Commission Regulation (EC) No 605/2005 of 19 April 2005 amending Regulation (EC) No 296/96 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)
Date: 2005-04-19
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EAGGF Guarantee Section, EU Member State, European Commission, agricultural expenditure, budget policy, data transmission, exchange of information, payment

20.4.2005

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 100/11

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 605/2005

of 19 April 2005

amending Regulation (EC) No 296/96 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)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

(5)

Having regard to the Treaty
Community,

establishing the European

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1258/1999 of
17 May 1999 on the financing of the common agricultural
policy (1), and in particular Articles 5(3) and 7(5) thereof,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

In accordance with Article 3 of Commission Regulation
(EC) No 296/96 (2), the Commission is kept informed at
regular intervals of expenditure incurred by the Member
States. To avoid unnecessary notifications, provision
should be made for this information to be sent every
month without affecting the Member States' obligation
to keep information drawn up on a weekly basis
available to the Commission, so as to allow proper moni-
toring of expenditure.

Some of the information to be sent by the Member
States should be sent electronically in digital form to
enable the Commission to use it directly for accounts
management. However,
forwarding by other means
must continue to be possible in justified cases.

To simplify and streamline administrative procedures,
simultaneous forwarding of a copy of the information
on paper should now only be required for the monthly
summaries.

In practice, indicating certain quantities and areas in the
detailed declarations submitted by the Member States is
of little value for the monthly advances. As a result, that
information should no longer be required.

(1) OJ L 160, 26.6.1999, p. 103.
(2) OJ L 39, 17.2.1996, p. 5. Regulation as last amended by Regulation

(EC) No 1655/2004 (OJ L 298, 23.9.2004, p. 3).

in euro or

Payments made by the Commission under the budget of
the EAGGF Guarantee Section are exclusively in euro.
The Member States may choose to make payments to
beneficiaries
in their national currency.
However, the paying agencies of those Member States
not participating in the euro making payments
in
national currency and in euro must keep separate
accounts for the two currencies. To avoid converting
these payments twice, the option of declaring amounts
paid in euro in national currency should be abolished.

(6) Where, on the basis of the declarations of expenditure
received from the Member States, the total amount of
advance commitments which could be authorised under
Article 150(3) of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No
1605/2002 of 25 June 2002 on the Financial Regulation
applicable
the European
Communities (3) is more than half of all corresponding
appropriations
the
Commission is required to reduce those amounts. For
the sake of sound management that reduction must be
shared among all the Member States proportionally, on
the basis of the declarations of expenditure received from
them.

to the general budget of

financial

current

year,

the

for

(7)

(8)

of

(EC,

13(2)

Regulation

If the Community budget has not been adopted by the
beginning of the financial year, the second subparagraph
of Article
Euratom)
No 1605/2002 provides that payments may be made
monthly per chapter to a maximum of one twelfth of
the allotted appropriations in the chapter in question of
the preceding financial year. To allocate the available
appropriations
States,
among
provision should be made for advances to be granted
in this case as a percentage,
laid down for each
chapter, of
the declarations of expenditure submitted
by each Member State and for the balance not used in
a given month to be reallocated in Commission decisions
on subsequent monthly payments.

the Member

fairly

single

farm payment

scheme, Member

As part of the reform of the CAP and the introduction of
the
State
compliance with the payment deadlines is vital to the
proper application of the rules on financial discipline.
Specific rules should therefore be laid down to help
avoid, wherever possible, any risk of the annual appro-
priations available in the Community budget being
exceeded.

(3) OJ L 248, 16.9.2002, p. 1.

L 100/12

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

20.4.2005

(9)

For reasons of sound administration, where delays arise
in sending supporting documents for payments made
under Commission Regulation (EC) No 817/2004 of
29 April 2004 laying down detailed rules for the appli-
cation of Council Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999 on
support for rural development from the European Agri-
cultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) (1),
it
must be made possible for payments by the Commission
to the Member State relating to September to be held
over to the following month.

in September

(10) Half of the expenditure relating to storage operations
carried out
in
respect of October and the balance in respect of
November. To simplify management of
the paying
agencies' accounts, provision should be made for expen-
diture on these operations to be taken into account in
full (100 %) in respect of October.

taken into account

is

(11)

and

budget

the national budgets

Rural development expenditure part-financed by the
Community
is
declared at the latest in respect of the second month
following payment
to the beneficiaries. To harmonise
the accounting rules applied in the field of the EAGGF
Guarantee Section, provision should be made for this
expenditure to be declared in respect of the month in
which the payments were made to the beneficiaries.

(12)

Regulation (EC) No 296/96 should be
accordingly.

amended

(13)

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in
accordance with the opinion of the EAGGF Committee,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Regulation (EC) No 296/96 is hereby amended as follows:

States shall make available information on total expen-
diture effected during the preceding month.

2. Member States shall send information electronically
on total expenditure effected for a given month and any
information
difference
any
between the estimates drawn up in accordance with
paragraph 5 and expenditure actually incurred, by the
third working day of the following month.

substantial

explaining

Not

later

3.
than the 10th day of each month,
Member States shall send to the Commission, electro-
nically, details of total expenditure effected during the
preceding month.

the

information on expenditure

effected
However,
between 1 and 15 October shall be forwarded by the
25th day of the same month at the latest.

In justified cases the Commission may accept
3a.
transmission of the information referred to in paragraphs
2 and 3 by other means.’;

(b) paragraph 5 is replaced by the following:

‘5.
Not later than the 20th of each month, Member
States shall transmit to the Commission, electronically, a
set of documents permitting the booking to the
Community budget of expenditure effected during the
preceding month. However,
set of documents
permitting the booking of expenditure effected between
1 and 15 October shall be submitted not later than
10 November.

the

The summary of the data referred to in paragraph 6(b)
shall also be sent to the Commission on paper.’;

1. Article 3 is amended as follows:

(c) paragraph 6 is amended as follows:

(a) paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 are replaced by the following:

(i) in point (a), the third indent is deleted;

‘1. Member States shall collect and keep available for
the Commission information on total
expenditure
effected each week.

(ii) point (b) is replaced by the following:

‘(b) a summary of the data referred to in (a);’

No later than the third working day of each week, they
shall make available information on total expenditure
effected from the beginning of
the
end of the preceding week.

the month until

Where the week runs over two months, no later than the
the following month, Member
third working day of

(1) OJ L 153, 30.4.2004, p. 4.

(d) paragraph 9 is replaced by the following:

‘9.
The paying agencies of Member States not partici-
pating in the euro must maintain separate accounts
according to the currency in which the payments have
been made to the beneficiaries. The same separation
must be maintained for the declarations made under
the clearance of accounts procedure.’;

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Official Journal of the European Union

L 100/13

2. Article 4 is amended as follows;

— four months shall be reduced by 70 %,

(a) paragraph 1 is replaced by the following:

— five months or more shall be reduced by 100 %;

On the basis of data sent

‘1.
in accordance with
Article 3,
the Commission shall adopt decisions and
make the monthly advances against booking of expen-
diture, without prejudice to the provisions of Article 14
of Council Regulation 2040/2000 (*).

of

(EC,

Council

Regulation

If advance commitments in accordance with Article
150(3)
Euratom)
No 1605/2002 (**) exceed one half of the total corre-
sponding appropriations for the current financial year,
the advances shall be granted as a percentage of the
declarations of expenditure received from each Member
State. The Commission shall take the balance of amounts
not reimbursed to the Member States into account in
decisions on subsequent reimbursements.

If the Community budget has not been adopted by the
beginning of the financial year, the advances shall be
granted as a percentage of the declarations of expen-
diture received from each Member State, laid down for
each chapter of expenditure and within the limits laid
down in Article 13 of Regulation (EC, Euratom)
No 1605/2002. The Commission shall take the balance
of amounts not reimbursed to the Member States into
account in decisions on subsequent reimbursements.
___________
(*) OJ L 244, 29.9.2000, p. 27.
(**) OJ L 248, 16.9.2002, p. 1.’;

(b) paragraph 2 is replaced by the following:

‘2.
Advances against booking shall be reduced for
expenditure effected after the deadlines laid down as
follows:

(a) where expenditure effected after
to 4 % or less of

the deadlines is
the expenditure effected

equal
before the deadlines, no reduction shall be made;

(c) however, in the case of the direct payments referred
to in Article 12 and Title III or, where applicable,
Title
(EC) No
1782/2003 (*) made in respect of year n, paid out
after the deadlines laid down and after 15 October of
year n+1, the following conditions shall apply:

Regulation

Council

IVa

of

— where the 4 % threshold referred to in point (a)
has not been used in full for payments made no
than 15 October of year n+1 and the
later
remainder of
that
remainder shall be reduced to 2 %,

the threshold exceeds 2 %,

— in any case, payments made in the course of
budget year n+2 and subsequent years shall be
eligible for the Member State concerned only up
to the level of its national ceiling as provided for
in Annexes VIII or VIIIa or its annual financial
envelope established in accordance with Article
143b(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 for
the budget year
the year preceding that of
is made, where
during which the payment
relating to the
applicable plus
the amounts
dairy
payments
provided for in Articles 95 and 96 and the addi-
tional amount of aid provided for in Article 12
of that Regulation, less the percentage provided
for in Article 10 and corrected by the adjustment
provided for in Article 11,
taking account of
Article 12a of that Regulation and the amounts
set
(EC)
Article
No 188/2005 (**),

premium and

Regulation

additional

of

in

4

— above the thresholds

the
expenditure concerned by this point shall be
reduced by 100 %;

referred to above,

(d) the Commission shall apply a different time scale
and/or lower reductions or none at all if exceptional
management conditions are encountered for certain
measures or if justified reasons are advanced by the
Member States.

(b) above the threshold of 4 %, all further expenditure

effected with a delay of up to:

— one month shall be reduced by 10 %,

— two months shall be reduced by 25 %,

(e)

— three months shall be reduced by 45 %,

However, in the case of the payments referred to in
point (c), the preceding sentence shall apply within
the ceilings referred to in the second indent of point
(c);

the reductions referred to in this Article shall be
made in accordance with the rules laid down in
Article 14 of Regulation (EC) No 2040/2000.

___________
(*) OJ L 270, 21.10.2003, p. 1.
(**) OJ L 31, 4.2.2005, p. 6.’;

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Official Journal of the European Union

20.4.2005

(c) paragraph 6 is replaced by the following:

between the beginning of the financial year and the end of
that month.

‘6. Where the Commission does not
receive the
documents referred to in Article 55(1) of Commission
Regulation (EC) No 817/2004 (*) by 30 September each
year, it may, after notifying the Member State concerned,
suspend payment of the advance relating to expenditure
incurred in respect of September in accordance with that
Regulation until the advance relating to expenditure for
October.
___________
(*) OJ L 153, 30.4.2004, p. 4.’;

However, for operations carried out during September, the
expenditure shall be entered in the accounts by the paying
agencies not later than 15 October’;

4. Article 7(1)(b) is deleted.

Article 2

3. Article 5(2) is replaced by the following:

‘2.
The amounts of expenditure referred to in paragraph 1
shall be entered in the accounts by the paying agencies
during the month following that to which the operations
covered in the accounts
refer. The operations
adopted at the end of each month shall be those occurring

to be

This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day
Journal of the
following that of its publication in the Official
European Union.

It shall apply from 16 October 2005, with the exception of
Article 1(1)(d) and (4), which shall apply from 16 October
2006.

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

Done at Brussels, 19 April 2005.

For the Commission

Mariann FISCHER BOEL
Member of the Commission