Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1986

of 30 June 2016

supplementing Regulation (EU) No 223/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to the conditions and procedures to determine whether amounts which are irrecoverable shall be reimbursed by Member States concerning the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

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

Having regard to Regulation (EU) No 223/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2014 on the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived1 and in particular the fifth subparagraph of Article 30(2) thereof,

Whereas:

(1)

In accordance with the fourth subparagraph of Article 30(2) of Regulation (EU) No 223/2014, where an amount unduly paid to a beneficiary cannot be recovered and this is a result of fault or negligence on the part of a Member State, the Member State is responsible for reimbursing the amount concerned to the budget of the Union.

(2)
The document on irrecoverable amounts2 submitted by the certifying authority to the Commission as part of the annual accounts, in accordance with Article 49(1)(b) and Article 48(a) of Regulation (EU) No 223/2014, each year from 2016 until and including 2025, establishes the irrecoverable amounts broken down by type of expenditure. That document should also include explicit information regarding the amounts that should not, according to the Member State, be reimbursed to the Union budget, in particular by demonstrating the administrative and legal measures taken by the Member State to effectively pursue the recovery of the irrecoverable amounts. However, as that document refers to amounts previously included in certified accounts submitted to the Commission, it should be submitted for the first time in 2017.
(3)

In accordance with point (b) of Article 33 and with Article 49(1) of Regulation (EU) No 223/2014, deductions made before the submission of certified accounts cannot be considered as recoveries if they relate to expenditure included in the final interim payment application of a given accounting year for which the accounts are prepared. It should therefore be clarified that the information on irrecoverable amounts submitted under this Delegated Regulation should only concern amounts already included in certified accounts previously submitted to the Commission.

(4)
In order to allow the Commission to decide whether the irrecoverable amounts should be reimbursed to the Union budget, the Member State should submit the required information, at the level of each operation and beneficiary, before the deadline for the submission of accounts set in Article 59(5) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council3. In accordance with that provision, it should also be possible to extend the deadline for the document on irrecoverable amounts.
(5)

It is necessary to establish criteria that will enable the Commission to assess whether a Member State has been at fault or negligent in the recovery during the administrative and legal measures. The presence of one or more of these criteria should not automatically mean that the Member State has in fact been at fault or negligent.

(6)

For reasons of legal certainty, the Commission should conclude its assessment by a given deadline and Member States should react to the Commission's assessment by another given deadline. For the same reasons, the Commission should be able to conclude its assessment even where the Member State does not provide additional information. However, in cases preceding a bankruptcy or of suspected fraud, as referred to in the third subparagraph of Article 30(2) of Regulation (EU) No 223/2014, the deadlines should not apply.

(7)

Pursuant to the second sentence of the fourth subparagraph of Article 30(2) of Regulation (EU) No 223/2014, a Member State may decide not to recover from a beneficiary an amount unduly paid at the level of an operation in the accounting year concerned that does not exceed EUR 250, not including interest, in contribution from the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived (‘the Fund’). In this case, the amount does not need to be reimbursed to the budget of the Union. No information will be requested on such de minimis amounts,

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