A4-0007/95

Proposal for a Council Regulation on measures to be taken in dealing with certain beneficiaries of operations financed by the Guarantee Section of the EAGGF (COM(94)0122 - C4-0041/94 - 94/0015(CNS))

The proposal was approved with the following amendments:

(Amendment 1)

Article 1(1)

>Original text>

1. A Community system is hereby established designed to identify and make known to the competent authorities of the Member States, as rapidly as possible, operators presenting, on the grounds of experience acquired with them as to the proper execution of their previous obligations, a risk of non-reliability in connection with operations financed by the Guidance Section of the EAGGF and in particular with tendering procedures, export refunds and sales at reduced prices of intervention products.

>Text following EP vote>

1. A Community system is hereby established designed to identify and make known to the competent authorities of the Member States and to the Commission, as rapidly as possible, operators presenting, on the grounds of experience acquired with them as to the proper execution of their previous obligations, a risk of non-reliability in connection with operations financed by the Guarantee Section of the EAGGF and in particular with tendering procedures, export refunds and sales at reduced prices of intervention products.

(Amendment 2)

Article 1(2)

>Original text>

2. For the purposes of this Regulation, 'operators presenting a risk of non- reliability¨ means:

>Text following EP vote>

2. For the purposes of this Regulation, 'operators presenting a risk of non- reliability¨ means those operators, whether natural or legal persons:

>Original text>

(a) operators, whether natural or legal persons, who have deliberately or through serious negligence committed an irregularity in respect of relevant Community provisions and who have unjustly benefited from a financial advantage or who have attempted to benefit therefrom, and

>Text following EP vote>

(a) who, according to a final decision by an administrative or judicial authority, have deliberately or through serious negligence committed an irregularity in respect of relevant Community provisions and who have unjustly benefited from a financial advantage or who have attempted to benefit therefrom, and

>Original text>

(b) those who are the subject of well-founded suspicions in this respect.

>Text following EP vote>

(b) who have been the subject of primary administrative or judicial findings of fact and who are therefore the subject of well-founded suspicions in this respect.

(Amendment 3)

Article 1(2a) (new)

>Text following EP vote>

2a. For the purposes of this Regulation, 'irregularities¨ means:

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- fraud against the Community's financial interests;

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- abuse of Community law;

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- any other failure to discharge an obligation provided for in rules governing Community revenue or the grant of aid, a subsidy or any other benefit.

(Amendment 4)

Article 1a (new)

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Article 1a

1. 'Fraud against the Community's financial interests' means any act or omission contrary to the applicable law, committed either intentionally or through gross negligence in respect of a duty of care, which has as its object or effect:

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- a diminution of the Community's own resources or other revenue, or

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- the misappropriation, wrongful retention or misapplication of monies paid by the Community.

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2. Fraud against the Community's financial interests includes the following acts:

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- the preparation, supply, use or presentation of false, incorrect or incomplete documents or statements where information is to be furnished prior to the grant of a subsidy or the receipt of monies,

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- failure to furnish information to the relevant authorities in relation to any change in the circumstances giving rise to the grant of a subsidy or the receipt of monies,

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- misappropriation or dissipation of funds;

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- knowingly using aids or subsidies obtained on the basis of incorrect or incomplete statements or other misleading acts.

(Amendment 5)

Article 1b (new)

>Text following EP vote>

Article 1b

'Abuse of Community law' means committing an act for the purpose of obtaining an unwarranted advantage by means of fictitious or artificial operations designed to create a situation that is formally in accordance with the law but is devoid of any real economic purpose and is contrary to the purpose sought by the material instrument of Community law.

(Amendment 6)

Article 2, sole paragraph a (new)

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Member States shall as far as possible give detailed information concerning:

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- the provision which has been infringed,

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- the nature and amount of the expenditure: in cases where no payment has been made, the amounts which would have been wrongly paid had the irregularity not been discovered, except where the economic operator is guilty of error or negligence detected before payment and not resulting in any administrative or judicial penalty,

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- the common organization of the market and the product or products or measure concerned:

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- the period during which, or the moment at which, the irregularity was committed,

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- the practices adopted in committing the irregularity,

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- the manner in which the irregularity was discovered,

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- the national authorities or bodies which recorded the irregularity,

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- the financial consequences and possibilities of recovery,

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- the date and source of the first information leading to suspicion that an irregularity existed,

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- the date on which the irregularity was discovered,

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- where appropriate, the Member States and third countries involved,

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- the identity of the natural and legal persons involved, save in cases where such information is of no relevance in combatting irregularities on account of the character of the irregularity concerned.

(Amendment 7)

Article 2, sole paragraph b (new)

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Where a Member State fails to fulfil its obligations under this Article, the Commission shall initiate

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(a) the identification procedures and the rules relating to notification;

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(b) the procedures laid down by Article 169 of the EC Treaty.

(Amendment 8)

Article 3(1)(a)

>Original text>

(a) intensified checking of the operations pursued by the operator;

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(a) intensified checking of all the operations pursued by the operator;

(Amendment 9)

Article 3(1)(b)

>Original text>

or

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and/or

>Original text>

(b) suspension of the payment of the amounts in respect of operations in progress to be determined and, where appropriate, of the release of the security relating thereto, until an irregularity within the meaning of Article 1(2)(a) has been determined,

>Text following EP vote>

(b) suspension of the payment of the amounts in respect of operations in progress to be determined by the Member State in agreement with the Commission, taking due account of the risk of further irregularities being committed by the same operator, and, where appropriate, suspension of the release of the security relating thereto,

(Amendment 10)

Article 3(1)(c)

>Original text>

or

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and/or

>Original text>

(c) their exclusion for a period and from operations to be determined.

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(c) their exclusion for a period and from operations to be determined by the Member State in agreement with the Commission, taking due account of the risk of further irregularities being committed by the same operator.

(Amendment 11)

Article 3(3)

>Original text>

3. Where, within a tendering procedure, the Commission itself awards a contract, it shall, as appropriate, take one or other of the measures set out in paragraph 1.

>Text following EP vote>

3. Where, within a tendering procedure, the Commission itself awards a contract, it shall, as appropriate, take one or more of the measures set out in paragraph 1.

(Amendment 12)

Article 4(1)(a)

>Original text>

(a) the prior hearing and the right of appeal of the operator concerned;

>Text following EP vote>

(a) the prior hearing and the right of appeal of the operator concerned, based on his/her right to be informed and to inspect the relevant file;

(Amendment 13)

Article 6a (new)

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Article 6a

The Commission shall submit a report to Parliament on application of this Regulation within two years of its entry into force. It shall make any proposals for amendment of the Regulation under Article 189b of the EC Treaty.

Legislative resolution embodying Parliament's opinion on the proposal for a Council Regulation on measures to be taken in dealing with certain beneficiaries of operations financed by the Guarantee Section of the EAGGF (COM(94)0122 - C4- 0041/94 - 94/0015(CNS))

(Consultation procedure)

The European Parliament,

- having regard to the Commission proposal to the Council, COM(94)0122 - 94/0015(CNS) ((OJ C 151, 2.6.1994, p. 13.)),

- having been consulted by the Council pursuant to Article 43 of the EC Treaty (C4-0041/94),

- having regard to Rule 58 of its Rules of Procedure,

- having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgetary Control and the opinion of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (A4-0007/95),

1. Approves the Commission proposal, subject to Parliament's amendments;

2. Calls on the Council to notify Parliament should it intend to depart from the text approved by Parliament;

3. Instructs its President to forward this opinion to the Council and Commission.