses another provider to perform part of the service, for example in relation to billing or management functions, this other provider, which has no direct contractual relationship with the end user, should not be obliged to issue notifications in the case of a personal data breach. Instead, it should alert and inform the provider with which it has a direct contractual relationship. This should apply also in the context of wholesale provision of electronic communications services, when typically the wholesale provider does not have a direct contractual relationship with the end user.

(19)

Directive 95/46/EC defines a general framework for personal data protection in the European Union. The Commission has presented a proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council to replace Directive 95/46/EC (the Data Protection Regulation). The proposed Data Protection Regulation would introduce an obligation for all data controllers to notify personal data breaches, building on Article 4(3) of Directive 2002/58/EC. The present Commission Regulation is fully consistent with this proposed measure.

(20)

The proposed Data Protection Regulation also makes a limited number of technical adjustments to Directive 2002/58/EC to take account of the transformation of Directive 95/46/EC into a Regulation. The substantive legal consequences of the new Regulation for the Directive 2002/58/EC will be the object of a review by the Commission.

(21)

The application of this Regulation should be reviewed three years after its entry into force, and its content reviewed in the light of the legal framework in place at that time, including the proposed Data Protection Regulation. The review of this Regulation should be linked where possible to any future review of Directive 2002/58/EC.

(22)

The application of this Regulation may be assessed based, inter alia, on any statistics maintained by competent national authorities of the personal data breaches of which they are notified. These statistics may include, for example, information on number of personal data breaches notified to the competent national authority, number of personal data breaches notified to the subscriber or individual, the time taken to resolve the personal data breach, and whether technological protection measures were taken. These statistics should provide the Commission and the Member States with consistent and comparable statistical data, and should reveal neither the identity of the notifying provider nor of the subscribers or individuals involved. The Commission may also hold regular meetings with competent national authorities and other interested stakeholders for this purpose.

(23)

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Communications Committee,

(a)

the nature and content of the personal data concerned, in particular where the data concerns financial information, special categories of data referred to in Article 8(1) of Directive 95/46/EC, as well as location data, internet log files, web browsing histories, e-mail data, and itemised call lists;

(b)

the likely consequences of the personal data breach for the subscriber or individual concerned, in particular where the breach could result in identity theft or fraud, physical harm, psychological distress, humiliation or damage to reputation; and

(c)

the circumstances of the personal data breach, in particular where the data has been stolen or when the provider knows that the data are in the possession of an unauthorised third party.

(a)

it has been securely encrypted with a standardised algorithm, the key used to decrypt the data has not been compromised in any security breach, and the key used to decrypt the data has been generated so that it cannot be ascertained by available technological means by any person who is not authorised to access the key; or

(b)

it has been replaced by its hashed value calculated with a standardised cryptographic keyed hash function, the key used to hash the data has not been compromised in any security breach, and the key used to hash the data has been generated in a way that it cannot be ascertained by available technological means by any person who is not authorised to access the key.

26.6.2013   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 173/9

(1)

Regulation (EU) No 389/2012 establishes a framework for the simplification and the strengthening of administrative cooperation between Member States in the field of excise duties.

(2)

Article 21 of Council Directive 2008/118/EC of 16 December 2008 concerning the general arrangements for excise duty and repealing Directive 92/12/EEC (2) requires the verification of the details of a draft electronic administrative document by the Member State of dispatch before excise goods may be moved under duty suspension. Commission Regulation (EC) No 684/2009 of 24 July 2009 implementing Council Directive 2008/118/EC as regards the computerised procedures for the movement of excise goods under suspension of excise duty (3) specifies the content of the draft electronic administrative document. Since the information in that administrative document relating to excise authorisations is subject to verification against the details of the corresponding national registers the details of each national register should be made available to each Member State of dispatch regularly and should be kept up to date.

(3)

The information contained in the national registers concerning economic operators engaged in moving excise goods under duty suspension arrangements is to be automatically exchanged through a central register of economic operators (Central Register) to be operated by the Commission as provided for in Article 19(4) of Regulation (EU) No 389/2012.

(4)

To facilitate the exchange of information through the Central Register it is necessary to lay down the structure and content of the standard formats to be used, including the codes to be entered into those formats.

(5)

To ensure that the available data in the Central Register is correct and automatically updated, the central excise liaison office or liaison department should notify and forward modifications of their national registers to the Central Register.

(6)

In order for the data stored in the national registers to be correct and up-to-date, the central excise liaison office or liaison department should update the national register on the same day that a modification to an authorisation occurs and should forward modifications to the Central Register without delay.

(7)

In order to ensure that Member States have an accurate copy of the details of other national registers the central excise liaison office or designated liaison department should arrange for the regular and timely receipt of new modifications from the Central Register.

(8)

It is necessary for economic operators to have a means to verify that their authorisation details have been accurately processed and distributed by the Central Register and to check the details of a trading partner before submitting a draft electronic administrative document. In order to enable such verification of the validity of the excise numbers as provided for in Article 20(1) of Regulation (EU) No 389/2012, the Commission should provide the necessary key details of an authorisation kept in the Central Register upon production of a valid unique excise number. Moreover, rules for correcting inaccurate information in relation to the authorisation of an economic operator should be laid down.

(9)

To ensure that the Central Register is being operated efficiently, the guaranteed maximum time to process a notification of the modification of a national register or a common request, it is necessary to specify the level of availability of the Central Register and of the national registers as well as the circumstances under which the availability or performance of the Central Register or the national registers may be allowed to fall below these levels.

(10)

In order to provide for the evaluation of the operation of the Central Register the Commission should extract statistical information from the register and deliver it to the Member States on a monthly basis.

(11)

In order to allow the Commission and the Member States adequate time to make arrangements to be able to meet obligations concerning time limits and the availability of services required by this Regulation the application of Articles 8, 9 and 10 should be deferred until 1 January 2015.

(12)

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee on Excise Duty,

(a)

notification of modifications of national registers sent by the central excise liaison offices and the liaison departments to the Central Register;

(b)

notification of modifications of the Central Register sent to national registers;

(c)

requests made by central excise liaison offices and the liaison departments for details of modifications to the Central Register;

(d)

requests made by central excise liaison offices and the liaison departments for statistical information extracted from the Central Register;

(e)

forwarding by the Commission to the requesting Member States of statistical information extracted from the Central Register.

(1)

‘record’ means an entry in a national register or the Central Register referred to in Article 19(4) of Regulation (EU) No 389/2012;

(2)

‘modification’ means the creation, update or invalidation of a record;

(3)

‘activation date’ means the date in a record set by the responsible Member State, from which date the record is available for use in electronic verification in all Member States and from which the extracted details thereof are available for consultation for economic operators.

(a)

the Commission shall register the modification in the Central Register without delay;

(b)

a notification shall be sent to each Member State of which the central excise liaison office or liaison department is registered to receive notifications of modifications using the ‘Operations on the register of economic operators’ message set out in Table 2 of Annex I.

(a)

if the unique excise number submitted corresponds to a record for an authorised warehouse keeper, a registered consignee or a registered consignor the extract shall contain any of the following:

(b)

if the unique excise number submitted corresponds to a record for a tax warehouse the extract shall indicate any of the following:

(c)

if the unique excise number submitted corresponds to a registered consignee that falls under point (h) of Article 19(2) of Regulation (EU) No 389/2012 the extract shall in addition to the data provided in point (a) contain the following information:

(a)

the number of active and inactive economic operators records;

(b)

the number of pending expirations of authorisations, being the total number of authorisations that will expire in the following month or in the following quarter;

(c)

the types of economic operators, the number of economic operators, by type, and the number of tax warehouses;

(d)

the number of authorised economic operators by product and by product category;

(e)

the number of modifications to excise authorisations.

(a)

the Central Register or a national register is unavailable due to hardware or telecommunication failures;

(b)

network problems occurs which are not under the direct control of the Commission or the Member State concerned;

(c)

force majeure;

(d)

scheduled maintenance notified at least forty-eight hours before the planned start of the maintenance period.

26.6.2013   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 173/34

(1)

Commission Regulation (EC) No 1451/2007 of 4 December 2007 on the second phase of the 10-year work programme referred to in Article 16(2) of Directive 98/8/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the placing of biocidal products on the market (2) sets out, in Annex II, an exhaustive list of existing active substances to be evaluated under the work programme for the systematic examination of active substances already on the market (hereinafter referred to as the ‘review programme’) and prohibits the placing on the market of biocidal products containing active substance/product-type combinations which are not listed in that Annex or in Annex I or IA to Directive 98/8/EC, or for which the Commission has taken a non-inclusion decision.

(2)

The list in Annex II to Regulation (EC) No 1451/2007 includes existing active substance/product-type combinations which were notified in accordance with Article 4(1) of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1896/2000 of 7 September 2000 on the first phase of the programme referred to in Article 16(2) of Directive 98/8/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on biocidal products (3), in which a Member State has indicated an interest in accordance with Article 5(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1896/2000, or for which a dossier was submitted by 1 March 2006 and accepted as complete.

(3)

The definitions of ‘biocidal products’ in point (a) of Article 2(1) of Directive 98/8/EC and of active substance in point (d) of Article 2(1) of that Directive, and the product-type descriptions in Annex V to that Directive, have been interpreted differently. In some cases, the common understanding shared between the Commission and the competent authorities designated in accordance with Article 26 of Directive 98/8/EC has changed over time. In particular, the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union of 1 March 2012 in case C-420/10, Söll GmbH v Tetra GmbH  (4), clarified that the concept of ‘biocidal products’ must be interpreted as including certain products which act only by indirect means on the target harmful organisms.

(4)

Persons relying on guidance notes published, or written advice given, by the Commission or by a competent authority designated in accordance with Article 26 of Directive 98/8/EC may therefore have failed to notify the existing active substance/product-type combination in a product placed on the market, or to take over the role of participant, in the objectively justified belief that the product is excluded from the scope of Directive 98/8/EC or that it falls under a different product-type.

(5)

Those persons should have the possibility of submitting a dossier for examination under the review programme in such cases, subject, where relevant, to prior notification, in order to avoid the market withdrawal of products for which a justified interpretation as regards its character as a biocidal product or its correct product-type is subsequently contested by Member States or the Commission.

(6)

In addition, in cases where, for the same reasons, active substances have not yet been identified as existing, Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 1451/2007 should be updated to correctly reflect all existing active substances.

(7)

The situation of persons wishing to notify an active substance/product-type combination on the basis of this Regulation will be similar to that of persons wishing to take over the role of participant in accordance with Article 12 of Regulation (EC) No 1451/2007. It is therefore appropriate to provide for similar procedure and deadlines for informing stakeholders and allowing declarations of intention to the Commission.

(8)

Furthermore, it is appropriate to align the deadlines and other requirements for notification with those set out in Article 4(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1896/2000 for the first notifications of existing active substances to the extent possible, while taking account of the current working methods of the European Chemicals Agency established by Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council (5).

(9)

In cases where no Rapporteur Member State has been designated for the active substance concerned by a notification, and in order to ensure that the substance will be evaluated for approval, confirmation is to be required from the notifier that a competent authority agrees to evaluate the forthcoming application for approval of the active substance.

(10)

Regulation (EC) No 1451/2007 should therefore be amended accordingly.

(11)

In order to ensure a smooth transition from Directive 98/8/EC to Regulation (EU) No 528/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2012 concerning the making available on the market and use of biocidal products (6), certain parts of this Regulation should apply from the same date as Regulation (EU) No 528/2012.

(12)

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on Biocidal Products,

(1)

in Article 2, the second subparagraph is replaced by the following:

‘In addition, “participant” means a person which has submitted a notification that has been accepted by the Commission in accordance with Article 4(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1896/2000 or with Article 3c(1) of this Regulation, or a Member State which has indicated an interest in accordance with Article 5(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1896/2000.’;

(2)

in Article 3(2), the following point (d) is added:

(3)

the following Article 3a is inserted:

‘Article 3a

Procedure for the declaration of intention to notify

1.   A person or a Member State considering that a biocidal product being placed on the market and containing only existing active substances is covered by Directive 98/8/EC and falls under one or more product-types for which Article 4 prohibits the placing on the market may submit a request to the Commission to allow the notification of the active substances contained in that product for the relevant product-types.

The request shall indicate the relevant active substance/product-type combinations, and a justification for the failure to submit a notification in accordance with Article 4(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1896/2000, or to indicate an interest in accordance with Article 5(3) of that Regulation, or to take over the role of participant in accordance with Article 12 of this Regulation, or to submit a complete dossier in accordance with Article 9(1) of this Regulation.

2.   Upon receipt of a request in accordance with paragraph 1, the Commission shall consult Member States on whether the request is acceptable.

The request shall be acceptable if the biocidal product is covered by Directive 98/8/EC and falls under one or more product-types for which Article 4 of this Regulation prohibits the placing on the market and, prior to submitting that request, the applicant held an objectively justified belief, induced by guidance published or written advice given by the Commission or by a competent authority designated in accordance with Article 26 of Directive 98/8/EC, that the product was excluded from the scope of Directive 98/8/EC or that it fell under a different product-type.

However, the request shall not be acceptable if the active substance/product-type combination concerned has already been the subject of a decision not to include it in Annex I or IA to Directive 98/8/EC based on an assessment report reviewed by the Standing Committee on Biocidal Products in accordance with Article 15(4) of this Regulation.

3.   Where, following a consultation in accordance with paragraph 2, the Commission finds the request acceptable, it shall accept it and allow the notification of the active substance for the relevant product-types.

However, where the dossier submitted to the Rapporteur Member State for the relevant active substance already contains all the data required for the evaluation of the relevant product-types for which Article 4 prohibits the placing on the market, and the participant which has submitted that dossier wishes to be considered as having notified the active substance for those product-types, the Rapporteur Member State shall inform the Commission thereof, and no additional notification shall be allowed pursuant to the first subparagraph.

The Commission shall inform the Member States thereof and publish that information electronically.

4.   A person intending to notify the active substance/product-type combination included in the electronic publication referred to in the third subparagraph of paragraph 3 shall declare that intention to the Commission no later than three months from the date of that electronic publication.’;

(4)

the following Article 3b is inserted:

‘Article 3b

Notification procedure

1.   Following the declaration of intention to notify, the person referred to in Article 3a(4) shall submit a notification of the active substance/product-type combination to the European Chemicals Agency established by Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Agency’) no later than 18 months from the date of the electronic publication referred to in the third subparagraph of Article 3a(3).

The notification shall be made through the Register for Biocidal Products referred to in Article 71 of Regulation (EU) No 528/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council (7).

2.   The notification shall be submitted in IUCLID format. It shall contain all the information referred to in points 1 to 3 and the table in Annex II to Regulation (EC) No 1896/2000, and proof that the substance was on the market as an active substance of a biocidal product falling under the relevant product-type on the date of the electronic publication referred to in the third subparagraph of Article 3a(3).

3.   Unless a Rapporteur Member State has already been designated for the active substance in question, the notifier shall indicate to which competent authority of a Member State it intends to submit a dossier, and provide written confirmation that that competent authority agrees to evaluate the dossier.

4.   Upon receipt of a notification, the Agency shall inform the Commission thereof, and inform the notifier of the fees payable under the Regulation adopted pursuant to Article 80(1) of Regulation (EU) No 528/2012. If the notifier fails to pay the fee within 30 days from the receipt of that information, the Agency shall reject the notification and inform the notifier thereof.

5.   Upon receipt of payment of the fees, the Agency shall verify within 30 days whether the notification complies with the requirements of paragraph 2. If the notification does not comply with those requirements, the Agency shall grant the notifier a period of 30 days in which to complete or correct the notification. After the expiry of that 30-day period, the Agency shall, within 30 days, either declare that the notification complies with the requirements of paragraph 2 or reject the notification, and inform the notifier thereof.

6.   Appeals against decisions of the Agency taken pursuant to paragraph 4 or paragraph 5 shall lie with the Board of Appeal established by Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006. Article 92(1) and (2), and Articles 93 and 94 of Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 shall apply to such appeal procedures. An appeal shall have suspensive effect.

7.   The Agency shall without delay inform the Commission of whether the notification complies with the requirements of paragraph 2 or has been rejected.

(5)

the following Article 3c is inserted:

‘Article 3c

Inclusion in, or exclusion from, the review programme

1.   Where an active substance is considered notified in accordance with the second subparagraph of Article 3a(3), or where the Agency informs the Commission in accordance with Article 3b(7) that a notification complies with the requirements of Article 3b(2), the Commission shall accept the notification and:

2.   Where a declaration of intention to notify has not been received within the deadline referred to in Article 3a(4), where a notification has not been received within the deadline referred to in Article 3b(1), or where the Agency informs the Commission in accordance with Article 3b(7) that a notification submitted in accordance with Article 3b(1) has been rejected, the Commission shall inform the Member States thereof and publish that information electronically.’;

(6)

in Article 4, the following paragraph 4 is added:

‘4.   By way of derogation from paragraphs 1 and 2, biocidal products containing an active substance for which the Commission has published electronically the relevant information in accordance with the third subparagraph of Article 3a(3) for the relevant product-types may be placed on the market in accordance with Article 16(1) of Directive 98/8/EC until the date when the Commission has taken a decision to include the active substance/product-type combination in Annex II in accordance with point (a) of Article 3c(1) or to annul a previous non-inclusion decision in accordance with point (b) of Article 3c(1), or for a period of six months from the date when the Commission has published electronically the relevant information in accordance with Article 3c(2).’;

(7)

in Article 9, the following paragraph 3 is added:

‘3.   By way of derogation from paragraph 2, for active substance/product-type combinations listed in Annex II in accordance with point (a) of Article 3c(1), or for which a decision has been annulled in accordance with point (b) of Article 3c(1), applications for approval of an active substance in accordance with Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 528/2012 shall be submitted no later than two years from the date of the decision adopted in accordance with points (a) or (b) of Article 3c(1).’.

26.6.2013   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 173/38

(1)

Implementing Regulation (EU) No 543/2011 lays down, pursuant to the outcome of the Uruguay Round multilateral trade negotiations, the criteria whereby the Commission fixes the standard values for imports from third countries, in respect of the products and periods stipulated in Annex XVI, Part A thereto.

(2)

The standard import value is calculated each working day, in accordance with Article 136(1) of Implementing Regulation (EU) No 543/2011, taking into account variable daily data. Therefore this Regulation should enter into force on the day of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union,

26.6.2013   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 173/40

(1)

Upon a request by Ireland, the Council granted financial assistance to it by means of Implementing Decision 2011/77/EU (2) in support of a strong economic and reform programme aiming at restoring confidence, enabling the return of the economy to sustainable growth, and safeguarding financial stability in Ireland, the euro area and the Union.

(2)

The Commission completed the ninth review of the Irish economic reform programme on 22 April 2013.

(3)

An extension of the maximum average maturity of the EU loan would be beneficial as it would support Ireland’s efforts to regain full market access and successfully exit its programme. In order to take full benefit from the extension of the maximum average maturity of the EU loan, the Commission should be authorised to extend the maturity of instalments and tranches.

(4)

In light of those developments, Implementing Decision 2011/77/EU should be amended,