EN Official Journal of the European Union L 112/6

ACT

concerning the conditions of accession of the Republic of Croatia and the adjustments to the Treaty on European Union, the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community

PART FOUR

TEMPORARY PROVISIONS

TITLE III

FINANCIAL PROVISIONS

Article 29

1. Procurement, grant awards and payments for pre-accession financial assistance under the Transition Assistance and Institution Building Component and the Cross-Border Cooperation Component of the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA), established by Council Regulation (EC) No 1085/2006 of 17 July 2006 (1), for funds committed before accession, with the exclusion of the Croatia-Hungary and Croatia-Slovenia cross-border programmes, and for assistance under the Transition Facility referred to in Article 30, shall be managed by Croatian implementing agencies as of the date of accession.

The ex ante control by the Commission over procurement and grant awards shall be waived by a Commission decision to that effect, after the Commission has satisfied itself of the effective functioning of the management and control system concerned in accordance with the criteria and conditions laid down in Article 56(2) of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 of 25 June 2002 on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities (2) and in Article 18 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 718/2007 of 12 June 2007 implementing Council Regulation (EC) No 1085/2006 establishing an instrument for pre-accession assistance (IPA) (3).

If the Commission decision to waive ex ante control has not been adopted before the date of accession, any contracts signed between the date of accession and the date on which the Commission decision is adopted shall not be eligible under the pre-accession financial assistance and the Transition Facility referred to in the first subparagraph.

2. Budgetary commitments made before the date of accession under the pre-accession financial assistance and the Transition Facility referred to in paragraph 1, including the conclusion and registration of subsequent individual legal commitments and payments made after accession, shall continue to be governed by the rules applying to the pre-accession financial instruments and be charged to the corresponding budget chapters until closure of the programmes and projects concerned.

3. The provisions on the implementation of budgetary commitments of financing agreements concerning the pre-accession financial assistance referred to in paragraph 1, first subparagraph, and the IPA Rural Development Component, relating to financing decisions taken before accession, shall continue to be applicable after the date of accession. They shall be governed by the rules applying to the pre-accession financial instruments. Notwithstanding this, public procurement procedures initiated after accession shall be carried out in accordance with the relevant Union directives.

4. Pre-accession funds to cover administrative expenditure, as referred to in Article 44, may be committed in the first two years after accession. For audit and evaluation costs, pre-accession funds may be committed up to five years after accession.

(1) OJ L 210, 31.7.2006, p. 82.

(2) OJ L 248, 16.9.2002, p. 1.

(3) OJ L 170, 29.6.2007, p. 1.