1996R0296 — EN — 09.08.2001 — 005.001 — 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
ondatatobetransmittedbytheMemberStatesandthemonthlybookingofexpenditurefinanced
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
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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
bookingofexpenditurefinancedundertheGuaranteeSectionofthe
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 theexpenditure of the Guarantee Section of the European AgriculturalGuidance 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 expenditure
effected by the Member States;
Whereas, with a view to ensuring the proper management of the
appropriations entered in the budget of the Communities for the EAGGFGuarantee Section, each paying 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 EAGGFGuarantee Section must be organized; whereas, in this respect, it is
appropriate to recognize that the communication of data relating to
quantities 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 estimatesof expenditure which, while they must be reliable, are by their nature ofan approximative character; whereas, furthermore, it is inappropriate to
request the communication of data relating to recoveries where this
would constitute a heavy administrative burden;
Whereas the common agricultural regulations include deadlines for
payment of aids to beneficiaries by Member States; whereas allpayments effected after those deadlines, and for which the delay inpayment 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 financial
impact in proportion to the delay incurred in payment, the reduction in
the advances should be graduated as a function of the size of the delayrecorded;
Whereas, where Member States fail to meet the deadlines agreed for the
notification of data relating to expenditure or to ensure the consistencyof such data, the Commission may, pursuant to Article 13 of Decision94/729/EC defer accordingly the payment of the advances againstbooking;1996R0296 — EN — 09.08.2001 — 005.001 — 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 Guarantee Sectionintervention(
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 by theannual 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 the accountsprovided for in Article 4 of Regulation (EEC) No 1883/78, in view oftheir complexity; whereas, accordingly, it should be stipulated thatexpenditure 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 any adjustments orcorrections, in respect of the last 16 days of October;
Whereas Article 5a of Regulation (EEC) No 729/70 authorizes
remuneration of the funds mobilized by certain Member States; whereas
procedures for declaration by these Member States of interest chargeableto 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 such documents to changes in management requirements,
the Commission must be in a position to adopt and adapt without delay,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) No 2776/88(
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 accordance
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
subparagraph of Article 5 (2) (a) of Regulation (EEC) No 729/70, the
Commission shall place at the disposal of the Member States, within theframework 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 its Treasuryor 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 — 09.08.2001 — 005.001 — 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 each paying agency or to a special single account
opened by each Member 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 amounts
shall be credited to the paying agency's account as referred to in
paragraph 2 or, where applicable, to a separate account intendedexclusively for financing the additional Community support referred toin 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 interest shall
be used by the Member States to finance the additional Communitysupport referred to in Article 5(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1259/1999, orit shall be deducted from the advances in accordance with Article 6 ofthis Regulation.
5. The paying agencies must keep accounts of expenditure on the
measures provided for in Article 5(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1259/1999that 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 theapplication 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 substantial
difference between the estimates drawn up pursuant to paragraph 5 and
expenditure actually incurred.
3. For the 10th day of each month, the Member States shall
communicate to the Commission, by ►
M1fax or electronically ◄,
details of the total amount of expenditure effected during the precedingmonth.
However, the communication in relation to the expenditure effected
between 1 and 15 October must be notified for the 25th day of the samemonth at the latest.
4. The notification referred to in paragraph 3 shall include a
breakdown by chapters of the nomenclature of the budget of the
European Communities.
However, where budgetary monitoring is subject to exceptional
conditions, 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 of
documents permitting the booking to the Community budget of
expenditure 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.1996R0296 — EN — 09.08.2001 — 005.001 — 4
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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 European
Communities and by type of expenditure, of:
— expenditure effected during the preceding month,
— 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 with a 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 expen-
diture effected during the preceding month as indicated in thecurrent communication and as indicated in the communicationreferred to in paragraph 3.
6a. Twice a year, when presenting the documents as referred to in
paragraph 5 for the booking against the Community budget ofexpenditure incurred, in May and November for the table referred to
under point (a) and, in April and October for the tables referred to under
point (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 EAGGF
Guarantee 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 those amounts
in accordance with Article 5(2) of that 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
declarations to be furnished to the EAGGF by the participatingMember States must be maintained for the whole of the financial
year. However for the first year of application this choice applies
from 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. The1996R0296 — EN — 09.08.2001 — 005.001 — 5
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same separation must be maintained for the declarations made
under the clearance of accounts procedure.
(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
correspond 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 currencyand the national currency for their accounts, it is not obligatory 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 advancesagainst booking of expenditure, without prejudice to the provisions
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M6Article 14 of Regulation (EC) No 2040/2000 ◄.
1a. The advances against the booking of expenditure of the EAGGF-
Guarantee are:
(a) drawn up and paid in euro to participating Member States;
(b) for the non-participating Member States, drawn up and paid:
— in euro for the payments effected by the Member State in euro,
— in national currency for the payments effected by the Member
State in national currency.
However, if the conversion to national currency of payments in euro
is made at the exchange rate applied on the day of payment to thebeneficiary (as provided for in Article 3(9)(b)), the advances relating
to these payments in euro may also be effected in national currency;
(c) paid in units of national currency or in national currency for the
expenditure effected by the participating and non-participating
Member States between 16 October and 30 November 1998.
The advances on expenditure effected by Greece between 16
October and 30 November 2000 shall be paid in national currencyunits or in national currency.
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 reduction shall
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 month shall 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 conditions areencountered for certain measures, or if well-founded justifications areintroduced by the Member States.1996R0296 — EN — 09.08.2001 — 005.001 — 6
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The reductions referred to in this Article shall be made in accordance
with the 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 madetwice each financial 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 wherenoted before the final decision of the financial year relating to advances.
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 accountsclearance decision.
5. The Commission, having informed the Member States concerned,
may defer payment of the advances to the Member States as provided
for in Article 5 (2) (a) of Regulation (EEC) No 729/70 where the
notifications referred to in Article 3 arrive late or contain discrepancieswhich necessitate supplementary verification.
6. Where the documents referred to in Article 37(1) of Regulation
(EC) No 1750/1999 are not received by the Commission by 30September each year, the Commission shall, after notifying the Member
State concerned, suspend payment of the advance relating to expenditure
incurred in accordance with that Regulation for the month of August.
Where those documents are received from 1 to 15 October, payment of
the advance referred to in the previous subparagraph shall be deferred bythe same number of days as the documents are received late.
Where the documents are received after 15 October, payment of the
advances relating to expenditure incurred in accordance with Regulation(EC) No 1750/1999 for the months of August, September and October
shall be suspended until the advance relating to the expenditure of the
month of February of the following year.
These suspended amounts shall be covered by a global commitment in
respect of the financial year of suspension.
Article 5
1. The expenditure referred to in Article 4 (1) of Regulation (EEC)
No 1883/78 shall be determined according to the provisions ofRegulation (EEC) No 3492/90.
This expenditure, that arising from the application of Council Regulation
(EEC) No 3730/87(
1), and that referred to in Article 37 of Council
Regulation (EEC) No 822/87(2), must be calculated on the basis of
supporting statements according to a uniform method established by theCommission 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 be
covered in the accounts adopted at the end of each month shall be those
occurring between the beginning of the financial year and the end of thatmonth.1996R0296 — EN — 09.08.2001 — 005.001 — 7
(1) OJ No L 352, 15. 12. 1987, p. 1.
(2) OJ No L 84, 27. 3. 1987, p. 1.▼M6
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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
with Article 8 (5) of Regulation (EEC) No 1883/78, paragraph 2 shallnot 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 shall bededucted from the advances related to the expenditure of October of the
financial year concerned.
Article 7
1. Expenditure declared in respect of a given month must fall within
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 the
EAGGF 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 with the first subparagraph may
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 with the present paragraph from 16October 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, the
following 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 withparagraph 2 of that Article;
(b) for the amounts referred to in Article 10 (6) of Commission
Regulation (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
month of the financial year;1996R0296 — EN — 09.08.2001 — 005.001 — 8
(1) OJ No L 371, 20. 12. 1989, p. 17.▼M5
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(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, maybe corrected only in the annual accounts to be sent to the Commission in
accordance with Article 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 EAGGFCommittee 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 — 09.08.2001 — 005.001 — 9