2002/461/EC: Commission Decision of 12 June 2002 on the clearance of the accounts of Member States' expenditure financed by the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF), Guarantee Section, for the 2001 financial year (notified under document number C(2002) 2057)
Date: 2002-06-12
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EAGGF Guarantee Section, EU Member State, closing of accounts, financial year

L 160/28

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

18.6.2002

COMMISSION

COMMISSION DECISION

of 12 June 2002

on the clearance of the accounts of Member States’ expenditure financed by the European Agri-
cultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF), Guarantee Section, for the 2001 financial year

(notified under document number C(2002) 2057)

(2002/461/EC)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1258/1999 of 17
May 1999 on the financing of the common agricultural pol-
icy (1), and in particular Article 7(3) thereof,

After consulting the Fund Committee,

Whereas:

(1)

Under Article 7(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1258/1999,
the Commission, on the basis of the annual accounts
submitted by the Member States, accompanied by the in-
formation required for clearance and a certificate regard-
ing the veracity, completeness, and accuracy of the ac-
counts transmitted clears the accounts of the paying
agencies referred to in Article 4(1) of this Regulation.

(2) With regard to Article 7(1) of Commission Regulation
(EC) No 296/96 of 16 February 1996 on data to be
transmitted by the Member States and the monthly
booking of expenditure financed under the Guarantee
Section of
the European Agricultural Guidance and
Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) (2), as last amended by Regula-
tion (EC) No 1934/2001 (3), account is taken for the
2001 financial year of expenditure incurred by the Mem-
ber States between 16 October 2000 and 15 October
2001.

(3)

The time limits granted to the Member States for the
submission to the Commission of the documents re-
ferred to in Article 6(1)b of Regulation (EC) No 1258/
1999 and in Article 4(1) of Commission Regulation (EC)
No 1663/95 of 7 July 1995 laying down detailed rules

(4)

(5)

for the application of Council Regulation (EEC) No 729/
70 regarding the procedure for the clearance of accounts
of the EAGGF Guarantee Section (4), as last amended by
Regulation (EC) No 2025/2001 (5), have expired.

The Commission has checked the information submitted
and communicated to the Member States before the 31
March 2002 the results of its verifications with the ne-
cessary amendments.

Under the first subparagraph of Article 7(1) of Regula-
tion (EC) No 1663/95, the accounts clearance decision
referred to in Article 7(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1258/
1999 must determine, without prejudice to decisions ta-
ken subsequently in accordance with Article 7(4) of the
Regulation, the amount of expenditure effected in each
Member State during the financial year in question re-
cognised as being chargeable to the EAGGF Guarantee
Section, on the basis of the accounts referred to in Arti-
cle 6(1)b of the abovementioned Regulation and the re-
ductions and suspensions of advances for the financial
year concerned, including the reductions referred to in
the second subparagraph of Article 4(3) of Regulation
(EC) No 296/96; under Article 102 of the Financial Reg-
ulation of 21 December 1977 applicable to the general
budget of the European Communities (6), as last amended
by Council Regulation (EC, ECSC, Euratom) No 762/
2001 (7), the outcome of the clearance decision, that is
to say, any discrepancy which may occur between the
total expenditure booked to the accounts for a financial
year pursuant to Articles 100 and 101 and the total ex-
penditure taken into consideration by the Commission
in this Decision, is to be booked, under a single article,
as additional expenditure or a reduction in expenditure.

(1) OJ L 160, 26.6.1999, p. 103.
(2) OJ L 39, 17.2.1996, p. 5.
(3) OJ L 262, 2.10.2001, p. 8.

(4) OJ L 158, 8.7.1995, p. 6.
(5) OJ L 274, 17.10.2001, p. 3.
(6) OJ L 356, 31.12.1977, p. 1.
(7) OJ L 111, 20.4.2001, p. 1.

18.6.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

L 160/29

(6)

(7)

(8)

(9)

For certain paying agencies, the annual accounts and the
accompanying documents permit
the Commission to
take a decision on the completeness, accuracy and vera-
city of the accounts submitted. In the light of the verifi-
cations made some of the accounts do not fulfil this con-
dition and therefore part of the expenditure concerned
cannot be recognised as chargeable to the EAGGF Guar-
antee Section. Annex I
lists the amounts cleared by
Member State. The details of these amounts have been
described in the Summary Report that has been pre-
sented to the Fund Committee at the same time as the
present Decision.

In the light of the verifications made, the information
submitted by certain other paying agencies requires addi-
tional inquiries and their accounts cannot be cleared in
this decision. Annex II lists the paying agencies con-
cerned.

Article 4(2) of Regulation (EC) No 296/96,
in liaison
with Article 14 of Council Regulation (EC) No 2040/
2000 of 26 September 2000 on budgetary discipline (1)
lays down that advances against booking are to be re-
duced for expenditure effected by the Member States
after the limits or deadlines laid down. However, pur-
suant to Article 4(3) of Regulation (EC) No 296/96, any
overrun of deadlines during August, September and Oc-
tober are to be taken into account in the accounts clear-
ance decision except where noted before the last decision
of the financial year relating to advances; part of the ex-
penditure claimed by certain Member States during the
abovementioned period and for the measures for which
the Commission did not accept any extenuating circum-
stances was effected after the limits or deadlines laid
down. This Decision should therefore lay down the rele-
vant reductions. A decision will be taken at a later date,
in accordance with Article 7(4) of Regulation (EC) No
1258/1999, definitively fixing the expenditure for which
Community financing will not be granted regarding
those reductions and any other expenditure which may
be found to have been effected after the limits or dead-
lines laid down.

The Commission, in accordance with Article 14 of Regu-
lation (EC) No 2040/2000 and Article 4(2) of Regulation
(EC) No 296/96, reduced or suspended a number of
monthly advances on entry into the accounts of expendi-
ture for the 2001 financial year and proceeds in this De-
cision to the reductions laid down in Article 4(3) of Reg-
ulation (EC) No 296/96. In the light of the above, to
avoid any premature or even only temporary reimburse-
ment of the amounts in question, they should not be re-
cognised in this Decision, without prejudice to further
examination according to Article 7(4) of Regulation (EC)
No 1258/1999.

(10)

(11)

The second subparagraph of Article 7(1) of Regulation
(EC) No 1663/95, lays down that the amounts that, in
accordance with the accounts clearance decision referred
to in the first subparagraph, are recoverable from, or
payable to, each Member State shall be determined by
deducting advances paid during the financial year in
question, i.e. 2001, from expenditure recognised for that
year in accordance with the first subparagraph. Such
amounts are to be deducted from, or added to, advances
against expenditure from the second month following
that in which the accounts clearance decision is taken.
Annex I lists the amounts cleared for each Member State.

In accordance with the final subparagraph of Article 7(3)
of Regulation (EC) No 1258/1999 and Article 7(1) of
Regulation (EC) No 1663/95, this Decision, adopted on
the basis of accounting information, does not prejudice
decisions taken subsequently by the Commission exclud-
ing from Community financing expenditure not effected
in accordance with Community rules,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1

With the exception of the paying agencies referred to in Article
2 the accounts of the paying agencies of the Member States
concerning expenditure financed by the EAGGF Guarantee Sec-
tion in respect of the 2001 financial year are hereby cleared.
The amounts which are recoverable from, or payable to, each
Member State in accordance with the present Decision are de-
termined in Annex I.

Article 2

For the 2001 financial year, the accounts of the paying agencies
shown in Annex II are disjoined from this Decision and shall be
the subject of a future clearance Decision.

Article 3

This Decision is addressed to the Member States.

Done at Brussels, 12 June 2002.

For the Commission

Franz FISCHLER

Member of the Commission

(1) OJ L 244, 29.9.2000, p. 27.

ANNEX I

Clearance of the paying agencies' accounts

Financial year 2001

Amount to be recovered from or paid to the Member State

2001 — Expenditure for the paying agencies
for which the accounts are

cleared

disjoined

Member
State

= expenditure declared
in the annual declaration

= total of the expenditure
in the monthly declarations

Total a + b

Reductions
and suspensions
for the whole financial year

Total including
reductions and suspensions

Advances paid
to the Member State
for the financial year

Amount to be recovered
from (–) or paid to (+)
the Member State

a

b

c = a + b

d

e = c + d

f

g = e – f

AT

BE

DE

DK

ES

FI

FR

GR

IE

IT

LU

NL

PT

SE

UK

EUR

EUR

EUR

DKK

EUR

EUR

EUR

EUR

EUR

EUR

EUR

EUR

EUR

SEK

GBP

1 052 518 381,87

0,00

1 052 518 381,87

922 560 245,36

12 082 027,45

934 642 272,81

– 0,31

0,00

1 052 518 381,56

1 052 524 730,04

934 642 272,81

934 490 884,20

5 858 588 578,82

8 288 006 567,17

0,00

0,00

5 858 588 578,82

8 288 006 567,17

– 111 504,00

5 858 477 074,82

5 857 589 519,92

0,00

8 288 006 567,17

8 286 852 746,13

1 153 821,04

5 399 063 296,30

773 864 957,37

6 172 928 253,67

665 990,46

6 173 594 244,13

6 175 677 330,06

– 2 083 085,93

815 383 749,85

9 215 239 749,54

0,00

0,00

815 383 749,85

9 215 239 749,54

0,00

2 605 366 573,71

2 605 366 573,71

– 496,13

815 383 253,72

815 383 253,72

0,00

– 233 570,54

6 353 785,52

9 215 006 179,00

9 220 992 635,32

– 5 986 456,32

2 611 720 359,23

2 612 141 460,31

– 421 101,08

1 582 048 838,25

5 470 174 745,04

29 267 098,87

1 104 143 363,20

892 709 190,24

7 002 708 167,59

2 479 475 443,53

0,00

0,00

0,00

0,00

0,00

0,00

0,00

1 582 048 838,25

– 61 156,13

1 581 987 682,12

1 584 303 217,48

– 2 315 535,36

5 470 174 745,04

– 137 942 914,13

5 332 231 830,91

5 323 864 256,02

8 367 574,89

29 267 098,87

1 104 143 363,20

892 709 190,24

7 002 708 167,59

2 479 475 443,53

0,00

0,00

0,00

0,00

29 267 098,87

29 260 394,85

1 104 143 363,20

1 104 119 001,94

6 704,02

24 361,26

892 709 190,24

873 818 851,23

18 890 339,01

7 002 708 167,59

7 002 708 167,59

0,00

– 60 929,96

2 479 414 513,57

2 482 348 908,70

– 2 934 395,13

– 6 348,48

151 388,61

887 554,90

(1) For the calculation of the amount to be recovered from or paid to the Member State the amount taken into account is, the total of the annual declaration for the expenditure cleared (column a) or, the total of the monthly declarations for the

expenditure disjoined (column b).

(2) The reductions and suspensions are those taken into account in the advance system, to which are added in particular the corrections for the non-respect of payment deadlines established in August, September and October 2001.

L

1
6
0
/
3
0

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N

O

f
f
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i
a
l

J
o
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s

.

.

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8
6
2
0
0
2

18.6.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

L 160/31

ANNEX II

Clearance of the paying agencies' accounts

Financial year 2001

List of paying agencies for which the accounts are disjoined and are subject of a later clearance decision

Member State

Paying agency

Belgium

Spain

Spain

Greece

Betaalorgaan van de Vlaamse Gemeenschap

FEGA

País Vasco

GEDIDAGEP/OPEKEPE