Commission Regulation (EC) No 2406/98 of 6 November 1998 amending Regulation (EC) No 2064/97 establishing detailed arrangements for the implementation of Council Regulation (EEC) No 4253/88 as regards the financial control by Member States of operations co-financed by the Structural Funds
Date: 1998-11-06
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: European Commission, Structural Funds, commitment of expenditure, financial control, operational expenditure (EU), supervisory power

7. 11. 98

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

L 298/15

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 2406/98

of 6 November 1998

amending Regulation (EC) No 2064/97 establishing detailed arrangements for the
implementation of Council Regulation (EEC) No 4253/88 as regards the financial
control by Member States of operations co-financed by the Structural Funds

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community,

the activities of

Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 4253/88
of 19 December 1988 laying down provisions for imple-
menting Regulation (EEC) No 2052/88 as regards co-
ordination of
the different Structural
Funds between themselves and with the operations of the
European Investment Bank and the other existing finan-
cial instruments (1), as last amended by Regulation (EC)
No 3193/94 (2), and in particular the fourth subparagraph
of Article 23(1) thereof,

Having regard to Commission Regulation (EC) No 2064/
97 of 15 October 1997 establishing detailed arrangements
for the implementation of Council Regulation (EEC) No
4253/88 as regards the financial control by Member States
of operations co-financed by the Structural Funds (3),

Whereas Article 8 of Regulation (EC) No 2064/97 lays
down that Member States should present to the Commis-
sion at the time of the closure of a form of intervention, a
statement drawn up by a person or organisation function-
ally independent of the implementing service; whereas
this statement should summarise the conclusions of the
control examinations made in the previous years and
provide an overall conclusion as to the validity of the
request for the final payment as well as the legality and
regularity of the operations underlying the final declara-
tion of expenditure;

Whereas Article 17 of Regulation (EC) No 2064/97 lays
down that Article 8 shall apply from l January 1998;

intervention of

Whereas some forms of
the previous
programming period (1989 to 1993) have not yet been
closed; whereas some forms of intervention of the current
programming period covering only the first three years
should now be closed;

Whereas the presentation of the declaration laid down in
paragraph l of Article 8 at the time of closure of these
forms of intervention can constitute a major difficulty in
cases where the service or person designated with the
independent control
function was not responsible for
controls carried out on these forms of intervention,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

A third paragraph is added to Article 17 of Regulation
(EC) No 2064/97 as follows:

‘However, Article 8(1) need not be applied, from 1
January 1998, to forms of intervention for which the
first decision granting assistance sets the final date for
Community and national commitments up to l
January 1997.'

Article 2

This Regulation shall enter into force the third day
following its publication in the Official Journal of the
European Communities.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member
States.

Done at Brussels, 6 November 1998.

For the Commission

Anita GRADIN

Member of the Commission

(1) OJ L 374, 31. 12. 1988, p. 1.
(2) OJ L 337, 24. 12. 1994, p. 11.
(3) OJ L 290, 23. 10. 1997, p. 1.