Commission Implementing Decision of 29 April 2014 on the clearance of the accounts of the paying agencies of Member States concerning expenditure financed by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) for the 2013 financial year (notified under document C(2014) 2785) (2014/251/EU)

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

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

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 of 21 June 2005 on the financing of the common agricultural policy^f1, and in particular Article 30 thereof,

Having regard to Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 on the financing, management and monitoring of the common agricultural policy and repealing Council Regulations (EEC) No 352/78, (EC) No 165/94, (EC) No 2799/98, (EC) No 814/2000, (EC) No 1290/2005 and (EC) No 485/2008^f2, and in particular Article 119(1) thereof,

Having regard to Commission Regulation (EC) No 885/2006^f3, and in particular Article 10 thereof,

After consulting the Committee on the Agricultural Funds,

Whereas:

Article 119(1) second subparagraph of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 as amended by Article 8 of Regulation (EU) No 1310/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 laying down certain transitional provisions on support for rural development by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD), amending Regulation (EU) No 1305/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards resources and their distribution in respect of the year 2014 and amending Council Regulation (EC) No 73/2009 and Regulations (EU) No 1307/2013, (EU) No 1306/2013 and (EU) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards their application in the year 2014^f4, provides that Article 30 of Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 applies for the financial clearance of the expenditure incurred and payments made for agricultural financial year 2013.

Under Article 30 of Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 (as referred to in Article 119(1) second subparagraph of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013, amended by Article 8 of Regulation (EU) No 1310/2013), the Commission, on the basis of the annual accounts submitted by the Member States, accompanied by the information required for the clearance of accounts and a certificate regarding the completeness, accuracy and veracity of the accounts and the reports established by the certification bodies, clears the accounts of the paying agencies referred to in Article 6 of the said Regulation.

Pursuant to Article 5 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 883/2006 of 21 June 2006 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 as regards the keeping of accounts by the paying agencies, declarations of expenditure and revenue and the conditions for reimbursing expenditure under the EAGF and the EAFRD^f5, the financial year for the EAGF accounts begins on 16 October of year N – 1 and ends on 15 October of year N. In the framework of clearing the accounts, for the purpose of aligning the reference period for EAFRD expenditure with that of the EAGF, account should be taken for the 2013 financial year of expenditure incurred by the Member States between 16 October 2012 and 15 October 2013.

The second subparagraph of Article 10(2) of Regulation (EC) No 885/2006 provides that the amounts that are recoverable from, or payable to, each Member State, in accordance with the accounts clearance decision referred to in the first subparagraph of Article 10(1) of the said Regulation, shall be established by deducting the intermediate payments in respect of the financial year concerned from the expenditure recognised for the same year in accordance with paragraph 1. The Commission shall deduct that amount from or add it to the following intermediate payment.

The Commission has checked the information submitted by the Member States and it has communicated to the Member States before 31 March 2014 the results of its verifications, along with the necessary amendments.

The annual accounts and the accompanying documents permit the Commission to take, for certain paying agencies, a decision on the completeness, accuracy and veracity of the annual accounts submitted. Annex I lists the amounts cleared by Member States and the amounts to be recovered from or paid to the Member States.

The information submitted by certain other paying agencies requires additional inquiries and their accounts cannot be cleared in this decision. Annex II lists the paying agencies concerned.

The Commission, in accordance with Article 27 of Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005, may reduce or temporarily suspend interim payments to the Member States. It should inform the Member State accordingly. In taking the present decision, the Commission should take into account the amounts reduced or suspended in order to avoid all inappropriate or untimely payments, reimbursing amounts which could later be the object of financial correction. In particular, the second and third quarterly declarations of 2013 included respectively the amounts of EUR 753 591,2 and EUR 532 237,5 for the Rural Development Programme Lazio (CCI 2007IT06RP0005). These amounts were also included in the annual declaration for FY2013. The amounts in question were subject to reduction under Article 27(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 and Article 41 of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 by Commission Decision C(2013) 8989 on the basis of irregular funding and Commission Decision C(2014) 1278 on the basis of not observing time limits for mandatory verification. Since the procedure pursuant to Article 31 of Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 is still ongoing, these reductions should be maintained.

Article 10(1) second and third subparagraph of Regulation (EC) No 885/2006 provide that the financial clearance decision determines the amounts to be charged to the EU and to the Member State concerned pursuant to Articles 32 and 33 of Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005. In accordance with Article 119(1) second subparagraph of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013, the procedure under Article 30 of Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 continues to apply to expenditure incurred and payments made for agricultural FY 2013. During agricultural FY 2013 Articles 32 and 33 were in force, therefore the amounts resulting from their application should be taken into account in the financial clearance decision in relation to FY 2013.

Pursuant to Article 33(8) of Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005, 50 % of the financial consequences of non-recovery of irregularities should be borne by the Member State concerned if the recovery of those irregularities has not taken place prior to the closure of a rural development programme within 4 years of the primary administrative or judicial finding, or within 8 years if the recovery is taken to the national courts, or on the closure of the programme if those deadlines expire prior such closure. Article 33(4) of the said Regulation obliges Member States to submit to the Commission, together with the annual accounts, a summary report on the recovery procedures undertaken in response to irregularities. Detailed rules on the application of the Member States' reporting obligation of the amounts to be recovered are laid down in Regulation (EC) No 885/2006. Annex III to the said Regulation provides the table that had to be provided in 2014 by the Member States. On the basis of the tables completed by the Member States, the Commission should decide on the financial consequences of non-recovery of irregularities older than 4 or 8 years respectively. To this effect, the present decision is without prejudice to the possible further conformity clearance decisions that the Commission may take pursuant to Article 33(5) of Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005.

Pursuant to Article 33(7) of Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 and by virtue of Article 10 of Regulation (EC) No 885/2006, after closure of a rural development programme Member States may decide not to pursue recovery. Such a decision may only be taken if the costs already and likely to be incurred total more than the amount to be recovered or if the recovery proves impossible owing to the insolvency, recorded and recognised under national law, of the debtor or the persons legally responsible for the irregularity. If that decision has been taken within 4 years of the primary administrative or judicial finding, or within 8 years if the recovery is taken to the national courts, 100 % of the financial consequences of the non-recovery should be borne by the EU budget. In the summary report referred to in Article 33(4) of Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 the amounts for which the Member State decided not to pursue recovery and the grounds for the decision are shown. These amounts are not charged to the Member States concerned and are consequently to be borne by the EU budget. To this effect, the present decision is without prejudice to the possible further conformity clearance decisions that the Commission may take pursuant to Article 33(5) of the said Regulation.

Pursuant to Article 24(4) of Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 (as referred to in Article 34(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013, amended by Article 8 of Regulation (EU) No 1310/2013), the combined total of prefinancing and intermediate payments should not exceed 95 % of the EAFRD's contribution to each rural development programme.

In accordance with Article 26(3)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 (as referred to in Article 36(3)(b) of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013, intermediate payments shall be made without overrun of the total financial programmed EAFRD contribution to each priority. Furthermore, pursuant to Article 17(4) of Regulation (EC) No 883/2006, without prejudice to the ceiling provided for in Article 24(4) of Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 (as referred to in Article 34(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013, where the combined total of declarations of expenditure exceeds the total programmed for a rural development programme priority, the amount to be paid shall be capped at the amount programmed for that priority. The financial plan for Axis 2 for the Rural Development Programme 2007PT06RP0001 was exceeded by EUR 913 212,81 in the quarterly declaration for Q3 2013. This amount was not paid out by the Commission. A new financial plan has not been approved and adopted by the Commission. The amount of EUR 913 212,81 included in the annual declaration for FY 2013 should accordingly be excluded from the financial clearance decision for FY2013. It would be subject to a later reimbursement by the Commission following the adoption of the new financial plan.

In accordance with Article 30(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005, the present decision is without prejudice to the possible further conformity clearance decisions that the Commission may take to exclude from European Union financing expenditure not effected in accordance with European Union rules,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: