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Competent bodies
1. The competent body to be designated by each Member State pursuant to Article 14 of Regulation (EC) No 2152/2003, hereinafter referred to as ‘competent bodies’, shall be the contact point for the Commission. 2. Belgium, Germany and Portugal may designate more than one competent body.
Selection Criteria
1. The competent bodies shall comply with the rules laid down in Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 and Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2342/2002 as well as with the provisions laid down in the present Regulation. 2. The competent bodies shall meet at least the following criteria: (a) they shall be national public-sector bodies or private-law entities with a public-service mission, governed by the law of one of the Member States; (b) they shall offer adequate financial guarantees, issued by a public authority, in particular as regards full recovery of amounts due to the Commission; (c) they shall operate according to the requirements of sound financial management; (d) they shall ensure the transparency of the operations carried out in accordance with Article 56(1) of Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002.
Additional conditions for private-law entities
Where Member States pursuant to Article 14 designate private-law entities the Commission shall base its approval of those entities on the following proof provided by those entities: (a) their technical and professional capacity, on the basis of documentary evidence of the educational and professional qualifications of the members of their managerial staff; (b) their economic and financial capacity, on the basis of the state guarantee provided in accordance with Article 14(3)(e) of Regulation (EC) No 2152/2003 and appropriate statements from banks or evidence of relevant professional risk indemnity insurance, or balance sheets, or extracts from balance sheets, covering at least the last two years for which accounts have been closed, where publication of the balance sheet is required under the company law of the Member State in which the entity is established; (c) their competence under national law to perform the budget-implementation tasks, as attested by documentary evidence such as their enrolment in a professional or trade register or a sworn declaration or certificate, membership of a specific organisation, express authorisation or entry in a register for value added tax (VAT); (d) that they are not in one of the situations listed in Articles 93 and 94 of Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002; (e) that they agree to an audit by the Court of Auditors.
Agreement
The Commission shall conclude an agreement with the competent bodies in conformity with Articles 56 of Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 and Articles 35 and 41 of Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2342/2002.
Tasks of the competent bodies
The competent bodies shall carry out the following tasks: (a) they shall conduct regular checks to ensure that the actions to be financed under Regulation (EC) No 2152/2003 have been implemented correctly; (b) they shall take appropriate measures to prevent irregularities and fraud and if necessary bring prosecutions to recover funds lost, wrongly paid or incorrectly used; (c) they shall provide the Commission with any information it requests; (d) they shall be the intermediary to whom the Community contribution is paid, (e) they shall hold the accounts and records of the receipt and payment of that contribution in support of the national programme, including all invoices and documents of a similar probative value to support the costs of the programme.
Checks by the Commission
The Commission may carry out document and on-the-spot checks into the existence, the relevance and proper operation of the competent bodies, in accordance with the rules of sound financial management.
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Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.