1.Member States and Responsible Authorities shall be responsible for:
(a)a website or a website portal providing information on and access to the national programmes in that Member State;
(b)informing potential beneficiaries about funding opportunities under the national programmes;
(c)publicising to Union citizens the role and achievements of the Specific Regulations, through information and communication actions on the results and impact of the national programmes.
2.Member States shall ensure transparency of the implementation of the national programmes and shall maintain a list of actions supported by each national programme which shall be accessible through the website or the website portal. The list of actions shall include updated information on the final beneficiaries, the names of the projects and the amount of Union funding allocated to them.
3.As a rule, information shall be made public, except where it is restricted due to its confidential nature, particularly concerning security, public order, criminal investigations and the protection of personal data.
4.The Commission shall be empowered to adopt by delegated acts in accordance with Article 58 to lay down rules concerning the information and publicity measures for the public and information measures for beneficiaries.
5.The Commission shall, by way of implementing acts, define the technical characteristics of information and publicity measures. Those implementing acts shall be adopted by the Commission in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 59(3).
1.By 31 March 2016 and by 31 March of each subsequent year until and including 2022, the Responsible Authority shall submit to the Commission an annual report on the implementation of each national programme in the previous financial year and may, at the appropriate level, publish that information. The report submitted in 2016 shall cover the financial years 2014 and 2015. The Member State shall submit a final report on the implementation of the national programmes by 31 December 2023.
2.Annual implementation reports shall set out information on:
(a)the implementation of the national programme by reference to the financial data and the indicators;
(b)any significant issues which affect the performance of the national programme.
3.In the light of the mid-term review as referred to in Article 15, the annual implementation report submitted in 2017 shall set out and assess:
(a)the information referred to in paragraph 2;
(b)the progress towards achieving the objectives in the national programmes pursued with the contribution from the Union budget;
(c)the involvement of relevant partners as referred to in Article 12.
4.The annual implementation report submitted in 2020 and the final implementation report shall, in addition to the information and assessment set out in paragraph 2, include information on and assess the progress towards achieving the objectives of the national programme, bearing in mind the outcome of the policy dialogue referred to in Article 13(1).
5.The annual implementation reports referred to in paragraphs 1 to 4 shall be admissible if they contain all the information required by those paragraphs. The Commission shall inform the Member State concerned within 15 working days from the date of receipt of the annual implementation report if it is not admissible, failing which it shall be deemed admissible.
6.The Commission shall inform the Member State concerned of its observations on the annual implementation report within two months from the date of receipt of the annual implementation report. If the Commission does not provide observations within this deadline, the reports shall be deemed to be accepted.
7.The Commission may make observations on issues in the Responsible Authority’s annual implementation report which affect the implementation of the national programme. Where such observations are made, the Responsible Authority shall provide necessary information with regard to those observations and, where appropriate, inform the Commission of the measures taken. The Commission shall be informed not later than three months after it has made such observations.
8.The Commission shall adopt, by way of implementing acts, the models according to which the annual and final implementation reports shall be drawn up. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the advisory procedure referred to in Article 59(2).
1.The Commission shall carry out regular monitoring of this Regulation and the Specific Regulations, where appropriate, in cooperation with the Member States.
2.The implementation of the Specific Regulations shall be evaluated by the Commission in partnership with the Member States in accordance with Article 57.
3.A common monitoring and evaluation framework shall be established with a view to measuring the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, added value and sustainability of the actions and the simplification and the reduction of administrative burden, in the light of the objectives of this Regulation and the Specific Regulations and the performance of this Regulation and the Specific Regulations as instruments contributing to the development of the area of freedom, security and justice.
4.The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 58 to develop further the common monitoring and evaluation framework.
5.Member States shall provide the Commission with the necessary information to permit the monitoring and evaluation of this Regulation and the Specific Regulations.
6.The Commission shall also consider the complementarity between the actions implemented under the Specific Regulations and those pursued under other relevant Union policies, instruments and initiatives.
7.The Commission shall pay particular attention to the monitoring and evaluation of actions and programmes related to third countries, in accordance with Article 8.
1.Member States shall carry out the evaluations referred to in Article 57(1). The evaluation to be carried out in 2017 shall contribute to improving the quality of the design and the implementation of national programmes, in accordance with the common monitoring and evaluation framework.
2.Member States shall ensure that procedures are in place to produce and collect the data necessary for the evaluations referred to in paragraph 1, including data related to indicators in the common monitoring and evaluation framework.
3.The evaluations referred to in Article 57(1) shall be carried out by experts who are functionally independent of the Responsible Authorities, the Audit Authorities and the Delegated Authorities. Those experts may be affiliated to an autonomous public institution responsible for the monitoring, evaluation and audit of the administration. The Commission shall provide guidance on how to carry out evaluations.
4.The evaluations referred to in Article 57(1) shall be made public in their entirety, except where information is restricted due to its confidential nature, particularly concerning security, public order, criminal investigations and the protection of personal data.
1.In accordance with the common monitoring and evaluation framework, the Member States shall submit to the Commission:
(a)an interim evaluation report on the implementation of actions and progress towards achieving the objectives of their national programmes by 31 December 2017;
(b)an ex-post evaluation report on the effects of actions under their national programmes by 31 December 2023.
2.On the basis of the reports referred to in paragraph 1, the Commission shall submit to the European Parliament, to the Council, to the European Economic and Social Committee and to the Committee of the Regions:
(a)an interim evaluation report on the implementation of this Regulation and the Specific Regulations at the level of the Union by 30 June 2018. That interim evaluation report shall include an assessment of the mid-term review carried out in accordance with this Regulation and the Specific Regulations;
(b)an ex-post evaluation report on the effects of this Regulation and the Specific Regulations, following the closure of the national programmes, by 30 June 2024.
3.The ex-post evaluation of the Commission shall also examine the impact of the Specific Regulations on the development of the area of freedom, security and justice in terms of their contribution to the following objectives:
(a)the development of a common culture of border security, law enforcement cooperation and crisis management;
(b)the effective management of migration flows into the Union;
(c)the development of the Common European Asylum System;
(d)the fair and equal treatment of third-country nationals;
(e)solidarity and cooperation between Member States in addressing migration and internal security issues;
(f)a common approach by the Union on migration and security towards third countries.
4.All evaluation reports pursuant to this Article shall be published in their entirety, except where information is restricted due to its confidential nature, particularly concerning security, public order, criminal investigations and protection of personal data.