Click to edit Master title style 1 Financial aspects of closure European Commission Felix LOZANO, DG Agriculture and Rural Development

2 Certified statement of final expenditure (I) The final payment application shall: –Be drawn up in the usual form (Annex I to R 438/2001). All the amounts expressed in –Include only actual eligible expenditure according to Art 32(1) of R 1260/99 and art 9 of R 438/2001 –Be accompanied by the appendix on recoveries laid down in Annex II to R 438/2001 –Interest earned on the payment on account can be considered as national public co-financing

3 Certified statement of final expenditure (II) Before signing the certified statement, the paying authority shall check that for the expenditure included therein –Gets sufficient insurance from the managing authority as regards the accuracy, eligibility and regularity of the amount concerned, –Satisfy itself that the provisions in Art 9(2) of R 438/2001 are respected, i.e. the statement includes only expenditure : actually effected by final beneficiaries within the eligibility period and supported by invoices or equivalent accounting documents, Incurred in operations selected for funding under the assistance, respecting the relevant selection criteria and procedures, from state aids formally approved by the Commission where relevant

4 Certified statement of final expenditure (III) MS shall ensure the consistency of the accounting information included in the three closure documents: Final implementation report, Certified statement of final expenditure,, Winding up declaration Inconsistencies should be solved at national level before the closure file is sent to the Commission. Otherwise it generates unnecessary delays MS will not be permitted to modify the certified statement of final expenditure after the submission deadline. If necessary, technical corrections may be requested by the Commission. The MS shall reply within two months, otherwise the Commission will close the programme on the basis of available information.

5 Certified statement of final expenditure (IV) Treatment of recoveries. The paying authority shall provide a debtors ledger extract, indicating: For pending recoveries: –The operation and measure concerned, –The ECR ref number in case of irregularity –The amount recoverable (EU and national) –The year when the recovery procedure started –Whether it has been reported as Art 5(2) case (irrecoverable) For cases already recovered: –All the ECR references, and the payment claim on which the amount recovered was deducted from expenditure declared to the Commission A model of this table has been included in the register of questions

6 Application of the rule n+2 at closure No n+2 exercise at the end 2008 as regards the annual commitment The part of commitments not used for payments at the closure of the intervention shall be decommitted by the Commission after payment of the balance, except for pending MS payments in case of legal or administrative procedures. In case of late submission of closure documents, the partial sums committed for the assistance shall be automatically decommitted not later than 6 months after the deadline Decommitted appropriations may be made available again only in cases of force majeur or manifest error attributable solely to the Commission

7 Treatment of the closure file by the Commission services The services in charge of the assistance in each DG shall analyse the final report, the certified statement of final expenditure, and the winding up declaration Any inconsistency or lack of information as regards the requirements in the closure guidelines, will give rise to additional information requests. Once all the problems clarified, and the final contribution has been calculated, the Commission will inform the MS (pre-closure letter), and will ask its comments if the payment proposed is lower than the MS request. If no agreement is reached, or the MS doesnt reply within the deadline, the Commission shall close the assistance for the amount calculated and will apply a financial correction.

8 Some MS obligations after closure Ensure the documents are kept available in accordance with the provisions in Art. 38(6) of R. 1260/1999 Follow up of pending recoveries, in particular keeping the Commission informed of treatment of irregularities recorded in the ECR database, and reimbursement of any recovered amount Follow up of operations suspended due to judicial or administrative proceedings, and inform the Commission of the outcome of the judicial procedure or administrative appeal