Expert Group on Delegated and Implementing Acts for the ESI funds Delegated Act on the methodology for the quality review of major projects Expert Group on Delegated and Implementing Acts for the ESI funds 12th of December 2013

Changes made Compared to the version discussed on 25th of October the following changes have been made to the document: numbering of Articles was provided –Articles 24 to 27 Numbering previously Numbering presently Section 4.1 Section 4.2 Article 24 Section 4.3 Article 25 Section 4.4 Annex 1 Article 26 Section 4.5 Deleted - New Article 27 Annex 2 Annex II

Changes made the 10 requirements for the IQR entity (previously in section 4.1 called Minimum criteria for bodies fulfilling the role of independent experts) were reduced to 8; the section containing them (previously section 4.1) and the consecutive section (previously section 4.2 called Conditions to be fulfilled prior to the quality review by independent experts) have been merged into one single Article, now Article 24 called Minimum requirements for independent experts carrying out the quality review;

Changes made a new paragraph was added to Article 24 mentioning the response of the Commission to the MS's choice of IQR entity; formerly section 4.3 called Criteria applicable for the quality review by independent experts, now Article 25, has been numbered and the order of sub-points (a) to (g) was changed to better reflect consistency with the order in Annex II;

Changes made the 8 steps for carrying out the quality review of major projects (previously section 4.4 now Article 26) have been reduced to 5 by deleting previously points 7 and 8 and by merging previously point 6 into point 5; the text was also reformulated in terms references to the CPR Articles (e.g. previously Article 91 is now 101); The point previously numbered 4.5 called Notification of the Independent expert's report was deleted and the new section, now Article 27 was introduced to define what is a 'significant weakness in the IQR report'

Changes made Annex I was deleted and its text introduced in Article 26 called Steps for carrying out quality review of major projects (previously section 4.4); Annex II was restructured, the section on environmental compliance was reformulated on the basis on DG ENV proposals and text in Annex II was reviewed and revised in light of comments received from the MS (PL) and Commission services consulted; 11 out of the 15 comments of PL have been taken into consideration when revising the text (1 is not possible to take into consideration and 3 don't need revision)

Thank you for your attention!