1996R0296 — EN — 01.01.2003 — 007.001 — 1
This document is meant purely as a documentation tool and the institutions do not assume any liability for its contents
►B ►M5 COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 296/96
of 16 February 1996
on data to be transmitted by the Member States and the monthly booking of expenditure financed
under the Guarantee Section of the European Agricutural Guidance and Guarantee Fund
(EAGGF) ◄
(OJ L 39, 17.2.1996, p. 5)
Amended by:
Official Journal
No page date
►M1Commission Regulation (EC) No 1391/97 of 18 July 1997 L 190 20 19.7.1997
►M2Commission Regulation (EC) No 2236/98 of 16 October 1998 L 281 9 17.10.1998
►M3Commission Regulation (EC) No 2761/1999 of 22 December 1999 L 331 57 23.12.1999
►M4Commission Regulation (EC) No 2785/2000 of 19 December 2000 L 323 3 20.12.2000
►M5Commission Regulation (EC) No 1017/2001 of 17 May 2001 L 140 44 24.5.2001
►M6Commission Regulation (EC) No 1577/2001 of 1 August 2001 L 209 12 2.8.2001
►M7Commission Regulation (EC) No 1934/2001 of 1 October 2001 L 262 8 2.10.2001
►M8Commission Regulation (EC) No 1997/2002 of 8 November 2002 L 308 9 9.11.2002
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COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 296/96
of 16 February 1996
on data to be transmitted by the Member States and the monthly
booking of expenditure financed under the Guarantee Section of
the European Agricutural Guidance and Guarantee Fund
(EAGGF)
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,
Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 729/70 of 21 April
1970 on the financing of the common agricultural policy(1), as last
amended by Regulation (EC) No 1287/95(2), and in particular Articles
4 and 5 thereof,
Having regard to Council Decision 94/729/EC of 31 October 1994 on
budgetary discipline(3), and in particular Article 13 thereof,
Whereas Article 4 (5) of Regulation (EEC) No 729/70 stipulates that
the Member States must themselves mobilize the funds to cover the
expenditure of the Guarantee Section of the European Agricultural
Guidance and Guarantee Fund, hereafter referred to as the ‘EAGGFGuarantee Section’; whereas under the same Regulation, the Commis-sion grants only monthly advances against booking of the expenditureeffected by the Member States;
Whereas, with a view to ensuring the proper management of the appro-
priations entered in the budget of the Communities for the EAGGF
Guarantee Section, eachpaying agency must keep accounts relatingexclusively to expenditure to be financed by the EAGGF GuaranteeSection;
Whereas the transmission by the Member States to the Commission of
all data relating to the expenditure to be financed by the EAGGF Guar-
antee Section must be organized; whereas, in this respect, it is
appropriate to recognize that the communication of data relating toquantities should benefit from a certain margin of imprecision whichmay be explained, among other things, by administrative difficultieslinked to their establishment; whereas, this applies also to the estimates
of expenditure which, while they must be reliable, are by their nature
of an approximative character; whereas, furthermore, it is inappropriateto request the communication of data relating to recoveries where thiswould constitute a heavy administrative burden;
Whereas the common agricultural regulations include deadlines for
payment of aids to beneficiaries by Member States; whereas all
payments effected after those deadlines, and for which the delay in
payment is unjustified, must be regarded as ineligible, and thereforecannot, in principle be the subject of an advance on the booking ofexpenditure; whereas, however, in order to modulate the financialimpact in proportion to the delay incurred in payment, the reductionin the advances should be graduated as a function of the size of the
delay recorded;
Whereas, where Member States fail to meet the deadlines agreed for
the notification of data relating to expenditure or to ensure the consis-tency of suchdata, th e Commission may, pursuant to Article 13 ofDecision 94/729/EC defer accordingly the payment of the advancesagainst booking;1996R0296 — EN — 01.01.2003 — 007.001 — 2
(1) OJ No L 94, 28. 4. 1970, p. 13.
(2) OJ No L 125, 8. 6. 1995, p. 1.
(3) OJ No L 293, 12. 11. 1994, p. 14.▼M5
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Whereas Article 4 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1883/78 of 2
August 1978 on general rules on the financing of EAGGF GuaranteeSection intervention(
1), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1571/
93(2), stipulates that where an intervention measure entails buying-in
and storage of products, the amount financed is to be determined bythe annual accounts established by the intervention agencies; whereasCouncil Regulation (EEC) No 3492/9(
3) laid down rules and conditions
governing these accounts; whereas the procedures according to which
the financing of such measures fits into the system of advances against
booking should be made clear;
Whereas the last subparagraph of Article 5 (2) (a) of Regulation (EEC)
No 729/70 stipulates that expenditure for October is related to October
if made between 1 and 15 October and to November if made from 16
to 31 October; whereas it is preferable to avoid the division of theaccounts provided for in Article 4 of Regulation (EEC) No 1883/78,in view of their complexity; whereas, accordingly, it should be stipu-lated that expenditure deriving from September operations is to be
treated in the accounts by the paying agencies on the basis of 50% in
respect of the first 15 days of October, and the rest, including anyadjustments or corrections, in respect of the last 16 days of October;
Whereas Article 5a of Regulation (EEC) No 729/70 authorizes remu-
neration of the funds mobilized by certain Member States; whereas
procedures for declaration by these Member States of interest charge-able to the Community should be laid down;
Whereas the concept of expenditure to be declared monthly by the
paying agencies should be properly defined;
Whereas a uniform presentation of documents to be sent in by the
Member States is needed; whereas in view of the need for frequent
adaptation of suchdocuments to ch anges in management requirements,
the Commission must be in a position to adopt and adapt withoutdelay, under a simplified procedure, the forms to be used;
Whereas in order to facilitate the application of the provisions in this
matter it is advisable to replace Commission Regulation (EEC) No2776/88(
4), as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No 775/90(5), with
a new Regulation;
Whereas the measures provided for in this Regulation are in accor-
dance with the opinion of the Committee of the European AgriculturalGuidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF),
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Article 1
1. After approval of the advances, in accordance with the last
subparagraphof Article 5 (2) (a) of Regulation (EEC) No 729/70, th e
Commission shall place at the disposal of the Member States, withinthe framework of the budget appropriations, the funds needed to coverexpenditure to be financed by the EAGGF Guarantee Section, on anaccount opened for that purpose by each Member State with itsTreasury or any other financial institution.
2. The name and number of this account shall be notified by each
Member State to the Commission.
Article 2
1. Each paying agency shall keep accounts covering only the use of
the funds made available to it to defray the expenditure referred to inArticle 1 (2) of Regulation (EEC) No 729/70.1996R0296 — EN — 01.01.2003 — 007.001 — 3
(1) OJ No L 216, 5. 8. 1978, p. 1.
(2) OJ No L 154, 25. 6. 1993, p. 46.
(3) OJ No L 337, 4. 12. 1990, p. 3.
(4) OJ No L 249, 9. 9. 1988, p. 9.
(5) OJ No L 83, 30. 3. 1990, p. 85.
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2. Amounts withheld from the aid payments referred to in Articles 3
and 4 of Regulation (EC) No 1259/1999 must be credited to a specialaccount opened for eachpaying agency or to a special single account
opened by eachMember State.
The book keeping must allow identification of the origin of the credit
in relation to the payment to the beneficiary of the aid in question.
3. The Member States may redistribute the amounts so collected to
other paying agencies, with a view to their utilisation. These amountsshall be credited to the paying agency's account as referred to in para-graph2 or, wh ere applicable, to a separate account intendedexclusively for financing the additional Community support referred
to in Article 5(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1259/1999.
4. Where interest is earned by the unused funds, it shall be added to
the balance available at the end of each financial year. This interestshall be used by the Member States to finance the additional Commu-nity support referred to in Article 5(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1259/1999, or it shall be deducted from the advances in accordance withArticle 6 of this Regulation.
5. The paying agencies must keep accounts of expenditure on the
measures provided for in Article 5(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1259/
1999 that are separate from the accounts of other expenditure on ruraldevelopment. The accounts must distinguish in respect of each paymentbetween the national funding and the funding resulting from the appli-cation of Articles 3 and 4 of Regulation (EC) No 1259/1999.
Article 3
1. Not later than the second working day of each week, the Member
States shall notify the Commission by ►
M1fax or electronically ◄
of the total expenditure effected from the beginning of the month until
the end of the preceding week.
Two notifications shall be made where the week runs over two months.2. The final notification of each month shall include, in addition to
details of expenditure, any information explaining any substantialdifference between the estimates drawn up pursuant to paragraph 5and expenditure actually incurred.
3. For the 10th day of each month, the Member States shall commu-
nicate to the Commission, by ►
M1fax or electronically ◄, details of
the total amount of expenditure effected during the preceding month.
However, the communication in relation to the expenditure effected
between 1 and 15 October must be notified for the 25th day of the
same monthat th e latest.
4. The notification referred to in paragraph 3 shall include a break-
down by chapters of the nomenclature of the budget of the EuropeanCommunities.
However, where budgetary monitoring is subject to exceptional condi-
tions, the Commission may request a more detailed breakdown.
5. For the 20th day of each month, the Member States shall transmit
to the Commission, electronically and in two paper copies, a set ofdocuments permitting the booking to the Community budget of expen-
diture effected during the preceding month.
However, the set of documents permitting the booking of expenditure
effected between 1 and 15 October is to be submitted by 10 November,at the latest.
6. The set of documents referred to in paragraph 5 shall consist of:
(a) a statement, established by each paying agency, broken down
according to the nomenclature of the budget of the EuropeanCommunities and by type of expenditure, of:
— expenditure effected during the preceding month,1996R0296 — EN — 01.01.2003 — 007.001 — 4
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— total expenditure effected from the beginning of the year until
the end of the preceding month,
— the quantities (tonnes, hectolitres, hectares, head, etc.) to which
the expenditure referred to in the second indent relates, wherementioned in the detailed budgetary nomenclature,
— estimates of expenditure in accordance witha list drawn up by
the Commission after discussions in the EAGGF Committee.The estimates may cover, as appropriate:
— the current month and the following two months,
— the current month, the following two months and to the end
of the year;
(b) where appropriate, a summary of the data referred to in (a);
(c) where appropriate, justification for the difference between expendi-
ture effected during the preceding month as indicated in the currentcommunication and as indicated in the communication referred to
in paragraph3;
(d) the accounts evidencing expenditure relating to public storage
referred to in Article 4(1) of Regulation (EEC) No 1883/78.
6a. Twice a year, when presenting the documents as referred to in
paragraph 5 for the booking against the Community budget of expendi-
ture incurred, in May and November for the table referred to underpoint (a) and, in April and October for the tables referred to underpoint (b), Member States shall enclose:
(a) a table comprising an extract from the debtors ledger and showing
the total of all debts identified but not yet recovered at the end ofApril and at the end of the financial year in respect of the EAGGFGuarantee Section;
(b) tables showing the situation, at the end of April and at the end of
the financial year, of amounts withheld pursuant to Articles 3 and 4
of Regulation (EC) No 1259/1999 and the use made of thoseamounts in accordance withArticle 5(2) of th at Regulation.
7. Expenditure for October shall be related to October if effected
from 1 to 15 October and to November if effected from 16 to 31October.
8. (a) Member States participating in the euro may choose, during the
transitional period referred to in the sixth indent of Article 1 ofRegulation (EC) No 974/98, to keep the accounts at the level ofthe paying agency:
— either solely in euro,
— in euro for the payments effected in euro and in units of
national currency for the payments effected in units ofnational currency,
— or solely in units of national currency.
(b) The choice of currency for the accounts as well as the declara-
tions to be furnished to the EAGGF by the participating MemberStates must be maintained for the whole of the financial year.However for the first year of application this choice appliesfrom 1 January 1999. ►
M4This choice shall apply to Greece
from 1 January 2001. ◄
(c) The same choice must be maintained for the declarations made
under the clearance of accounts procedure.
9. (a) The paying agencies of non-participating Member States in the
euro must maintain separate accounts according to the currencyin which the payments have been made to the beneficiaries. Thesame separation must be maintained for the declarations madeunder the clearance of accounts procedure.1996R0296 — EN — 01.01.2003 — 007.001 — 5
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(b) However, if the paying agency of a non-participating Member
State is capable of converting into national currency the amountspaid to beneficiaries in euro at the exchange rate applied on the
day of payment, the complete accounts of that paying agency
may be maintained in national currency.
Recoveries, where arising, of amounts paid in euro must corre-
spond to the national currency booked on the day of payment.
10. If, in accordance with paragraphs 8 and 9, the paying agencies
of a Member State may choose between the euro, units of national
currency and the national currency for their accounts, it is not obliga-tory that they all adopt the same choice.
11. The communications referred to in Article 3 shall be established
in the currency or currencies in which the accounts are maintained.
Article 4
1. On the basis of data sent in accordance with Article 3, the
Commission shall adopt decisions and make the monthly advances
against booking of expenditure, without prejudice to the provisions
►
M6Article 14 of Regulation (EC) No 2040/2000 ◄.
2. Advances against booking shall be reduced for expenditure
effected after the deadlines laid down as follows:
(a) where expenditure effected after the deadlines is equal to 4 % or
less of the expenditure effected before the deadlines, no reductionshall be made, irrespective of the number of months' delay,
(b) above the threshold of 4 %, all further expenditure effected with a
delay of up to:
— one monthsh all be reduced by 10 %,
— two months shall be reduced by 25 %,
— three months shall be reduced by 45 %,
— four months shall be reduced by 70 %,— five months or more shall be reduced by 100 %.
However, the Commission will apply a different time scale and/or
lower reductions or none at all, if exceptional management conditionsare encountered for certain measures, or if well-founded justificationsare introduced by the Member States.
The reductions referred to in this Article shall be made in accordance
withth e rules laid down in ►
M6Article 14 of Regulation (EC) No
2040/2000 ◄.
3. Checks on compliance with the deadlines for the purposes of the
payment of advances against booking of expenditure shall be made
twice eachfinancial year:
— on expenditure effected by 31 March,
— on expenditure effected by 31 July.
Any overrun of deadlines in August, September and October shall be
taken into account in the accounts clearance decision, except where
noted before the final decision of the financial year relating toadvances.
4. Any reductions made pursuant to ►
M6Article 14 of Regulation
(EC) No 2040/2000 ◄and particularly those resulting from overruns
of deadlines shall be made without prejudice to the subsequent
accounts clearance decision.
5. The Commission, having informed the Member States concerned,
may defer payment of the advances to the Member States as provided1996R0296 — EN — 01.01.2003 — 007.001 — 6
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for in Article 5 (2) (a) of Regulation (EEC) No 729/70 where the noti-
fications referred to in Article 3 arrive late or contain discrepancieswhich necessitate supplementary verification.
6. Where the documents referred to in Article 37(1) of Commission
Regulation (EC) No 1750/1999(
1) are not received by 30 September
each year, the Commission may, after notifying the Member Stateconcerned, suspend payment of the advance relating to expenditureincurred in accordance withth at Regulation.
Where those documents are received from 1 to 15 October, payment of
the advance relating to expenditure incurred in accordance with Regu-
lation (EC) No 1750/1999 for the month of September may be deferredby the same number of days as the documents are received late.
Where those documents are received after 15 October, payment of the
advances relating to expenditure incurred in accordance withRegula-tion (EC) No 1750/1999 for the month of September shall besuspended until the advance relating to the expenditure of the month
of October.
Article 5
1. The expenditure referred to in Article 4 (1) of Regulation (EEC)
No 1883/78 shall be determined according to the provisions of Regula-tion (EEC) No 3492/90.
This expenditure, that arising from the application of Council Regula-
tion (EEC) No 3730/87(
2), and that referred to in Article 37 of Council
Regulation (EEC) No 822/87(3), must be calculated on the basis of
supporting statements according to a uniform method established by
the Commission pursuant to Article 8.
2. The amounts of expenditure referred to in paragraph 1 shall be
entered in the accounts by the paying agencies during the monthfollowing that to which the operations refer. The operations to becovered in the accounts adopted at the end of each month shall bethose occurring between the beginning of the financial year and the
end of that month.
However, for the operations carried out in September, 50% of the
expenditure shall be entered in the accounts in respect of October, thebalance in respect of November.
Supporting statements concerning the operations shall be attached to
the sets of documents to be sent to the Commission for 10 November►
M6 ◄.
3. For the overall depreciation amounts established in accordance
withArticle 8 (5) of Regulation (EEC) No 1883/78, paragraph2 sh all
not apply, and such amounts shall be entered in the accounts on dates
determined by the regulation providing for them.
Article 6
Amounts withheld in accordance with Articles 3 and 4 of Regulation
(EC) No 1259/1999 and the possible interest thereon which have notbeen paid pursuant to Article 1 of Regulation (EC) No 963/2001 shallbe deducted from the advances related to the expenditure of October ofthe financial year concerned.1996R0296 — EN — 01.01.2003 — 007.001 — 7
(1) OJ L 214, 13.8.1999, p. 31.
(2) OJ No L 352, 15. 12. 1987, p. 1.
(3) OJ No L 84, 27. 3. 1987, p. 1.▼M7
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Article 7
1. Expenditure declared in respect of a given monthmust fall with in
payments and receipts actually effected during this month. However:
(a) expenditure which can be paid prior to implementation of the
provision permitting it to be wholly or partially borne by theEAGGF Guarantee Section may only be declared:
— in the month during which the provision was implemented,
or
— in the month following implementation of that provision.
(b) expenditure part-financed by national funds must be declared by, at
the latest, the second month following payment to the beneficiary.
(c) expenditure to be declared shall not take account of the reductions
made pursuant to Articles 3 and 4 of Regulation (EC) No 1259/
1999.
Expenditure declared in accordance withth e first subparagraphmay
include corrections to data reported for previous months in the sameyear.
For a year ‘n’, account shall be taken of expenditure declared by the
Member States in accordance withth e present paragraphfrom 16
October of year ‘n − 1’ to 15 October of year ‘n’.
2. For the purposes of the first subparagraph of paragraph 1, and
without prejudice to the specific provisions of Community rules, thefollowing dates shall be referred to:
(a) for expenditure referred to in Article 5 (1), the dates on which the
paying agency enters them into the accounts in accordance withparagraph2 of th at Article;
(b) for the amounts referred to in Article 10 (6) of Commission Regu-
lation (EEC) No 3813/89(
1):
— for expenditure to be booked under the first year, the date on
which the capitalized payments were made,
— for expenditure to be booked under following years, the sixth
monthof th e financial year;
(c) for all other types of expenditure:
— the date on which the account of the agency has been debited,
or,
— the date on which the agency concerned has issued and sent the
payment document to a financial institute or to the beneficiary.
3. Payment orders not executed and payments debited to the account
and then re-credited shall be shown in the accounts as deductions fromexpenditure in respect of the month during which the failure to executeor the cancellation is reported to the paying agency.
4. Where payments due under the EAGGF Guarantee Section are
encumbered by claims, they shall be deemed to have been effected intheir entirety within the meaning of paragraph 1:
— on the date of the payment of the sum still due to the beneficiary, if
the claim is less than the expenditure settled,
— on the date of the settlement of the expenditure, if the latter is less
than or equal to the claim.
5. Cumulative data relating to expenditure that can be referred to a
specific year, to be submitted to the Commission by 10 November,may be corrected only in the annual accounts to be sent to the1996R0296 — EN — 01.01.2003 — 007.001 — 8
(1) OJ No L 371, 20. 12. 1989, p. 17.▼M1
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Commission in accordance withArticle 5 (1) (b) of Regulation (EEC)
No 729/70.
6. However, corrections effected by the Commission to data referred
to in Article 5 concerning the full year shall be notified to the EAGGF
Committee and indicated in an annex to a decision relating to advancesand shall be entered into the accounts by the agencies during the monthindicated by the said decision.
Article 8
The form of the documents referred to in ►
M3Article 3(6) and
(6a)◄and Article 5 (1) shall be determined by Commission decision
taken after consultation of the Committee.
Article 9
Regulation (EEC) No 2776/88 is hereby repealed with effect from 16
October 1995.
Article 10
This Regulation shall enter into force on the seventh day following its
publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities .
It shall apply for the first time to the expenditure for the second half of
October 1995.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable
in all Member States.1996R0296 — EN — 01.01.2003 — 007.001 — 9