Commission Regulation (EC) No 296/96 of 16 February 1996 on data to be forwarded by the Member States and the monthly booking of expenditure financed under the Guarantee Section of the Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) and repealing Regulation (EEC) No 2776/88

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 296/96 of 16 February 1996 on data to be forwarded by the Member States and the monthly booking of expenditure financed under the Guarantee Section of the Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) and repealing Regulation (EEC) No 2776/88
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 policy (1), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1287/95 (2), and in particular Articles 4 and 5 thereof,
Having regard to Council Decision 94/729/EC of 31 October 1994 on budgetary discipline (3), and in particular Article 13 thereof,
Whereas Article 4 (5) of Regulation (EEC) No 729/70 stipulates that the Member States must themselves mobilize the funds to cover the expenditure of the Guarantee Section of the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund, hereafter referred to as the 'EAGGF Guarantee Section`; whereas under the same Regulation, the Commission grants only monthly advances against booking of the expenditure effected by the Member States;
Whereas, with a view to ensuring the proper management of the appropriations entered in the budget of the Communities for the EAGGF Guarantee Section, each paying agency must keep accounts relating exclusively to expenditure to be financed by the EAGGF Guarantee Section;
Whereas the transmission by the Member States to the Commission of all data relating to the expenditure to be financed by the EAGGF Guarantee Section must be organized; whereas, in this respect, it is appropriate to recognize that the communication of data relating to quantities should benefit from a certain margin of imprecision which may be explained, among other things, by administrative difficulties linked to their establishment; whereas, this applies also to the estimates of expenditure which, while they must be reliable, are by their nature of an approximative character; whereas, furthermore, it is inappropriate to request the communication of data relating to recoveries where this would constitute a heavy administrative burden;
Whereas the common agricultural regulations include deadlines for payment of aids to beneficiaries by Member States; whereas all payments effected after those deadlines, and for which the delay in payment is unjustified, must be regarded as ineligible, and therefore cannot, in principle be the subject of an advance on the booking of expenditure; whereas, however, in order to modulate the financial impact in proportion to the delay incurred in payment, the reduction in the advances should be graduated as a function of the size of the delay recorded;
Whereas, where Member States fail to meet the deadlines agreed for the notification of data relating to expenditure or to ensure the consistency of such data, the Commission may, pursuant to Article 13 of Decision 94/729/EC defer accordingly the payment of the advances against booking;
Whereas Article 4 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1883/78 of 2 August 1978 on general rules on the financing of EAGGF Guarantee Section intervention (4), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1571/93 (5), stipulates that where an intervention measure entails buying-in and storage of products, the amount financed is to be determined by the annual accounts established by the intervention agencies; whereas Council Regulation (EEC) No 3492/90 (6) laid down rules and conditions governing these accounts; whereas the procedures according to which the financing of such measures fits into the system of advances against booking should be made clear;
Whereas the last subparagraph of Article 5 (2) (a) of Regulation (EEC) No 729/70 stipulates that expenditure for October is related to October if made between 1 and 15 October and to November if made from 16 to 31 October; whereas it is preferable to avoid the division of the accounts provided for in Article 4 of Regulation (EEC) No 1883/78, in view of their complexity; whereas, accordingly, it should be stipulated that expenditure deriving from September operations is to be treated in the accounts by the paying agencies on the basis of 50 % in respect of the first 15 days of October, and the rest, including any adjustments or corrections, in respect of the last 16 days of October;
Whereas Article 5a of Regulation (EEC) No 729/70 authorizes remuneration of the funds mobilized by certain Member States; whereas procedures for declaration by these Member States of interest chargeable to the Community should be laid down;
Whereas the concept of expenditure to be declared monthly by the paying agencies should be properly defined;
Whereas a uniform presentation of documents to be sent in by the Member States is needed; whereas in view of the need for frequent adaptation of such documents to changes in management requirements, the Commission must be in a position to adopt and adapt without delay, under a simplified procedure, the forms to be used;
Whereas in order to facilitate the application of the provisions in this matter it is advisable to replace Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2776/88 (7), as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No 775/90 (8), with a new Regulation;
Whereas the measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee of the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF),