Division 1 FUNCTIONS

The Sapard agency shall execute the following principal functions in respect of Sapard expenditure:

1. 1.1.

   authorisation of commitments and payments: the objective of this function is the establishment of the amount that shall be paid to a claimant or supplier in conformity with the financing agreement rules, in particular those concerning the eligibility of applications for approval and claims for payment, compliance with commitments entered into concerning project approvals, tendering and contracting procedures, and verification of the work carried out or services supplied;

2. 1.2.

   execution of payments: the objective of this function is the issuing of an instruction to the agency's bankers, or, in appropriate cases, a governmental payments office, to pay the authorised amount to the claimant or supplier (or their assignee);

3. 1.3.

   accounting for commitments and payments: the objective of this function is the recording of the commitment and payment in the agency's separate books of accounts of Sapard expenditure, which will normally be in the form of an electronic data processing system, and the preparation of periodic summaries of expenditure, including the periodic and annual declarations to the Commission. The books of account shall also record details of debts to be recovered;

4. 1.4.

   control: the objective of this function is to verify the facts on which applications and claims are based in order to review their compliance with the financing agreement rules and the terms and conditions of the commitment. this control shall, where appropriate, include pre-project selection checks, remeasurement, checks on quantity and quality of goods or services delivered, an analysis or a sample control, pre-payment checks and any special provisions mentioned in the financing agreement rules as to the eligibility of the expenditure etc. In order to establish eligibility, these controls shall require, where appropriate, examinations of a technical nature, which can involve economic financial assessments and checks of a specific agricultural, technical or scientific nature;

5. 1.5.

   reporting: the objective of this function is to ensure that progress of the individual projects and measures is reported in a way which ensure the effective and efficient implementation of the measure.