Regulation (EU) No 514/2014 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilShow full title

SECTION 1 U.K. Programming and Implementation framework

Article 10 U.K. Programming

The objectives of the Specific Regulations shall be pursued within the framework of the multiannual programming for the period 2014-20, subject to a mid-term review in accordance with Article 15.

Article 11 U.K. Subsidiary and proportionate intervention

1. Member States and their competent authorities as specified in Article 25 shall be responsible for implementing programmes and carrying out their tasks under this Regulation and the Specific Regulations at the appropriate level, in accordance with the institutional, legal and financial framework of the Member State concerned and subject to compliance with this Regulation and the Specific Regulations.

2. Arrangements for the implementation and use of the support provided under the Specific Regulations, and in particular the financial and administrative resources required in relation to reporting, evaluation, management and control, shall take into account the principle of proportionality having regard to the level of support allocated, thereby reducing the administrative burden and facilitating efficient implementation.

Article 12 U.K. Partnership

1. Each Member State shall, in accordance with its national rules and practices and subject to any applicable security requirements, organise a partnership with relevant authorities and bodies to perform the role set out in paragraph 3. The partnership shall be drawn from relevant public authorities at national, regional and local level, where applicable. It shall also, where deemed appropriate, include relevant international organisations, non-governmental organisations and social partners.

2. The partnership shall be conducted in full compliance with the respective institutional, legal and financial jurisdiction of each partner category.

3. The Member State shall involve the partnership in the preparation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of national programmes. The composition of the partnership may vary at different stages of the programme.

4. Each Member State shall set up a monitoring committee to support the implementation of national programmes.

5. The Commission may provide guidance on the monitoring of national programmes and, where necessary and in agreement with the Member State concerned, may participate in the work of the monitoring committee in an advisory capacity.

Article 13 U.K. Policy dialogue

1. In order to facilitate the preparation of the national programmes, each Member State and the Commission shall hold a dialogue at the level of senior officials, taking into account the relevant indicative timeframes laid down in Article 14. The dialogue shall focus on the overall results to be achieved by means of the national programmes in order to address the needs and priorities of the Member States in the areas of intervention covered by the Specific Regulations, taking account of the baseline situation in the Member State concerned and the objectives of the Specific Regulations. The dialogue shall also serve as an opportunity for an exchange of views on Union actions. The outcome of the dialogue shall serve as a guide for the preparation and approval of the national programmes and shall include an indication of the expected date of submission of the Member State’s national programmes to the Commission, which shall allow the timely adoption of the programme. That outcome shall be recorded in agreed minutes.

2. In the case of actions to be implemented in and in relation to third countries, such actions shall not be directly development-oriented and the policy dialogue shall seek full coherence with the principles and general objectives of the Union’s external action and foreign policy as regards the country or region concerned.

3. After the conclusion of the policy dialogues, the Commission shall inform the European Parliament of the overall outcome.

4. If deemed appropriate by a Member State and by the Commission, the policy dialogue may be repeated after the mid-term review referred to in Article 15, in order to reassess the needs of that Member State and the priorities of the Union.

Article 14 U.K. Preparation and approval of national programmes

1. Each Member State shall propose, on the basis of the outcome of the policy dialogue referred to in Article 13(1), a multiannual national programme in accordance with the Specific Regulations.

2. Each proposed national programme shall cover the financial years of the period from 1 January 2014 to 31 December 2020, and shall consist of the following elements:

(a) a description of the baseline situation in the Member State, completed with the necessary factual information to assess the requirements correctly;

(b) an analysis of requirements in the Member State and the national objectives designed to meet those requirements during the period covered by the programme;

(c) an appropriate strategy identifying the objectives to be pursued with the support of the Union budget, with targets for their achievement, an indicative time-table and examples of actions envisaged to meet those objectives;

(d) a description of how the objectives of the Specific Regulations are covered;

(e) the mechanisms that ensure coordination between the instruments established by the Specific Regulations and other Union and national instruments;

(f) information on the monitoring and evaluation framework to be put in place and the indicators to be used to measure progress in the implementation of the objectives pursued in relation to the baseline situation in the Member State;

(g) implementing provisions for the national programme containing the identification of the competent authorities, and a summary description of the envisaged management and control system;

(h) a summary description of the approach chosen for the implementation of the partnership principle laid down in Article 12;

(i) a draft financing plan indicatively broken down by each financial year of the period, including an indication of technical assistance expenditure;

(j) the mechanisms and methods to be used to publicise the national programme.

3. Member States shall submit the proposed national programmes to the Commission not later than three months after the conclusion of the policy dialogue referred to in Article 13.

4. The Commission shall adopt, by way of implementing acts, the model according to which the national programmes shall be drawn up. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 59(3).

5. Before approving a proposed national programme, the Commission shall examine:

(a) its consistency with the objectives of the Specific Regulations and the outcome of the policy dialogue referred to in Article 13(1);

(b) the distribution of Union funding between objectives in the light of the requirements of the Specific Regulations and, where relevant, the justification for any deviation from the minimum shares set in the Specific Regulations;

(c) the relevance of the objectives, targets, indicators, the time-table and examples of actions envisaged in the proposed national programme in the light of the strategy proposed by Member States;

(d) the relevance of the implementing provisions referred to in point (g) of paragraph 2 in the light of the actions envisaged;

(e) the compliance of the proposed programme with Union law;

(f) the complementarity with support provided by other Union funds, including the European Social Fund;

(g) where applicable under a Specific Regulation, for objectives and examples of actions in or in relation to third countries, coherence with the principles and general objectives of the Union’s external action and foreign policy related to the country or region concerned.

6. The Commission shall make observations within three months of the date of submission of the proposed national programme. Where the Commission considers that a proposed national programme is inconsistent with the objectives of the Specific Regulation, in the light of the national strategy, or that the Union funding to be allocated to those objectives is insufficient or that the programme does not comply with Union law, it shall invite the Member State concerned to provide all necessary additional information and, where appropriate, to modify the proposed national programme.

7. The Commission shall approve each national programme not later than six months following the formal submission by the Member State, provided that any observations made by the Commission have been adequately taken into account.

8. Without prejudice to paragraph 7, the Commission shall inform the European Parliament of the overall outcome of the application of paragraphs 5 and 6, including compliance with or derogation from the minimum percentages set per objective in the relevant Specific Regulations.

9. In the light of new or unforeseen circumstances, at the initiative of the Commission or the Member State concerned, an approved national programme may be re-examined and, if necessary, revised for the rest of the programming period.

Article 15 U.K. Mid-term review

1. In 2018 the Commission and each Member State shall review the situation, in the light of the interim evaluation reports submitted by the Member States in accordance with point (a) of Article 57(1), and in the light of developments in Union policies and in the Member State concerned.

2. Following the review- referred to in paragraph 1, and in the light of its outcome, national programmes may be revised.

3. The rules laid down in Article 14 on the preparation and approval of national programmes shall apply mutatis mutandis to the preparation and approval of the revised national programmes.

4. After the completion of the mid-term review, and as part of the interim evaluation referred to in point (a) of Article 57(2), the Commission shall report on the mid-term review to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions.

Article 16 U.K. Financing structure

1. Financial contributions provided under the national programmes shall take the form of grants.

2. Actions supported under the national programmes shall be co-financed by public or private sources, shall be of a non-profit nature and shall not be subject to funding from other sources covered by the Union budget.

3. The contribution from the Union budget shall not exceed 75 % of the total eligible expenditure of a project.

4. The contribution from the Union budget may be increased to 90 % under specific actions or strategic priorities as defined in the Specific Regulations.

5. The contribution from the Union budget may be increased to 90 % in exceptional duly justified circumstances, for example when, due to economic pressure on the national budget, projects would otherwise not be implemented and the objectives of the national programme would not be achieved.

6. The contribution from the Union budget to the technical assistance at the initiative of Member States may amount to 100 % of the total eligible expenditure.

Article 17 U.K. General principles of eligibility

1. The eligibility of expenditure shall be determined on the basis of national rules, except where specific rules are laid down in this Regulation or in the Specific Regulations.

2. In accordance with the Specific Regulations, for expenditure to be eligible, it must be:

(a) within the scope of the Specific Regulations and their objectives;

(b) needed to carry out the activities covered by the project concerned;

(c) reasonable and comply with the principles of sound financial management, in particular value for money and cost-effectiveness.

3. Expenditure shall be eligible for support under the Specific Regulations if:

(a) it has been incurred by a beneficiary between 1 January 2014 and 31 December 2022; and

(b) it has been disbursed by the designated Responsible Authority between 1 January 2014 and 30 June 2023.

4. By way of derogation from paragraph 3, expenditure paid in 2014 shall also be eligible where it has been paid by the Responsible Authority before its formal designation in accordance with Article 26, provided that the management and controls systems applied before the formal designation are essentially the same as the ones in force after the formal designation of the Responsible Authority.

5. Expenditure included in payment requests from the beneficiary to the Responsible Authority shall be supported by invoices or accounting documents of equivalent probative value, except for forms of support under points (b), (c) and (d) of Article 18(1). For such forms of support, by way of derogation from paragraph 3 of this Article, the amounts included in the payment request shall be the cost reimbursed to the beneficiary by the Responsible Authority.

6. Net revenue directly generated by a project during its implementation which has not been taken into account at the time of approval of the project shall be deducted from the eligible expenditure of the project at the latest in the final payment request submitted by the beneficiary.

Article 18 U.K. Eligible expenditure

1. Eligible expenditure may be reimbursed in the following ways:

(a) reimbursement of eligible costs actually incurred and paid, together with, where applicable, depreciation;

(b) standard scales of unit costs;

(c) lump sums;

(d) flat-rate financing determined by the application of a percentage to one or more defined categories of costs.

2. The options referred to in paragraph 1 may be combined where each option covers different categories of costs, or where they are used for different projects forming a part of an action or for successive phases of an action.

3. Where a project is implemented exclusively through the public procurement of works, goods or services, only point (a) of paragraph 1 shall apply. Where the public procurement within a project is limited to certain categories of costs, all the options referred to in paragraph 1 may apply.

4. The amounts referred to in points (b), (c) and (d) of paragraph 1 shall be established in one of the following ways:

(a) a fair, equitable and verifiable calculation method based on:

(i)

statistical data or other objective information;

(ii)

the verified historical data of individual beneficiaries; or

(iii)

the application of the usual cost accounting practices of individual beneficiaries;

(b) in accordance with the rules for application of corresponding scale of unit costs, lump sums and flat rates applicable in Union policies for a similar type of project and beneficiary;

(c) in accordance with the rules for application of corresponding scale of unit costs, lump sums and flat rates applied under schemes for grants funded entirely by the Member State concerned for a similar type of project and beneficiary.

5. The document setting out the conditions for support for each project shall set out the method to be applied for determining the costs of the project and the conditions for the payment of the grant.

6. Where the implementation of a project gives rise to indirect costs, they may be calculated as a flat rate in one of the following ways:

(a) a flat rate of up to 25 % of eligible direct costs, provided that the rate is calculated on the basis of a fair, equitable and verifiable calculation method or a method applied under schemes for grants funded entirely by the Member State concerned for a similar type of project and beneficiary;

(b) a flat rate of up to 15 % of eligible direct staff costs without there being a requirement for the Member State concerned to perform a calculation to determine the applicable rate;

(c) a flat rate applied to eligible direct costs based on existing methods and corresponding rates, applicable in Union policies for a similar type of project and beneficiary.

7. For the purposes of determining staff costs relating to the implementation of a project, the hourly rate applicable may be calculated by dividing the latest documented annual gross employment costs by 1 720 hours.

8. In addition to the methods laid down in paragraph 4, where the contribution from the Union budget does not exceed 100 000 EUR, the amounts referred to in points (b), (c) and (d) of paragraph 1 may be established on a case-by-case basis by reference to a draft budget agreed ex ante by the Responsible Authority.

9. Depreciation costs may be considered as eligible where the following conditions are met:

(a) the eligibility rules of the national programme allow for it;

(b) the amount of the expenditure is duly justified by supporting documents having equivalent probative value to invoices for eligible costs where reimbursed in the form referred to in point (a) of paragraph 1;

(c) the costs relate exclusively to the period of support for the project;

(d) support from the Union budget has not contributed towards the acquisition of the depreciated assets.

10. Without prejudice to Article 43, for the purpose of paragraph 8 of this Article the Member States whose currency is not the euro may use the euro conversion rate fixed on the date of project approval or project agreement signature based on the monthly accounting exchange rate published electronically by the Commission. The euro conversion rate shall not be subject to modification in course of the project.

Article 19 U.K. Ineligible expenditure

The following costs shall not be eligible for a contribution from the Union budget under the Specific Regulations:

(a)

interest on debt;

(b)

the purchase of land not built upon;

(c)

the purchase of land built upon, where the land is necessary for the implementation of the project, in an amount exceeding 10 % of the total eligible expenditure for the project concerned;

(d)

value added tax (VAT), except where it is non-recoverable under national VAT law.

Article 20 U.K. Technical assistance at the initiative of the Member States

1. At the initiative of a Member State for each national programme, the Specific Regulations may support actions for preparation, management, monitoring, evaluation, information and communication, networking, control and audit, as well as measures for the reinforcement of the administrative capacity for the implementation of this Regulation and the Specific Regulations.

2. The measures referred to in paragraph 1 may include:

(a) expenditure relating to the preparation, selection, appraisal, management and monitoring of the programme, actions or projects;

(b) expenditure relating to audits and on-the-spot controls of actions or projects;

(c) expenditure relating to evaluations of the programme, actions or projects;

(d) expenditure relating to information, dissemination and transparency in relation to the programme, actions or projects, including expenditure resulting from the application of Article 53 and expenditure on campaigns to inform and raise awareness about the programme’s purpose, organised, inter alia, at a local level;

(e) expenditure on the acquisition, installation and maintenance of computerised systems for the management, monitoring and evaluation of this Regulation and the Specific Regulations;

(f) expenditure on meetings of monitoring committees and sub-committees relating to the implementation of actions; including the costs of experts and other participants in those committees and including third-country participants, where their presence is essential to the effective implementation of programmes, actions or projects;

(g) expenditure for the reinforcement of the administrative capacity for the implementation of this Regulation and the Specific Regulations.

3. The appropriations may be used by the Member States to support actions for the reduction of administrative burden for the beneficiaries and competent authorities referred to in Article 25, including electronic data exchange systems, and actions to reinforce the capacity of Member State authorities and beneficiaries to administer and to use the support provided for under the Specific Regulations.

4. The actions may also concern the preceding and subsequent financial frameworks.

5. When one or more competent authorities are common to more than one national programme, the appropriations for the technical assistance expenditure on each of the programmes concerned may be merged, either partly or entirely.