Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2000:400
Date: 2000-07-13
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: European Social Fund (ESF)
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Portugal

Summary of the Judgment 
1. Social policy — European Social Fund — Financial assistance for vocational train­
ing — Accuracy of facts and accounts in final payment claims to be certified by the 
Member States — Meaning — Scope 
(Council Regulation No 2950/83, Arts 5(4) and 6(1)) 
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SUMMARY — CASE C-413/98 
2. Social policy — European Social Fund — Financial assistance for vocational train­
ing — Meaning of 'ineligible expenditure' — Decision as to ineligibility — Exclusive 
power of the Commission — Effects of reducing or withdrawing Community 
assistance on the amount of the balance of the national contribution 
(Council Regulation No 2950/83, Arts 1 and 6) 
3. Social policy — European Social Fund — Financial assistance for vocational train­
ing — Repayment, at the request of the Member State concerned, as a protective 
measure, of the national contribution and the Community aid — Whether permis­
sible — Application of national law 
4. Social policy — European Social Fund — Financial assistance for vocational train­
ing — Accuracy of facts and accounts in final payment claims to be certified by the 
Member States — Subsequent reassessment of such claims — Whether permissible 
(Council Regulation No 2950/83, Art. 5(4); Commission Decision 83/673, Art. 7) 
1. A Member State, when it undertakes, 
pursuant to Article 5(4) of Regulation 
No 2950/83 on the implementation of 
Decision 83/516 on the tasks of the 
European Social Fund, certification of 
the accounts submitted to it by the 
recipient of financial assistance from 
the European Social Fund, cannot con­
fine itself to carrying out a mere 
technical check of the expenditure 
incurred but must, to the contrary, 
ensure that the expenditure corre­
sponds to the operation actually under­
taken and to the price of goods and 
services on the domestic market and 
satisfy itself as to the reasonableness of 
the costs charged within a complex 
structure. It must therefore satisfy 
itself, first, that the expenditure in­
curred by the recipient of the aid is 
'reasonable' and, second, that that 
person has displayed 'sound financial 
management'. 
That being so, it is nevertheless the case 
that, under Article 6(1) of the said 
regulation, it is the Commission which 
adopts the final decision, and it alone 
assumes responsibility in law vis-à-vis 
the beneficiaries. Therefore, since the 
final decision concerning the grant of 
Community assistance lies exclusively 
with the Commission, which applies 
the same criteria to economic operators 
from the various Member States, the 
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FROTA AZUL-TRANSPORTES E TURISMO 
risk of their being treated differently is 
removed. 
(see paras 27, 30-32, and 
operative part 1) 
2. It is clear from Regulation No 2950/83 
on the implementation of Decision 
83/516 on the tasks of the European 
Social Fund that it is not only expen­
diture which cannot, under Article 1 of 
the regulation, be financed by the 
European Social Fund which must be 
classified as ineligible, but also expen­
diture which, although eligible under 
that provision, cannot, under Article 6 
of the regulation, be taken into account 
in the final settlement on the ground 
that the assistance from the Fund has 
not been used in conformity with the 
conditions set out in the decision of 
approval. In that regard, a decision by 
the competent authorities of a Member 
State not to certify the accuracy of the 
facts and accounts concerning a por­
tion of the expenditure in respect of a 
training operation to which the Eur­
opean Social Fund has contributed, on 
the ground that the expenditure cannot 
be justified or is disproportionate, must 
be regarded as a proposal addressed to 
the Commission for that portion of the 
expenditure to be held to be ineligible. 
Therefore, the reduction or withdrawal 
of the national contribution proposed 
by the competent authorities of a 
Member State pursuant to a decision 
not to certify the accuracy of the facts 
or accounts as regards certain expen­
diture must be made the subject of a 
final decision by the Commission con­
cerning the portion of the contribution 
corresponding to the assistance from 
the European Social Fund. That final 
decision of the Commission approving 
the balance to be paid determines the 
amount of the balance to be paid from 
the national contribution. 
(see paras 36, 40, 48, and 
operative part 2-3) 
3. Community law does not preclude the 
competent authorities of a Member 
State from requiring, as a purely pro­
tective measure, repayment of the 
national contribution and of the Eur­
opean Social Fund assistance before the 
adoption by the Commission of its final 
decision approving the balance. Whe­
ther those authorities may claim such 
repayment is a question of national 
law. 
(see paras 56-57, and 
operative part 4) 
4. Certification, for the purposes of the 
second sentence of Article 5(4) of Reg­
ulation No 2950/83 on the implemen­
tation of Decision 83/516 on the tasks 
of the European Social Fund, of the 
accuracy of the facts and accounts in 
the final payment claim in respect of a 
training operation does not preclude a 
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SUMMARY — CASE C-413/98 
Member State from undertaking a 
subsequent reassessment of the final 
payment claim and from submitting to 
the Commission, if necessary, a revised 
application proposing that the assis­
tance be reduced. When they exercise 
that power, the competent national 
authorities are not in any way under­
taking a second certification, within 
the meaning of that article, in respect 
of the facts and accounts but are 
exercising their powers under Article 7 
of Decision 83/673 concerning the 
management of the European Social 
Fund. 
(see paras 61-62, and operative part 5) 
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