1.Member States shall designate an authority at ministerial level responsible for:
(a)the issuing, reviewing and withdrawing of accreditation of paying agencies;
(b)carrying out the tasks assigned to the competent authority under this Chapter.
2.The competent authority shall, by way of a formal act, decide on the issuing or, after review, the withdrawal of the accreditation of the paying agency on the basis of an examination of the accreditation criteria referred to in Article 1(2) of Delegated Regulation (EU) No 907/2014 (‘the accreditation criteria’). The competent authority shall inform the Commission of accreditations and withdrawals of accreditations without delay.
3.The competent authority shall appoint an audit body to carry out an examination before any accreditation is granted (pre-accreditation review). The audit body shall be an audit authority, or other public or private organisation or organisational unit of an authority with the requisite proficiency, skills and capacity to carry out audits. The audit body shall be independent from the paying agency to be accredited.
The examination (pre-accreditation review) to be carried out by the audit body shall cover, in particular:
(a)the procedures and systems in place for the authorisation and execution of payments;
(b)the division of duties and the adequacy of internal and external control in respect of transactions financed by the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF) and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD), hereinafter together referred to as ‘the Funds’;
(c)the extent to which the procedures and systems put in place are apt to safeguard the Union budget including risk-based anti-fraud measures;
(d)the security of information systems;
(e)the maintenance of accounting records.
The audit body shall prepare a report detailing the audit work carried out, the results of that work and its assessment as to whether the paying agency complies with the accreditation criteria. The report shall be provided to the competent authority which shall then issue the accreditation act where it is satisfied that the paying agency complies with the accreditation criteria.
4.Where the competent authority considers that the paying agency does not comply with the accreditation criteria, it shall inform the paying agency of the specific conditions it is required to fulfil before accreditation may be granted.
Pending the implementation of any necessary changes in order to fulfil such specific conditions, accreditation may be granted provisionally for a period to be determined taking into account the severity of the problems identified, which shall not exceed 12 months. In duly justified cases, the Commission may, upon request of the Member State concerned, grant an extension of that period.
5.The information provided for in point (a) of the first subparagraph of Article 102(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 shall be communicated immediately after the paying agency is first accredited and in any case before any expenditure effected by it is charged to the Funds. That information shall be accompanied by declarations and documents concerning:
(a)the responsibilities vested in the paying agency;
(b)the allocation of responsibilities between the departments of the paying agency;
(c)the relationship of the paying agency with other bodies, public or private, which are responsible for implementing any measures under which the paying agency charges expenditure to the Funds;
(d)the procedures by which claims by beneficiaries are received, verified, and validated, and by which expenditure is authorised, paid and accounted for;
(e)the provisions concerning the security of information systems;
(f)the report of the pre-accreditation review carried out by the audit body referred to in paragraph 3.
6.The Commission shall inform the Committee on the Agricultural Funds of paying agencies accredited in each Member State.