Commission Regulation (EC) No 259/2008 of 18 March 2008 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 as regards the publication of information on the beneficiaries of funds deriving from the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF) and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD)

19.3.2008 EN Official Journal of the European Union L 76/28
COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 259/2008
of 18 March 2008
laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 as regards the publication of information on the beneficiaries of funds deriving from the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF) and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD)
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,
Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 of 21 June 2005 on the financing of the common agricultural policy (1), and in particular point 8b of Article 42 thereof,
After consulting the European Data Protection Supervisor,
Whereas:
(1) Article 44a of Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 lays down that Member States have to ensure the annual ex-post publication of the beneficiaries of the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF), and of the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD), hereinafter referred to as Funds, and the amounts received per beneficiary under each of these Funds.
(2) The purpose of the publication, which should be in accordance with the information held by the paying agencies in their books and records and which should only concern payments received in the preceding financial year, is to enhance transparency regarding the use of the Funds and improve their sound financial management. In order to meet these objectives, the information should be presented to the public in a clear, harmonised and searchable manner by the due date of 30 April. In respect of EAFRD expenditure paid between 1 January and 15 October 2007, a special date for publication should be fixed.
(3) To this end, the minimum requirements as to the content of the publication should be laid down. These requirements should not go further than what is necessary in a democratic society in order to reach the objectives pursued.
(4) Publication of the information should be implemented via the internet in the form of a search tool which ensures that the public at large is in the position to consult it. The search tool should permit to search on the basis of certain criteria and the results of the search should be presented in an easily accessible form.
(5) The publication of the information concerning the beneficiaries should occur as quickly as possible after the closure of the financial year in order to ensure transparency towards the public. At the same time, Member States should have sufficient time to undertake the necessary work. As the objective of transparency does not require that the information remains available indefinitely, a reasonable period of availability of the published information should be laid down.
(6) Making this information accessible to the public enhances transparency regarding the use of Community funds in the common agricultural policy and improves the sound financial management of these funds, in particular by reinforcing public control of the money used. Given the overriding weight of the objectives pursued, it is justified with regard to the principle of proportionality and the requirement of the protection of personal data to provide for the general publication of the relevant information as it does not go beyond what is necessary in a democratic society and for the prevention of irregularities.
(7) To comply with the data protection requirements beneficiaries of the Funds should be informed of the publication of their data before the publication takes place. The information of the beneficiaries should take place through the application forms for aid or when the data are collected otherwise. Furthermore, the beneficiaries should be informed about their rights under Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 1995 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data (2) and the procedures applicable for exercising these rights. As regards expenditure incurred in financial years 2007 and 2008, in so far as information of the beneficiaries is not possible at the moment of collecting the personal data, the beneficiaries should still be informed within a reasonable period of time before publication actually takes place.
(8) For the sake of transparency, beneficiaries of the Funds should also be informed that, for the purpose of safeguarding the financial interests of the Communities, their personal data may be processed by auditing and investigating bodies of the Communities and the Member States. This information should be given at the same moment as the information on the publication and on the rights of individuals is given.
(9) In order to facilitate the access of the public to the data published, the Commission should provide for a Community website including links to the websites of the Member States on which the information has been made available. In view of the different organisational structures within the Member States, they should determine themselves which body is in charge of setting up and maintaining their single website and of publishing the data.
(10) Since Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No 1437/2007 provides that Article 44a of Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005, inserted by Regulation (EC) No 1437/2007, applies to EAGF expenditure incurred from 16 October 2007 and to EAFRD expenditure incurred from 1 January 2007, it is therefore necessary to apply also the implementing rules for the same time period.
(11) The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee on the Agricultural Funds,