2002/524/EC: Commission Decision of 26 June 2002 excluding from Community financing certain expenditure incurred by the Member States under the Guarantee Section of the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) (notified under document number C(2002) 2281)
Date: 2002-06-26
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EAGGF Guarantee Section, EU financing, common agricultural policy, expenditure, member country

29.6.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

L 170/77

COMMISSION DECISION

of 26 June 2002

excluding from Community financing certain expenditure incurred by the Member States under
the Guarantee Section of the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF)

(notified under document number C(2002) 2281)

(Only the Greek, English, French, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch and Swedish texts are authentic)

(2002/524/EC)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 729/70 of 21
April 1970 on the financing of the common agricultural pol-
icy (1), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1287/95 (2), and
in particular Article 5(2)(c) thereof,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1258/1999 of 17
May 1999 on the financing of the common agricultural pol-
icy (3), and in particular Article 7(4) thereof,

After consulting the Committee for the European Agricultural
Guidance and Guarantee Fund,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

Article 5(2)(c) of Regulation (EEC) No 729/70 and Arti-
cle 7(4) of Regulation (EC) No 1258/1999 stipulate that
the Commission is to exclude expenditure from Commu-
nity financing where it finds that it has not been incurred
in accordance with Community rules.

The above Articles of Regulation (EEC) No 729/70 and
Regulation (EC) No 1258/1999 as well as Article 8(1)
and (2) of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1663/95 of 7
July 1995 laying down detailed rules for the application
of Council Regulation (EEC) No 729/70 regarding the
procedure for the clearance of
the
EAGGF Guarantee Section (4), as last amended by Regula-
tion (EC) No 2025/2001 (5), provide that the Commis-
sion is to carry out the necessary checks, forward its
findings to the Member States, consider any comments
from the latter, enter into bilateral discussions to reach
an agreement with the Member States concerned and
formally communicate its conclusions to them, referring
to Commission Decision 94/442/EC of 1 July 1994

the accounts of

(1) OJ L 94, 28.4.1970, p. 13.
(2) OJ L 125, 8.6.1995, p. 1.
(3) OJ L 160, 26.6.1999, p. 103.
(4) OJ L 158, 8.7.1995, p. 6.
(5) OJ L 274, 17.10.2001, p. 3.

setting up a conciliation procedure in the context of the
clearance of the accounts of the European Agricultural
Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) Guarantee Sec-
tion (6), as last amended by Decision 2001/535/EC (7).

The Member States have had the opportunity to request
that a conciliation procedure be initiated. That procedure
has been applied in some cases and the reports issued on
the outcome have been considered by the Commission.

Articles 2 and 3 of Regulation (EEC) No 729/70 and Ar-
ticle 2 of Regulation (EC) No 1258/1999 provide that re-
funds on exports to third countries and intervention in-
tended to stabilise agricultural markets may be financed
only where they are, respectively, granted and underta-
ken in accordance with the Community rules governing
the common organisation of the agricultural markets.

The findings of checks performed, the results of bilateral
discussions and the outcome of the conciliation proce-
dures have shown that some expenditure declared by the
Member States does not meet those conditions and can-
not therefore be financed under the EAGGF Guarantee
Section.

The Annex to this Decision sets out the amounts that
are not recognised as being chargeable to the EAGGF
Guarantee Section. Those amounts do not relate to ex-
penditure incurred more than 24 months before the
Commission’s written notification of the results of the
checks to the Member States.

As regards the cases covered by this Decision, the assess-
ment of the amounts to be excluded on grounds of non-
compliance with Community rules was notified by the
Commission to the Member States and is set out in a
summary report on the subject.

This Decision is without prejudice to any financial con-
clusions that the Commission may draw from the judg-
ments of the Court of Justice in cases pending on 31 Oc-
tober 2001 and relating to the subject thereof,

(3)

(4)

(5)

(6)

(7)

(8)

(6) OJ L 182, 16.7.1994, p. 45.
(7) OJ L 193, 17.7.2001, p. 25.

L 170/78

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

29.6.2002

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1

The expenditure itemised in the Annex that has been incurred by the Member States’ accredited paying
agencies and declared under the EAGGF Guarantee Section is hereby excluded from Community financing
because it does not comply with Community rules.

This Decision is addressed to the Kingdom of Belgium, the Hellenic Republic, the French Republic, the Ita-
lian Republic, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Portuguese Republic, the Kingdom of Sweden and the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Article 2

Done at Brussels, 26 June 2002.

For the Commission

Franz FISCHLER

Member of the Commission

ANNEX

Total corrections

.

.

2
9
6
2
0
0
2

Sector

Member
State

Budget
item

Reason

National
currency

Expenditure to be
excluded

Already deducted

Financial impact of
this decision

Financial
year

E
N

Financial audit

BE

B1-4

Administrative errors

EUR

– 21 194,89

– 21 194,89

Total BE

– 21 194,89

– 21 194,89

2000

0,00

0,00

Milk & milk products

Public storage

Public storage

Public storage

Financial audit

FR

FR

FR

FR

FR

2071

3201

3201

3200

B1-4

Cancellation of Decision 98/358/EC by the Court of Justice

Flat-rate correction 5 % Martinique — Guadeloupe — inade-
quate checks

Flat-rate correction 5 % Martinique — Guadeloupe — inade-
quate checks

Non-compliance with adversarial procedure for sample-taking

Over-declaration of rural development expenditure

Arable crops

GR

various

Flat-rate corrections for failings in key controls

Total FR

Total GR

Fruit and vegetables

Fruit and vegetables

Fruit and vegetables

IT

IT

IT

1512

1512

Ineligible products — non-compliance with Regulations (EEC)
No 1558/91 and (EC) No 504/97

Flat-rate correction for inadequate check on Emilia-Romagna
stocks

1511

Non-compliance with Article 1(4) of Regulation (EC) No 504/97

Livestock premiums

NL

2320

Flat-rate and calculated corrections

Livestock premiums

Livestock premiums

Financial audit

PT

PT

PT

2220

2221

Flat-rate correction of 2 % — 1996-1998

Flat rate correction of 2 % — 1996-1999

4000-4999 Administrative errors

Total IT

Total NL

Total PT

EUR

EUR

EUR

EUR

EUR

EUR

EUR

EUR

17 438 194,58

– 336 700,63

0,00

0,00

17 438 194,58

1994

– 336 700,63

1999-2000

– 403 069,49

0,00

– 403 069,49

1999-2000

– 89 487,57

– 316 674,26

16 292 262,63

0,00

0,00

0,00

– 89 487,57

– 316 674,26

16 292 262,63

1998

2000

– 103 513 610,00

– 30 217 589,00

– 73 296 021,00

1996-1999

– 103 513 610,00

– 30 217 589,00

– 73 296 021,00

EUR

– 10 448 798,00

0,00

– 10 448 798,00

1997-1998

EUR

– 1 805 018,00

0,00

– 1 805 018,00

1997-1998

EUR

EUR

EUR

EUR

EUR

EUR

EUR

EUR

– 1 145 024,02

– 13 398 840,02

– 20 291 540,00

– 20 291 540,00

– 741 444,18

– 60 808,04

– 249 967,00

– 1 052 219,22

0,00

0,00

0,00

0,00

0,00

0,00

0,00

0,00

– 1 145 024,02

1998

– 13 398 840,02

– 20 291 540,00

1997-1998

– 20 291 540,00

– 741 444,18

– 60 808,04

– 249 967,00

– 1 052 219,22

1998

1998

2000

O

f
f
i
c
i
a
l

J
o
u
r
n
a
l

o
f

t
h
e

E
u
r
o
p
e
a
n
C
o
m
m
u
n
i
t
i
e
s

L

1
7
0
/
7
9

Sector

Member
State

Budget
item

Reason

National
currency

Expenditure to be
excluded

Already deducted

Financial impact of
this decision

Financial
year

Arable crops

Livestock premiums

Financial audit

Financial audit

SE

UK

UK

UK

1041-1062 Non-compliance with Article 15 of Regulation (EEC) No 1765/
92 and Article 30 of Regulation (EEC) No 805/68 — illegal
charges

SEK

– 18 555 850,00

0,00

– 18 555 850,00

2000

Total SE

SEK

– 18 555 850,00

0,00

– 18 555 850,00

2126

Flat-rate correction

various

Weaknesses in handling of dossiers — IBEA, NAWAD

B1-4

Over-declaration of rural development expenditure

Total UK

GBP

GBP

GBP

GBP

– 4 827 612,00

– 174 862,22

– 6 466 505,00

– 11 468 979,22

0,00

0,00

0,00

0,00

– 4 827 612,00

– 174 862,22

– 6 466 505,00

– 11 468 979,22

1998

2000

2000

L

1
7
0
/
8
0

E
N

O

f
f
i
c
i
a
l

J
o
u
r
n
a
l

o
f

t
h
e

E
u
r
o
p
e
a
n
C
o
m
m
u
n
i
t
i
e
s

.

.

2
9
6
2
0
0
2