Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2016/2113Show full title

Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2016/2113

of 30 November 2016

on the clearance of accounts of the paying agencies of Member States concerning expenditure financed by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) in the last execution year of EAFRD 2007-2013 programming period (16 October 2014-31 December 2015)

(notified under document C(2016) 7690)

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 on the financing, management and monitoring of the common agricultural policy and repealing Council Regulations (EEC) No 352/78, (EC) No 165/94, (EC) No 2799/98, (EC) No 814/2000, (EC) No 1290/2005 and (EC) No 485/2008(1), and in particular Article 51 thereof,

After consulting the Committee on the Agricultural Funds,

Whereas:

(1) Pursuant to Article 51 of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013, the Commission, on the basis of the annual accounts submitted by the Member States, accompanied by the information required for the clearance of accounts and an audit opinion regarding the completeness, accuracy and veracity of the accounts and the reports established by the certification bodies, should clear the accounts of the paying agencies referred to in Article 7 of that Regulation.

(2) In accordance with Article 37(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 and Article 41(4)(c) of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 907/2014(2), for the last execution year, the annual accounts should be presented to the Commission not later than 6 months after the final eligibility date and shall cover the expenditure effected by the paying agency up to the last eligibility date of expenditure, which was 31 December 2015.

(3) In accordance with Article 37(1) and (2) of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013, after receiving the last annual progress report on the implementation of a rural development programme, the Commission should pay the balance, subject to the availability of resources, on the basis of the financial plan in force, the annual accounts for the last execution year for the relevant rural development programme and of the corresponding clearance decision.

(4) In accordance with Article 37(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 the Member States submitted to the Commission a complete set of accounts by 30 June 2016.

(5) The Commission has checked the information submitted by the Member States and has communicated the results of its checks to the Member States by 30 September 2016, along with the necessary amendments.

(6) For certain paying agencies, the annual accounts and the accompanying documents permit the Commission to take a decision on the completeness, accuracy and veracity of the annual accounts submitted.

(7) The information submitted by other paying agencies requires additional enquiries and their accounts may therefore not be cleared by this Implementing Decision.

(8) In accordance with Article 36(3)(b) of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013, an amount of EUR 9 934 738,68 was excluded from the annual clearance Decision for the financial year 2014. This consists of EUR 1 122 778,99 declared for the rural development programme 2007EE06RPO001, EUR 18 560,56 declared for the rural development programme 2007ES06RPO009, EUR 5 599 314,3 declared for the rural development programme 2007FI06RPO001, EUR 169 459,49 declared for the rural development programme 2007LU06RPO001 and EUR 3 024 625,34 declared for the rural development programme 2007UK06RPO002. Following the adoption of the amended financial plans, these amounts were reimbursed by the Commission in 2015 and they are therefore included in the present clearance decision.

(9) In accordance with Article 51 of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013, this Decision is without prejudice to the decisions the Commission may take subsequently pursuant to Article 52 of the same Regulation to exclude from Union financing expenditure not effected in accordance with Union rules.

(10) In adopting this Decision, the Commission should take into account the amounts reduced or suspended on the basis of Article 41 of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013, in order to avoid making any undue or untimely payments, or reimbursing amounts that could later be subject to financial correction. By Implementing Decision C(2015)6810, the Commission reduced interim payments linked to the rural development programme of Lithuania for the 2007-2013 programming period. Since the procedure provided for in Article 34 of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 908/2014(3) is still ongoing, this reduction should be maintained,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

(1)

OJ L 347, 20.12.2013, p. 549.

(2)

Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 907/2014 of 11 March 2014 supplementing Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to paying agencies and other bodies, financial management, clearance of accounts, securities and use of euro (OJ L 255, 28.8.2014, p. 18).

(3)

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 908/2014 of 6 August 2014 laying down rules for the application of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to paying agencies and other bodies, financial management, clearance of accounts, rules on checks, securities and transparency (OJ L 255, 28.8.2014, p. 59).