Article 1 Subject matter and scope
1. This Regulation lays down provisions to address the consequences of the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the Union in a situation where no withdrawal agreement concluded with the United Kingdom in accordance with Article 50(2) TEU has entered into force by the date on which the Treaties cease to apply to the United Kingdom pursuant to Article 50(3) TEU, and with regard to the continuation of the following two cooperation programmes covered by Regulation (EU) No 1299/2013 with the participation of the United Kingdom (jointly referred to as the ‘cooperation programmes’): (1) PEACE IV (Ireland-United Kingdom); (2) United Kingdom-Ireland (Ireland-Northern Ireland-Scotland). 2. Regulation (EU) No 1299/2013 shall continue to apply to the cooperation programmes subject to this Regulation.
Article 2 Geographical coverage
Without prejudice to Article 20(2) and (3) of Regulation (EU) No 1299/2013, the cooperation programmes may cover the participating regions in the United Kingdom, which shall be equivalent to NUTS level 3 regions.
Article 3 Programme authorities
By way of derogation from Article 21(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1299/2013: — the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB) hosting the managing authority and the certifying authority of the cooperation programmes shall continue to exercise its functions, — the Department of Finance of Northern Ireland shall remain the audit authority of the cooperation programmes.
Article 4 Commission competences regarding controls
The application of the rules regarding the controls and audit of the cooperation programmes shall be agreed between the Commission and the authorities of the United Kingdom. The controls and audits shall cover the entire period of the cooperation programmes. If the necessary controls and audit of the cooperation programmes cannot be executed in all regions concerned, this shall be considered to constitute a serious deficiency in the management and control system for the purposes of measures as laid down in Articles 83, 142, 144 and 145 of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013.
Article 5 Eligibility of operations depending on location
The ceiling set out in point (b) of Article 20(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1299/2013 shall not apply to the cooperation programmes.
Article 6 Entry into force and application
This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union . It shall apply from the day following that on which the Treaties cease to apply to the United Kingdom pursuant to Article 50(3) TEU. However, this Regulation shall not apply if a withdrawal agreement concluded with the United Kingdom in accordance with Article 50(2) TEU has entered into force by the date referred to in the second paragraph of this Article.