Regulation (EU) No 514/2014 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilDangos y teitl llawn

SECTION 3 U.K. Financial Management

Article 32 U.K. Budget commitments

1. The budget commitments of the Union in respect of each national programme shall be made in annual instalments during the period from 1 January 2014 to 31 December 2020.

2. The decision of the Commission approving a national programme shall constitute a financing decision within the meaning of Article 84 of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 and, once notified to the Member State concerned, a legal commitment within the meaning of that Regulation.

3. For each national programme, the budget commitment for the first instalment shall follow the approval of the national programme by the Commission.

4. The budget commitments for subsequent instalments shall be made by the Commission before 1 May of each year, on the basis of the decision referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article, except where Article 16 of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 applies.

Article 33 U.K. Common rules for payments

1. Payments by the Commission of the contribution from the Union budget to the national programme shall be made in accordance with budget appropriations and shall be subject to available funding. Each payment shall be posted to the earliest open budget commitment concerned.

2. Payments shall take the form of initial pre-financing, annual pre-financing, payments of the annual balance and the payment of the final balance.

3. Article 90 of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 shall apply.

Article 34 U.K. Accumulation of initial pre-financing and annual balances

1. The total of the initial pre-financing payment and the payments of the annual balance shall not exceed 95 % of the contribution from the Union budget to the national programme concerned.

2. When the ceiling of 95 % is reached, the Member States may continue transmitting requests for payment to the Commission.

Article 35 U.K. Pre-financing arrangements

1. Following the Commission decision approving the national programme, an initial pre-financing amount for the whole programming period shall be paid within four months by the Commission to the designated Responsible Authority. That initial pre-financing amount shall represent 4 % of the total contribution from the Union budget to the national programme concerned. It may be split into two instalments, depending on budget availability.

2. An annual pre-financing amount of 3 % of the total contribution from the Union budget to the national programme concerned shall be paid before 1 February 2015. For the years in the period 2016-22, it shall be 5 % of the total contribution from the Union budget to the national programme concerned.

3. If a national programme is approved in 2015 or later, the initial pre-financing and annual pre-financing shall be paid not later than 60 days after the approval of the national programme, depending on budget availability.

4. In the case of amendments to the total contribution from the Union budget to a national programme, the initial as well as the annual pre-financing amounts shall be revised accordingly and reflected in the financing decision.

5. Pre-financing shall be used for making payments to beneficiaries implementing the national programme as well as for competent authorities for expenditure relating to technical assistance. It shall be made available without delay to the Responsible Authority for those purposes.

Article 36 U.K. Clearance of pre-financing

1. The amount paid as initial pre-financing shall be totally cleared from the Commission accounts in accordance with Article 40, at the latest when the national programme is closed.

2. The amount paid as annual pre-financing shall be cleared from the Commission accounts in accordance with Article 39.

3. The total amount paid as pre-financing shall be reimbursed to the Commission if no payment request in accordance with Article 44 is sent within 36 months of the date on which the Commission pays the first instalment of the initial pre-financing amount.

4. Interest generated on the initial pre-financing shall be posted to the national programme concerned and shall be deducted from the amount of public expenditure indicated on the final payment request.

Article 37 U.K. Internal assignment of revenue

1. The following shall be regarded as internal assigned revenue within the meaning of Article 21 of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012:

(i)

sums which, under Articles 45 and 47 of this Regulation, are paid to the Union budget, including interest;

(ii)

sums which, following the closure of programmes under the preceding multiannual financial framework, are paid to the Union budget, including interest.

2. The sums referred to in paragraph 1 shall be paid to the Union budget and, in the event of reuse, shall be used in the first instance to finance expenditure under the Specific Regulations.

Article 38 U.K. Definition of the financial year

For the purpose of this Regulation, the financial year, as referred to in Article 59 of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012, shall cover expenditure paid and revenue received and entered into the accounts of the Responsible Authority in the period commencing on 16 October of year ‘N-1’ and ending on 15 October of year ‘N’.

Article 39 U.K. Payment of the annual balance

1. The Commission shall pay the annual balance, on the basis of the financial plan in force, the annual accounts for the corresponding financial year of the national programme and the corresponding clearance decision.

2. The annual accounts shall cover the payments made by the Responsible Authority, including the payments relating to technical assistance, during the financial year for which the control requirements referred to in Article 27 have been met.

3. Depending on budget availability, the annual balance shall be paid not later than six months after the information and documents referred to in Article 44(1) and Article 54 are considered admissible by the Commission and the latest annual accounts have been cleared.

Article 40 U.K. Closure of the programme

1. Member States shall submit the following documents by 31 December 2023:

(a) the information required for the last annual accounts, in accordance with Article 44(1);

(b) a request for payment of the final balance; and

(c) the final implementation report for the national programme as referred to in Article 54(1).

2. The payments made by the Responsible Authority from 16 October 2022 to 30 June 2023 shall be included in the last annual accounts.

3. After receiving the documents listed in paragraph 1, the Commission shall pay the final balance, on the basis of the financial plan in force, the last annual accounts and the corresponding clearance decision.

4. Depending on budget availability, the final balance shall be paid not later than three months after the date of clearance of accounts of the final financial year, or one month after the date of acceptance of the final implementation report, whichever date is later. The amounts still committed after the balance is paid shall, without prejudice to Article 52, be decommitted by the Commission within a period of six months.

Article 41 U.K. Interruption of the payment deadline

1. The payment deadline following a request for payment may be interrupted by the authorising officer by delegation within the meaning of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 for a maximum period of six months, when at least one of the following conditions is met:

(a) further to information provided by a national or Union audit body, there is clear evidence to suggest a significant deficiency in the functioning of the management and control system;

(b) the authorising officer by delegation has to carry out additional verifications following information brought to his attention alerting him that expenditure in a payment request is linked to an irregularity having serious financial consequences;

(c) one or more documents required under Article 44(1) were not submitted.

The Member State concerned may agree to an extension of the interruption period for an additional three months.

2. The authorising officer by delegation shall limit the interruption to the part of the expenditure covered by the payment request affected by the elements referred to in the first subparagraph of paragraph 1, unless it is not possible to identify the part of expenditure affected. The authorising officer by delegation shall inform the Member State and the Responsible Authority immediately in writing of the reason for the interruption and shall ask them to remedy the situation. The interruption shall be ended by the authorising officer by delegation as soon as the necessary measures have been taken.

Article 42 U.K. Suspension of payments

1. All or part of the annual balance may be suspended by the Commission where:

(a) there is a serious deficiency in the effective functioning of the management and control system of the national programme which has put at risk the Union contribution to the national programme, and for which corrective measures have not been taken;

(b) expenditure in the annual accounts is linked to an irregularity having serious financial consequences which has not been corrected; or

(c) the Member State has failed to take the necessary action to remedy the situation giving rise to an interruption under Article 41.

2. The Commission may decide to suspend all or part of an annual balance after having given the Member State concerned the opportunity to present its observations.

3. The Commission shall end the suspension of all or part of an annual balance where the Member State concerned has taken the necessary measures to enable the suspension to be lifted.

Article 43 U.K. Use of the euro

1. Amounts set out in national programmes submitted by Member States, forecasts of expenditure, statements of expenditure, requests for payments, annual accounts and expenditure mentioned in the annual and final implementation reports shall be denominated in euro.

2. Member States whose currency is not the euro on the date of a payment request shall convert the amounts of expenditure incurred in national currency into euro. Those amounts shall be converted into euro using the monthly accounting exchange rate of the Commission in the month during which the expenditure was registered in the accounts of the Responsible Authority of the national programme concerned. The exchange rate shall be published electronically by the Commission each month.

3. In cases where the euro becomes the currency of a Member State, the conversion procedure set out in paragraph 2 shall continue to apply to all expenditure recorded in the accounts by the Responsible Authority before the date of entry into force of the fixed conversion rate between the national currency and the euro.