Council Regulation (EC) No 617/2007Show full title

TITLE III IMPLEMENTATION

Article 6 General framework for implementation

The implementation of the assistance provided to the ACP countries and regions managed by the Commission under the ACP-EC Partnership Agreement shall be undertaken in accordance with Annex IV to that Agreement and the Financial Regulation referred to in Article 10(2) of the Internal Agreement and in accordance with the principles of ownership and aid effectiveness referred to in Article 1.

Article 7 Annual action programmes

1. The Commission shall adopt annual action programmes based on the strategy papers and multiannual indicative programmes referred to in Article 4.

Exceptionally, for instance where an annual action programme has not yet been adopted, the Commission may, on the basis of the strategy papers and multiannual indicative programmes, adopt measures not provided for in the annual action programme under the same rules and procedures.

2. The annual action programmes shall be prepared by the Commission with the partner country or region, involving the Member States locally represented and coordinating where appropriate with other donors, notably in cases of joint programming, and the EIB. The annual action programmes shall describe the general context and assess Community assistance and lessons learnt, including regarding budget support, based especially on the annual operational reviews referred to in Article 5(3). They shall specify the objectives pursued, the fields of intervention, the total amount of financing planned and an indication of the amounts allocated for each operation. They shall include detailed individual fiches for each foreseen operation which shall contain an analysis of the specific sector context, a description of the actions to be financed, the main stakeholders, the expected results based on quantitative and qualitative indicators, the management procedure, an indicative implementation timetable, and, in case of budget support, the criteria for disbursement, inclusive of possible variable tranches. Objectives shall be specific, measurable, realistic and have time-bound benchmarks, aligning with the partner country or region's own objectives and benchmarks to the maximum extent possible. They shall state how they take current or planned EIB activities into account.

3. The annual action programmes shall be adopted by the Commission in accordance with the management procedure set out in Article 11(3) of this Regulation. Each Member State may request the withdrawal of a project or programme from the annual action programme. If this request is supported by a blocking minority of Member States as laid down in Article 8(3) in connection with 8(2) of the Internal Agreement, the annual action programme shall be adopted by the Commission without the project or programme concerned in accordance with the management procedure set out in Article 11(3) of this Regulation. Unless the Commission, in line with the views of the Member States in the EDF Committee, wishes not to pursue the withdrawn project or programme it shall, at a later stage, be re-submitted to the EDF Committee outside the annual action programme as provided for in paragraph 1, second subparagraph of this Article in the form of a financing proposal which shall then be adopted by the Commission in accordance with the management procedure set out in Article 11(3) of this Regulation.

4. Amendments to annual action programmes or to measures not provided for in the annual action programmes shall be adopted in accordance with the management procedure set out in Article 11(3). In cases where amendments to Annual Action Programmes or measures not provided for in the annual action programmes do not exceed 20 % of the initial projects, programmes or consolidated allocation thereof, but do not represent more than EUR 10 million, such amendments shall be adopted by the Commission provided they do not affect the initial objectives set out in the Commission decision. The Commission shall inform the EDF Committee of any such amendments within one month.

5. The Commission shall adopt specific action programmes in accordance with the management procedure set out in Article 11(3) of this Regulation for support expenditures referred to in Article 6(2) of the Internal Agreement and not covered by the multiannual indicative programmes. Any changes in the action programmes for support expenditures shall be adopted in accordance with paragraph 4 of this Article.

6. Member States represented in the country or region, other interested Member States and where appropriate the EIB shall be kept regularly informed by the Commission on the implementation of Community projects and programmes. In turn, each Member State and the EIB shall also regularly inform the Commission, at country or region level, of the cooperation activities that they are implementing or programming, in each particular country or region.

7. In accordance with Article 11(4) of this Regulation, each Member State may at any moment request to include on the agenda of the EDF Committee an exchange of views on implementation issues relating to a particular project or programme managed by the Commission. This exchange of views may include the way the Commission applies the criteria for disbursement of budget support referred to under paragraph 2 of this Article.

Article 8 Adoption of special measures

1. In the cases referred to in Article 5(4), the Commission may adopt special measures not provided for in the strategy papers and multiannual indicative programmes in accordance with Article 2(5).

2. Special measures shall specify the objectives pursued, the areas of intervention, the targeted beneficiaries, the expected results, the management procedure and the total amount of financing. They shall contain a description of the operations to be financed, an indication of the amounts allocated for each operation and the indicative timetable for their implementation. They shall include a definition of the type of performance indicators that will have to be monitored when implementing the special measures. These indicators shall take into account the partner country or region's monitoring systems where relevant.

3. Where the cost of such special measures exceeds EUR 10 million, the Commission shall adopt them under the management procedure set out in Article 11(3). For special measures below EUR 10 million, the Commission shall inform the EDF Committee within one month of their adoption. In accordance with Article 11(4), each Member State may at any moment request to include on the agenda of the EDF Committee an exchange of views on these operations. This exchange of views may lead to the formulation of recommendations which the Commission shall take into account.

4. Amendments to special measures, such as those making technical adjustments, extending the implementation period, reassigning funds within the forecast budget, or increasing or reducing the size of the budget by less than 20 % of the initial budget, but not more than EUR 10 million, do not require adoption under the management procedure set out in Article 11(3), provided that such amendments do not affect the initial objectives set out in the Commission decision. Any such technical adjustments shall be communicated within one month to the Member States.

5. The special measures shall be subject to an annual exchange of views within the EDF Committee on the basis of a report prepared by the Commission.

Article 9 Co-financing and additional Member State contributions

1. Co-financing shall occur when a project or programme is funded from different sources:

(a) in the case of parallel co-financing, the project or programme is split into a number of clearly identifiable components, each of which is financed by the different partners providing co-financing, in such a way that the end-use of the financing can always be identified;

(b) in the case of joint co-financing, the total cost of a project or programme is shared between the partners providing co-financing and the resources are pooled in such a way that it is no longer possible to identify the source of financing for any activity undertaken as part of the project or programme.

2. When the Commission is involved in joint co-financing arrangements, the implementing arrangements governing such funds, including, when appropriate, the necessity for joint evaluations and the coverage of the possible administrative costs incurred by the body in charge of the management of the pooled funds shall be laid down in the financing agreement according to the rules and procedures which shall be detailed in the Financial Regulation referred to in Article 10(2) of the Internal Agreement.

Where the Commission receives and manages funds on behalf of:

(a) Member States and their regional and local authorities, and in particular their public and parastatal agencies;

(b) other donor countries, and in particular their public and parastatal agencies;

(c) international organisations, including regional organisations, and in particular international and regional financial institutions;

for the purpose of implementing joint measures, such funds shall be treated as assigned revenue, in accordance with the Financial Regulation referred to in Article 10(2) of the Internal Agreement and shall be integrated as such in the annual action programmes. The visibility of the Member States' contributions shall be assured.

Where the Commission entrusts the bodies referred to in precedent subparagraph with funds for the financing of tasks of public authority, and in particular EDF implementation tasks, such co-financing shall be reflected and duly justified in the annual action programmes and visibility of the EDF contribution shall be ensured.

3. When the EIB is designated as the manager for a joint co-financing arrangement, the implementing arrangements governing such funds, including, when appropriate the coverage of the administrative costs incurred by the EIB, shall be drawn up in compliance with the statutes and internal regulations of the EIB.

4. At their own initiative, Member States may also provide to the Commission or the EIB voluntary contributions in accordance with Article 1(9) of the Internal Agreement to help achieve the objectives of the ACP-EC Partnership Agreement outside joint co-financing arrangements. Such contributions shall not affect the overall allocation of funds under the 10th EDF and earmarking shall only be made in duly justified circumstances, for example in response to the exceptional circumstances as referred to in Article 5(4). The additional funds shall be integrated in the programming and review process and in the annual action programmes referred to in this Regulation and reflect partner country or region ownership. Voluntary contributions entrusted to the Commission shall be treated as assigned revenue in accordance with the Financial Regulation referred to in Article 10(2) of the Internal Agreement. They shall be treated in the same way as Member States' regular contributions referred to in Article 1(2) of the Internal Agreement except for the provisions in Articles 6 and 7 of the Internal Agreement for which specific arrangements may be laid down in a bilateral contribution agreement.

5. Member States entrusting the Commission or the EIB with additional voluntary contributions to help achieve the objectives of the ACP-EC Partnership Agreement shall inform the Council and the EDF Committee of these contributions in advance. Any earmarking shall be duly justified and any resulting change in the annual action programmes or in the strategy papers shall be adopted by the Commission in accordance with the management procedure set out in Article 11(3).

Article 10 Participation by a third country or region

In order to ensure the coherence and effectiveness of Community assistance, the Commission may decide that non-ACP developing countries and regional integration bodies with ACP participation that promote regional cooperation and integration eligible for Community Assistance under Regulation (EC) No 1905/2006, Regulation (EC) No 1638/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 2006 establishing a European Neighbourhood and Partnership instrument(1), the OCTs eligible for Community assistance under Decision 2001/822/EC, and the Community's outermost regions are eligible for funds referred to in Article 1(2)(a)(i) of the Internal Agreement, where the project or programme concerned is of a regional or cross-border nature and complies with Article 6 of Annex IV of the ACP-EC Partnership Agreement. Provision may be made for this funding in the strategy papers and multiannual indicative programmes and in the special measures referred to in Article 8 of this Regulation. Those provisions shall be integrated into the annual action programmes.

(1)

OJ L 310, 9.11.2006, p. 1.