Article 33

1. Tendering, contracting, implementation and payments for pre-accession assistance under the Phare programme [13], the Phare CBC programme [14] and pre-accession funds for Cyprus and Malta [15] shall be managed by implementing agencies in the new Member States as of the date of accession.

The ex-ante control by the Commission over tendering and contracting shall be waived by a Commission decision to that effect, following a positively assessed Extended Decentralised Implementation System (EDIS) in accordance with the criteria and conditions laid down in the Annex to Council Regulation (EC) No 1266/1999 on coordinating aid to the applicant countries in the framework of the pre-accession strategy and amending Regulation (EEC) No 3906/89 [16].

If this Commission decision to waive ex-ante control has not been taken before the date of accession, any contracts signed between the date of accession and the date on which the Commission decision is taken shall not be eligible for pre-accession assistance.

However, exceptionally, if the Commission decision to waive ex-ante control is delayed beyond the date of accession for reasons not attributable to the authorities of a new Member State, the Commission may accept, in duly justified cases, eligibility for pre-accession assistance of contracts signed between accession and the date of the Commission decision, and the continued implementation of pre-accession assistance for a limited period, subject to ex-ante control by the Commission over tendering and contracting.

2. Global budget commitments made before accession under the pre-accession financial instruments 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 and regulations of the pre-accession financing instruments and be charged to the corresponding budget chapters until closure of the programmes and projects concerned. Notwithstanding this, public procurement procedures initiated after accession shall be carried out in accordance with the relevant Community Directives.

3. The last programming exercise for the pre-accession assistance referred to in paragraph 1 shall take place in the last full calendar year preceding accession. Actions under these programmes will have to be contracted within the following two years and disbursements made as provided for in the Financing Memorandum [17], usually by the end of the third year after the commitment. No extensions shall be granted for the contracting period. Exceptionally and in duly justified cases, limited extensions in terms of duration may be granted for disbursement.

4. In order to ensure the necessary phasing out of the pre-accession financial instruments referred to in paragraph 1 as well as the ISPA programme [18], and a smooth transition from the rules applicable before and after accession, the Commission may take all appropriate measures to ensure that the necessary statutory staff is maintained in the new Member States for a maximum of fifteen months following accession. During this period, officials assigned to posts in the new Member States before accession and who are required to remain in service in those States after the date of accession shall benefit, as an exception, from the same financial and material conditions as were applied by the Commission before accession in accordance with Annex X to the Staff Regulations of Officials and the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Communities laid down in Regulation (EEC, Euratom, ECSC) No 259/68 [19]. The administrative expenditure, including salaries for other staff, necessary for the management of the pre-accession assistance shall be covered, for all of 2004 and until the end of July 2005, under the heading "support expenditure for operations" (former part B of the budget) or equivalent headings for the financial instruments referred to in paragraph 1 as well as the ISPA programme, of the relevant pre-accession budgets.

5. Where projects approved under Regulation (EC) No 1268/1999 can no longer be funded under that instrument, they may be integrated into rural development programming and financed under the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund. Should specific transitional measures be necessary in this regard, these shall be adopted by the Commission in accordance with the procedures laid down in Article 50(2) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999 laying down general provisions on the Structural Funds [20].

[13] Regulation (EEC) No 3906/89 (OJ L 375 23.12.1989, p. 11), as amended.

[14] Regulation (EC) No 2760/98 (OJ L 345, 19.12.1998, p. 49), as amended.

[15] Regulation (EC) No 555/2000 (OJ L 68, 16.3.2000, p. 3), as amended.

[16] OJ L 232, 2.9.1999, p. 34.

[17] As set out in the Phare Guidelines (SEC (1999) 1596, updated on 6.9.2002 by C 3303/2).

[18] Regulation (EC) No 1267/99 (OJ L 161, 26.6.1999, p. 73), as amended.

[19] OJ L 56, 4.3.1968, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2265/02 (OJ L 347, 20.12.2002, p. 1).

[20] OJ L 161, 26.6.1999, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1447/2001 (OJ L 198, 21.7.2001, p. 1).

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