Regulation (EC) No 1780/97 is hereby amended as follows:
1. Article 2(1), (2) and (3) is replaced by the following:
'1. Member States shall submit their action programmes for the first and second year of application of Regulation (EC) No 723/97 before the end of the second month following the date of entry into force of this Regulation. Only expenditure committed after 1 January 1997 shall be eligible for part-financing by the Community. For subsequent years, action programmes shall be submitted in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 2(1) and (2) of the aforementioned Regulation.
Estimates shall be drawn up in accordance with the table in the Annex.
2. The Commission shall, on the basis of the information provided by the Member States, set, in each Member State's national currency, the maximum amount of the Community financial contribution in the month following that in which the general budget of the European Communities for the financial year in question is adopted.
The Commission shall inform the Member State in question of any expenditure which is not accepted for Community financing, and of the reasons therefor.
3. Not later than 31 May each year, each Member State shall present the Commission with a statement of the amounts paid out during the previous calendar year. The maximum amount of the Community financial contribution set as provided for in Article 4(2) of the abovementioned Regulation shall apply to this expenditure, limited to the amounts presented in the action programmes and not considered ineligible by the Commission. However, for 1997, the final date for implementation of expenditure shall be 31 August 1998, and the statement of amounts paid out shall be sent to the Commission to reach it by 31 October 1998.
This statement shall be drawn up in accordance with the table in the Annex.`2. Article 3 is replaced by the following:
'Article 3
The maximum amount set as provided for in Article 4(2) of Regulation (EC) No 723/97, as reduced by any unused amount paid in respect of the previous year but one, shall be deemed to be expenditure as referred to in Article 7 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 296/96 under the month in which it is set by the Commission.`3. The following Article 3a is added:
'Article 3a
For the last two years of application of this regulation, the unused amount shall be credited to the appropriate budget heading of the EAGGF under expenditure for June of the financial year following the year of implementation.`4. The word 'incurred` in point 5 of the Annex to this Regulation is replaced by the word 'paid`.